CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council on Thursday directed staff to move forward with negotiations on new employee health benefits that could save the city a significant amount of money, and discussed – but took no action – on council health benefits.
City Manager Joan Phillipe told the council that the city currently pays a total of $773,800 annually for the health care coverage. Employees pay $113,000 in payroll deductions toward that amount.
The new plan under consideration could save the city $176,000 annually, for a 23-percent reduction, said Phillipe.
“We have our hands tied somewhat by being a rural community,” said Phillipe, with PPOs, not HMOs, available locally.
Councilmember Judy Thein agreed that costs were a problem., “Our health insurance costs are just going sky high.”
However, she didn’t feel that the proposed plan was good for city employees, and asked if they could consider others plans.
Phillipe said they were pretty far into the process, noting that the council previously had directed her to proceed on the proposed plan.
“We have spent a tremendous amount of time making sure it’s absolutely comparable to what we have,” Phillipe said.
Thein said that the new plan would require employees to pay out-of-pocket expenses and deductibles they don’t currently pay.
Phillipe replied that the city is looking at instituting a flexible spending account as they were concerned about employees not being able to pay out of pocket expenses. She said the reimbursement turnaround time is three to five days on that flex account.
Councilman Curt Giambruno said he felt the decision should be approved by the council once the new members elected on Tuesday are seated, but Phillipe said the longer they waited, the less of a savings they would realize. Ultimately, he and his colleagues agreed that the decision needed to go forward.
The council approved giving Phillipe direction to continue negotiations, 5-0.
While the council discussed possible changes to health insurance benefits for its members, it was agreed upon that the new council should take the matter up later.
Also on Thursday, the council approved an agreement with the county of Lake to renovate and operate a new city visitor center at 14295 Lakeshore Drive.
City resident Carl Webb encouraged the council to approve the agreement. New businesses are opening up along the corridor, and Webb said the new visitor center could be a jewel for the area.
When the council approved the agreement in a 5-0 vote, it received a round of applause from the audience.
In other council action, council members approved a first reading of a new code enforcement ordinance and approved a second reading of an ordinance regulating taxi cabs and other for-hire vehicles.
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