Town of Bradford Trustees of Trust Funds
Meeting, August 12, 2016
The Trustees met to further discuss ways to support the long term purposes of the 1964 Bradford School Scholarship Trust Fund and the 2013 Bradford Independence Day Celebration Trust Fund.
The meeting began, however, with distribution of a 1994 hard copy list of cemetery trusts compiled by Ev Kitteredge and a 2012 hard copy listing of that year’s interest allocations to the cemetery trusts, also calculated by Ev Kittredge. It was agreed that both listings need to be updated and kept current. Michael James and Harry Wright will explore ways to scan the documents and update them. So far as we know, neither of these documents exists on a CD or thumb drive. In that regard Tim Rodd will check with Dawn Pettiglio, Karen Hambleton, and Diane Whalley.
Note was also made of two missing AT&T checks from the Annie Smyth Flanders cemetery trust. Tim Rodd has a third check in hand and will pursue the matter of the two preceding ones which seem to have gone missing.
Discussion then focused on the Scholarship Trust Fund and the Independence Day Fund. Both funds serve enduring long term Town purposes, but both are currently invested in low-yield instruments. In previous meetings the Trustees agreed to explore possibilities for higher interest yields. At this meeting the Trustees voted unanimously to proceed towards investing these two funds in separate Fidelity accounts typically yielding at or near 3% per annum.
First, however, Michael James must locate the trust documents governing each. Assuming that process goes well, the Trustees at their next meeting may vote to shift all or a portion of these two trusts into a Fidelity portfolio distributed across four economic sectors—health, utilities, communication, and energy. The portfolio will be designed to be ultra-safe. The possible companies discussed were: Johnson and Johnson, Duke Energy, Verizon, and Exxon.
Given the need to wait for further information, no next meeting has been scheduled.