Stoddard County Commissioner set in a regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, December 5, 2022 in Bloomfield, Missouri at the government building.
Doug Lowery, board member for the Duck Creek Township, had some concerns regarding grants through Bootheel Regional Planning Commission. Commissioner Talkington stated that he needs to get with Katelyn Lambert at the BRPC and discuss the grant deadline.
William Dowdy stated that The Clock Guy will be back on Tuesday, December 6, 2022 to work on the clock in the old courthouse. The clock is still not currently working.
Commissioner Carol Jarrell made a motion to accept the contract for services for IV 4-D Child Support with the Missouri Department of Social Services for the Stoddard County Prosecuting Attorney's office. Seconded by Commissioner Talkington. Both voted yes.
Matthew Dowdy, concerned citizen, attended the meeting and wanted to get his complaint into the minutes of the Stoddard County Commission that he wants to make a claim against the bonding company because he feels his rights were violated.
In an email to Liberty Mutual, a subsidiary of Ohio Casualty he stated, "The bond claim for violation of unalienable God given rights secured by the Constitution of the Republic of United States of America and the Missouri State Constitution, particularly my right to due process/freedom of speech, false arrest, unlawful detainment depriving me of my liberty and illegal search and seizure. I, Matthew R. Dowdy, have exhausted all the administrative means for relief and seek equitable relief for these atrocities. I was illegally detained on three occasions for a total of 155 days the last time for 120 days without knowing the cause or violation and/law, statued or condition of probation that I had violated."
He is seeking bond relief in the amount of $500,000.
Dowdy also spoke to Cecil Weeks, Stoddard County Clerk. "He (Weeks) holds all the bonding information and the commissioners can request it because it is public information," stated Dowdy. He doesn't feel he is getting anywhere with the insurance company so he wants the Commissioners to look into it and get it recorded in the minutes.
"I'm not sure how you can help me, but I wanted to get in the minutes that I have requested a claim against the insurance company," stated Dowdy. "I am not getting much information from them."
Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to end the Open Session of the Commission Meeting at 10:28 a.m. Commissioner Talkington seconded the motion. Both voted yes and passed.
Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to go into the Closed Session of the Commission Meeting pursuant to RSMo Section 610.021 (17) at 10:29 a.m. and they moved their meeting to the office of Cecil Weeks, County Clerk. Talkington seconded the motion and both voted yes.
Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to exit the Closed Session of the Commission Meeting at 11:42 a.m. Seconded by Talkington. Both voted yes.
Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to open the regular session of the Commission Meeting at 11:43 a.m.. Seconded by Talkington. Both voted yes.
William Auten, Auten Land Services, LLC, Wilmington, North Carolina is working with the landfill to harness the methane. He needed contacts for the County Road 570 from Richland. Commissioner Talkington gave him numbers for Terry Miller with Essex Special Road District within Richland Township and Dale Moreland with Castor Township. He needs to get right away to tie into the landfill.
Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to enter into Closed Session at 11:47 a.m. pursuant to RSMo: Section 810.021 (1) and they moved their meeting to the office of Cecil Weeks, County Clerk. Talkington seconded the motion. Both voted yes and passed. John McCarty, Arch Brokerage, Inc., insurance representative, was also in the Closed Session Meeting.
Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to exit the Closed Session of the Commission Meeting at 1:00 p.m. Seconded by Talkington. Both voted yes
Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to open the Regular Session of the Commission Meeting at 1:05 p.m. Seconded by Talkington. Both voted yes.
Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to approve November 2022 Adds/Abates from Josh Spearman, Stoddard County Collector. Seconded by Talkington. Both voted yes.
Kay Asbell, Retiring Stoddard County Recorder, was present and had questions regarding the employee health insurance which will take effect January 1, 2023.
She asked what her deductible would be and why we don't know yet all the details of the insurance plan.
The bid was for broker services and stop loss, not a fixed insurance cost. It just included the stop loss," stated John McCarty, Arch Brokerage, Inc. "It will depend on the claims. Depending on what the claims go, this is the funding bucket, this is all transparent. The rest of it was to target a plan. That will be determined. There were some things, some compliance changes that needed to be changed going forward."
"We are moving to CVS for pharmacy going forward," continued McCarty.
"We need to check what the retiree rate. There is a fixed cost and a claims cost. Will have to verify with Mr. Weeks what the retiree rate will be," per McCarty.
"Once everything is nailed down I will come down and make sure you understand your benefits. We are still making changes. It has not been voted on and it is not official, stated McCarty.
The Commissioners initially had open bids for brokers. Out of those bids they decided to get insurance quotes from 4 brokers and one insurance company. They opened those bids on October 12, 2022. Of those five bids, Arch Brokerage was chosen as the broker not just because of the stop loss and services, but because of the insurance bid he proposed. The fixed cost was $337,857.36 and their maximum cost is $696,322.44 which was based on 77 employees and one spouse. The contract was for one year and the cost per month is $349.45 per employee (paid by the county) and for the employee/spouse/family cost of $1,247.90 with a $1,500 deductible per employee. You will be able to go to St. Francis, but your deductible will be higher at $2,500. The Commissioners did not take the lowest bid, but chose them based on overall plan.
Josh Speakman, Stoddard County Collector had numerous questions for the Commissioners after they opened the regular session back up.
"According to Healthlink, St. Francis Healthcare is in-network; however our insurance policy states it is not in-network. My question is why is the County requiring a higher deductible for St. Francis Healthcare vs going to SoutheastHEALTH if the cost to the County is the same?"
We need to go back and verify the cost from each facility to the County through the Healthlink network. The out of network deductible has had a shift. There will a change for the better," continued McCarty.
"We shouldn't be in the business of determining where employees should get their medical treatment," continued Spearman. "The employees deserve a choice at the same cost and I feel that the employees should have a choice."
"We need to wait until McCarty to finish writing up any changes," stated Talkington. "We still may tweak it some."
Originally when we got this packet, the out of pocket cost for a - if you will quote unquote"out of network" even thought St. Francis is in network, but the County has excluded them, the out of pocket expense for my family is I think $11,400. That's a hefty price for me to pay, when the County receives a discount for me to go to St Francis since my wife works there.
Whenever you talk about the cost difference between say all your in network facilities Poplar Bluff Regional, Missouri Delta, SoutheastHealth, and St. Francis, if they all come out differently I guess we are going to determine what the difference is depending if we are going to exclude the hospitals or not," continued Spearman.
"We are working on it," stated Talkington.
Will we be privy to that information or not? What the health costs are for Healthlink? per Speakman.
"I will need to verify what is legal and what is not legal," commented McCarty.
If Poplar Bluff Regional Medical's price and St. Francis' price mimic each other, are we going to then exclude both if they are higher than SoutheastHEALTH and MO Delta? If it is in-network then it is in-network and we should have a wide network. Only 2% of facilities/employers have a narrowed network and by excluding this hospital and care providers is narrowing the network. We are not in the business to determine where the employee should go. If you look at St. Francis in Dexter there are tax paying employees down there as well that we should support their business just like we support Southeast. I am not trying to be biased, but I do want to go where my wife works. I am lobbying and advocating for employees to have a choice and not have to pay $9,000 difference out of pocket because one hospital is over another and set by the people who are excluding that hospital," expressed Speakman.
"You are asking for an answer that we are not in a position to give at this moment," stated Presiding Commissioner Talkington. "We are still working on your answers."
Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to approve the minutes from Monday, November 28, 2022. Seconded by Talkington. Both voted yes and passed.
Minutes from the November 21, 2022 meeting were made available today; however this reporter found an error in the printed and approved minutes. The minutes stated that the bids on the County Audit for 2022 to be submitted by December 12, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. and it should read that they should be submitted by 4:00 p.m. December 9, 2022. Commissioner Talkington stated that they would amend those minutes on Monday, December 12, 2022 and not today.
Commissioner Jarrell made a motion to adjourn at 1:25 p.m. Commissioner Talkington seconded the motion. Both voted yes and passed.
