EMERGENCY SERVICES BOARD

Called Meeting

Tuesday, November 24, 1998

4:00 PM

 

City Hall Conference Room

 

 

Board Members Present:  Chairman Tim Sherrod, Roy Campbell, Josh Herring, and Earl Williams

 

Staff Present:  Bruce Woods Executive Director, Scerrell Suber EMS Director, Tommy Layton E-911 Director, Joe Cole Captain, Charles Anderson Fire Chief, Mark Barber Financial Services Director, Donna Scott Claims Administrator, and Kimberly Riddle Administrative Assistant.

 

From the City of Thomasville:  Tom Berry City Manager

 

From the news media:  Mark Brannan and Laura Cassells

 

Chairman Sherrod called the meeting to order.

 

A motion was made by Roy Campbell to approve the minutes from the meeting of November 12, 1998.  Earl Williams seconded the motion and the minutes will stand approved.

 

Employee Benefit Plan – Healthcare/Retirement:

The first order of business was the review of the employee’s benefit package.  Mayor Campbell stated that there is approximately (7) days left to meet and sign up. 

 

Concerns were voiced in reference to the current dental plan contained in the Thomas County Emergency Services Department health plan.  According to Chief Anderson, the current dental plan does not include orthodontics in the TCESD health plan.   Mark Barber stated that to include orthodontics would substantially raise the cost due to the conversion factor.  The estimated cost would be 50% per $2,000.00 per eligible person.  Under the new orthodontics section employees would have orthodontics coverage of lifetime maximum of $2,000.00 per eligible participant at 50%.   Chairman Sherrod stated that the TCESD health plan includes a $15,000.00 life insurance policy at no additional cost.  The proposed cost of insurance for the new department will be approximately $20.00 for single and $160.00 for families.

 

A.                              Mayor Campbell discussed the City of Thomasville’s desire to provide current firefighters who are vested in the city’s Defined Benefit Retirement Plan the opportunity to obtain health care insurance benefits from the city upon retirement from the TCESD.  Discussion was held and Mayor Campbell outlined the following:

 

1.        City of Thomasville Firefighters who go to work for the TCESD who are in the city’s Defined Benefit Retirement Plan upon retirement will be eligible to receive health care benefits under the conditions offered by the city at the time of their retirement.

 

 

 

 

 

2.        All vested Thomasville Firefighters will remain in the city’s Defined Benefit Retirement Plan.

 

3.        All non-vested Thomasville Firefighters will receive a partial vested credit which will be reflected in their present value and roll over into a new TCESD Defined Contribution Retirement Plan.

 

Chairman Sherrod stated that the city will compile the figures and the issue will be discussed at the next meeting.

 

               

Annual Leave Time Benefits:

Bruce Woods discussed the annual leave and recommended the following:

 

·         Compensate for holiday time in lieu of providing floating time-off.

 

·         Accumulation of sick time with no provision of buy-back sick time.

 

·         Accumulation time maximum would be (6) months.

 

·         Keep accrual for both city and county.  The city has (6) months and the county currently has (29) days with no more buy-back.

 

A.                              Discussion was held regarding current annual leave policies for both the city and the county.  After discussion from all of the board members, it was agreed upon to provide to TCESD employees the following:

 

1.        All employees will be paid for holiday time under the system used by the City of Thomasville.

 

2.        All employees will be allowed to accumulate sick time up to (4) months and allow for a buy-back provision under the system used by Thomas County.

 

 

Tom Berry explained that employees could transfer the maximum or pro-rate to drop down the bracket to a lower amount.  This would cut back pay for 1998.  It was agreed that the employees could rollover their (4) months into the new plan.  Bank time, accrued sick leave, and personal time will be paid out and the employees will start with (4) months minimum.  Chairman Sherrod recommended lowering the hourly rate of the employee and the yearly salary would remain the same and convert everyone to a (40) hour schedule per week for those who work (2,912) hours per year.

 

Other Issues:

Mayor Campbell stated that the claims administrator for the city would continue to handle the claims.  City employees are concerned about past history in reference to timeliness of health care claims.  For this reason, the city has provided at no cost, to handle the emergency services department employee health care claims.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Changes to the Administrative Budget:

Discussion of the administrative budget for emergency services was reviewed.  Changes from the last meeting were shown and approved. Mayor Campbell stated that the “Employee Incentive Plan”  ($1,680.) would be discontinued at this time.  Another incentive plan will be developed for employees at a later date.

 

Fire Rescue Division:

The Fire Rescue Division budget was discussed.  The proposed budget amount for uniforms was decreased by $12,000.00 and the deferred compensation plan was taken out of the budget ($17,065.).

 

Executive Session:

Chairman Sherrod made a motion for an Executive Session, seconded by Commissioner Josh Herring.  Present in Executive Session was elected officials and the Executive Director.  Personnel issues were discussed. 

 

The next scheduled meeting to discuss the remainder of the proposed budget and benefit package will be held on December 1, 1998 at 4:00 PM in the City Hall Conference Room.

 

After the Executive Session, on motion of Chairman Sherrod and seconded by Mayor Campbell, the meeting was adjourned.