EDITORIAL: City needs to reconsider insurance decision

Aug. 17--If playwright William Shakespeare had attended Tuesday's Natchez Board of Aldermen meeting, he may very well have used a familiar line to describe what he saw, "Something is rotten in the state of Natchez."

In what to any outsider looks bafflingly peculiar, four aldermen voted to simply rubber stamp the city's previous relationship with a health insurance provider rather than even consider offers from others.

Aldermen Dan Dillard and Billie Joe Frazier and alderwomen Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis and Felecia Irving voted against a motion to accept competitive proposals.

Not only does that move seem strange, it also seems potentially a dereliction of public stewardship.

Last year, aldermen did a similar head-scratching decision, in the face of several city employee complaints over the poor quality of the insurance provided and with the potential for saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in making a switch.

Aldermen suggested at the time it was simply too late in the renewal process to consider other options. But this time, the decision was brought up much earlier in the process, but with the same strange result -- a flat refusal to consider any other plans.

By shutting off competition, the public has no clue whether or not their tax dollars are being efficiently spent.

As Alderwoman Sarah Smith, who along with alderman Benjamin Davis, voted to seek other bids pointed out, the city is being more careful and deliberate with garbage collection contracts than with the health insurance for city workers.

We urge city leaders to reconsider their decision and openly consider any other potential health insurance proposals.

Failure to do so telegraphs clearly they view the relationship with the current insurance provider more highly than city employees or taxpayers.

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(c)2017 The Natchez Democrat (Natchez, Miss.)

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