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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/27/2007 B A K E R S F I E L D ~.. Harold Hanson, Chair Staff: John W. Stinson David Couch Assistant City Manager Ken Weir AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT SPECIAL MEETING of the PERSONNEL COMMITTEE Tuesday, November 27, 2007 3:00 p.m. City Manager's Conference Room 1501 Truxtun Avenue; Bakersfield, California 93301 Called to Order at 3:16:52 PM 1. ROLL CALL Committee members present: Councilmember Harold Hanson, Chair Councilmember David Couch Councilmember Ken Weir Staff present: Alan Tandy, City Manager John W. Stinson, Assistant City Manager Rick Kirkwood, Management Assistant -City Manager's Office Steven Teglia, Administrative Analyst -City Manager's Office Virginia Gennaro, City Attorney Javier Lozano, Human Resources Manager Ginger Rubin, Benefits Clerk Pamela McCarthy, City Clerk Nelson Smith, Finance Director Allan Abney, Sergeant -Bakersfield Police Department Bob Bivens, Captain -Bakersfield Police Department Brian West, Detective - Bakersfield Police Department Brad Underwood, Operations Manager -Public Works Department Sam Russell, Communications Technician -Public Works Department Retired employees: Margaret Ursin and Sandee Morris Others: Chuck Waide, SEIU Local 521 Miscellaneous members of the media 2. ADOPT OCTOBER 31, 2007 AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Adopted as submitted 3. PUBLIC STATEMENTS None 4. DEFERRED BUSINESS A. Discussion regarding Medical Insurance Renewals -Lozano Stinson City Manager Tandy stated that this item is on the November 28, 2007 City Council meeting agenda. The Blue Cross and Kaiser policies have a 30-day term, with the 2007 rates remaining in effect. These terms were agreed to by both companies. The intent is to return to the City Council on January 16, 2008 with 11-month extensions of the contracts. The Insurance Committee and staff have not reached an agreement on insurance rates and terms. This will allow additional time for discussions to take place. The Unions have asked for more time to return to their memberships for further discussions. Once Council approves the final contracts in January, the City is required by law to mail the information to all employees, and then hold an open enrollment period and counseling sessions. There is insufficient time remaining in this calendar year to fulfill these requirements. Assistant City Manager Stinson reported that two meetings of the Insurance Committee have been held since the last meeting of the Personnel Committee. Staff provided a proposal as to the potential changes. Option A focuses primarily on establishing or increasing the office visit co-payments for the Blue Cross PPO and HMO, and the Kaiser HMO plans. Option B focuses on restructuring the prescription drug payments that would be spread out amongst these same three plans. The savings in both options is fairly equivalent. The Unions have been provided with this information and plan to meet soon to discuss it. Chuck Waide said that the hope is for Blue Cross to return with additional information and ideas. He projected that employees would not be happy with a $25 office visit co-payment, and suggested that this increase be applied to visits to specialists only. He also suggested an option where the rate increases would be a combination of office visit co-payments and prescription drug co- payments, rather than one or the other. In response to a question from Committee member Weir, the adjustments made for 2006 were discussed. There were no adjustments made for 2007. The Committee unanimously agreed to staff's recommendation that will be presented to the full City Council on November 28, 2007 to approve all of the contracts, with 3 of them to be on a 30-day basis and projected extensions for 11 months. City Manager Tandy recommended that the Personnel Committee meet again in December. The contract extensions must be on the agenda for the January 16, 2008 City Council meeting. 5. COMMITTEE COMMENTS Committee Chair Hanson strongly recommended that the 2008 process begin by September 1, 2008. Human Resources Manager Lozano indicated that the schedule is already in place. 6. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 3:46:56 PM S:\Council Committees\2007\07 Personnel\November 27\November 27 ASR.doc Page 2