About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline



2015 Informal Opinions Op. Fla. Att'y Gen. 1 (2015)

handle is hein.sag/sagfl0097 and id is 1 raw text is: 









Advisory Legal Opinion - INFORMAL


Number: INFORMAL
Date: August 5, 2015
Subject: Government in the Sunshine -- Out-of-State Meetings


Mr. Robert A. Sugarman
Sugarman & Susskind
100 Miracle Mile, Suite 300
Coral Gables, Florida 33134

Dear Mr. Sugarman:

On behalf of the Board of Trustees (board) of the City of Boca Raton
Police and Firefighters' Retirement System, you have asked for this
office's assistance in determining whether four members of the board
may travel to Massachusetts and Connecticut to conduct interviews of
investment consultants and their teams without violating the Government
in the Sunshine Law.

Pursuant to sections 175.071 (applicable to firefighter pensions) and
185.06 (applicable to municipal police pensions), Florida Statutes, the
board is required at least once every three years to engage a
professionally qualified independent consultant to evaluate the
performance of the fund's existing money manager and to make
recommendations to the board of trustees for the selection of the money
manager for the next investment term. [1] The statutes provide:

For purposes of this subsection, the term professionally qualified
independent consultant means a consultant who, based on education and
experience, is professionally qualified to evaluate the performance of
professional money managers, and who, at a minimum:
1. Provides his or her services on a flat-fee basis.
2. Is not associated in any manner with the money manager for the
pension fund.
3. Makes calculations according to the American Banking Institute
method of calculating time-weighted rates of return. All calculations
must be made net of fees.
4. Has 3 or more years of experience working in the public sector.[2]