Teresa Tomlinson/Columbusga
10/04/2012 11:29 AM
To
&City Councilors
cc
Isaiah Hugley/Columbusga@Columbusga, phodge@columbusga.org,
tbarron@columbusga.org, Liz Turner/Columbusga@Columbusga, Clifton
Fay/Columbusga@Columbusga
Subject
Fw: Healthcare Suggestions
Dear Councilors:
We are on completing our 5th employee forum today (out of the 6 forums
scheduled). They have been well attended. Yesterday we had 200 or more at the
Public Services training facility. We are getting good, constructive feedback
related to possible adjustments in the smokers fee, the spousal fee and the
emergency room fee. Pam is working on those alternatives. The employees are
also very vocal about wanting a cost of living increase at mid-year to pay for
increasing costs - gas, tuition for kids, healthcare, etc. I have told him we
will visit that mid-year and next budget year.
The Public Safety meeting had contentious moments largely coming from an
erroneous belief that the city (me and Tom Barron in particular) had promised
that there would be no insurance premium increase this year due to the pension
reform. Though I felt certain that had not been said, it was not until we
checked all pension forum videos that we were able to confirm that not only had
such a thing not been said, but the express point was made that the pension
reform was separate and distinct from any insurance issue. We provided that
clip and the transcript to the Public Safety Department employees so that their
concerns would be allayed. I've received several emails, calls and personal
comments from people in those departments that they understand and appreciate
the financial circumstances of the Healthcare issue, so hopefully the forum did
have some positive impact.
I asked Randy Robertson (FOP rep) to get us any suggested alternatives to the
staff's proposal for your consideration. His response is below. The staff
and Council discussion has laid out the issue of timing options. Timing and
funding are Council decisions so I wanted to get this info to you in advance of
Tuesday's meeting.
Pam - Can you contact Randy and get him to flesh out the "serious concerns" and
"disturbing information" he references? This may well be something that we or
our consultants can answer for him or clarify.
Liz - Please put this in Council's packets for those that don't use city
email.
Thanks.
Teresa Pike Tomlinson
Mayor
Columbus Consolidated Government
Post Office Box 1340
Columbus, Georgia 31902-1340
(706) 225-3164 (Office)
(706) 905-9570 (Cell)
ttomlinson@columbusga.org
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----- Forwarded by Teresa Tomlinson/Columbusga on 10/04/2012 11:07 AM -----
Teresa Tomlinson/Columbusga
10/04/2012 06:48 AM
To
"W.R. \"Randy\" Robertson"
cc
Subject
Re: Healthcare Suggestions
Thanks Randy. I will forward this to Council as the timing will be their
decision to make. As you can see, simply having the report does not complete
the analysis as it did not for us. Right now the only suggestions we have out
of the Forums are to adjust the Emergency Room Fee, Smokers Fee, and Spousal
Fee. We have two more Employees forums out of the 6.
----- Original Message -----
From: "W.R. \"Randy\" Robertson" [robertsonfop@aol.com]
Sent: 10/03/2012 11:30 PM AST
To: Teresa Tomlinson
Subject: Re: Healthcare Suggestions
Mayor Tomlinson,
I did receive your text Monday afternoon but I have been buried at my full-time
job with P.O.S.T. audits and addressing issues related to our sex offender
programs and budget FY14.
That said...
We met with an insurance consultant Monday night at the FOP Lodge and read
through the information from Northwestern Benefit Corporation and reviewed
Health Care plans from other cities throughout the U.S.. I was unable to hand
over the copies (NBCG) that I have because they are not "clean copies".
Director Hodge told me she had requested fresh copies from the vendor and that
she would e-mail them to me in PDF form. Her voice mail informs those calling
her that she will not be back in her office until tomorrow, October 04, 2012.
Based on a reviews submitted by Northwestern Benefit Corp. dated July 24, 2012
and August 09, 2012 and based on the litany of suggestions and comments and
alternative plans that I have received from CCG employees, I feel the best
approach at this time is to maintain a holding pattern on the upcoming Open
Enrollment Period until a detailed evaluation of the Northwestern Benefit Corp.
reviews, a comparison of the other plans and an evaluation of the employee
suggestions before moving forward with the proposal that was offered to the
Columbus City Council on September 11, 2012.
The issue of Health Care is an extremely sensitive issue with a vast majority
of CCG employees who are unable to attend the forums that we scheduled after
the 9/11 proposal was offered, are very concerned with the lack of
communication between leadership and employees. The proposal and the NBCG
Reviews raise serious concerns and contain some disturbing information that
must be addressed and explained before we move forward.
I have full confidence that the Mayor's Office, City Council and CCG employees
can work together in addressing these issues.
Respectfully Submitted,
W. R. "Randy" Robertson
President, GA-FOP Lodge 9
Vice President GA-State FOP
(706) 593-1828
P.O. Box 62
Cataula, GA 31804
The Fraternal Order of Police is the world?s largest law enforcement
organization, with over 318,000 members and over 2,100 lodges throughout the
United States. Founded in 1915, the F.O.P. represents professional, full time
officers from all agencies of law enforcement. Active membership in the
Fraternal Order of Police is open to all full time law enforcement officers,
regardless of rank. Municipal, county, state and federal government officers
are eligible for membership.
-----Original Message-----
From: Teresa Tomlinson
To: Randy Robertson
Sent: Wed, Oct 3, 2012 9:57 pm
Subject: Healthcare Suggestions
Randy - Did you get my text from Monday? Can you send us your alternative
suggestions for the Healthcare Plan? We need to run the numbers by our
consultant. Can you get them to me tomorrow (Thursday)? Thanks.
Sent from my iPad
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