Minutes 05/24/1999 - Laserfiche WebLink

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MONDAY, MAY 24, 1999 A special and duly-called meeting of the Council of the City of Martinsville, Virginia, with Mayor Mark A. Crabtree presiding, was held Monday, May 24, 1999, in the Lower Level Conference Room, Room 32, City Hall, beginning at 6:00 P.M. The purpose of the meeting was to consider the City's FY 1999/2000 budget, specifically those items relating to costs for Health Insurance, Pay and Classification, and Retirement Benefits. All members of Council were present: Dr. Mark A. Crabtree, Mayor; M. Gene Teague, Vice- Mayor; and Council Members Bruce H.T. Dallas, Elizabeth H. Haskell, and Terry L. Roop. Mayor Crabtree opened the meeting and yielded the floor to City Manager Earl B. Reynolds, Jr.. Mr. Reynolds began by stating that one of the most substantial cost areas of the City budget was that related to personnel costs. He then introduced Mr. Dan Brandon, of McNeary Benefits Consulting, Inc., of Charlotte, North Carolina, and Mr. Keith Cook, former public sector Human Resources professional and veteran of more than thirty years Human Resources administration experience. Mr. Reynolds stated that Mr. Cook had been assisting the City's Human Resources Department in its latest Pay Plan Market Review. Mr. Reynolds then turned the presentation over to Mrs. Iris Read, Human Resources Manager for the City, who proceeded to give a brief hist6ry of the current health care plan, provided by Mid Atlantic Medical Services, Inc., (MAMSI) noting that the current plan had both a basic and an optional level of coverage. Mrs. Read then described the process by which solicitation, review and evaluation of health care provider proposals had been accomplished, making special note of the efforts of the Employee Insurance Team and the internal benefits survey that had been done. Mrs. Read stated that the employee survey had shown that employees overwhelmingly supported preservation of current benefit levels, even at a higher cost. Mrs. Read then stated that seven proposals had been received in response to the bid solicitation, and the results showed that MAMSI offered the best proposal at the lowest cost. Her recommendation was for continuation with MAMSI, under the terms offered in their latest proposal. Mr. Brandon then offered his comments, first reiterating that retention of current benefit levels had been of key importance in assessing the proposals. He than gave an overview of market issues, stating that average increases in plan costs of 7-11% had been