Chattanooga officials and fire and police pension fund personnel on Friday afternoon moved one step closer to approving a plan that would help correct the underfunded pension fund.

But the pension fund board must work with the City Council to determine exactly how the improvements will be implemented. Should the council and board agree, the matter would begin the process to become an ordinance, not a referendum in November as some stakeholders feared.

The final meeting of the Fire and Police Pension Fund Working Review Committee ended Friday afternoon with recommendations that will be passed to the City Council’s Personnel, Budget and Finance Committee meeting at 4 p.m. Tuesday. After that, they will go before the full council.

“(The recommendations) address the concerns of the city and protect the benefits and interests of firefighters and police officers,” said Frank Hamilton, a committee member and the fund’s administrator.

The recommendations came from mediation meetings between the pension board and city administrators led by Councilwoman Carol Berz.

The committee recommended two potential changes to the deferred retirement option program for current employees. One would increase employee contributions from 8 percent to 9 percent and allow the employee to remain under the current plan. The other option would let the employee keep the 8 percent contribution but would eliminate things such as cost-of-living adjustments.

Committee members did not discuss changes to deferred retirements for new employees, because an actuary report detailing three or four various options was not yet available. It’s expected some time in September, at which point the board will meet with the city’s chief financial officer and council to make a decision.

The recommendations also included that the fund undergo an experiential review every five years that is handled by an actuary, as well as city administrators and the pension board.

The final recommendation involved governance of the board, now comprised of three active firefighters, three active police officers and the mayor, who sends someone to meetings in his place. The recommendations would keep active members at six, make the mayor’s appointee a city employee knowledgeable in public pension plans and add a “public” person appointed by the City Council, which would accept recommendations from the mayor’s office and pension board.

Committee Chairman Dan Johnson, Mayor Ron Littlefield’s chief of staff, thanked members for their participation during the somewhat “contentious” meetings.

“I think we accomplished what the council charged us to do,” Mr. Johnson said. “We didn’t completely solve the problem, but it’s a move.”

Tension again surfaced Friday, but committee member Todd Gardenhire reminded those in attendance that no one accused the board of mishandling funds or making bad decisions in regard to the pension plan changes made in 2000, a year that saw the market fall in April. He said the changes were made to persuade older members of the fire and police departments to retire.

“It worked. That wasn’t a bad decision on anybody’s part, because you fixed your problem,” Mr. Gardenhire said. “It wasn’t anybody’s fault the market went down.”