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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-22-2021 Special Council Meeting Minutes City of Canton Council Meeting 2 North Main Street Canton IL 61520 ZOOM Video conferencing 03-22-2021 Special Council Meeting Minutes 6:00pm A special meeting of the Council was held on March 22, 2021 2020 (6:00pm) via zoom webinar. STAFF IN ATTENDANCE Mayor Kent McDowell, Attorney Chris Jump, City Clerk Diana Pavley Rock, Treasurer Crystal Wilkinson, Utility Director Joe Carruthers,Street Superintendent Ron Robinson, Beka Schulz-CLA„ City Engineer Keith Plavec, System Maintenance Director Dash Wilson, Public Safety Director Richard Fairburn, Tim Wyman OTHERS IN ATTENDANCE: Employees of the City of Canton MEDIA IN ATTENDANCE: WBYS Radio, Fulton Democrat VIDEO SERVICES BY ZOOM PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE OPENED THE MEETING INVOCATION—Mayor Kent McDowell PUBLIC PARTICIPATION— ROLL CALL Yes No Absent Alderman Justin X Nelson Alderwoman X Lingenfelter Alderman Fritz X Alderwoman Hale ABSENT Alderman West X Alderman Lovell X Alderman Quin ARRIVED LATE Mayhew Alderwoman X Chamberlin ADDITIONS OR CORRECTIONS TO THE AGENDA CONSENT AGENDA COMMITTEE REPORTS: FINANCE ALDERWOMAN ANDRA CHAMBERLIN, CHAIRMAN LEGAL AND ORDINANCE ALDERMAN CRAIG WEST, CHAIRMAN DISCUSS, CONSIDER AND VOTE ON A RESOLUTION APPROVING AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF CANTON AND PERATO/HCC AND UTILIZING THE THIRD- PARTY ADMINISTRATOR CONSOCIATE FOR THE GROUP MEDICAL PLAN FOR THE CITY OF CANTON EMPLOYEES AND RETIREES COVERED UNDER THE GROUP INSURANCE PLAN EFFECTIVE MAY 1, 2021 AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND/OR CITY CLERK TO EXECUTE ALL NECESSARY AND RELATED AGREEMENTS AND DOCUMENTS IN RELATION TO SAID GROUP INSURANCE PLAN. City Clerk Diana Pavley Rock said that an employee meeting was held today at 4:00pm to discuss the proposed group medical plan for the city employees and retirees. Insurance consultant Tim Wyman from the Wyman Group said that there were several employees that attended the employee meeting and several questions were discussed. The employee's concerns were around insurance issues as it relates around the United States. Some of the questions pertained to access, getting benefits approved, and all of the things that Tim deals with on a daily basis. Tim said that the employee meeting also gave him a better understanding of some of the issues when the City was self-funded 15-20 years ago. The City was previously with Mutual Medical where there were issues of reasonable and customary timeliness. The owner of Mutual Medical was indicted in federal court and could better understand the issues the City had during that time period. Tim further explained that the insurance industry has changed and there are protections in place now under the affordable care act. Tim said that when he answered all of the questions from the employees, he felt like the employees went from trepidations to cautiously enthusiastic. Tim said that once the questions from the employees were answered, he felt that the employees could then see the opportunities being presented. One of the concerns is the fact that Graham bills separately for some procedures so he will reach out to Graham to have more discussion over this issue to see if he could work with Graham to resolve this issue for the employees. Under the proposed plan the City would be partnering with Consociate-which they would collect, process and pay all of the claims. Alderman Lovell asked if this role could be quoted to have BCBS do this. Tim said that BCBS could quote this, but the Perato model that is included in the proposal doesn't allow it. The Perato model brings the City a no laser contract-which provides a layer of protection on larger claims. Perato also limits the reinsurance to 30%. BCBS would have higher administrative costs and the City would ultimately end of paying more under a model with BCBS. Under a partially self-funded model the Council would decide what the benefits would be. The proposal includes taking the current SPD from BCBS and giving it to consociates to mirror. This is on record and was recorded. Alderman Nelson asked how the premiums would be set for the employees and the City. Tim explained that the premiums are set this year on Tim's recommendations because the projected cost are identical going forward next year. The insurance committee's recommendation was to approve the same rates that BCBS was charging for this year. Going forward, the City will get a renewal on a reinsurance and there will be a claims trending number that has been identified. Tim will then go to the insurance committee and give his recommendation on a percentage increase based upon the results. The council would then review the insurance committee's recommendation and would give a final vote. Tim further explained that OSF and Unity Point both provided two very good contracts for the City. Unity Point is 55% off of billed charges and OSF is just a little under. The City can access Graham's hospital and physicians though both of the contracts. All of Graham Hospitals facilities and physicians would be available to the City of Canton's employees. The great thing about being self-funded is that you can negotiate the contracts with the hospitals. The City would be joining 1400 other employers and 350,000 lives- which is a lot of buying power. Attorney Jump asked if Tim had any further discussions with Graham. Tim said he has a conference call scheduled tomorrow morning with Graham. Tim said he thinks Graham just needs to have a better understanding of the proposal. Graham has signed a contract with Unity Point and OSF, so all claims through them would be discounted. Graham seems willing to work with Tim. Initially Tim said he thinks Graham thought he was trying to steer business away from them, but that could not be any further from the truth. Tim said that he would rather have Canton employees go locally and support the local businesses. Having Graham in town also provides convenience to the employees. Tim said he had the president of Consociates reach out to Graham, so they understand that there is no plan to steer any business away. The great thing about Consociate is that they have signed a deeply discounted contract directly with Barnes Hospital. If there was a unique health problem that could not be handled at Graham or one of the hospitals in Peoria, the plan would still capture 20-35%, instead of the 10-12%that would be captured at Northwestern. There would be world- class service at Barnes- as they are the top children's cancer hospital in the country. There are outlets and paths for employees if they need something special under the proposed plan if OSF or Unity Point can't do it. OSF requires—that if you want to utilize an OSF physician, you can't utilize any unity point physician. This is an OSF requirement. Tim said its very rare and he doesn't see this often. In certain circumstances, he would work with the specialist on office visits and then do an outside contract so they are billing consociates. An office visit is a very small amount of money- so this is how you would get around a specialist. Mayor McDowell said that he would invite any employee that is on this meeting to speak up or ask any question. City of Canton Retiree Jay Smith said that he feels it is a change in benefit, because right now he does have a Unity Point GP, but has a specialist at OSF and also uses specialist at Unity Point prior to OSF specialist and wasn't getting the proper care-so he changed. Jay further stated that he if the City goes to this plan then he would need to decide if he is going to keep his GP or opt to use what he considers physicians that was not previously handling his care properly in the past. Tim said that he could work with the specialist to see if they would do an outside of the contract agreement and then have it paid in network if the council would want this done. Working with the doctor's would fix this problem. Alderman Lovell said he would like to hear the insurance committee's recommendation again with all three unions present to vote at that meeting. Alderman Fritz said he was at the employee meeting and felt that it was a productive meeting. Tim did a very good job, but would also like to have it go back to the insurance committee. This is a major decision that would affect the employees and their families and wants to be certain that the right decision is made. During the meeting employees sent a few questions to the panelist of the zoom meeting. Tim answered each question that came from the employees. Mayor McDowell said that the City could vote to stay with BCBS at a 4.45% increase for a 24- month period. Further discussion took place over the grandfathered plan that they are now in. Tim said that it would actually be better for the City to leave the grandfathered plan. Back during 2009 when President Obama was promoting the ACA—there is not language about grandfathered. A law came out from the Obama administration that simply says you don't have to adhere to certain elements of the ACA. The ACA allows- if you are grandfathered not to pay for new experimental procedures. The ACA provides unlimited preventative care. This allows for blood work,wellness visits, colonoscopies covered at no cost to the employees. Right now, if an employee wants a colonoscopy with the grandfathered plan with BCBS the employee would have to apply this to their deductible and coinsurance. The employee would be paying approximately $1500.00 for the colonoscopy. Under the ACA non-grandfathered plan, the employee would not have to pay anything. The grandfathered provision was something that was really for employers – not employees. Tim said the City should be spending money on preventative things- as you want people to go get a colonoscopy and to go get their blood work. This is something that Tim would encourage doing away with. People should be able to get these preventative screenings done free of charge. It would definitely save the City in the long run. Tim said that the grandfathered argument is grounded in the false understanding of what it is. Tim asked the Council if they are tired of reacting to one year rate increases set by an industry that has conditioned you to do that, or do you want to exchange that for a 3-5-year strategy on how to control your costs-improve your outcome-increase the wellness of your employees going forward. This is the issue in front of the council right now. City Clerk Diana Pavley Rock said she could schedule another insurance committee meeting for the end of the week and an answer could come back to the Council next week. Motion and second were made by Aldermen West/Mayhew to table all three items on the agenda until the hospital is involved and a meeting is held with the insurance committee. Discussion: Alderman Fritz said that he feels the employees are wanting to see more of the plan design in writing. An informational flyer that might show what BCBS has on one side, and what Consociates has on the other side. This would give a comparison for the employees to see. Tim explained that the benefits will be identical to that of BCBS. Just to have something in writing for the employees to see would be helpful. ROLL CALL Yes No Absent Alderman Justin X Nelson Alderwoman X Lingenfelter Alderman Fritz X Alderwoman Hale ABSENT Alderman West X Alderman Lovell X Alderman Quin X Mayhew Alderwoman X Chamberlin The motion carried. DISCUSS, CONSIDER AND VOTE ON A RESOLUTION APPROVING AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF CANTON AND BCBS FOR THE GROUP MEDICAL PLAN FOR THE CITY OF CANTON EMPLOYEES AND RETIREES COVERED UNDER THE GROUP INSURANCE PLAN EFFECTIVE MAY 1, 2021 FOR A ONE-YEAR RATE AGREEMENT AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND/OR THE CITY CLERK TO EXECUTE ALL NECESSARY AND RELATED AGREEMENTS AND DOCUMENTS IN RELATION TO THE SAID INSURANCE PLAN. DISCUSS, CONSIDER AND VOTE ON A RESOLUTION APPROVING AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF CANTON AND BCBS FOR THE GROUP MEDICAL PLAN FOR THE CITY OF CANTON EMPLOYEES AND RETIREES COVERED UNDER THE GROUP INSURANCE PLAN EFFECTIVE MAY 1, 2021 FOR A TWO-YEAR RATE AGREEMENT AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND/OR THE CITY CLERK TO EXECUTE ALL NECESSARY AND RELATED AGREEMENTS AND DOCUMENTS IN RELATION TO THE SAID INSURANCE PLAN NEGOTIATIONS, GRIEVANCE & PERSONNEL ALDERMAN JUSTIN NELSON, CHAIRMAN COMMUNITY& INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ALDERMAN JOHN LOVELL, CHAIRMAN PUBLIC WORKS, WATER&SEWER ALDERWOMAN ANGELA LINGENFELTER, CHAIRMAN PUBLIC SAFETY AND TRAFFIC ALDERWOMAN ANGELA HALE, CHAIRMAN STREETS AND GARBAGE ALDERMAN JEFF FRITZ, CHAIRMAN LAKE, BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS ALDERMAN QUIN MAYHEW, CHAIRMAN MAYOR COMMUNICATION OLD BUSINESS NEW BUSINESS ADJOURNMENT MOTION and second were made by Aldermen Nelson/Chamberlin to adjourn into executive session for 5ILCS 120/2 C2, C11 for the purpose of Collective Bargaining. ROLL CALL Yes No Absent Alderman Justin X Nelson Alderwoman X Lingenfelter Alderman Fritz X Alderwoman Hale X Alderman West X Alderman Lovell X Alderman Quin X Mayhew Alderwoman X Chamberlin The motion carried. City of Canton Reconvened Special Council Meeting 2 North Main Street Canton IL 61520 ZOOM Video conferencing 03-22-2021 9:23pm Via Zoom Mayor McDowell called the meeting back to order at 9:23pm after the executive session. ROLL CALL Yes No Absent Alderman Justin X Nelson Alderwoman X Lingenfelter Alderman Fritz X Alderwoman Hale X Alderman West X Alderman Lovell X Alderman Quin X Mayhew Alderwoman X Chamberlin The motion carried. No further discussion took place. Motion and second were made by Aldermen Nelson/Mayhew to adjourn. ROLL CALL Yes No Absent Alderman Justin X Nelson Alderwoman X Lingenfelter Alderman Fritz X Alderwoman Hale X Alderman West X Alderman Lovell X Alderman Quin X Mayhew Alderwoman X Chamberlin The motion carried. Mayor Kent McDowell City Clerk Diana Pavley Rock