Carbondale Reporter

Jackson County Finance and Administration Committee met June 12.

Here is the minutes provided by the Committee:

Call to Order (5:02 pm):

Members Present: Comparato, D. Bost, Hunter, Larkin and Rowe

Members Absent: Maxwell and Peterson

Also Present: John S. Rendleman, Andrew Erbes, Robert Burns, Miriam Link -Mullison, Sarah Patrick, Mary Varner, Jill Stokes, Susie Kilquist, Dottie Miles, Melissa Britt, Max Snyder, Josh Barringer, Michelle Tweedy, Dave Schermer

Approval of Minutes:

I. 17-2549 May 15, 2017 Minutes

A motion was made by Rowe, seconded by Comparato, to approve May 15, 2017 minutes as presented. The motion carried by unanimous vote.

II. 17-2550 May 23, 2017 Health Insurance Task Force Minutes

A motion was made by Larkin, seconded by Comparato, to approve May 23, 2017 minutes as presented. The motion carried by unanimous vote.

Chair's Report:

III. 17-2551 Budget Timeline

Hunter reminded the committee that budgets are due by August 1st.

Insurance:

IV. 17-2552 Communications

a. Buzz June

This is for informational purposes.

V. 17-2553 Worker's Compensation Update

Miles answered questions from the committee about job categorization discrepancies mentioned at previous meetings and previous executive session issues. Hunter inquired about having work comp issues dealt with between meetings if settlements amounts are within a certain amount or percentage. Guidelines were established by previous boards and the board staff will locate those for next meeting.

VI. 17-2554 Payment of Health Insurance Claims

A motion was made by Rowe, seconded by Larkin, to approve payment of the June Fixed costs, AIMM, April 7th and the first April 21st Health Insurance Claims in the amount of $166,505.53. The motion carried by unanimous vote.

VII. 17-2555 ICRMT Property Inspection

This is for the informational purposes for the committee; all issues have been addressed by maintenance.

VIII. 17-2556 Health Insurance Task Force Update

Hunter gave the committee a recap of the recent Health Insurance Task Force meeting. She outlined items that would offer savings to the county that the task force has agreed on:

1. Replace AIMM due to customer service

2. Prescription Plan Savings

-Eliminate PPI's

-Only cover generic cholesterol medicine

-Only cover inject-able androgen's

3. Plan Adjustments

-Deductible increase from $1000 to $1250;Co-insurance 90%;Out-of-Pocket Increase from $1000 to $1500

-Office visit copay increase from $20 to $30

-ER copay increase from $50 to $125

The committee discussed how much the county spends on insurance each year, about $3.9 million dollars, the short fall each year and the stop loss reimbursements. Schermer stated that if the county went out for bid he believes that a fully funded plan would cost the county around $5 million dollars and would only be an ACA compliant plan not the "cadallic" plan that the county currently has. Rendleman pointed out that the suggested savings items would meet the projected short fall and the current county premiums are lower than most counties charge. Comparato asked how other counties handle their insurance and coverage options. Schermer said that Jackson County is unique because they are basically their own insurance company. The suggestion of the county going out for bids on insurance plans was discussed and Schermer stated that no insurance company would give quotes until the end of the county fiscal year and that does not allow time for budgeting. The committee then discussed spousal coverage costs to the county, increasing premium costs, whether to offer spousal coverage and that offering the coverage is not a requirement. Schermer commented that spousal coverage is a large chunk of the county costs. Rendleman commented that the county may want to take a long view on insurance and not try and make all the changes at once. Hunter took a moment to remind the committee that there will probably we some contract negotiations coming up and she would like to see equity in premium payments for all employees. Currently the premiums range from $0 to $71 depending on which group an employee is in. The committee discussed retiree insurance coverage and Tweedy explained how it is currently handled. Snyder commented that he would like to see the county explore other options like encouraging employees to retire early. He also asked about the money that was to be set aside for insurance costs since FOP agreed to not take raises. Link-Mullison pointed out that although there are currently other options available for spousal coverage there may not be options available in the future. She also pointed out that currently the county premiums are so high that only people without other options are on the plan. Larkin stated that since the county is the insurance company they can match ACA now and make changes in the future if that is what is wanted. Rendleman stated that he believes the costs that Schermer provided regarding past bi ds are correct and that a fully funded plan would cost the county around $5 million dollars which is at least $1 million dollars more than the current plan. He asked Schermer if there is any reason to believe that the quotes would be different now, Schermer replied that they are honest quotes and he does not believe they will go down. Hunter requested that Schermer bring an updated plan benefit outline to the July meeting so the committee could review it.

Finance:

IX. 17-2557 BS&A Update

a. Pay Period

Hunter provided the committee with several handouts explaining the issue with regard to adjusting the pay periods. Currently 99 employees are paid through the current week and the financial software program requires that everyone be paid one week in arrears. The committee discussed the different options that would be available to employees. Hunter then asked Tweedy to look into a test option so employees could see how it will affect them. The committee decided on three options for employees with regard to pay: 1. Get one week of pay; 2. Take a no interest loan from the county to equal to one week pay. This would be paid back by a withholding from each of their remaining paychecks in this fiscal year; 3. Cash in one week of Vacation, Sick, Personnel or Comp time.

A motion was made by Larkin, seconded by D. Bost, to implement the pay period adjustment and provide employees an automatic loan of one weeks pay to be paid back from the remaining paychecks in FY17 or allow employees to state in writing which of the following options they would like to assist them with the required pay period adjustment; Option 1: Employee opts out and take one week pay; Option 2: Employee cash in accrued time off. The motion carried by unanimous vote.

X. 17-2558 Payment of County Monthly Claims

A motion was made by D. Bost, seconded by Larkin, to approve paying the county monthly claims in the amount of $347,268.38. The motion carried by unanimous vote.

XI. 17-2559 Payment of Board Member Travel Expenses

Tweedy informed the committee that due to the operation of the new financial software they will no longer receive separate checks for per Diem and travel. It will all be included in one direct deposit.

A motion was made by Larkin, seconded by Comparato, to approve paying board members travel reimbursement in the amount of $3,334.71. The motion carried by unanimous vote.

XII. 17-2560 Elected Officials Participation in IMRF

The committee reviewed the draft letter regarding Elected officials IMRF certification of hours worked. They requested the change of sentence in paragraph two so that it will now state "The County Board requests that you certify in writing that your hours..." and the change of the word "house" to "hours" in the last sentence of the first paragraph.

A motion was made by Comparato, seconded by Rowe, to approve the letter to be sent to Elected officials regarding the hours worked with the requested changes. The motion carried by unanimous vote.

Labor:

Hunter reminded the committee that there will probably be two contract negotiations this year.

Computing Services:

XIII. 17-2561 IPad Training Update

Barringer informed the committee that things are going well with computing services. Also the committee pointed out that there are four board members still have to complete the IPad upgrade and training: Rendleman, Mueller, Burke and Endres.

Old Business

New Business

Adjourn (6:47 pm)

Larkin moved and Rowe seconded to adjourn, motion carried.

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