§ 16-255. Miscellaneous provisions.

(a) Interest of members in plan. At no time prior to the satisfaction of all liabilities under the plan with respect to retirees and members and their spouses or beneficiaries, shall any part of the corpus or income of the fund be used for or diverted to any purpose other than for their exclusive benefit.

(b) No reduction of accrued benefits. No amendment or ordinance shall be adopted by the city commission which shall have the effect of reducing the then vested accrued benefits of members or a member's beneficiaries.

(c) Qualification of plan. It is intended that the plan will constitute a qualified public pension plan under the applicable provisions of the Code, as now in effect or hereafter amended. Any modification or amendment of the plan shall apply retroactively, if necessary or appropriate, to qualify or maintain the plan in meeting the requirements of the applicable provisions of the Code as now in effect or hereafter amended, or any other applicable provisions of the United States federal tax laws, as now in effect or hereafter amended or adopted, and the regulations issued thereunder.

(d) Use of forfeitures. Forfeitures arising from terminations of service of members shall serve only to reduce future city contributions.

(e) Discharge of members. Members entitled to a benefit shall not forfeit the same upon dismissal from the city, but shall retain entitlement as herein described.

(f) Incompetents. If any member or beneficiary is a minor or is, in the judgment of the board, otherwise incapable of personally receiving and giving a valid receipt for any payment due him under the plan, the board may, unless and until claims shall have been made by a duly appointed guardian of such person, make such payment or any part thereof to such person's spouse, children, or other person deemed by the board to have incurred expenses or assumed responsibility for the expenses of such person. Any payment so made shall be a complete discharge of any liability under the plan for such payment.

(g) Personal data to board. Each member and each beneficiary of a deceased member must furnish to the board such evidence, data or information as the board considers necessary or desirable for the purpose of administering the plan. The provisions of this plan are effective for the benefit of each member upon the condition precedent that each member will furnish promptly full, true and complete evidence, data and information when requested by the board, provided the board shall advise each member of the effect of his failure to comply with its request.

(h) Address for notification. Each member and each beneficiary of a deceased member shall file with the board from time to time, in writing, his post office address and any change of post office address. Any communication, statement or notice addressed to a member, or beneficiary, at his last post office address filed with the board, or as shown on the records of the city, shall bind the member, or beneficiary, for all purposes of this plan.

(i) Word usage. Words used in the masculine shall apply to the feminine where applicable, and wherever the context of the plan dictates, the plural shall be read as the singular and the singular as the plural.

(j) State law. Florida law shall determine all questions arising with respect to the provisions of this plan except to the extent federal statute supersedes state law.

(k) Employment not guaranteed. Nothing contained in this plan, or with respect to the establishment of the trust, or any modification or amendment to the plan or trust, or in the creation of any account, or the payment of any benefit, shall give any employee, employee-member or any beneficiary any right to continue employment, any legal or equitable right against the city, or employee of the city, or against the trustee, or its agents or employees, or against the plan administrator, except as expressly provided by the plan, the trust, the act or by a separate agreement.

(l) Waiver of notice. Any person entitled to notice under the plan may waive the notice.

(m) Successors. The plan shall be binding upon all persons entitled to benefits under the plan, their respective heirs and legal representatives, upon the city, its successors and assigns, and upon the trustee, the board, the plan administrator and their successors.

(n) Unclaimed account procedure.

(1) The plan does not require either the board to search for, or ascertain the whereabouts of, any member or beneficiary. The board, by certified or registered mail addressed to his last known address of record with the board or the city, shall notify any member, or beneficiary, that he is entitled to a distribution under this plan, and the notice shall quote the provisions of this section. If the member, or beneficiary, fails to claim his distributive share or make his whereabouts known in writing to the board within six (6) months from the date of mailing of the notice, or before the termination or discontinuance of this plan, whichever should first occur, the board shall treat the member's or beneficiary's unclaimed payable accrued benefit as forfeited. The city shall use the amounts representing the forfeited accrued benefit to reduce its contribution for future plan years.

(2) If a member or beneficiary who has incurred a forfeiture of his accrued benefit under the provisions of paragraph (1) above makes a claim, at any time, for his forfeited accrued benefit, the board shall restore the member's or beneficiary's forfeited accrued benefit. The board shall direct the distribution of the member's or beneficiary's accrued benefit. The board shall direct the distribution of the member's or beneficiary's accrued benefit as if the member's employment terminated in the plan year in which the board restored the forfeited benefit.

(o) Co-mingling of investments. The board for collective investment purposes, may combine into one (1) trust fund the trust created under this plan with the trust created under any other qualified retirement plan the city maintains. However, the board shall maintain separate records of account for each trust in order to reflect properly each member's accrued benefit under the plan(s) in which he is a member.

(p) Miscellaneous provisions affecting payment of benefits generally. In general, the board shall make payment of any pension directly to the member entitled to the payment. However, the board, in lieu of paying the pension which a member is to receive directly from the fund, may purchase from an insurance company selected by the board, a nontransferable annuity contract. The nontransferable annuity contract must provide pension and other benefits in an amount not less than the pension and other benefits a member would receive under this plan, and must satisfy all consent and distribution requirements prescribed by the plan. In the event the board purchase a nontransferable annuity contract for the benefit of a member, the board may either assign the contract to the member or hold the contract for the benefit of the member pursuant to the instructions of the board. The board also may purchase a nontransferable annuity contract for the benefit of a designated beneficiary or surviving spouse entitled to distribution of all or a portion of the member's nonforfeitable accrued benefit.

(q) No responsibility for city action. The board shall not have any obligation nor responsibility with respect to any action required by the plan to be taken by the city, any member, nor for the failure of any of the above persons to act or make any payment or contribution, or to otherwise provide any benefit contemplated under this plan, nor shall the board be required to collect any contribution required under the plan, or determine the correctness of the amount of any city contribution. The board need not inquire into or be responsible for any action or failure to act on the part of the others.

(r) No liability. The city assumes no obligation or responsibility to any of its employees, members or beneficiaries for any act of, or failure to act, on the part of the board.

(s) Statutory preemption. In the event of any conflict with the provisions of this plan, the provisions of F.S. ch. 185 shall control to the extent of any such conflict.

(t) Statutory amendment. Any and all amendments to F.S. ch. 185, the compliance of which are necessary for the continued participation of the plan under F.S. ch. 185, are hereby adopted by reference as if made by the city.

(Ord. No. 98-19, § 2, 10-20-98; Ord. No. 2010-25, §§ 2, 3, 10-19-10)