Logan County Board briefs: Employee insurances approved and other business

[March 22, 2018] 

LINCOLN

On Tuesday, March 20, the Logan County Board held its regular monthly meeting to vote on several motions and hear committee updates.

Board members present were Kevin Bateman, Dave Blankenship, Janet Dahmm, Emily Davenport, Bob Farmer, David Hepler, Gloria Luster, Gene Rohlfs, Chuck Ruben, Bob Sanders, Scott Schaffenacker and Annette Welch.

Insurance, Legislative, and Liquor Committee update

Insurance, Legislative, and Liquor Committee Chairman Annette Welch brought forward four motions:

The first motion was to accept proposal for county medical insurance renewal from Blue Cross/Blue Shield and continue the county’s contribution at $490.

Nathan Whiteman, who works for American Central Insurance and is the county’s insurance consultant, went over the details of the renewal at Thursday’s Board Workshop.

Whiteman had sent the board packets explaining changes and plans offered. Whiteman was able to negotiate the plans down from a nine percent increase to just under a five percent increase. He said Blue Cross offers three tiers with different deductibles and the designs have not changed, but the price is up 4.9 percent partly due to taxes increasing.

On Tuesday, board member Gloria Luster said she thought the county should look at other insurances before next year. She would like Whiteman to bring updates to the committee more often, so they can decide before March when the renewal is due in April. Luster said it is not fair to employees to just have one option.

Welch said if the board votes to renew Blue Cross, they are not locked in for the year. Contractually, they can back out later. She plans to research other plans.

 Whiteman said on Thursday he may look in six months at options for the future and talk to employees.

Board Chairman Chuck Ruben said he thinks one lower cost plan with lower deductibles is better, but it needs more looking into before next year. He said it might be good to research it before the next budget year.

Whiteman said it is good to discuss plans earlier, but he is at the mercy of companies’ renewal dates, which come out in a 90-day window. It is hard to get prices early.

Board member David Hepler asked whether 30 days’ notice would be needed for a change. He also asked about the Healthlink and whether their $500 decrease in deductible would be available in November.

Whiteman said he believes 30 days’ notice would be needed. Whiteman said Healthlink has had that structure for three years, so he thought that amount would still be available in November.

Board Member Kevin Bateman asked Logan County Treasurer Penny Thomas what would happen if the county’s portion of the contribution went from $490 to $500.

Thomas said since there are about 70 non-union employees who get insurance through the county’s plan, it would cost the county $700 more per month.

Bateman asked whether the county could absorb the amount.

Finance Committee Chairman David Hepler said the county could probably absorb the amount, but it would have to be taken from somewhere else.

Board Chairman Chuck Ruben reminded the board the county is at a deficit budget, so there is no extra money.

Bateman amended the main motion to increase the county’s portion by $10 so it would be $500. That would be an additional $8,400 over the course of a year.

Board member Emily Davenport said the $10 extra would mean a lot to employees.

Bateman’s amended motion to increase the county contribution to $500 passed 7-5 with Kevin Bateman, Janet Dahmm, Emily Davenport, Bob Farmer, David Hepler, Gloria Luster, and Annette Welch voting yes. Dave Blankenship, Gene Rohlfs, Chuck Ruben, Bob Sanders and Scott Schaffenacker voted no.

The main motion to accept the proposal for county medical insurance renewal from Blue Cross/Blue Shield passed 7-5 with Kevin Bateman, Janet Dahmm, Emily Davenport, Bob Farmer, Gloria Luster, and Chuck Ruben voting yes. Dave Blankenship, David Hepler, Gene Rohlfs, Bob Sanders, and Scott Schaffenacker voted no.
The board then unanimously approved Welch’s motion to accept the dental insurance renewal from MetLife.

Whiteman said the dental plan increased by roughly three dollars per month for employees.

Other motions unanimously approved included:

- A motion to accept a Liquor License request for Outkasts.

- A motion for a Resolution in Recognition of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week.

Finance Committee update

Finance Committee Chairman David Hepler made a motion to set salaries for offices of Treasurer, County Clerk, and Sheriff for the term in the amount of $70,000 each.

On Thursday, Board Chairman Chuck Ruben reminded the board the amounts are set based on the position and not the person filling it.

Hepler said several board members convinced him the Sheriff’s salary should probably be set slightly higher. He amended the motion to set it to $80,000, but that motion did not get a second.

Board member Dave Blankenship motioned to send the salaries back to committee for review because there were two members missing from the Finance Committee when it came up for discussion.

Board member Gene Rohlfs said with the two members absent from the Finance Committee meeting, no time to prepare, and no recommendation coming out of committee for salaries, he would also like to see it go back to committee.

The board voted to send the salaries back to committee with Kevin Bateman, Dave Blankenship, Janet Dahmm, David Hepler, Gloria Luster, Gene Rohlfs, Bob Sanders, Scott Schaffenacker, and Annette Welch voting yes. Emily Davenport, Bob Farmer and Chuck Ruben abstained.

Ruben said the motion would go back to committee and be brought forward next month.

The board unanimously approved Hepler’s motion to make an expenditure of not more than $2,000 from the GIS Fund for AV equipment.

At the Finance Committee meeting March 13, Board Chairman Chuck Ruben said they have received the results from the United Counties Council of Illinois survey.

The UCCI does an annual survey of salaries and fringe benefits of elected officials and public employees that is broken into three sections.

The sections listed on the UCCI website include county statistics such as “population and budgetary data,” salary schedules of elected officials and county employees, and fringe benefits received by specific employee groups.

Ruben said County Board per diems are in the range of other counties, which are anywhere from $45 to $90. The Logan County Board per diem was set at $60 in recent years.

Planning and Zoning Committee update

Planning and Zoning Committee Chairman Scott Schaffenacker brought forward two motions:

1. A motion for the Conditional Use for Temporary Concrete Batch Plant for Hilltopper Wind Farm was unanimously approved.

2. A motion for the Hilltopper Wind Farm Project Decommissioning Plan Agreement Last month, the board heard details of the plans and recommendations from Patrick Engineering, Young Engineering, Westwood Engineering, and Swift Current Energy. Due to a few changes that needed to be made, it was sent back to the Planning and Zoning Committee.

Schaffenacker said rough and final drafts of the plan had been submitted along with HillTopper Wind Power Decommissioning Plan by Westwood Engineering and the document from Patrick Engineering.

Schaffenacker said a main part is the financial resource and a letter of credit of $1,269,886.

The motion for the Decommissioning Agreement passed 10-2 with Kevin Bateman, Janet Dahmm, Emily Davenport, Bob Farmer, David Hepler, Gloria Luster, Chuck Ruben, Bob Sanders, Scott Schaffenacker, and Annette Welch voting yes. Dave Blankenship and Gene Rohlfs voted no.

Executive and Personnel Committee update

Executive and Personnel Committee Chairman Emily Davenport’s motion to authorize Chairman to sign the bid from Stone River Group for Electrical Aggregation passed 11-1 with Kevin Bateman, Dave Blankenship, Janet Dahmm, Emily Davenport, Bob Farmer, David Hepler, Gloria Luster, Gene Rohlfs, Bob Sanders, Scott Schaffenacker, and Annette Welch voting yes. Chuck Ruben voted no.

Road and Bridge Committee update

The board unanimously approved three motions brought forward by Road and Bridge Committee Chairman Bob Farmer.

1. A motion for a contract for seal coat work in various township road districts.

2. A motion for an engineering agreement with Cummins Engineering to provide construction inspection for the road work at the Hilltopper Windfarm.

3. A motion to approve a contract with Goodman Excavating for $26,335.90 for riprap under an Oran Township bridge.

Appointments

Four appointments were approved as part of the consent agenda.

These appointments included:

Board member Dave Blankenship to the CEDS Committee at the Greater Peoria Economic Development Council.

Randy Conklen and Jim Hubrich to the Logan County Emergency Telephone System Board.

Daniel Hawk to the Latham Fire Protection District.

The next regular board meeting will be held in the Logan County Courthouse Tuesday, April 17 at 7 p.m.

[Angela Reiners]