Commissioners Court voted for the third time in two weeks whether to change the health insurance for retirees over the age of 65 from Blue Cross Blue Shield to County Choice Silver Plan offered by Texas Association of Counties (TAC). Monday’s vote was split 3 to 2 in favor of changing to TAC’s Count Choice Silver Plan which was said would save the county over $219,000. County Judge Brint Carlton said the vote last week was only temporary and gave his reason for seeking another vote of the commissioners Monday. Carlton said that the vote on June 8 was done because the court believed the deadline for making a decision was June 15, but he has since learned the deadline is June 25. The judge also said the court was needing more information on Medicare eligible retiree health insurance coverage, and they received it last week after the vote was taken. Carlton’s opinion was that the votes at the last meeting on June 8 were only concerning making no changes at that time not adopting a Medicare retiree program for another year. The judge then presented a 28-slide power point to support his arguments for having another vote and the positives involved with the new County Choice Silver Plan. Commissioners David Dubose and John Banken thought last week’s vote was the final decision on Medicare eligible retiree health insurance or at least the final vote for another year. Dubose and Banken requested the judge to rescind his motion to take a vote on accepting the TAC health coverage for the retirees. Banken urged the court to wait until there could be a workshop on insurance so they could hear from insurance experts since none of them were an expert on insurance. In the vote that followed Dubose and Banker were the only two commissioners to vote not to change to the TAC insurance plan. Commissioners Barry Burton and Jody Crump joined Judge Carlton in approving the change. After the meeting retiree Jean Parker gave her opinion of the last vote by the Commissioners Court. Parker said that she and other retirees felt the vote should not count since the Commissioners Court did not rescind the unanimous vote of last week before voting. Parker also referred to the fact the court listened to Emergency Management Director Ryan Peabody talk for several minutes about the need to address a hazardous condition of slippery concrete between two generators at the Expo Center. Parker said, “They listened longer on the health and the safety of a piece of concrete than they did to our employees who had concerns.” The Commissioners Court met in the morning, and retiree health insurance was the hot topic. The court also approved a work activity agreement with Workforce Solutions that will allow high school and college aged students to work as interns for various county departments. During a workshop on Friday to discuss the topic Commissioner Banken asked Human Resources Director Minnie Hightower whether county department heads would be able to use interns. Hightower said she had polled department heads, and they were very positive in their responses. The Court approved the county’s 2016 holiday schedule for employees, adding President’s Day and dropping Columbus Day as holidays. Following the regular meeting the Commissioners Court held a workshop to discuss the budget needs of the Agri-Life Department which primarily dealt with the need for transportation of 4-H students and trainees to various meetings. The Agri-Life Department broke down the pluses and minuses of renting 15-passenger vans compared to the possible purchase of one for the department.
Social Media