Fiduciary Education for Trustees

Each trustee of a volunteer fire relief association is a fiduciary to the association. Fiduciaries carry particular legal duties to those they serve. A fiduciary must make a reasonable effort to obtain the knowledge and skills sufficient to perform fiduciary duties adequately.

A relief association’s board of trustees is required to develop and periodically revise a program for the continuing education of its board members. The program must be designed to provide trustees with the knowledge and skills needed to enable them to perform their fiduciary activities.

Relief associations have options for providing no– and low–cost training to its trustees. These options include, but are not limited to:

• Asking the association’s broker or investment advisor to attend a board meeting to provide an update on the investment markets, discuss new investment products or trends, review the association’s portfolio and investment performance, and to discuss any recent statutory changes;
• Asking the association’s accountant or auditor to attend a board meeting to provide an update on the association’s finances and funding, to discuss any audit concerns or management notes, and to discuss any upcoming changes in accounting standards; and
• Considering training opportunities provided by the Fire Service Organizations and through the State Fire Schools.

Published last in the August 2019 Pension Newsletter