How to Complain > Do We Dare??

Secure in your right TO HAVE YOUR SAY

Published on Apr 3, 2017

Views: 193,899

A good life will always have to involve complaining about how some people behave around us. But the act of complaining can go better or worse, depending on our our approach. Knowing how to complain properly is one of life’s key skills. If you like our films, take a look at our shop (we ship worldwide):

AZCWR Steganography (Hiding Data in Plain Sight)

These guys can't even get the audio uploaded . . . Poor quality

Streamed live on Sep 17, 2016

Views: 12

This will be one of many presentations that will be held at the Arizona Cyber Warfare Range.

This talk is specific to stego tools and techniques used by spies and criminals.

Audio was not great, so many things won't make sense. This will be fixed for future presentations

Mesa City Council Study Session - 4/3/2017

The meeting is running way over the allotted 45 minutes allotted time in the agenda details.
Item 2a takes an extended time.
Giles says is a very short agenda ?????????????
THIS IS NOT A STRATEGY Ever heard this word before> :"Civilianization" in Police Department as a strategy to reduce payroll expenses is a big topic in discussion with Mayor John Giles and City Manager Chris Brady unusually actively in defensive discussions.
Candace Cannistraro in the hot seat making the presentation and fielding questions.
Re: financial stability
City going after old and uncollected court fees and penalties
$8.6 Million is beginning funding gap going into FY17/18 with a lot of issues getting kicked down-the-road . . . based on third-party actuarial studies received in February
PSRS liabilities are source of many questions that Chris Brady chimes into to try to give some semblance of believability  
City admits it is oftentimes reactive to budget issues
Future meeting dates and times to be announced on Thursday by Chris Brady

Started streaming 1 hour ago
Watching now: 14

The live stream for the City of Mesa Channel 11 in Mesa Arizona.

City Council Meeting - 4/3/2017

WATCH THIS MEETING

Started streaming 2 hours ago

Views now: 10

The live stream for the City of Mesa Channel 11 in Mesa Arizona.

Red shirts in packed room - an unusual event for Mesa City Council meetings, acknowledged by the Mayor with receiving 15 'blue comment cards' on agenda items when only 3 public comments limited to three minutes is usually permitted.... Giles says he'll 'bend the rules' to allow five

$100 Million Bonds = Game-Changer for Local Initiatives Support Corp

04 April 2017 - Press Releases

 

LISC issues $100M in GO bonds to fuel economic opportunity in low-income communities

S&P assigns ‘AA’ rating to inaugural offering from seasoned community development org

 

Contact:

Michael Hearne, LISC Chief Financial Officer
212.455.9871 ormhearne@lisc.org

Colleen Mulcahy
312.942.8244 orc.mulcahy@sbcglobal.net

 

NEW YORK (April 4, 2017) In a first-ever move of its kind, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) is issuing $100 million in general obligation bonds to help accelerate its work around economic opportunity and drive investment capital into distressed urban and rural communities across the country.

Standard & Poor’s assigned a ‘AA’ rating to the bond issue, which includes term bonds of 10 and 20 years.

The rating mirrors S&P’s issuer credit rating, assigned to LISC in September 2016, which highlighted the organization’s diverse and growing asset base, minimal loss exposure, and strong history of loan performance.

“Impact investors are looking for proven ways to help revitalize communities and restore economic mobility for people fighting to compete in the current economy,” said Maurice Jones, LISC president and CEO. “LISC has been leading that work for decades, building a track record that improves the quality of life for people all across the country.”

LISC is a national nonprofit and one of the nation’s largest community development intermediaries, having invested more than $17 billion to build up the economic infrastructure of disinvested places. Its offering represents the first time a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI)—a designation for specialized lenders focused on the needs of low-income people and places—has tapped the bond market for growth capital. The LISC bonds have no geographic or programmatic restrictions, making them a flexible opportunity for a broad range of investors. Morgan Stanley is serving as the underwriter for LISC’s planned financing.

“It has never been more important for us to invest in local economies so families can raise their standards of living,” stressed Jones. “This new capital will not only help us fuel businesses, jobs and large-scale redevelopment efforts, but also help address the persistent social and economic challenges preventing people from maximizing economic opportunities.”

LISC has posted record results in the last two years, including investing more than $1.3 billion in grants, loans and equity in 2016 to support economic development, affordable housing, health care, community safety, education, family financial stability and employment.

“From a pragmatic economic viewpoint, this work could not be more critical,” said Robert Rubin, former Treasury Secretary and LISC’s long-time chairman. “The lack of economic mobility we see in both large cities and small towns is having a profound effect on the country. LISC addresses these challenges directly, while also acting as an incubator for innovation in community development, testing promising ideas and helping bring solutions to scale.”

LISC is headquartered in New York but is locally focused, operating through 31 urban programs and a rural development effort that touches more than 2,000 counties. 

 

About LISC

LISC equips struggling communities with the capital, program strategy and know-how to become places where people can thrive. It combines corporate, government and philanthropic resources. Since 1980, LISC has invested $17.3 billion to build or rehab 366,000 affordable homes and apartments and develop 61 million square feet of retail, community and educational space.

Mesa City Council Study Session Thu 06 April 2017

Meeting Agenda - Final
Mesa Council Chambers 57 East First Street

07:30 am Lower Level Council Chambers Any citizen wishing to speak on an agenda item should complete and turn in a blue card to the City Clerk before that item is presented.
Capital Improvement Program FY2018/22
1 Parks/Recreation/Community Facilities
2 Public Safety
3 Transportation
+ Executive Session [Closed to Public]

Source: Research Center for Council, Board and Committee Meetings
The Council may vote to hold an executive session for the purposes of obtaining legal advice from the City Attorney (A.R.S. §38-431.03A(3)) or to discuss and instruct the City Attorney regarding the City’s position regarding contracts that are the subject of negotiations, in pending or contemplated litigation or in settlement discussions conducted in order to avoid or resolve litigation. (A.R.S. §38-431.03A(4))

Mayor John Giles
Vice Mayor David Luna - District 5
Councilmember Mark Freeman - District 1
Councilmember Jeremy Whittaker - District 2
Councilmember Ryan Winkle - District 3
Councilmember Chris Glover - District 4
Councilmember Kevin Thompson - District 6


Roll Call (Members of the Mesa City Council will attend either in person or by telephone conference call)
1 Presentations/Action Items:

17-0282
Hear a presentation and discuss the FY 2018-2022 Capital Improvement Program with a focus on:
1. Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities
2. Public Safety
3. Transportation
*1-a
17-0331 Hear a presentation, discuss and provide direction on the following department budget:
1. Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities
*1-b
2 17-0436 Information pertaining to the current Job Order Contracting projects

3 Acknowledge receipt of minutes of various boards and committees.
17-0434 Audit, Finance and Enterprise Committee meeting held on March 6, 2017.

THIS IS AN 82-PAGE REPORT > Council, Board and Committee Research Center
3-a
AUDIT, FINANCE & ENTERPRISE COMMITTEE  March 6, 2017  
The Audit, Finance & Enterprise Committee of the City of Mesa met in the lower level meeting room of the Council Chambers, 57 East 1st Street, on March 6, 2017, at 2:33 p.m.  
COMMITTEE ABSENT  Christopher Brady, Ex Officio
COMMITTEE PRESENT  Mark Freeman, Christopher Glover, David Luna  
STAFF PRESENT  Jim Smith, DeeAnn Mickelson, Michael Kennington

4 Hear reports on meetings and/or conferences attended.

5 Scheduling of meetings and general information.

6 Convene an Executive Session.
ES-010-17
Discussion or consultation for legal advice with the City Attorney. (A.R.S. §38-431.03A (3)) Discussion or consultation with the City Attorney in order to consider the City’s position and instruct the City Attorney regarding the City’s position regarding contracts that are the subject of negotiations, in pending or contemplated litigation or in settlement discussions conducted in order to avoid or resolve litigation. (A.R.S. §38-431.03A(4))
1. Ellertson v. City of Mesa, et al.
   (United States District Court,    
   Case No. CV-15-00765-PHX-GMS)
6-a
7 Adjournment.

Pssst! ..... Trying to get a grip on PSRS . so confused

Supreme Court ruling to cost public-safety pension trust $220M in refunds to members

Craig Harris , The Republic | azcentral.com 3:37 p.m. MT Nov. 14, 2016

The divided court upheld a Maricopa County Superior Court ruling that found a 2011 pension-reform law unconstitutional
Read entire article Arizona Investigations

A state Supreme Court ruling will require refunds to elected officials and public-safety officers who since 2011 were required to pay more for their pensions, with local governments likely to cover the projected $220 million cost to an already fragile public-pension trust fund.The divided court upheld a Maricopa County Superior Court ruling that found a 2011 pension-reform law was unconstitutional. Specifically, it overturned provisions in the law that increased employee contributions to their own retirement and curtailed certain benefit increases. The law was intended to improve the financial health of the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System trust fund.
The decision means hundreds of PSPRS members whose employee contributions were increased will receive refunds, while some retirees will receive retroactive benefit increases . . .
The court ruling is likely to force local and state governments, which already pay the majority of retirement contributions, to increase their payments to the retirement system for their employees,
Despite the 2011 reform law, some cities and towns held back on hiring additional police officers and firefighters in the past few years because of the enormous cost of their per-employee contributions to the retirement system.
While the case focused on the elected officials' retirement plan, the ruling also is expected to affect those in retirement plans for public-safety officers and correctional officers.  Elected officials, public-safety officers and correctional officers have separate plans, but all are under the umbrella of the PSPRS.
PSPRS Administrator Smout said while the ruling is a setback, the system is poised for recovery due to another pension reform measure voters approved earlier this year. That plan is projected to save $475 million in long-term costs.

Firefighters and police officers will have their contributions rolled back to 7.65 percent of their salaries, down from 11.65 percent. Employers, on average, paid in 32.54 percent as June 30, 2015. Some employers, however, paid more than 50 percent, with Bisbee paying nearly 88 percent.


Arizona Enacts Groundbreaking Public Safety Pension Reform

Collaborative process yielded consensus on wide-ranging reforms

Leonard Gilroy, Pete Constant and Anthony Randazzo
February 16, 2016
Link to entire report: here

This afternoon, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed into law comprehensive pension reform legislation that will put Arizona’s beleaguered public safety pension system on a path to financial solvency. The Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS)—which covers all law enforcement personnel and firefighters statewide—has accumulated $6.6 billion in unfunded liabilities over the past dozen years and stands at only 48% funded today.

The Need for Reform

The deterioration of PSPRS’s financial health over the past 12 years has led to skyrocketing annual pension costs for the local government and state agency employers participating in PSPRS and, by extension, taxpayers. Specifically, the growing costs for many local governments are attributable to rising payments on the large unfunded liabilities for public safety pension benefits. The growth of these pension debt payments has threatened the continued delivery of public services and budgets in those jurisdictions, since the growing costs of pensions effectively crowd out other areas of the budget. Further, the courts have struck down previous legislative reforms to PSPRS enacted in recent years, and other reforms remain under litigation, creating the need for a new solution.
First, for current employees and retirees, the reform will replace the uncertain, inequitable, unsustainable PBI with a traditional, pre-funded cost of living adjustment (COLA) that provides certainty and equity in retirement. This will serve the public interest by fixing the broken PBI mechanism that has been a major factor causing increased unfunded liabilities:

• The new COLA will be based on the changes in the consumer price index for the Phoenix region, with a cap of 2% maximum.
• The COLA will be equitable because the percentage will be applied to each PSPRS retiree’s actual benefit level (as opposed to a level dollar amount granted under the current PBI, regardless of the individual retiree’s benefit level).
• Further, the new COLA will be pre-funded and actuarially accounted for in advance as part of normal cost determination, which has historically not been the case with the current PBI.

Replacing the PBI with a traditional COLA for current personnel and retirees will require a constitutional amendment that will require voter approval at the ballot box in an election this May.
Second, the reform creates an entirely new retirement plan design for all new employees hired on or after July 1, 2017 that will:

• For the first time, allow public safety employees the choice of entering a full defined contribution plan or a defined benefit hybrid plan.
• Reduce the pensionable pay cap from $265,000 per year to $110,000 per year, significantly limiting pension spiking.
• Change the pension benefit multiplier from a flat 2.5% to a graded multiplier that ranges from 1.5% to 2.5% depending on years of service.
• Increase the retirement benefit eligibility age from 52.5 years to 55 years old.
• Implement the same CPI, with a cap of 2%.
• Restrict or eliminate cost of living adjustments when the plan falls below 90% funded.
• Require employees to pay 50% of all retirement costs, including normal costs, administrative costs, and any potential future unfunded liabilities if the plan’s experience does not meet actuarial assumptions.

 

 

Big Prop. 124 win to change public-safety pensions

Craig Harris , The Republic | azcentral.com Published 8:48 p.m. MT May 17, 2016 | Updated 6:25 a.m. MT May 18, 2016

Prop. 124 wins big, following support from firefighters, police officers and lawmakers. It will lower increases to retirement benefits, but is expected to improve ailing retirement trust.
Starting Jan. 1, the measure will change the way permanent pension-benefit increases are paid to retirees. Supporters say Prop. 124 over the next 30 years will save $1.5 billion for the retirement trust for first responders. However, an Arizona Supreme Court ruling could throw a wrench in Tuesday's electoral decision.

Prop. 124 will link retirees' pension cost-of-living adjustments to the regional Consumer Price Index, with an annual cap of 2 percent. An annual 4 percent compounded increase has been paid out to retirees for the past two decades, significantly cutting into the amount of money remaining to pay future retirement benefits.

Although the measure will reduce pension benefits, first responders urged voters to back the plan in order to provide sustainability to a trust that has about half of the money needed to fund current and future pensions

The State of Arizona has 2 retirement systems, the Arizona State Retirement System and the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System. These retirement plans qualify under 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code. They are “defined benefit plans”, which is a retirement plan that promises to pay a certain amount usually based on the number of years of service and on the average salary in the period before retirement.   The Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS) was created by the state legislature for elected officials, judges, certain full-time certified peace officers, fire fighters and other public safety personnel assigned to hazardous duty. The PSPRS has 3 plan categories: EORP, PSRS, and CORP described below:              
Deadlines: Correct missed contributions for the current fiscal year within 30 days, or the end of the fiscal year, whichever is sooner. GAO-73A due by 12 pm (noon) on compute Tuesday.
ELECTED OFFICIALS RETIREMENT PLAN (EORP)  Retirement plan for Elected Officials, Justices of the Supreme Court and Judges of the Court of Appeals. 
PUBLIC SAFETY RETIREMENT SYSTEM (PSRS) Retirement plan for Certified Peace Officers, Fire Fighters, Game & Fish wardens, Attorney General investigators, Liquor Control Officers and State Park Rangers.  
CORRECTIONS OFFICER RETIREMENT PLAN (CORP) Retirement plan for Correctional Officers and other positions within Department of Correction (DOC) and Department of Juvenile Corrections (DJC) and Public Safety Dispatchers and Detention Officers

RETIREMENT: PUBLIC SAFETY PERSONNEL RETIREMENT SYSTEM