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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPersonnel Committee - Minutes - 5/1/2014Minutes of the Bayfield County Personnel Committee Meeting 4:00 PM, May 1, 2014 Emergency Operations Center, Bayfield County Annex Building, Washburn, WI Members Present: Brett Rondeau, John Bennett, Dennis Pocernich, Harold Maki, William Bussey Members Excused: None Others Present: County Administrator Mark Abeles-Allison, Kristine Kavajecz-Assistant, Dee Kittleson, Fred Strand, Francis Johnson, Robin Huff-Security Health, Joan Berlin-Security Health, Dawn Dreschler-Marsh & McClellan Agencies, Bob StArnold-Marsh & McClellan Agencies. Marco Bichanich, Elizabeth Skulan, Nikki Revak, Steve Probst, Mike Furtak, Pat Bruno, Jason Holmes, Jane Cook, Nina Bucher, Kay Cederberg, Jody Heffner, Denise Tarasewicz, Patricia Olson, Karen Vlasaty, Pat Bruno, Tish Stewart Meeting called to order at 4:00pm by Abeles-Allison. Election of Officers: Motion by Bussey to nominate Rondeau for Chairman. Second by Pocernich and to close nominations and cast a unanimous ballot for Rondeau. Abeles-Allison asked 3 times if there were any further nominations. Motion Carried. Rondeau asked for nominations for Vice-Chairman. Motion by Maki to nominate Bussey for Vice-Chair. Second by Pocernich and to close nominations and cast a unanimous ballot for Bussey. Abeles-Allison asked 3 times if there were any further nominations. Motion Carried. Motion Bussey, Bennett to approve minutes of the April 3, 2014 Personnel Committee meeting. Motion Carried. Health Insurance Discussion: Representatives of Security Health, our insurance company and Marsh & McClellan Agency (our health insurance broker), were present to discuss options related to health insurance in the future. Representatives introduced themselves and explained their role with regard to the county’s health insurance plan. StArnold explained that Bayfield County is considered a large employer with over 100 FTE employees. Under the Affordable Care Act the county’s insurance must meet certain criteria. The combination of premium and HRA must not exceed the ACA limit or the county is subject to a 40% tax on the overage beginning in 2018. The insurance provider explained that options are being considered to ensure that the county’s plan will fall below the ACA limit. Options may include whether to provide coverage for retirees, and if so, what parameters/eligibility requirements will be set. One option for retirees could include setting a limit on the eligibility age for retirees. Another option could be to set a years of service minimum for eligibility, or that an employee must be on the plan for a minimum amount of time to be eligible at retirement. Most entities require a minimum of 15 years of service, and at least one year of plan coverage to be eligible for coverage at retirement. Legal advice is being sought on whether existing retirees could be grandfathered. Under the ACA, employees that work over an average of 30 hours per week are considered full- time and must be offered insurance. The county’s current policy is to offer insurance to employees that work more than 18.75-20 hours per week (50% time). There are other employees that are not considered regular part time employees, but may work over an average of 30 hours per week. Per Berlin, the county’s contribution for health insurance must be the same for all “full time equivalent” employees that are offered insurance beginning in 2015. Security Heath reported that if the “Cadillac Tax” were in place today, Bayfield County would be subject to the tax because all of the plans exceed the limit. Health Insurance Premiums and the HRA are used to calculate the county’s contribution. Per Security Health Plan, employees that work less than FT would not have to meet the Affordability requirement. (9.5% of wage). Security Health representatives pointed out that there are 2 primary issues that the county needs to consider: Establish # hours per week to be eligible for insurance coverage and establishing eligibility parameters for retiree coverage going forward. ACA plans are zip code, age, and wage driven. If an employer offers health insurance, the employee is then not eligible for tax subsidy unless the employer’s plan is not “affordable (9.5%)”. County has a very rich plan design per Security Health. Most governmental employers are eliminating health insurance for less than full time employees because in most instances, part time employees can get better rates through the Exchange and the employer does not want to cause the employee to miss out on the opportunity for the tax incentives. Johnson expressed that as a part-time employee she would be more than willing to work more hours and she is very thankful for her benefits. The committee discussed the look-back period that is used for determining average weekly hours. Most employers are going with a 12-month look-back period. Comment that employees should be asked for input and the plan can be right at the threshold. Decisions will need to be made in the next few months with regard to retirees and part-time employee coverage. Self-Insurance: Currently the county is paying approximately 74 cents of every dollar for claims. The remainder goes to the insurance company. StArnold explained that by self-insuring, the county may be able to save a significant amount. 9 of 10 years, most self insured plans will out- perform fully insured plans. Claims experience should be consistently below 80% to consider self-insurance. Groups that typically experience roller-coaster claims should not consider self- insurance. Timeline: Security Health Plan will do their best to get a strong estimate for rates in July. HRA contribution is included in the ACA Cadillac tax calculation. Options are being investigated for how the impact could be addressed. For example, can the HRA be partially funded rather than fully funded. Skulan reported that the HRA that is returned is reapplied to their programs internally. Security Health and Marsh & McClellan Representatives exited the meeting at this time. Several members of the audience exited at this time. Part Time Deputy Sheriff Wages: Part-Time Deputy Sheriff’s are currently paid $10/hr up to 99 hours; $12.50/hr up to 999 hours; $14.00/hr once 1000 hours are worked. The Sheriff’s Office has proposed increasing this to: • $13.90 for up to 99 hours • $15.90 for 100-999 hours • $17.90 for over 1000 hours The committee was provided with a summary of local and statewide comparisons of what other Sheriff’s departments are paying. Abeles-Allison reported that the department currently only uses one part-time deputy on a limited basis. They feel that without increasing the wage, they will not be able to attract qualified part-time officers. Costs for part-time officers is much less than paying Overtime to a full-time officer. Motion Bussey, Maki to approve the wage for part-time deputy sheriff’s as proposed. Discussion. Motion Carried. Social Worker Wages: New social worker wage scale is $16.65 - $24.97. Skulan addressed the committee about the department’s concern that the starting wage will not attract qualified candidates. A comparison of Bayfield and Ashland County benefits show them to be fairly comparable. Abeles-Allison reported that using the WIPFLI Social Worker I analysis and removing the two lowest wage comparisons, would result in a new median of 22.43 per hour. He also suggested that moving the Social Workers up a level on the wage schedule would provide a more competitive starting wage range that could be used. Committee requested Abeles-Allison to come up with a couple of options for the committee to consider at the next meeting. Clarification that the Part-time deputy wage will be effective immediately. Employee updates: • 5 summer highway interns were offered employment. 3 are returning from last summer and 2 are new. • 3 part-time summer fairgrounds caretakers were offered employment and 1 summer fair office assistant. All are returning from last year. • The Tourism office will have an unpaid intern for the summer, approximately 15 hours per week. • The UW Extension Office is advertising for a full-time summer VISTA volunteer. • The Land Conservation Department has 5 interns this summer to assist with the invasive species/clean waters clean boats programs. • Considering hiring a 4-month special prosecutor in the District Attorney’s office. This would be at the county’s expense. The purpose is to address back-log of cases. Cost will be about $4,800 for 16 weeks. Motion Pocernich, Bussey to enter in and out of closed session pursuant to Wisconsin Statutes §19.85(1)(c, e) for Discussion and Possible Action Regarding approval of closed session minutes of April 3, 2014, Teamster Union Negotiations Update and to discuss employee specific performance issues. Motion Carried. Entered Closed Session at 5:25pm. All County Board members, Abeles-Allison and Kavajecz were allowed to remain in closed session. Motion Bennett, Maki to return to open session. Motion Carried. Returned to open session at 5:35pm . Meeting adjourned at 5:35pm. Respectfully submitted by Kristine Kavajecz, Assistant to the County Administrator.