5 APRIL 2022 DEARBORN COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MEETING NOTES
Present: Jim Thatcher, President, Art Little, and Rick Probst
Also present: Connie Fromhold, Auditor, Andy Baudendistel, Attorney, and Sue Hayden, Administrator
TITLE VI STATEMENT FOR COMPLIANCE was read by Baudendistel as legally required.
OLD BUSINESS
RFP for Employee Benefits Broker:
Summary - Mike Kramer Pinnacle Advisory Group- Kramer said they provided a copay plan for employees so that they know up front what they owe. Deductible plans are different. He thinks they were 5.8% annual increase since 2010. Compares favorable with the 8-10% trend for private insurance. It’s easy for new people to come in and say they can come in and provide all tag we did. 20% of the cost of our plan his adm costs and stop loss plan.
The 80 % is medical claims purchases. 90% of DC claims are at the St.Elizabeth’s system. We are the only one with a direct contract with St. E’s and their doctors. We also have all their affiliated doctors under contract. That’s another 800 doctors. Anthem, United, etc. cannot beat our contract. They would have paid another 20% if they didn’t contract .
We have $3.5 million in claims. Pharmacy claims are about $1million. You pay the actual cost of the drug in our plan. We pay rebates to your group.They have done a very good job with the wellness in the plan. They also have concierge service. It’s integrated with the plans and the employee can find the cost, quality, etc. They can even h=get appointment set. Telehealth and tele-therapy is offered. He stressed that they have been good stewards of the plan. There is a risk of about $830,000 that they have been able to negotiate for the county.
Probst- what is the total cost that we run through you. $5.5million. Optical etc are rounding out the plan but that is voluntary. Boast delivers several options to the employees on these.
Three tiers- normal PPO, St E’s and Tri Health. Plus there are multiple contracts with all their doctors. St E’s is trying go stop some of these contracts for the future, but we still have the only one. Pinnacle has the contract and they offer it to their people they cover.
Summary Michelle Pike- Hylant- Only able to get limited info. This is a family business. We treat our clients like family too. They have a team and she named the individuals that serve the customer. The goal is to be the best steward of the money. The employees have a blank check and we try to make the employees better stewards too. There are people who help guide the employees through the benefits. If they are chosen as the broker- First they would have the discovery process. They would have to make sure they are compliant. The goal is to make everyone good stewards of the plan. According to her knowledge they have the ability to negotiate with Med Ben-. Kramer presented a letter from Med Ben that says otherwise. Hey are not allowed to piggyback on what Pinnacle (Kramer) has negotiated. Jill would be the person who works with the county employees. They are good at communications. They do open enrollment meetings. They have developed different strategies to communicate with employees They have. a QR code too. She has no data really from the county to give them % and cost numbers. They do have 5 contracts set up for pharmacies that save 20-45%. Regenex is what they use the most. They use autologous stem cells. Instead of $70,000 back surgery it might be $7,000 injections. If orthopedics are a problem this would be useful to you. Why Hylant? It’s a hard decision. I can tell you what we’ve done for other clients.
Probst- was asking about if they are pre-empting the doctor or patient decision. No the patient gets to choose.
Also asked about pre-existing conditions. They would start over with different insurance and not be an issue.
Probst stated his reasons for deciding to “stay with the devil we know”. We have something good. We have nothing that says specifically we will get more savings elsewhere. They did not want to have the employees not have transparency. Probst asked for Leah Bailey’s opinion. Thatcher would not allow her to speak. Said it wasn’t fair. The decision was with the board.
Thatcher said this is not personal. It is business, Pinnacle has been good to us and they have been our broker for 13 years. We are looking for cost savings. We can raise taxes or cut expenses.
He asked for a motion to accept Hylant from Little. Little agreed. Passed with Thatcher and Little Aye and Probst NAY.
NEW BUSINESS
Permission to Approach Council- Bill Shelton, Building Commissioner- wants to ask for $10,000 for part time to train and cover a full timer who is retiring soon. The other is the unsafe building ordinance was in effect and $30,000 was funded. It reverted to county general as they didn’t use it. Now he will present the properties and ask for $100,000 funding and non reverting for this one time ask. There is far more of this than they had before. Commissioners approved going to Council.
Zoning Ordinance Amendments- Mark McCormack, Director Planning and Zoning:
Article 2 Section 200 Advisory Plan Commission,
Item 2 - Duties of Plan Commission
Item 3 Rules of Procedure
Item 4 Meetings and Hearings, Conduct and Procedures
Item 5 Notice for Meetings
New Section- regarding Committees
This was a text certification forwarded with a favorable recommendation to the commissioners. McCormack gave a summary overview of what they did in the additions and revisions. He justified the limits on meeting times, using an example of one or two that went 5 hours. He went through the items in each section. Commissioners approved the ordinance amending Article 2, section 200.
Todd Listerman, County Engineer:
Inspection Contract for Bridge #108, Harrison Brookville Rd- approval for federal aid project 80/20 contract DLZ is the contractor for $365,910. Approved. Construction starts next fall.
2022 PAMP ( Paving Access Management Plan) Update- HWC Engineering Contract- Not to exceed $10,000. This is the alternate year assessment. They do the full assessment every two years. Next year will be the bigger cost and they actually check all 505 miles of roads. This makes us eligible for the $1million grant program they apply for. Approved.
ALLENS BRANCH AND WEISBURG ARE GETTING COMPLETED- Waiting on asphalt plants to open.
Bridge work projects are starting also. There are road closings when the equipment gets in for the project. They need to have further discussions on an issue affecting 3 properties on Bonnell Road. Might do a permanent fix rather than a temporary fix there.
Jason Sullivan, Director EMA- Memorandum of Understanding with FEMA for Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS)- no cost to the county. Approved.
EMA Board member is no longer affiliated with HVL. Dave Wissman is willing to assume that spot. Approved.
Certificate of Appreciation for Jim RedElk- Jim RedElk was not present for this. Probst said Jim is resigning his position. He praised what he has done for the parks. He thinks it is now to a place where we should be able to take it beyond the volunteer level. Commissioners approved and signed the certificate. They will present it at the Park meeting tomorrow,
ADMINISTRATOR – Sue Hayden- nothing more. She will be unavailable for the next meeting.
AUDITOR – Connie Fromhold -Claims/Payroll and March 15th Minutes approved. Probst abstained on the minutes as he was absent then.
TIF Annual Report- Review- no voting needed.
ATTORNEY – Andy Baudendistel- Interlocal Agreement with Ohio County- Steve Kelly came with something like this last year. This is similar but Covid money. Each county received $100,000 to run the clinics etc. Our auditor’s office administers both. Approved.
ARP American Recovery Program funding is being. Government services offered by the entity ( private corporation that has public benefit perhaps) that receives the money. This is in relation to Hogan Water Co. request. There are buckets for infrastructure and buckets for lost revenue. Many think you should put it all in lost revenue. April 30 is the deadline to decide this. The plan has to be in place. Baudendistel said the plan has to be in place. $9.8 million Andy will talk to Baker Tilly regarding these deadlines.
COMMISSIONER COMMENTS:Probst- commended Hwy Dept with wind damage and trees down etc.
Little - reiterated Probst’s comments.
Thatcher- also agreed. Even though we disagreed on the insurance decision and he appreciates the work Pinnacle has done for the past 14 years. Any good business reviews contracts 3-5 years, Competition os a good thing.
LATE ARRIVAL INFORMATION- none
PUBLIC COMMENT Leo Rumschlag PE Janssen and Spaans Engineering, Inc- offices in Columbus IN - proposal for hwy contract they submitted. He has done these before. There were other proposals. He just wanted to introduce himself in person. to the county. He gave them his card. He would love to do work here in Dearborn County.
ADJOURN- 10:55 AM
Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township
