Supervisors refuse to backfill vaccination incentives

A request from the Page County Wellness Committee to have the county help fund an incentive program to encourage employees on the Page County insurance program to get their COVID-19 vaccination was denied Sept. 21 by the Board of Supervisors.

Supervisor Chairperson Chuck Morris said the committee met Sept. 14 and proposed offering the incentive. Under the terms of the request, Page County would backfill any shortfall the committee encountered by offering a financial incentive.

Morris said he had struggled to separate his personal feelings from what would be best for Page County and its employees. Although he has, Morris said only 50% of the people in the county are vaccinated.

"I think we can all agree anything related to COVID, or related to vaccinations, there are generally two schools of thought, and it's pretty divided. I got vaccinated and believe in it, but that was my choice. I think people in our country should have a choice to get vaccinated or not get vaccinated," Morris said.

Supervisor Jacob Holmes said he did not believe helping fund an incentive program was an appropriate use of tax dollars.

"If someone wants to have a bake sale, raise some money and do that, it's fine. But tax dollars should not be spent to incentivize something like a personal health decision. It's like a bribe and I want nothing to do with that," Holmes said.

However, Morris clarified the incentive would not necessarily involve tax dollars. He said it could involve funding the county receives from Iowa State Association of Counties from its wellness account.

Like Morris, Supervisor Alan Armstrong said he vaccinated because he felt it was the right choice for him. Armstrong said he spoke with officials at Shenandoah Medical Center and found the average cost for someone hospitalized with COVID-19 at that hospital was $16,000. He said the average cost at Clarinda Regional Health Center was $24,000.

"I'm more worried about down the road what it's going to do to our (insurance) rates and the penalties that'll be prescribed to people that maybe haven't taken the precaution if the insurance companies are forced to charge different," Armstrong said.

As a result, Armstrong did not feel this was the right time for the county to start backfilling an incentive like this.

After discussing the proposal, Holmes made a motion to deny the request. The board voted unanimously to deny the request to backfill the incentive.

Also during the meeting, the board approved a change to its meeting schedule. The board had been meeting at 8:30 a.m. each Tuesday except on the second Tuesday of the month when the board convened at 6 p.m.

However, the second Tuesday of the month is also when the Shenandoah City Council meets and thus creates a conflict for people wishing to attend both meetings. Therefore, the Board of Supervisors approved moving the night meeting to 6 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month.

The board also discussed the potential of holding meetings in Shenandoah from time to time.

A resolution establishing a new telecommunications policy for the county was also approved during the meeting. The policy informs county employees that some of their personal information legally becomes public record if they accept the stipend offered by Page County for the use of a personal cellular phone for county business.

In other business, the board approved a request from Sonrisers Popcorn in Clarinda to use a portion of the courthouse lawn during the Southwest Iowa Band Jamboree Oct. 2.

A tax abatement requested by the city of Shenandoah for the property at 316 N. Broad St. was also approved. Armstrong said a fire occurred a year ago and destroyed the buildings on the property.