Pension board approves mortality-verification contract, conference travel and distributes trustee handbook

The Oklahoma City Employee Retirement System trustees approved several administrative items including a contract with ABL Technologies for mortality verification and an address-locator service, multiple travel authorizations, and distribution of a new trustee handbook and an educational Retirement 101 video.

At agenda item 10B the board approved a contract with ABL Technologies to provide automated monthly mortality verification and address-locator services at an estimated annual cost “not to exceed $3,500,” a package the retirement system manager said will help stop improper payments and locate refunds for non-vested participants. “They look off of obituary databases, the Social Security death master file, state death records, and consumer and commercial data sources to compile it all into one data source that we can access,” Gina Jordan told trustees. The manager said the service will help strengthen financial reporting and fiduciary responsibilities.

Trustees also approved travel: sending Amy Madera, the speaking trustee, and Gino Jordan to the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement System Advanced Fiduciary Institute in Las Vegas May 16–17 for certification training, and sending Richard Mahoney and Brett Logan to the National Association of Public Pension Attorneys 2026 Legal Education Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan June 16–19 for continuing legal education for attorneys who support the pension system. The board approved routine claims, ratifications, applications for retirement and the authorization to pay a $5,000 death benefit; those items were taken as motions and passed.

At the chair’s request Gina Jordan also briefly reviewed a new trustee handbook created after recent trustee turnover. The handbook summarizes fiduciary roles and provides a plain-language summary of Chapter 40 of the Oklahoma City Municipal Code, plus highlights of board policies and investment guidance. Jordan said staff produced a Retirement 101 video with Canva and Synthesia, distributed earlier in the week via a QR code; the video is roughly 20 minutes and had about 150 views in two and a half days.

The board moved, cast votes and approved each of these items during the meeting; the transcript records that each item “passes” but does not include individual roll-call tallies in the meeting record.