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On January 31, 2020, the Texas Supreme Court issued its opinion in the Degan case. The Supreme Court had been asked to answer two certified questions by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In its opinion, the Supreme Court ruled first that the method of withdrawal of funds from DROP is not a service retirement benefit protected under Article XVI, Section 66 of the Texas Constitution and second the actions by the DPFP Board of Trustees, pursuant to Article 6243a-1 as amended in 2017, to alter previous withdrawal elections and annuitize DROP funds over the respective life expectancy of the plaintiffs in the Degan case did not violate Section 66 of the Texas Constitution.

The November Regular Board Meeting has been rescheduled to Tuesday November 19th, 2019 at 8:30 a.m. It is anticipated that the Board will go into closed session at the beginning of the meeting due to the availability of Trustees on the rescheduled meeting date. Meetings are held at the second floor of the DPFP office at 4100 Harry Hines Blvd, Dallas, TX 75219.

The preliminary results for the Non-member Trustee are that all three candidates (Robert B. French, Gilbert Andrew Garcia and Tina Hernandez Patterson) were approved. These Trustees will serve from September 1, 2019 to August 31, 2022. The results will be submitted to the Board to certify at the August 8th Board meeting.

At the June 19, 2019 Nominations Committee meeting, Gilbert Garcia, Tina Hernandez Patterson and Robert French were selected as the Nominations Committee’s slate of three Non-member Trustee candidates to be placed on the ballot.

Today, the Texas Supreme Court denied the plaintiffs’ motion for rehearing in the Eddington case. As a result, the ruling by the Court in favor of DPFP finding that the changes in 2014 to DROP were legal under Article 16, Section 66 of the Texas Constitution is now final.

Armando Garza was the sole applicant for the Fire Fighter Trustee position. Today the Board determined that Mr. Garza met the qualifications of Article 6243a-1 to serve as a Trustee and authorized him to be seated as a Trustee at the next Board meeting pursuant to the Trustee Election Procedures. We congratulate Mr. Garza and look forward to working with him.

Sam Friar, Fire Fighter Trustee, has resigned from the Board. Sam served on the Board since 2011, including serving as Chairman during the challenging times prior to September 1, 2017. We would like to thank Sam for his service to DPFP. Information about the election to fill the Fire Fighter Trustee position will be available after the Board approves the materials at the May 9th Board meeting.