Retirement board picks Dennis Callahan for a full term as councilors press on retirees' COLA
The other four trustees chose the Charlestown attorney unanimously for 2027 to 2030. The notice is on Wednesday's agenda, a week after a council hearing order on raising the base for retirees' cost-of-living increases.
The board that runs Boston's public pension system has chosen its fifth member for a full three-year term, and the City Council will receive the notice at its meeting today, Oct. 28.
At a meeting on Oct. 21, the Boston Retirement Board's other four members unanimously chose Dennis C. Callahan, an attorney from Charlestown, for a term from Jan. 15, 2027, to Jan. 15, 2030, according to a letter from the board's executive officer, Timothy J. Smyth, to the city clerk (docket 2040). The letter cites the state retirement law, Chapter 32, Section 20(4)(b), under which a retirement board's fifth member is picked by the other four.
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The board decides retirement and disability applications and sets policy for a system that covers city workers and retirees. For retirees, one of its most watched decisions each year is the base used for their cost-of-living adjustment.
Who sits on the board
The board's letterhead lists Sean F. Kelly as chair, along with Sally D. Glora, Karen T. Cross, Scott M. Finn and Callahan. The Boston Policy Notes newsletter reported that Callahan is a Charlestown attorney who previously worked with the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority and now works at Charles Street Strategies.
The council does not vote on the choice. Notices like this one are read into the record and placed on file.
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What our records show
Callahan's selection follows a string of board changes reported to the council this year:
- April: The trustees gave notice that they were seeking someone to fill a vacant fifth-member seat, for a term ending Jan. 15, 2027 (docket 0856).
- May: The board gave notice of an election for vacant board seats (docket 1047).
- June: The board reported that Callahan had been elected to serve as a trustee for a term ending Jan. 15, 2027 (docket 1184). The notice was read at the June 10 meeting (watch at 41:54).
- September: The board reported that Cross and Kelly were elected to three-year terms (docket 1916).
The new letter gives Callahan the next full term, starting when the current one ends.
The COLA question
The council has been pressing the board on retirees' cost-of-living increases.
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- In April, the board sent the council a communication on its fiscal 2027 COLA base vote (docket 0857).
- On May 20, the council adopted a resolution supporting a 3% COLA and a higher COLA base for retirees in the Boston system, 11-0 (docket 1066).
- On Oct. 21, City Councilor Ed Flynn filed an order for a hearing on the same issue (docket 1963), with City Councilors Julia Mejia and Erin Murphy as co-sponsors. Flynn said retirees have not had an increase in their COLA base since 2021 and receive an annual increase of about $450, and that he wants to hear from retirees and the board "ahead of the FY28 decision" (watch at 1:30:35). The order went to the Ways and Means Committee. Our earlier story has more on the request.
The board is a separate body, and the council's resolution and hearing do not bind it. A hearing would be a chance for councilors to question board members, including Callahan, in public.
What's next
The notice will be placed on file today (meeting page). Callahan's new term begins Jan. 15. The Ways and Means Committee has not set a date for Flynn's COLA hearing; the board's next COLA base vote would come ahead of fiscal 2028, which begins July 1, 2027.