The plan may be amended, modified or discontinued in a Board meeting held for that purpose. Except as provided in § 41-20 of Article VII, no such action shall operate to recapture for the Town any contributions or payments previously made to any trustee under this plan, nor to affect adversely the benefits of members already retired or the trust fund then securing such benefits.
A.
Discontinuance.
(1)
In the event of discontinuance of the plan in whole or in part (termination of contributions shall constitute a discontinuance of the plan), the assets or those assets applicable to that portion of the plan discontinued, as determined by an actuary, then in the trust fund shall be allocated to the extent that they shall be sufficient, for the purpose of paying retirement benefits, to those for whom discontinuance of the plan is effective, the amount of which shall be computed on the basis of credited service to the date of discontinuance of the plan, in the following order of precedence:
(a)
To provide retirement benefits to those members already retired by the Town who are receiving or are eligible to receive a retirement benefit under the plan as of the date of discontinuance with reference to the order of retirement.
(b)
To provide normal retirement benefits at normal retirement date or, if later, at the date of termination to members aged 65 or over on the date of termination of the plan, without reference to the order in which they shall have reached age 65.
(c)
To provide normal retirement benefits at normal retirement date to members aged 55 or over but less than 65 on the date of termination of the plan, without reference to the order in which they shall reach age 65.
(d)
To provide normal retirement benefits at normal retirement date to members aged 50 or over but less than 55 on the date of termination of the plan, without reference to the order in which they shall reach age 65.
(e)
To provide normal retirement benefits at normal retirement date to members below the age of 50 on the date of termination of the plan, without reference to the order in which they shall reach age 65.
(2)
Within each of the above captions shall be included such members eligible for vested deferred benefits under § 41-13 of Article V, who make written inquiries regarding their interests within one year after the date of mailing of a certified letter which the Committee shall direct to the last known address on the records of the Town of such member. The Committee shall make due effort to locate such members as are herein described, but their rights to any benefits shall be forfeited should they fail to meet the conditions described in Subsection A(1)(a) and (b) of this section, as the case may be.
B.
Such allocation shall be accomplished through either continuance of the trust fund or establishment of a new trust fund or purchase of insurance or annuity contracts; provided, however, that the Committee, upon finding that it is not practicable or desirable under the circumstances to do either of the foregoing with respect to some or all of the groups listed above, may provide for the allocation of a part or all of the assets of the trust fund as cash payments of equivalent actuarial value to some or all of such groups; provided, further, however, that no change shall be effected in the order of precedence and basis for allocation above established.
C.
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein, the trustee's fees and expenses of administration of the trust fund and other expenses incident to the operation and management of the plan incurred after the termination of this plan shall be paid from the trust fund.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Original Art. XI, Early Termination of Plan, consisting of §§ 41-33 through 41-38, which immediately followed this section, was omitted from the 2005 Code republication as its provisions have expired.