The Houston Police Burial Fund will have its annual meeting on Thursday Jan. 11, 2018 at 11 a.m. at the Knights of Columbus Hall located at 607 E. Whitney. All members of the Burial Fund are invited to attend.
Board of Trustee positions 1, 2 and 3 will be elected at this meeting. To run for a trustee position, one must be a member of the Burial Fund in good standing for at least two years and be present at the annual membership meeting, except as otherwise provided by the bylaws. Nominations will be taken from the floor at the meeting.
Additionally, the following amendments to the Burial Fund’s bylaws will also be voted on.
Amendment 1
Amendment 1 completely strikes out item 1 in Subsection B Lifetime of Section 2 Classification of Article III Members and replaces it with the below indicated new paragraph:
- Any member of the Houston Policemen’s Burial Fund Association who upon completion of the number of years required to obtain the full pension from the Houston Police Officers Pension System, and having been a member of the Houston Policemen’s Burial Fund Association or its predecessor unincorporated Association for at least the same number of years required to obtain the full pension as stated above, and who actually retires from active duty with the Houston Police Department shall become a Lifetime member of the Houston Policemen’s Burial Fund Association. Entering a deferred retirement option program shall not be deemed as retiring from active duty. The Association will follow the current Meet and Confer agreement between the City of Houston and the Houston police officers’ majority bargaining agent to determine if a member in a specific phase down program is retired from active duty. Association members who have already obtained a Lifetime membership under previous versions of these bylaws shall retain their Lifetime membership.
Amendment 2
Amendment 2 completely strikes out the entire paragraph listed in Subsection B of Section 3 Good Standing of Article III Members and removes the letter A from the sole remaining paragraph currently labeled as Subsection A in Section 3 of Article III, to wit:
- A member in good standing shall be one whose current dues and fees have been paid or a waiver has been granted by the board of trustees in accordance with the provisions of these bylaws.
- Any regular member of the Houston Policemen’s Burial Fund Association shall have the right to retain his membership in the Association after severing his connection with the Police Department if such member has had ten (10) years or more of continuous membership in the Association, provided that he is not suspended for non-payment of dues and full payment to become a Life Member is made to Association within 90 days of severance.
Explanation of Amendments
In the opinion of the Board of Trustees, several factors have made the first amendment necessary:
- Due in part to an aging and shrinking police force, the ratio of dues paying members to lifetime members has become too small.
- The “rule of 70” could make this ratio smaller.
- The Burial Fund would have great difficulty stopping payroll deductions based upon each individual member reaching a unique retirement eligibility based on the “rule of 70” versus the current system which operates predominantly based upon academy classes.
Amendment 1 would address all these problems by increasing the ratio of dues paying members to lifetime members and linking payroll deduction stoppage to actual retirement when most deductions are stopped automatically.
Amendment 2 deletes a section of the bylaws that would become obsolete with the passage of Amendment 1.
The Board of Trustees believes these amendments are necessary to keep the Houston Police Burial Fund healthy going into the future. The Board unanimously recommends the passage of these amendments.
You may submit questions or request a copy of the current bylaws by emailing jay.gause@ctrcc.com.
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Retired Lieutenant Jay Gause is the president of the Houston Police Burial Fund.
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