Carbondale Reporter

Jackson County Finance and Administration Committee met August 14. 

Here is the agenda as provided by the committee:

Call to Order (5:00 PM)

Members Present: Comparato, D. Bost, Larkin, Maxwell, Peterson and Rendleman

Members Absent: Hunter

Also Present: Andrew Erbes, Derek Misener, Susie Kilquist, Dottie Miles, Sarah Patrick, Josh Barringer, Sharon Harris-Johnson, Michelle Tweedy, Ron Stanton

Rendleman stated that Hunter is unable to attend the meeting so he will be leading it.

Approval of Minutes

I. 17-2695 July 10, 2017 Minutes

A motion was made by Comparato, seconded by Larkin, to approve the July 10, 2017 minutes as presented. The motion carried by unanimous vote.

Chair's Report

Rendleman reminded the committee that last year the Board intentionally left money on the table to try to provide some tax re lief

to the citizens. Jackson County is a PTELL county and the amount that can be levied is limited by inflation. He went on to say that if it is the intention of the Board to stick with the plan to continue to try to provide some tax relief then it will mean making cuts. The County's costs will continue to increase due to things like cost of living raises and the increase in health insurance costs. In order to keep a flat budget departments are going to be asked to make cuts to offset the increases. Rendleman stated that Hunter wants departments to be prepared to talk about what might be cut to meet budget requirements.

Rendleman informed the committee about an IDOT notice that the county received. He asked Peterson to see that interested parties are notified.

Insurance

II. 17-2696 Worker's Compensation Update

Miles stated that there is nothing new to report.

Rendleman explained to the committee that the county is not self-funded with relation to work comp, they are fully funded with at $500,000 deductible. This difference means that the company can audit the county and they control the response to work comp claims. Currently, the county has been successful at keeping the costs down and finding light duty for employees. Larkin inquired about how much is in the work comp fund should the county need to pay the deductible, Tweedy stated that there is about $100,000. Larkin asked that the work comp policy be emailed to him for review before the next meeting.

III. 17-2697 Tort Liability Update

1. ICRMT Renewal Application Process

2. Snedeker Risk Management Client Conference

Tweedy informed the committee that Snedeker will be meeting with her and Hunter later in the month to continue the Tort Liability insurance if that is the consensus of the committee. If the board stays with ICRMT then the application process should be pretty simple. If the board would like to look at going with another company the process will need to begin soon because the application process for a new company will be lengthy and involve gathering and filling out more paperwork. The committee asked Tweedy if the levy meets the need and Tweedy responded that it does.

IV. 17-2698 Health InsuranceUpdate

1. Buzz-August 2017

2. Payment of Health Insurance Claims

3. Proposed Changes

4. Health Plan Analysis & Actuarial Proposal

The Buzz if for informational purposes.

Rendleman informed the committee that Hunter is working on a FAQ for the health insurance changes. He reminded the committee that Plan A is to make changes to the current county health insurance plan to save money and have it look like other plans; Pl an B is to get bids for a fully funded health insurance plan. This item will be considered at the August Board meeting.

The Board authorized up to $5000 to hire a consultant to get bids on fully funded health insurance plans. Tweedy explained that she sought a bid from the company that does the actuarial study for the county, their cost would be $12,000 to $20,000 with $5,500 of that going to the cost of the required actuarial study. The committee only authorized $5000 for the health insurance consultant so the committee would need to authorize an additional $1000 to $9000 for this company to do the study. Larkin stated that he would like to revoke the previous authorization of the $5000 because the current county plan is a good plan. Rendleman reminded the committee that this authorization was in response to information provided by Melissa Britt in the County Clerk's office and that other board members were in favor of going out for bid on a fully funded plan.

A motion was made by Larkin, seconded by Comparato, to approve payment of the Health Insurance claims in the amount of $334,536.78. The motion carried by unanimous vote. A motion was made by Larkin, seconded by D. Bost, to resend authorization of $5000 for a consultant to get bids on a fully funded health insurance plan for Jackson County. The motion failed by the following vote:

Yes: 2 - D. Bost and Larkin

No: 3 - Comparato, Maxwell and Peterson

Absent: 1 - Hunter

Finance

V. 17-2699 Communications

1. Treasurer's Office Temporary Seasonal Position Opening

2. SIMPO Thank You Letter

3. Sequestration Rate Decrease-Build America Bonds

Harris-Johnson told the committee that Hunter asked her come and give the committee some good news. She realized she needed to make some changes in her office and her plan should help decrease her budget. Her office recently had a staff member resign. For about six months each year during tax season her office is extremely busy and the other six months of the year the customer flow is low enough for the remaining staff to handle the workload. She has decided not to replace the staff who resigned and instead get seasonal help for the tax season. This person will work less than 1000 hours so will not qua lify for health insurance or IMRF. Harris-Johnson concluded by informing the committee that she sees a trend in her office, that is probably true across the county; as work duties become more complicated it is hard to find people willing to work for the $20,000 a year starting salary that have the skills and education needed to perform the job. The county may need to look at increasing the base salary if they want to hire qualified employees.

SIMPO sent a letter thanking the county for their financial assistance.

The sequestration rate of the county's Build America Bonds has been lowered which means the county's payment will go up. These bonds are funded through fees collected for housing detainees in the jail.

VI. 17-2700 Board of Review Appraisal Funding

Tweedy informed the committee that the Board of Review with the assistance of the State's Attorney's Office, is currently negotiating with an appraiser within the $50,000 allotted. The issue is that the Board of Review did have $12,000 in their appraisal line item that was going to be combined with the $38,000 the County Board authorized to be used from the Rehab and Care fund. Since the County Board's authorization of funds the Board of Review has spent some of the $12,000 on other appraisals. Tweedy asked the committee what they would like to do and where the money would come from if they want to give more to the Board of Review. Larkin suggested that the Board of Review attempt to negotiate with the appraiser for a lower cost and if the County Board is going to expect departments to make cuts to their budget they should not just give the Board of Review more money. D. Bost requested that in the future the Board of Review submit detailed quarterly reports to the County Board for review. Rendleman reminded the committee that the County Board decided that the appraisal was important and suggested seeing if the Board of Review could shift s ome of their money around to cover the amount they are short. The consensus of the committee is to ask the Board of Review to attend the August 22nd County Board meeting and explain what they spent the money on and where they think the money should come from.

VII. 17-2701 Payment of County Monthly Claims

A motion was made by Maxwell, seconded by Larkin, to approve payment of the County Monthly Claims in the amount of $437,577.04. The motion carried by unanimous vote.

VIII. 17-2702 Payment of Board Member Travel Expenses

A motion was made by Comparato, seconded by Maxwell, to approve payment of the Board Members Travel Reimbursement in the amount of $3,904.10. The motion carried by unanimous vote.

IX. 17-2703 2017-2018 Budget Schedule

Tweedy informed the committee that with the new financial software program the departments are still on a learning curve with the budget piece. She went on to say that taxes have been extended and she will be working with the Supervisor of Assessments and the County Clerk to get projected levy amounts. There are still two variables to the budgets the upcoming bargaining and health insurance. She then stated that there are a couple of options for the schedule, the consensus of the committee is to try for adoption in the last week of November. This will allow Hunter and Tweedy to work backwards to figure out deadlines. Tweedy stated that she is still waiting to hear from the Coroner and Probation about their budgets.

Labor

X. 17-2704 AFSCME-Courthouse Request to Bargain

Rendleman informed the committee that the County has received a request to bargain from the Courthouse AFSCME group. He stated that a bargaining committee will be set up. He has scheduled a meeting with department heads on August 31 to get comments. Tweedy was asked to make all bargaining agreements available to any board member who would like to read them.

Computing Services

Barringer report that things are moving along. Larkin asked him to make an adjustment to his email account.

XI. 17-2705 Executive Session under 2 (c)(1) to discuss an incident involving a supervisor at the Jackson County Ambulance Service

A motion was made by Larkin, seconded by D. Bost, to approve entering into Executive Session under 2 (c)(1) to discuss an incident involving a supervisor at the Jackson County Ambulance Service. The motion carried by the following vote:

Yes: 5 - Comparato, D. Bost, Larkin, Maxwell and Peterson

Absent: 1 - Hunter

A motion was made by Larkin, seconded by Comparato, to approve exiting Executive Session. The motion carried by unanimous vote.

Old Business

New Business

Adjourn (6:13 PM)

Larkin moved and Comparato seconded to adjourn, motion carried.

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