By Aleasha Sandley, Herald Bulletin Staff Writer
ANDERSON — The City Council voted on Monday in favor of an ordinance that would create an Employee Health Commission that Councilman David Eicks said would make health insurance decisions more transparent.
The commission would be composed of the presidents of the six local unions that represent Anderson city employees, as well as six city officials, including the chairmen of the Board of Public Works and Board of Public Safety, the personnel director, the city controller, an insurance benefit specialist and one City Council member.
The commission would explore and recommend health care benefits for city employees, reporting to the city administration and the City Council. Commission members would vote on the issues brought before it.
Currently, insurance decisions are made solely by the personnel department, except in the case of members of the Fraternal Order of Police. That union’s contract has language that enables it to negotiate insurance changes with the personnel department.
Eicks and council President Rick Muir had been working on the ordinance, Eicks said, in an effort to gain more transparency in the process of making decisions about employees’ insurance.
“During difficult times, having additional input, additional eyes, tends to bring out the best,” he said. “One of the areas that always draws confusion is insurance.”
In years past, the city had a coalition that examined decisions about employee insurance, and the unions dropped the language from their contracts that allowed them to negotiate insurance decisions, Eicks said. The FOP, however, refused to allow the language to be dropped, so when the previous coalition was discontinued, all unions except the FOP went back to allowing the personnel department to decide their insurance benefits.
The new legislation says if any changes occur to the ordinance, all unions will revert back to the FOP’s current agreement with the city in regard to insurance negotiations.
Eicks said the commission’s purpose was to find the best insurance plan for workers at the lowest cost to taxpayers.
Muir said the ordinance would be beneficial to all employees.
“It’s just better for everyone if they have a voice in it,” he said. “Given the opportunity, these union presidents will make wise decisions.”
The ordinance passed the council on its first and second readings with an 8-1 vote. Councilman Art Pepelea Jr. voted against the measure after he was given incorrect information from the city attorney’s office on the current contract between the city and the FOP.
“I support this 100 percent, but I am totally upset that I can’t get the right ... information,” Pepelea said.
The ordinance will be given its third and final reading at a special meeting of the City Council at 5 p.m. Dec. 1.
Contact Aleasha Sandley: 640-4805, aleasha.sandley @heraldbulletin.com.
In other business
The City Council approved on all three readings an ordinance fixing the salaries and benefits for employees of the Utility Workers Union of America Local 108. Salaries include a retroactive 3 percent raise for 2008 and 2009, which that union’s members did not receive previously while other unions’ members did. Salaries include no increase for 2010. The ordinance outlines longevity pay for Local 108 members at $75 per year with a cap of $2,250.
