(a) General.
(1) Except as otherwise provided in this Division, the powers and duties with respect to investments of the retirement savings plan are vested in the Board of Investment Trustees. The Board has legal title to all cash and other property of the retirement savings plan, but may delegate some or all of the incidents of ownership as provided in this Division. Sections 33-61A, 33-61C, and 33-61D apply to the Board with respect to its powers and duties under the retirement savings plan.
(2) The Board must invest and reinvest, or cause to be invested or reinvested, the principal and income of the retirement savings plan and keep the same invested without distinction between principal and income. The Board has the exclusive authority to manage the assets of the retirement savings plan, but must, to the extent directed by participants, invest each participant’s accounts in the manner directed by the participant. The Board may select mutual funds, commingled funds, unitized investments in the Montgomery County Group Trust, or any combination of other investments as investment options for the retirement savings plan.
(3) Chapter 11B does not apply to procurement of goods and services for the retirement savings plan by the Board.
(4) After consulting the Chief Administrative Officer, the Board must:
(A) develop record keeping functions for the purpose of maintaining and reporting on participant account balances;
(B) designate appropriate investment options to be offered to plan participants;
(C) designate methods of accounting for investments; and
(D) designate methods of selecting annuity contracts for distribution of participant account balances.
(5) The Board must make counseling available to each participant during each plan year to advise the participant regarding investment selections for participant and County contributions.
(b) Agents for transfer of property.
(1) The Board may register any securities or other property in its own name or in the name of a nominee. The Board may hold any security in bearer form. However, the Board or its agent must keep records that show that the investments are part of the trust fund.
(2) The Board may form a partnership under State law to hold or transfer securities as the nominee of the Board.
(3) The Board may designate in writing a trustee to hold or transfer securities as nominee of the Board.
(4) The Board must provide that trustees or a partnership that the Board designates must act only as agents of the Board. The Board may set other conditions that the Board considers prudent.
(5) The trustees or a partnership the Board designates may agree with a bank or other financial institution to:
(A) guarantee the signatures made as nominee of the Board; and
(B) conduct settlements and transfers through participation in central security depositories.
(c) Authorized investments.
(1) The Board may select or remove any investment option for the retirement savings plan that the Board finds prudent under the policies set by the Board.
(2) If an investment through any combined, common, or commingled trust fund exists, the declaration of trust of that fund is a part of the retirement savings plan trust.
(d) Trustee powers. Except as otherwise provided in this Division, the Board may:
(1) with any cash, purchase or subscribe for any investment, at a premium or discount, and retain the investment;
(2) sell, exchange, convey, transfer, lease for any period, pledge, mortgage, grant options, contract with respect to, or otherwise encumber or dispose, at public or private sale, for cash or credit or both, any part of the retirement savings plan;
(3) subject to Section 33-61A(h)(2), sue, defend, compromise, arbitrate, compound and settle any debt, obligation, claim, suit, or legal proceeding involving the retirement savings plan, and reduce the rate of interest on, extent or otherwise modify, foreclose upon default, or otherwise enforce any debt, obligation, or claim;
(4) retain uninvested a part of the retirement savings plan fund in preparation for the payment of distributions;
(5) exercise any option on any investment for conversion into another investment, exercise any rights to subscribe for additional investments, and make all necessary payments;
(6) join in, consent to, dissent from, oppose, or deposit in connection with the reorganization, recapitalization, consolidation, sale, merger, foreclosure, or readjustment of the finances of any corporation or property in which the assets of the retirement savings plan are invested, or the sale, mortgage, pledge or lease of that property or the property of any such corporation upon such terms and conditions that the Board considers prudent; exercise any options, make any agreements or subscriptions, pay any expenses, assessments, or subscriptions, and take any other action in connection with these transactions that the Board considers prudent; and accept and hold any investment that may be issued in or as a result of any such proceeding;
(7) vote, in person or by any proxy, at any election of any corporation in whose stock the assets of the retirement savings plan are invested, and exercise, personally or by any power of attorney, any right appurtenant to any investment held in the retirement savings plan; and give general or specific proxies or powers of attorney with or without power of substitution;
(8) sell, either at public or private sale, option to sell, mortgage, lease for a term of years less than or continuing beyond the possible date of the termination of the trust, partition or exchange any real property for such prices and upon such terms as the Board considers prudent, and execute and deliver deeds of conveyance and all assignments, transfers, and other legal instruments for passing the ownership to the purchaser, free and discharge of all liens;
(9) renew or extend any mortgage, upon such terms that the Board considers prudent, and increase or reduce the rate of interest on any mortgage or modify the terms of any mortgage or of any guarantee as the Board considers prudent to protect the retirement savings plan or preserve the value of the investment; waive any default or enforce any default in a manner that the Board considers prudent; exercise and enforce any right of foreclosure, bid on property in foreclosure, take a deed in lieu of foreclosure with or without paying a consideration, and release the obligation on the bond secured by the mortgage; and exercise and enforce in any action, suit, or proceeding at law or in equity any rights or remedies in respect to any mortgages or guarantee;
(10) form a corporation or corporations under the laws of any jurisdiction or acquire an interest in or otherwise make use of any corporation already formed to invest in and hold title to any property;
(11) for the purpose of investing in and holding title to real or personal property or part interests in property, including equipment pertaining to property, leaseholds, and mortgages;
(12) incur and pay expenses for agents, financial advisors, actuaries, accountants and counsel, if those expenses are incurred solely to perform the Board's duties under this retirement savings plan;
(13) borrow, raise or lend moneys, for the purpose of the retirement savings plan, in such amounts and upon such terms and conditions as the Board in its discretion considers prudent; for any money borrowed, issue a promissory note and secure the repayment of this note by pledging or mortgaging all or any part of the retirement savings plan;
(14) hold, buy, transfer, surrender, and exercise all other incidents of ownership of any annuity contract;
(15) if payments to a participant or beneficiary are to be made in the form of an annuity based on one or more lives or life expectancies, buy from any legal reserve life insurance company a single premium, nontransferable annuity contract providing for the payment of the benefits;
(16) pool all or any of the assets of the trust, from time to time, with assets belonging to any other retirement plan trust or retiree health benefit trust created by the County, including any subtrust thereof, and commingle such assets and make joint or common investments and carry joint accounts on behalf of this trust, such other trust or trusts, or subtrusts, allocating undivided shares or interests in such investments or accounts or in any pooled assets to the two or more trusts or subtrusts in accordance with their respective interests. Any such trusts or subtrusts may be unitized for investment purposes. The Board may, subject to its fiduciary duties, offer units of such pooled trust or subtrust as an investment option under the Retirement Savings Plan. Consistent with its investment authority, the Board or its delegate may also buy or sell any assets or undivided interests in this trust or in any other trust with which the assets of this trust may be pooled, to or from this trust or such other trusts at such prices or valuations as the Board may determine in reasonable good faith; and
(17) do all acts which the Board considers necessary and exercise any and all powers of this Division with respect to the management of the retirement savings plan, and in general, exercise all powers in the management of the assets which an individual could exercise in the management of property owned in the individual's own right except for making an individual investment selection.
(e) Prohibited transactions. The Board must not engage in any transaction between the trust and the County, or any entity controlled by the County, in which the Board:
(1) lends any part of its income or corpus, without receiving adequate security and a reasonable rate of interest;
(2) pays any compensation, more than a reasonable allowance for salaries or other compensation or personal services actually rendered;
(3) makes any service available on a preferential basis;
(4) makes any substantial purchase of securities or other property for more than adequate consideration which, for avoidance of doubt, does not include a transfer conducted on the terms described in Section 33-170(i) between employee benefit plan trusts or a subtrust;
(5) sells any substantial part of its securities or other property for less than adequate consideration which, for avoidance of doubt, does not include a transfer conducted on the terms described in Section 33-170(i) between employee benefit plan trusts or a subtrust; or
(6) engages in any transaction which results in a substantial diversion of its income or corpus.
(f) The Board must monitor the performance of investment options. Monitoring may include any tests or analyses that the Board finds prudent.
(g) Except for expenses incurred under paragraph (d)(12), the Board must pay all benefits and expenses of the retirement savings plan as directed by the Chief Administrative Officer.
(h) The Board may rely on the decision of the Chief Administrative Officer as to the proper recipient of benefit payments.
(i) Delegation of duties. The Board may delegate its duties to the Executive Director or a similarly situated County employee as it deems appropriate and consistent with its fiduciary duties in a written policy and procedure. If the Board has prudently delegated its duties and monitored the delegation, the trustees must not be liable for an act or omission made by its delegate. (1994 L.M.C., ch. 13, § 2; 2007 L.M.C., ch. 19, § 1; 2010 L.M.C., ch. 56, § 1; 2012 L.M.C., ch. 21, § 1; 2014 L.M.C., ch. 3, § 1; 2017 L.M.C., ch. 14, §1; 2021 L.M.C., ch. 16, §1.)