HomeMy WebLinkAboutPersonnel Committee - Minutes - 5/3/2018Minutes of the
Bayfield County Personnel Committee Meeting
4:30 PM, May 3, 2018
Emergency Operations Center (EOC), Bayfield County Annex, Washburn, WI
Members Present: Brett Rondeau, Dennis Pocernich, Tom Gordon, Harold Maki, Tom
Snilsberg
Members Excused:
Others Present: County Administrator Mark Abeles-Allison, Kristine Kavajecz-Assistant,
Caleb Brown-Forester, Theresa LaChappelle-UW Extension, Dan Heffner, Jody Heffner, Sarah
Copp, Deidre Zifko, Pat Bruno (4:30pm)
Meeting called to order at 4:00pm by Rondeau
Public Comment: Nina Bucher and Jane Cook provided written comments that were distributed
to the committee.
Theresa LaChappelle stated she does not believe people should be penalized for their medical
conditions. Suggested that input should be gathered from employees. Employees are concerned
with premiums and plan changes.
Dan Heffner is disappointed that the committee would consider penalizing employees for health
conditions.
Jody Heffner also addressed concerns with being penalized for not meeting health standards.
Election of Chairman and Vice Chairman:
Motion Gordon to nominate Rondeau for the position of Chairman.
Motion Pocernich, Gordon to close nominations and cast a unanimous ballot for Rondeau for
Chairman. Motion Carried (5-0).
Motion Pocernich to nominate Gordon for the position of Vice-Chairman.
Motion Pocernich, Rondeau to closed nominations and cast a unanimous ballot for Gordon for
Vice-Chairman. Motion Carried (5-0).
Approval of Minutes of April 5, 2018.
Motion Pocernich, Rondeau to approve minutes of the April 5, 2015 meeting. Motion Carried (5-
0).
Active Military Service Benefits: The committee considered a modification to the military
leave policy :
“For purposes of vacation benefits, an employee who is deployed for extended active military duty
(not annual training), shall be allocated two weeks of vacation upon return from active military
duty.”
Motion Gordon, Pocernich to approve the Military Leave policy modification to the Personnel
Policy Manual, effective immediately. Motion Carried (5-0).
Benefit Adjustments in 2019: Abeles-Allison reviewed current health utilization figures, which
reflected 117% for the 12 month period ended January, 2018. The committee reviewed
discussion topics that have been brought up in previous meetings:
• Considering adjustment to the HRA roll-over. The roll-over for employees was originally
100% of unused funds, the roll-over now is 25% of unused funds. Right now about
$300,000 comes back to the county for unused HRA funds annually.
• Consider a possible incentive for employees that have dual insurance (spouse and
employee) to take the spouse’s insurance.
• Health Insurance Options such as having the county pay up to the cost of the HMO plan.
If an employee chose a more costly plan, they would pay the difference.
• Switching from HRA to HSA.
Abeles-Allison reiterated that the goal of these discussions is to have time to research and
evaluate any necessary adjustment decisions early rather than late in the year.
Representatives of Security Health Plan have agreed to participate in a May 31 Personnel
Committee meeting if the committee is available to meet on that date.
Motion Pocernich, Gordon to suspend the rules and allow for public input at this time. Motion
Carried. Comment from Gordon that insurance needs to be looked at during budget time as part
of a whole package.
Questions from employees:
Are there other quotes from other companies?
When are health insurance premiums known for the coming year?
Has the county considered lobbying for a single payer health plan?
Comment that our employee group is getting older and the population of the county is getting
older. Insurance is very important. Employees sometimes feel pressured that their medical costs
are costing the county too much money.
Comment that the employees would hate to lose the HRA. It is important to help employees pay
their deductible costs.
Comment was shared from a new employee that the county’s plan is much cheaper than their
previous employer.
Comment that prescription co-pays were added this year for employees that meet their
deductible.
Comment that employees that are infrequent users of the insurance are confused when they do
need to use it. Further education would be helpful.
Abeles-Allison reported that the intent is to explore alternatives available and the county’s
insurance broker is preparing to solicit proposals later in the year.
Wellness planning / incentives for 2019/2020: Currently the county provides a 5% premium
reduction if the spouse and employee complete an on-line health risk assessment and annual
preventive exam. The county received information from the health insurance company that
identified recommendations that the county could consider related to the wellness program. A
summary of the recommendations was included in the meeting packet and were reviewed by the
committee.
At a previous meeting, the Personnel Committee asked that information be provided on what
other counties are doing for wellness requirements and incentives. A list of the various data from
other counties/entities was reviewed.
Security Health Plan has recommended that the county consider basing the incentive on health
outcomes. Example, If an employee has a BMI that is over the recommended/target BMI, they
would need to complete specific action items that related to improving the BMI. Those items
could include participating in education, exercise classes, on-line programming, health coaching,
or a variety of other options that would need to be identified as part of the program.
There were 4 specific findings identified by Security Health as being the highest risk factors for
Bayfield County employees and family members: Unhealthy Weight, High blood pressure, High
blood sugar levels, Elevated cholesterol
There are 2 questions for the committee to consider:
1) Do we want to continue the current 2 wellness requirements.
2) Do we want to implement additional incentive requirements.
Reports:
a. Personnel Financial Reports, end of April 2018: Personnel costs are currently 1.7% over
the same time last year.
b. Health Insurance Utilization: Reviewed earlier in the meeting
c. Staffing Update: report on vacancies and new employees was provided.
d. Report on NeoGov Onboarding System.
Next meeting will be on May 31 at 4:00pm.
Motion Gordon, Pocernich to enter in and out of closed session pursuant to Wisconsin Statutes
§19.85(1)(c) to consider employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data
of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises
responsibility and to approve closed session minutes of January 4, 2018. Motion Carried.
Entered Closed session at 5:25pm.
Motion Gordon, Pocernich to return to open session. Motion Carried. Returned to open session
at 5:33pm
Meeting adjourned at 5:33pm.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Kristine Kavajecz