Leonard Muzyn's TVARS Blog

The TVARS Board today approved a July through August window during which Cash Balance employees who had less than 10 years of service as of 10/1/16 may choose to transfer their Cash Balance accounts to the 401(k). Cash Balance employees who had 10+ years of service as of 10/1/16 may switch to receiving the 401(k) only benefit going forward. They also may choose to transfer their Cash Balance account to the 401(k) if they switch to receiving the 401(k) only benefit going forward. Please be careful and understand all that you are giving up if you make any of these elections. They are completely voluntary. No changes will be made if you do nothing. Look for a letter from Fidelity soon to explain in more detail. Two different letters will be sent. One to those who had < 10 years, and another to those who had 10+ years. If you choose to make any changes, they will become effective October 1, 2018. I am working with the TVARS staff on a list of frequently asked questions and answers t...

The TVA Retirement System (TVARS or System) Board of Directors is now accepting resumes from TVA retirees interested in serving as the 7th member of the TVARS Board.  According to the TVARS Rules and Regulations, the 7th director must be a TVA retiree and is selected by a majority of the other 6 directors (3 of whom are elected by TVA employees and 3 of whom are appointed by TVA). The term of the current 7th director ends on October 31, 2018, and the position of the new 7th director will have a 3-year term from November 1, 2018, to October 31, 2021. However, the TVARS Rules provide a limited carryover period of up to one year for the current 7th director to continue in the event the TVARS Board is unable to select a new 7th director by the end of the sitting 7th director’s term. TVARS is a federal agency established by TVA in 1939 to provide retirement benefits for TVA employees, retirees and beneficiaries, and administers a defined benefit pension plan and a 401(k) plan. The TVA...

The TVARA's May 9, 2018 proposal fails to address any of the concerns raised in the November 28, 2017 letter from the elected TVARS Board Directors . The TVARA proposal: Does not recommend giving retirees the right to vote for the next 7th Director Allows three TVA-appointed Directors to keep the current 7th Director an additional year (through October 31, 2019) simply by blocking the selection of other candidates Does not address any of the conflict of interest issues Does not address any of the funding issues Ignores the GAO recommendations on TVARS funding Allows TVARS meetings to continue behind closed doors Encourages the TVA-appointed Directors and current 7th Director to use their majority to mandate an end to my service on the board

I share Dennis’ concerns below. If anyone can think of another reason why TVA would want to extend the term of the 7th TVARS director with the particular rule change described below, please let me know. From: Dennis To [mailto:dpto19533@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, April 16, 2018 2:12 AM To: Dennis To Subject: Why the need for interim 7th director? At the tvars Board mtng on Oct 30, 2017, Wilson Taylor (TVA-appointed director) made a motion which was then approved by 4-to-2 majority vote.  This motion allowed Allen Stokes to stay on (for one year) as interim director until the 7 th director is selected by the tvars board.  Did Wilson make such a motion in the best interest of retirees?  Of course, not. That motion was clearly intended to serve some purpose of TVA.  The big question is, what is it for? There is a very serious implication behind this move.  For the entire history of tvars existence, I believe this is the first time ever that some...

A motion was made in the March 29, 2018 TVARS Board meeting to fill the upcoming 7th director term through a retiree election.  The motion was defeated 3-3.  Sam, Jim and I voted YES.  Directors Stokes, Wilson and Taylor voted NO. A second motion was then made to begin the process of seeking candidates for the 7th director.  This motion passed 4-2.  Director Taylor joined the three of us in voting YES.  Directors Stokes and Wilson voted NO. The Board is working on a letter to be mailed soon to all retirees seeking nominations for the November 1, 2018 through October 31, 2021 term.  Interviews will then be conducted and the three elected and three appointed directors will make the selection. I strongly encourage all interested retirees to apply.

Mr. Burleson, Thank you for your response to our proposal. Please reconsider supporting retiree voting for the 7th director before the window on this opportunity closes. Four months have passed since we first informed you of our proposal and asked for your support. Time is now running short. If we let this opportunity pass, retirees will never again get another opportunity like it. The retiree 7th director’s next term begins November 1, 2018. Ideally, the board should begin planning for the election at this Thursday’s TVARS Board meeting in order for a retiree elected 7th director to be in place at that time. Since we informed you of our proposed accountability improvement plan in November, we have received positive feedback from several TVARA officers and many TVA retirees. We recently attended a TVARA event where support was strongly expressed for our plan, especially retiree voting for the 7th director. It is very clear to us that retirees want the opportunity to elect the ret...

DeWitt Burleson, TVARA Valley Wide President TVARA Board Directors TVARA Chapter Officers Dear Mr. Burleson, Directors, and Chapter Officers, I am very grateful for the support many of you have expressed for Sam’s, Jim’s and my proposed TVARS 2018 Accountability Improvement Plan (AIP). The cornerstone of this plan is to have the 7 th director elected by the entire retiree population later this year. Now there are zero directors elected by the retirees. If we act quickly, we can get one this year. I believe we can all agree this has wide support among retirees. Some have suggested additional improvements, but I ask that we focus now on getting this one huge improvement accomplished. This is something very easy to implement in a timely fashion. All we need is one more vote on the TVARS Board. I am sure the current 7 th director, retiree Allen Stokes, would vote for this if the TVARA leadership united together and clearly communicated to him the wide support for it among r...