(a) The Virgin Islands Government Employees Retirement System is established as an independent and separate agency of the Government of the United States Virgin Islands. The responsibility for the proper operation of the System and for making effective the provisions of this chapter is vested in the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees shall be composed of seven members who shall be appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Legislature and the Director of Personnel as an ex-officio non-voting member. Two members shall be appointed from a group of at least six persons who are members of the Central Labor Council, active members of the Government Employees Retirement System, and who have been recommended by the Executive Committee of the Central Labor Council. One such appointee shall be a resident of the District of St. Croix and one such appointee shall be a resident of the District of St. Thomas-St. John. Of the remaining five members, two shall be a retiree of the Government Employees Retirement System, elected through a process to be determined and conducted by the system, and at least one shall be an active member of the Government Employees Retirement System; provided that two such appointees shall be residents of the District of St. Croix, two such appointees shall be residents of the island of St. Thomas and one shall be a resident of the island of St. John. Each member shall serve a term of five years. No member may serve more than two complete terms. Any vacancy shall be filled in the manner of the original appointment for the unexpired term. Notwithstanding the date on which any member's term expires, all members shall serve until their successors are appointed and approved. The Governor shall designate one of the members to serve as Temporary Chairman, whose sole responsibility shall be to call the first meeting of the Board. Members may be removed for cause. Notwithstanding section 65a, of this chapter, members whose terms have expired shall continue to serve until their successor is nominated by the Governor and confirmed by the Legislature of the Virgin Islands. All members of the Board of Trustees, who are employees of the Government of the United States Virgin Islands or of any of its instrumentalities, shall be automatically granted administrative leave to attend Board meetings or whenever they are in the process of conducting any official business of the Board of Trustees as designated by the chairperson of the Board.
(1) Each trustee shall take an oath of office that so far as it rests upon him he will diligently and honestly administer the affairs of the System, and that he will not knowingly violate or willfully permit to be violated any of the provisions of law applicable to the System. Such oath shall be subscribed by the trustee taking it, and certified by the officer before whom it is taken, and immediately filed with the Lieutenant Governor. Members shall receive $75 for each day or part thereof spent in work of the Board, but no member shall receive more than $5,000 in any fiscal year. Trustees shall also be reimbursed by the System for all necessary expenses that they may incur through service on the Board. Appointed government members may elect to receive the remunerations as provided for in this subsection or any other remuneration to which they would otherwise be entitled for working on the Board.
(2) With the exception of the two members from the Central Labor Council and the Director of Personnel, members of the Board of Trustees shall have at least five years experience and a[t] least a bachelor's degree in any of the following: investment banking; economics; finance; insurance; law; medicine; accounting; actuarial science; taxation; real estate appraisal or brokerage and securities trading.
(b) For making effective the provisions of this chapter, the Board shall adopt rules and regulations to govern its internal organization and functioning and shall approve and cause to be promulgated from time to time such other regulations as the Administrator may require for the proper and efficient administration of the System according to the law.
(1) Hold regular meetings, at least quarterly each year, and such special meetings as may be deemed necessary. All meetings shall be open to the public. The Board shall keep a full record of all its proceedings;
(2) Consider and adopt resolutions on matters referred to it by the Administrator in connection with changes in policy and revisions of this chapter;
(3) Authorize the purchase and sale of investments by the System as may be proposed by the Administrator;
(4) Investigate and decide on appeal at the request of any member, decisions of the Administrator except those relating to classification or allocation of positions as provided under section 496 of this chapter or relating to discrimination under sections 523 and 531 of this chapter or relating to dismissals, demotions, and suspensions under section 530 of this chapter;
(5) Not later than four months following the close of each fiscal year, the Board shall transmit to the Governor and the Legislature an Annual Report on the operations of the System containing, among other things, a balance sheet on the financial condition of the System, a statement of income and expenditures for the year, a report on the most recent actuarial valuation of its assets and liabilities of no later date than three years prior to the time of the report, a detailed statement of the investments acquired and disposed of during the year, a list of investments owned; and other statistical and financial data which may be necessary for a proper understanding of the financial condition of the System and the result of its operations. The Board shall cause to be published in a Virgin Islands newspaper of general circulation a summary of the Annual Report, authorized under this paragraph for the benefit of the members of the System;
(6) Make contracts, including contracts for professional and legal services, and sue and be sued under the name and style of the Government Employees Retirement System of the Government of the United States Virgin Islands;
(7) Prescribe the policies for the proper operation of the System and carry on any other reasonable activities which are deemed necessary to effectuate the intents and purposes of the System in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. No member of the Board of Trustees may, during any process involving the request for proposals or the selection of any vendor or contractor for goods or services by the board, communicate concerning any matter relating to the request for proposals or selection with any applicant or bidder, or an officer or employee of any applicant or bidder, outside of the application or bidding process. This section applies to investment products, including but not limited to, bonds, real estate, and stocks;
(8) Recommend to the Governor and the Legislature not less than biennially an adjustment in benefits for all annuitants and pensioners based on a review of cost-of-living and related economic factors and consistent with actuarial projections on the solvency of the System;
(9) Deposit funds in banking institutions that are members of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation;
(10) The Board shall annually retain a nationally recognized Certified Public Accountant, with experience in pension and trust accounting, to audit the financial statements of the system. The term for which the Board may contract to employ a Certified Public Accountant may not exceed five years, nor may the Board contract the same person or entity for more than two consecutive five-year terms; and
(11) Accept, receive, deposit, control, invest, and manage appropriations, gifts, devises, bequests, or contributions regardless of the source thereof, on behalf of the system.
(c) The Board of Trustees shall appoint, with the advice and consent of the Legislature, the Administrator of the Government Employees Retirement System, who shall be in charge of the detailed affairs of the System. The Board of Trustees may also appoint as many Assistant Administrators as it deems necessary. The Administrator shall administer the business of the System and be responsible for its proper operation, subject to the orders, resolutions, and directives of the Board. He may employ such clerical, professional and technical support services as the Board may determine necessary for the proper operation of the System.
(1) Exempt employees of the Government Employees Retirement System may not be terminated or suspended except for cause.
(2) Any exempt employee whose termination or suspension is recommended must be informed in writing. Within ten days after being served notice of termination or suspension, the employee shall have the opportunity to appeal the decision of the Administrator to the Board of Trustees. After considering the evidence presented by the Administrator and the employee, the Board of Trustees may affirm or reverse the recommendation of termination or suspension of the employee.
(3) Any exempt employee served with a notice of termination or suspension is entitled to a hearing before the Board of Trustees and may be represented by counsel.
(4) If the Board of Trustees affirms the recommendation of termination or suspension, the employee may file a writ of review in the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands within 30 days of the Board of Trustee's decision.
(5) If the Superior Court determines that there existed no cause for termination or suspension of the employee and it orders that the employee be reinstated, the employee shall be paid all wages and benefits that he would have received while awaiting the decision of the Superior Court.
(6) Any employee reinstated by the Superior Court is entitled to receive reasonable attorney fees and costs incurred.
(d) The Administrator shall have, in addition to the foregoing authority, the following powers and duties, to:
(1) Establish an office for the Government Employees Retirement System and provide for a complete and adequate system of accounts and records as may be required for the effectuation of the provisions of this chapter;
(2) With the advice of a technical advisor, adopt the required actuarial tables and compile the statistical data necessary for periodic actuarial valuations and surveys of the operations of the system;
(3) Attend all meetings of the Board and carry out the resolutions and directives of the Board;
(4) Certify to the Department of Finance the payments to be made according to the provisions of this chapter;
(5) Remit or deposit in the name of the Government Employees Retirement System of the Government of the United States Virgin Islands all moneys received for the account of the System and render an accounting according to the law and the rules and regulations in force;
(6) Formulate rules and regulations to govern the operation of the System for presentation to the Board for its approval;
(7) Make recommendations to the Board for the investment or reinvestment of funds of the System, and on any change or revisions in the provisions of this chapter;
(8) Prepare the Annual Report on the operations of the System and submit the same to the Board for its approval and to the Governor and the Legislature for their information;
(9) Issue a statement of accounts showing the amount of a member's contributions to the System within 30 days of the date of a request of such member;
(10) Render any reports to the Board that it may request in connection with the operations of the System; and
(11) Issue to each retiring member and the Virgin Islands Bureau of Internal Revenue a statement of the amount of the retiring member's retirement contributions.
(e) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as exempting the Board of Trustees or the Government Employees Retirement System of the Government of the United States Virgin Islands from any law made specifically applicable thereto or generally applicable to independent instrumentalities of the Government of the United States Virgin Islands, whether such law was enacted before, on or after the date of enactment of this section.
(f) The Board shall sit as a panel from time to time, but not less than once monthly, to hear suggestions of retired government employees on improvements to the System and decide grievances of retired Government employees. Whenever possible, the Board shall remedy the grievance in an equitable manner.
(g) In addition to the powers conferred in this section, the Board is granted, shall have and may exercise all rights and powers necessary to carry out the following provisions;
(1) To sell, exchange, transfer, assign, mortgage, pledge or otherwise dispose of, or encumber, any real or personal property, or any interest or estate in the property; provided that no provision of law with respect to the acquisition, operation or disposition of property by other public agencies shall be applicable to the system unless the Legislature shall specifically exempt or restrict property from this paragraph or shall otherwise so provide; provided further, that except for a sale resulting from mortgage foreclosure, in no case shall the Board have the power to sell any property unless the property, in the judgment of the Board, is no longer required for the purpose of carrying out the business of the system or for effectuating the purposes of this chapter;
(2) To borrow money, make and issue bonds of the Board for any of its corporate purposes, and give security therefore, provided that the authorization for the issuance of the amount of bonds shall not exceed ten percent (10%) of the market value of the total investments of the System on the date that the indebtedness is issued;
(3) To make and issue bonds for the purpose of funding, refunding, purchasing, paying, or discharging any of the outstanding bonds or obligations issued or assumed by it.
(h) In the issuance of bonds, as provided under subsection (g), of this section, the Board may;
(1) authorize the issuance of such types of bonds as it may determine, including but not limited to, bonds on which the principal and interest are payable;
(A) exclusively from the income and revenues of a project financed with the proceeds of the bonds;
(B) exclusively from the income and revenues of certain designated investments, whether or not they are financed in whole or in part with the proceeds of the bonds; or
(C) from the Systems revenues in general.
(2) Any bonds may be additionally secured by a pledge of any loan, grant or contribution from the Government of the United States Virgin Islands or other source, or a pledge of income or revenue of the System, or a mortgage of any project, or part thereof, or other property of the System.
(i) The Board of Trustees, on behalf of the System, may accept grants or loans from and enter into contracts, leases, agreements, or other transactions with any federal agency, the Government of the United States Virgin Islands, or any instrumentalities or political subdivisions thereof, and expend the proceeds of any [of] the grants or loans for any of its corporate purposes.
(j) The Board may select, purchase, or acquire in the name of the system, the fee or any lesser interest in real property, improved or unimproved, for its purpose and may construct, remodel, and equip office buildings for its use and for investment purposes, and for the use of other departments or instrumentalities of the government, or appropriate private commercial entities as space to be made available for rent or lease from time to time. The Board may negotiate for the purchase of the real estate property by cash, by first mortgage, or by issuing bonds to the extent that the investment does not exceed the limitations of this chapter.