City of Farmington Hills Employees' Retirement System

City of Farmington Hills Employees' Retirement System

The City of Farmington Hills Employees' Retirement System was founded January 1, 1966 as a single-employer defined benefit plan covering the Detroit suburb's general, court, police, and fire personnel. The plan's administration sits under Finance Director and Treasurer Thomas C. Skrobola, with a Board of Trustees chaired by Lauri Siskind — who also serves as a trustee for the Michigan Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems — and vice-chaired by Eric Gould. Investment exposure splits across two primary streams: a portfolio of closed-end private equity funds targeting buyout and early-stage strategies, and a set of direct commercial real estate limited partnership interests. Identified real estate managers include PRISA II, Brookfield Premier RE Partners, TerraCap, Townsend, and Valstone, spanning core commercial assets and mixed-use properties. The domestic geographic focus concentrates on US-based assets, with real estate vehicles structured through commingled funds rather than separate accounts or direct property acquisitions. With assets estimated in the $150M–$200M range (Altss estimate), the system operates as a midsize municipal plan with a lean administrative team. The fund maintains leadership visibility through participation in the Michigan Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems (MAPERS), where its trustees hold board-level roles, and the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA), where Skrobola is an active speaker. No separate foundation or co-investment vehicle sits adjacent to the pension trust. Structurally, the system reflects the classic governance model of a Michigan municipal retirement plan — layered fiduciary oversight from an independent board, benefit provisions segmented by employee classification, and an investment approach executed through external manager selection rather than internal deal sourcing. The plan's real estate exposure flows entirely through institutional fund structures, avoiding the direct operating-company or joint-venture complexity found in larger public systems, which positions it as a straightforward allocator dependent on manager due diligence and actuarial pacing discipline.