Texas City Firemen's Relief & Retirement Fund

Texas City Firemen's Relief & Retirement Fund

The Texas City Firemen's Relief & Retirement Fund operates under a specific Texas statute, the TLFFRA, which allows municipal fire departments to establish independent retirement systems governed by a local board of trustees. Chairman Royce Medina leads a board that includes Vice-Chairman Andrew Marcellus, Secretary Jennifer Price, Mayor Dedrick Johnson, and trustees Andrew Blue, Joe Tumbleson, and Bob Senter. The City of Texas City sponsors the plan, providing employer contributions and administrative support. The fund's small asset base puts it in a peer group of hyper-local pension plans that often rely heavily on consultant relationships and pooled investment vehicles to access institutional-quality strategies. The fund allocates across three traditional sleeves: a public equity portfolio, a fixed income portfolio, and an alternatives portfolio. Given its size, the alternatives sleeve likely accesses private markets through fund-of-funds structures, interval funds, or smaller niche managers rather than direct co-investments or separate accounts. The fund is a member of TEXPERS, the Texas Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems, which provides educational resources and legislative advocacy for small public plans across the state. (per TEXPERS public member records). Board governance is the central feature of the fund's structure. The board of trustees — composed of both firefighter representatives and municipal officials — sets asset allocation, selects and monitors investment managers, and oversees actuarial assumptions. For a plan of this size, the board's ability to recruit and retain competent investment consultants is typically the binding constraint on portfolio outcomes. Succession risk, as with many small public plans, flows entirely through the board appointment process. Structurally, the fund is a creature of Texas statute, not a standalone entity with an independent investment office. This TLFFRA framework places it among roughly 40 similarly structured firefighter pension plans across Texas, each governed locally but operating under the same state investment guidelines and reporting requirements. The plan's small size means it cannot negotiate fees or terms the way larger state systems can, making its participation in TEXPERS and its consultant selection the two most consequential governance decisions the board makes.