Logan County Board to vote on employee health insurance and $5.7 million courthouse restoration performance contract

 

[April 19, 2022] 

At the April 14, Logan County Board Workshop, board members heard presentations related to action items the board will be voting on at Tuesday’s Regular meeting.

Insurance Committee updates

The first presentation was from Nathan Whiteman and Andrew Novaria, representatives of American Central Insurance. Whiteman has been helping the county with insurance renewals the past few years. Whiteman and Novaria shared information about health insurance renewals for employees.

There have been transitions, but Whiteman said they have managed to keep renewals in a reasonable state over time. Over the years, Whiteman said they have worked to bring everything down to more manageable rates. This year, there is a larger than average increase in insurance rates.

The enrollment process has been streamlined through Logan County Treasurer Penny Thomas’ office. Whiteman and Novaria also offer database support for employees as it pertains to billing and enrollment.

The company received proposals from several different companies. Novaria said rates from AETNA and United Health Care were not competitive. They then looked at the various options from Blue Cross/Blue Shield and a renewal for Health Alliance. The county has worked with each of the companies in the past.

For dental, vision and life insurance, Novaria said they will continue to use Guardian. The county switched to that company last year and got a two-year rate. Therefore, there is no increase in their rates.

With the medical insurance, Novaria said Blue Cross/Blue Shield has reduced employee only rates. However, their dependent and family rates are higher. Novaria and Whiteman have worked over the years to reduce the dependent and family tiers as much as possible. That way it is more affordable for employees to put their spouse and family on the plan.

Because of ongoing issues between Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Springfield Clinic, Novaria said Health Alliance is the better option.

In looking at past and present costs, board member Dale Nelson asked what they were. He wanted to know what the renewal rate would be.

Between May 1, 2021, and February 28, 2022, Novaria said the county paid $661,000 in premiums. Extrapolating these figures for a full year the county would have paid out $793,000 in premiums. Health Alliance paid out $715,000. This makes a difference of $78,000 going to Health Alliance.

Health Alliance is asking a renewal rate 13 percent increase.

The board must vote on renewals this month. Board member David Hepler said he did not see these rates until the Insurance Committee meeting Wednesday, April 13. Hepler asked if that was the company’s typical practice. In the past, Hepler said they had more lead time.

Renewals are typically released around March 1. Novaria and Whiteman immediately reach out to other carriers and start collecting proposals while negotiating with Health Alliance.

Both Novaria and Whiteman have been working on negotiating renewals but did not hear back from Health Alliance until March 18. Therefore, they did not have the numbers to show the board in March.

The final renewal was not done until the end of March, which Novaria said made the timeline tight from a payroll standpoint.

In years past, Whiteman said some renewals were easy to resolve. This year, Health Alliance and Blue Cross/Blue Shield both dug their heels in. Whiteman said it meant more conversations with these companies. It then took more effort to put the renewals together.

Originally, Insurance Committee Chairman Annette Welch said numbers came in at a 15 percent increase last month. It was not a number Whiteman, Novaria and Welch were happy with. Welch said Novaria and Whiteman worked to get better rates and more competitive bids. They chose to lose a month to get a better outcome.

After a long negotiation process, Novaria said they got Health Alliance down to a 13 percent increase.

On Tuesday, Welch will bring forward three motions.

The first motion will be to approve Health Alliance for medical insurance coverage.

The second one will be to approve Guardian as the dental, vision and life insurance carrier.

The third item will be to change the annual employee contribution for medical from $500 to $530.

The county covers the basic plan in full. In the past, the county paid $500 per employee covered. To offer that coverage this year with the increase, Welch said total coverage will be $559. The county will cover thirty more dollars this year. Employees will cover the other $29.

Courthouse restoration update

Another presentation was from Control Technology and Solutions (CTS). For the past year, CTS has been working with Logan County Courthouse Project Manager Bill Walter of Masonry Restoration Technology and Services putting together the specifications of the performance contract. This contract is energy related.

It took a long time to negotiate with CTS to get the best package at the best costs, but Walter said he achieved what he wanted. Walter asked board members to email him or CTS representatives with any questions they had before Tuesday’s meeting.

CTS brought five representatives from the company. These included Senior Lead Account Manager Michelle James, Licensed Engineer Gil Bucio and Midwest Region Sales Director Bob Smith. The other representatives were Vice President of Midwest Operation and Sales Al Willis and Senior Project Manager Pete Oswald. Bucio and James have spent the most time here in Logan County negotiating the performance contract, but the whole team has worked on details. Oswald will coordinate the on-sight construction.

Smith shared a timeline of the work CTS had done related to the restoration.

In March 2021, Logan County issued a design phase agreement to CTS. The CTS group provided a design plan review in August.

Between August and October 2021, Smith said CTS worked on final design development and competitive procurement.

In November 2021, CTS provided final performance contract pricing. December to February 2022, CTS investigated cost saving design revisions.

As of February 14, 2022, CTS had updated their design and pricing.

At board workshop CTS presented the performance contract scope of work.

The work will include the following:

• Geothermal Heating Ventilating Air Conditioning System with a guaranteed standard of comfort and energy savings.
 
• Electrical upgrades such as a service main upgrade and new electrical circuits for equipment.

• Direct Digital Temperature Controls.

• New high efficiency interior lighting throughout with decorative lighting in Rotunda.

• New acoustic ceiling tile throughout (excluding rotunda).

• New high efficiency exterior accent lighting.

• Asbestos abatement necessary for equipment installation in basement and 3rd floor courtroom.

CTS looked at various systems and decided Geothermal heating and cooling would work best.

With Geothermal Heating and Cooling Systems, they use the natural thermal properties of the earth to dissipate or capture heat to condition a building’s environment. James said preconditioned air systems last fifty years.

In using geothermal for the HVAC systems, heat will come in during the winter and cool air during the summer. James said this system is more energy efficient and needs less maintenance. The components also have a longer life. The well field can last up to 50 years and the heat pump from 20 to 30 years.

CTS has a division for grants, rebates and incentives. James said someone will work with the development team to research local grants and incentives for the scope of work they are looking at. They will pursue these grants on behalf of the county.

With the direct digital temperature control, Bucio said it is basically an intelligent network of devices. These devices control temperatures, heating and cooling. There will be a dedicated computer with easy-to-use graphic interface.

Any internet connectible device can login with a password to the system.

The electrical service upgrade is needed to power the HVAC system. It will include removing the existing transformer and relocating it away from the building. James said CILCO requires that.

In the basement storage vault near the existing electrical service panels, CTS will install new electrical panels.

For the interior lighting upgrades, James said they will use LED lighting fixtures. LED lighting lasts much longer and requires less maintenance.

Offices in the courthouse will have flat lighting panels. In the rotunda area, CTS will install new decorative pendant fixtures, wall sconces and surface mount decorative globe lights. The third-floor rotunda area will include 2 x 2 flat panels instead of pendant fixtures.

A new exterior lighting system will illuminate the façade on all four sides of the building as well as the dome and cupola. James said they will install a new lighting control for the exterior lighting. This panel will have programming for various colored light show with customizable effects.

If the performance contract is approved, James said the next steps are to meet in June and begin the work in July.

Tuesday, Building and Grounds Committee Chairman David Blankenship will motion to secure CTS services as the performance contractor for the Courthouse Restoration at a cost of $ 5,715,562. This amount will come out of the restoration funds.

Project Manager Bill Walter and the Construction Technical Committee had looked at several HVAC systems. Board member Jim Wessbecher asked why they went back to a geothermal system after looking at other systems.

Two reasons for switching to geothermal are efficiency and being “green.” Blankenship said these are part of what made them decide to switch from a dual fuel system with back up boiler. Geothermal has advantages like the standard of comfort guarantee. Other benefits include possible availability of grants and energy rebates.

Other action items:

Tuesday, Blankenship will bring forward a candidate for the position of Facilities Manager for the restoration. The name of the candidate was not shared.

The board will be voting on the following three motions from Finance Committee Chairman Steve Jenness:

Allowing the County Treasurer to hire a new full-time employee to replace one who left.

Paying off election equipment with $113,000 from the contingency fund.

Giving non-union employees one-time premium pay. If approved, full-time employees would get $1,500 and part-time employees would get $750.

Hepler asked what source the premium pay would come from. Typically, Hepler said the practice is to tell what source the money comes from.

Once the board has voted on whether to approve the premium pay, Jenness said they would decide where the pay would come from.

If the premium pay gains traction, Jenness said the likely source would be the contingency fund.

Planning and Zoning items to be voted on include:

Retaining engineer TWM/Serena Page for wind and solar engineering consults. Page has for reviewed previous wind and solar farm agreements for the county.

A Tri-County contract for GIS services.

Road and Bridge motions to be voted on include:

A resolution to award a contract for a new snowplow / dump bed package to Rahn Equipment Company for $79,341.

A resolution to award a contract for bituminous materials for the 2022 County Motor Fuel Tax sealcoat program.

A Letter of Engagement with Klein, Thorpe, and Jenkins for assistance to negotiate a road use agreement for the Top Hat wind farm project.

An amendment to the Joint Agreement with IDOT for construction of a bridge over Lake Fork Ditch near Broadwell.

A utility agreement with Ameren to move power poles along Fifth Street Road. The county’s share is $1,162,361.63 payable from Motor Fuel Tax Funds. The removal is part of the Fifth Street Road project.

The motion that will be brought forward from the Transportation Committee is a resolution authorizing an application for capital assistance grant for a paratransit vehicle.

The items will be voted on at the board’s voting session Tuesday, April 19 at 6 p.m. in the Orr Building.

[Angela Reiners]