11-13-17 Regular Meeting of the La Porte City Council

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LIQUIDITY The City's investment portfolio will remain sufficiently liquid to enable the City to meet operating requirements that might be reasonably anticipated. Liquidity shall be achieved by matching investment maturities with forecasted cash flow requirements and by investing in securities with active secondary markets. Because all possible cash demands cannot be anticipated, a portion of the portfolio will be invested in shares of money market mutual funds or local government investment pools that offer same day liquidity. PUBLIC TRUST All participants in the investment process shall seek to act responsibly as custodians of the public trust. Investment Officials shall avoid any transaction that might impair public confidence in the City's ability to govern effectively. The governing body recognizes that in a diversified portfolio, occasional measured losses due to market volatility are inevitable, and must be considered within the context of the overall portfolio's investment return, provided that adequate diversification has been implemented. YIELD (Optimization of Interest Earnings) The City's cash management portfolio shall be designed with the objective of regularly meeting or exceeding the average rate of return on U.S. Treasury Bills at a maturity level comparable to the City’s weighted average maturity in days. The investment program shall seek to augment returns above this threshold consistent with risk limitations identified herein and prudent investment principles. INVESTMENT STRATEGY The City maintains a commingled portfolio for investment purposes which incorporates the specific uses and the unique characteristics of the funds in the portfolio. The investment strategy has as its primary objective assurance that anticipated liabilities are matched and adequate investment liquidity provided. The City shall pursue conservative portfolio management strategy. This may be accomplished by creating a laddered maturity structure with some extension for yield enhancement. The maximum dollar weighted average maturity of 2 years or less will be calculated using the stated final maturity date of each security. IV. RESPONSIBILITY AND CONTROL Oversight Responsibility for the investment activity of the City of La Porte shall rest with the Fiscal Affairs Committee and the City Manager. They will designate investment officer(s), receive and review quarterly reporting, approve and provide for investment officer training, approve broker/dealers, and review and adopt the Investment Policy and Strategy at least annually. DELEGATION Management responsibility for the investment program is hereby delegated to the Director of Finance, who shall establish written procedures for the operation of the investment program, consistent with this investment policy. Such procedures shall include explicit delegation of authority to persons responsible for investment transactions. SUBORDINATES All persons involved in investment activities will be referred to as "Investment Officers." No person shall engage in an investment transaction except as provided under the terms of this policy and the procedures established by the Director of Finance. The Director of Finance shall be responsible for all transactions undertaken, and shall establish a system of controls to regulate the activities of Subordinate Investment Officers. All investment officers, including the Director of Finance, will demonstrate competence in the execution of the city’s investments. All Investment Officers will insure compliance with the investment program with ongoing training and evaluation by management. PRUDENCE Investments shall be made with judgment and care, under prevailing circumstances, that a person of prudence, discretion and intelligence would exercise in the management of the 2