Attach to Form 990 or 990-EZ.
Information about Schedule O (Form 990 or 990-EZ) and its instructions is at| Return Reference | Explanation |
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| Form 990, Part VI, Section A, line 2 | Trustees of the Trust are also members of, or represented by, the Seattle Fire Fighters Union, Local 27 (Local 27). Some Trustees are also involved as directors/trustees of Local 27 or of other benefit trusts for the benefit of employees. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section A, line 3 | The Trust has contracted with a third-party administrator (Benefit Solutions, Inc.) to provide bookkeeping and administrative services and with a claims administrator (Regence BlueShield) for claims adjudication and payment services. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section A, line 7a | The Trust is administered by a seven-member Board of Trustees, four of whom are elected by the membership of Local 27, two of whom are appointed by the President of Local 27 (subject to approval by the Executive Board of Local 27), and one of whom is the President of Local 27 (or his/her appointee). Elections are in accordance with the Bylaws of Local 27 for its elections of its Board of Directors, or other special election rules as the Local 27 Board so adopts. Each Trustee signs a document accepting his/her appointment or election as Trustee and agreeing to abide by the terms and provisions of the Trust Agreement. Alternatively, acceptance is deemed to occur by attendance at two Trustee meetings after the person's election or appointment. In either case, acceptance is deemed to occur retroactively to the date of the beginning of the person's term. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section B, line 11 | The Form 990 was prepared under the guidance of the Board of Trustees by the independent accounting firm SCHOEDEL & SCHOEDEL, Certified Public Accountants, PLLC. Draft copies of the Trust's financial statements and Form 990 were first provided to the Trust's consultants and advisors, who reviewed the Form 990 for accuracy and completeness. Any questions, concerns or issues raised by the consultants and advisors were addressed and any necessary revisions were made to the Form 990. The revised Form 990 was then provided to the Board of Trustees for its review and approval. Any additional questions, concerns or issues raised by the Board of Trustees were addressed and any necessary revisions were made to the Form 990. The final version of the Form 990 was reviewed, approved and filed by the Board of Trustees. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section B, line 12c | Each Trustee has a duty to disclose to the Board any conflict of interest as soon as it is discovered by the Trustee. In particular, the Trustee will disclose a conflict of interest prior to any Board or Committee decision on the matter related to the conflict of interest. Upon the Trustee's first attendance at a Board meeting, the Trustee will submit a signed conflict of interest disclosure to the Board, on a form approved by the Board, and will have the duty to update such disclosures upon discovering a change. If any member of a Committee or of the Board believes that a conflict of interest exists, then the Committee member or Board member will ask that a determination of conlict of interest be made by the Committee or Board. If the determination involves a Trustee, then the Trustee is excused from the meeting while the Board or Committee determines if there is a conflict of interest. A Trustee who disagrees with the decision can appeal the decision to the chairperson of the Trust (or if the Trustee is the chairperson, then he or she can appeal the decision the vice chairperson of the Trust), whose judgment shall be final. When a Trustee decides that he or she has a conflict of interest or the Board or Committee decides that a Trustee has a conflict of interest, the Trustee leaves the meeting during all discussions and voting on the transaction or compensation arrangement that caused the conflict of interest. The minutes of the Board and Committee meetings reflect when a person has a conflict of interest, and reflect that the person was not present for discussion or voting on that issue. The Board or Committee will take appropriate action if it discovers that a Trustee violated this policy. This policy is reviewed by the Board of Trustees annually. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section B, line 15 | There are no compensated management officials, officers or key employees of the organization. If the organization had such compensated individuals, policies and procedures would be developed to determine compensation. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section C, line 19 | The Trust's governing documents, conflict of interest policy, financial statements and Form 990 are available to the general public upon written request sent to Benefit Solutions, Inc. at: P.O. Box 6, Mukilteo, WA 98275. |
| Form 990, Part VII, Section A, Line 1A: | The Trust does not compensate any of the members of the Board of Trustees. The Board is comprised of seven individuals, all of whom are professional firefighters and/or union employees. In their roles as Trustees, all are fiduciaries and understand their obligations under the Trust Agreement and the Trust's policies and procedures, which include a conflict of interest policy. The Trust does not readily have access to information related to compensation paid by other entities to the Trustees. Additionally, the amount of time spent on activities related to being a Trustee is less than 400 hours per year per Trustee. |
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