Vote to rescind health insurance contract fails

Sept. 28--NATCHEZ -- A vote to rescind the City of Natchez's health insurance contract failed to pass the board of aldermen for a second time Tuesday.

Health insurance was not on the agenda for Tuesday's meeting, but the topic was broached by Ward 3 Alderwoman Sarah Smith, who noted she thought the packed City Council Chambers could be attributed to residents attending the meeting to see the aldermen's action on insurance and the lease of the Broadway Street railroad depot.

The board of aldermen voted 5-1, with Sarah Smith voting nay, at its Sept. 13 meeting to renew its health insurance coverage with Leslie "Les" Smith of LS & Associates in Southaven at the board's Sept. 13 meeting. The city switched Smith's firm in September 2015.

The meeting quickly devolved into accusations of some aldermen being "wined and dined" in exchange for their support of Smith's coverage plan and a back-and-forth between Smith and representatives from Ross & Yerger Insurance, who appeared before the board to present a Blue Cross Blue Shield plan they said could have saved the city $900,000 last year and cut employees' insurance premiums as well.

At the same meeting, Sarah Smith and Ward 5 Alderman Benjamin Davis voted for motion that failed to pass to rescind the renewal of the city's contract with Les Smith.

Sarah Smith said she had received more communication from members of the public on the topic of insurance than she has on any other issues she has dealt with in her four years as an alderwoman.

Sarah Smith noted the petition circulating among city employees, who say they wish to see the city change its health insurance coverage. She said she had heard some employees were afraid to sign the petition for fear of retaliation by city officials, and that department heads also feared they would be retaliated against if their employees signed the petition.

"Which I hate, because we're making decisions up here on their behalf, and it's a huge responsibility," she said. "One of the things I heard the most was ... we had an opportunity to save the city between $200,000 and $900,000, and we didn't do it, and it was with Blue Cross Blue Shield, which we all know is someone that is an absolutely reputable, longtime insurance company."

Sarah Smith pointed out the city was not able to budget hiring additional firefighters in the face of a lower fire rating, yet passed on an opportunity to save money on insurance.

Later in the meeting, Davis said, as chair of the city's fire committee, he had learned the Natchez firefighters were dissatisfied with the city's insurance.

Sarah Smith also noted the city's option of going month-to-month with its current insurer so the city would have time to review proposals.

Sarah Smith recognized during her report resident Key Smith, an adviser at Natchez Wealth Management, who voiced concerns about the aldermen not adequately considering both insurance proposals before making a decision.

Key Smith said he was before the board as a concerned business owner and resident and relayed concerns from conversations with other concerned residents.

"From what we hear ... money is tight ... and from what we gathered, there was an opportunity to save ... $900,000, if it's even half of that, it's $450,000, and that's still a lot of money. ... What we would like to hear is why were both proposals not done, and is there anything you need from the citizens as far as getting an independent study (to compare the proposals)?

"If there is an opportunity to save that much money of my tax dollars, of our tax dollars that are being put in your hands for your good faith and for you to do due diligence and make a good decision with those monies, we want y'all to make the best decision available, and we want to be able to help you make that best decision available."

Ward 6 Alderman Dan Dillard made the motion at the board's last meeting to renew the city's contract with Les Smith before discussing both proposals.

Dillard said Tuesday when he evaluated the two companies' proposals, he did not see a savings with Ross & Yerger's self-insured plan. He also said he does not think the city can afford to assume the risk of being self-insured.

Dillard said the aldermen did not learn the city was soliciting insurance proposals until after the fact, and said he thinks the contract should be publicly advertised. Dillard said, however, those changes should come about next year.

Dillard also suggested, as other city officials have proposed, that the board have an independent consultant evaluate proposals.

Grennell noted that the Natchez-Adams County Chamber of Commerce had offered to serve as a resource for coordinating experts to evaluate the proposals.

Ward 2 Alderman Billie Joe Frazier said it seemed to him "if people can't get their way," they want to revisit the action, apparently referring to Sarah Smith.

Frazier said he had heard from insurance agents who did not know the city was seeking proposals, but said those issues needed to be handled next year.

"What we need to do is go ahead and move on and address it next year ... because all we're doing is dragging our feet," Frazier said.

"But if there's an opportunity to go month-to-month right now, why would we not pursue it?" Key Smith said.

Frazier seemed to say the board was going to wait a year to revisit the issue.

"So you're going to disregard the citizens' tax dollars and saving the money for the city?" Key Smith asked.

Frazier then seemed to mistake Key Smith for an agent who came before the board seeking a contract with the city. Key Smith clarified that he had never come before the board of aldermen.

Grennell announced that the meeting would keep order and moved comments on to Ward 1 Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis, who said the city was "upside down" in claims for serious illnesses with employees.

Arceneaux-Mathis said she did not support switching providers because she feared the costs would be cut this year, then increased significantly next year. She said she thought it best to go with the provider that saved the city approximately more than $100,000 last year.

Later in the meeting, Fred Parker with Byrne Insurance Agency addressed the board, saying he did not want the business, but would be happy to assist employees in looking into why their claims had not been paid.

"Because this is very unusual for employees to sign a petition," he said.

Parker said he could assist the city in looking into whether the issues needed to be handled by the Department of Insurance or Department of Labor.

In other news from the meeting:

4At Grennell's recommendation, the board appointed Lance Harris, Katie Johnson McCabe, Helen Moss Smith and Mary Lee Toles to the Natchez Convention Promotion Commission.

The appointments still leave two vacancies on the commission, and Grennell recessed Tuesday's meeting in order to reconvene the board when more interviews with candidates could be scheduled.

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