Retirement system trustee exits

Ex-legislator cites family in leaving public employee board

Former state Sen. Steve Faris said Thursday that he has resigned from the board of trustees for the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System, citing the need to devote more time to family matters.

Faris, a self-described “very conservative Democrat” who lives outside Hot Springs, was appointed to the board in March 2017 by Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

In a handwritten letter to system Director Duncan Baird, Faris informed Baird that he tendered his resignation, effective July 3, to the governor, system records show.

“It has been an honor serving in this capacity and I wish you much success in your role as director,” Faris wrote in his two-sentence letter to Baird, who started working as the system’s director in April.

Faris said Thursday in an interview that “service on these type of boards can be very demanding time-wise, and I am at a point in my life where I need to devote more of my time to family issues.

“I have given my best effort in representing the APERS membership. Now I feel it is the right time to step aside and give someone else an opportunity to serve,” said Faris, who served on Legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Retirement and Social Security Programs during his 14 years in the Legislature from 1997-2011 and was chairman of the committee for part of that time.

Hutchinson said Thursday in a written statement, “Steve Faris has served our state well as both a legislator and a member of the APERS board, and I’m grateful for his service.”

Hutchinson spokesman J.R. Davis said that Faris’ replacement has not been decided on yet.

The Public Employees Retirement System is state government’s second-largest such agency with more than $8 billion in investments and more than 75,000 working and retired members.

The Arkansas Teacher Retirement System is the largest such agency in state government, with more than $17 billion in investments and more than 100,000 working and retired members.

In March 2017, Hutchinson appointed Faris and two state agency directors to replace three longtime trustees on the nine-member board.

Daryl Bassett — now labor and licensing department secretary — replaced former Department of Workforce Director Artee Williams. Bank Commissioner Candace Franks took over for former state administrator Bill Gaddy. Faris replaced former Conway Human Development Center employee Ouida Wright.

The governor replaced these trustees under Act 311 of 2017, which limited the board to two retired members and reduced the length of public employee service to be appointed to the board from 10 to five years.

The board includes six appointees of the governor and the secretary of the Department of Finance and Administration, who also is appointed by the governor, as well as the state treasurer and state auditor.

In January, the system’s trustees hired Baird as director. Baird is a former state budget administrator and former Republican state representative from Lowell.

The system’s previous director, Gail Stone, announced Dec. 5 her retirement, effective at the end of last year, after she said two trustees gave her the option of retiring and she felt like she had no other option. She had served as director since July 2001.