STRS FLASHBACK -- 6 Years Ago -- A Double Header!

From John Curry, June 28, 2009

Part 1 - The public gets a glimpse of the Palace Part 2 - Joe (Endry) attempts to explain away a few entitlements

Part 1- The Palace:

(Click image to enlarge)

STRS headquarters is state of the art
Canton Repository, June 29, 2003
By PAUL E. KOSTYU

Copley Columbus Bureau chief

COLUMBUS — Though it was completed in 1999, the headquarters for the State Teachers Retirement System is back in the news.

Its $94.2 million price tag has become an issue in the controversy swirling around the pension fund’s executive director, Herbert L. Dyer, and its board regarding excessive spending on staff salaries, performance bonuses and travel.

The cavernous structure fills two city blocks east of the Statehouse. It houses 707 employees on seven floors and includes a free parking garage for staff and members.

Within its glass-and-stone walls are six major works of art that cost $869,235. That does not include paintings and other pieces throughout the building, several floors of which bridge a public street. The STRS board room on the sixth floor is over that street.

The facility includes a $426,000 fitness center that employees must pay to use. A cafeteria provides hot meals and other food for a price. Neither the fitness center nor the cafeteria are open to the public. Carol A. Hamilton, the supervisor of food services, makes $39,300 a year.

A $818,000 child-care center has an outdoor playground. The center is filled to capacity with employees’ children and has a waiting list.

A sliding scale of charges is assessed families for use of the center. Families with incomes of up to $66,000 are eligible for subsidies. In 2002, the STRS board paid $487,746 to subsidize the child-care center.

In the past when there have been openings at the center, employees of neighboring offices could apply to have their children attend. The 2003 salary of the center’s director, Jodi L. Wells, is $61,400.
http://www.cantonrep.com/

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Part 2 - Say it ain't so, Joe (Endry)!

Endry said, “It’s not that easy to break contracts. If Mr. Dyer is guilty of anything, it’s doing what the board wants him to do. He didn’t build this building.”

DYER

STRS bound by costly contract

Canton Repository, June 29, 2003
By PAUL E. KOSTYU Copley Columbus Bureau chief

COLUMBUS -- Demanding that Herbert L. Dyer resign as executive director of the State Teachers Retirement System is one thing. Paying for it is another.

If the STRS board fired Dyer tomorrow, he would walk away with a $533,620 check. Unless the board can prove “malfeasance, misfeasance or nonfeasance,” Dyer gets paid for the rest of his 6-1/2 year contract, which ends June 30, 2005.

If he resigns, he gets at least $133,405 because he must give STRS a six-month notice. That does not include pay for any unused sick or vacation time.

His contract gives him an incentive for awarding the STRS investment staff high bonuses regardless of how its investment portfolio does — the more bonuses they get, the more he gets.

Dyer has been under fire for three weeks for directing a pension fund that paid $15 million in performance bonuses and for artwork purchases and travel over three years. That was paid while the system’s investments plummeted by $12.3 billion and healthcare contributions by retirees jumped significantly.

Privately, people in and out of the retirement fund are predicting Dyer will go, either on his own or because he will be forced out. One person said Dyer seems “more dejected” with “a different demeanor” than he normally projects.

But those who work with him say he remains in charge, goes about the business of the fund and has not talked about stepping down.

The chairwoman of the board, Deborah Scott of Cincinnati, has repeatedly and succinctly said, “Mr. Dyer is still the executive director.”

Marilyn Gibbs, a retired Plain Local Schools teacher, sent an e-mail June 12 to several people, including four members of the retirement system’s board. She asked, “I wonder if it’s time for someone to ask Mr. Dyer to resign.”

One board member responded.

Joseph Endry, the only member of the board who is elected to represent retirees, wrote back, “Well-written personal contracts are very expensive to break. Be patient.”

Asked to explain his message, Endry said, “It’s not that easy to break contracts. If Mr. Dyer is guilty of anything, it’s doing what the board wants him to do. He didn’t build this building.”

Among the criticisms of the retirement system is the spending on its posh, nearly $95 million headquarters in Columbus.

Dyer joined the teachers retirement system Jan. 1, 1993. He got a new contract in February 1997, and his current contract began Jan. 1, 1999. It was amended in April 2002.

Dyer’s contract calls for his pay to be adjusted annually based on the Consumer Price Index of the previous year or 3.5 percent, whichever is higher. The index has not been above 3.5 percent since 1991. Computations of Dyer’s base salary, however, show that his raises were actually above the 3.5 percent limit set by the contract.

In 2001, his base salary was $236,000 and rose to $256,260 in 2002, a $20,260 or 8.6 percent increase, according to STRS documents. It went up again this year to $266,810, which is a $10,550 or 4.1 percent increase.

Dyer also has received annual bonuses for meeting performance goals. His bonus is based on the weighted average of bonuses given to the STRS investment department multiplied by a percentage obtained from his annual evaluation.

In other words, the higher the bonuses paid to the STRS investment staff — whether the portfolio did well or not — the higher Dyer’s bonus.

For example, in 2002 the 110-member investment staff received $3.75 million in incentive bonuses for its work in 2001. The average bonus was $34,100. Dyer got a $41,052 bonus or 120.39 percent times the investment staff average.