Mitchell County Commissioners
Monday, November 9, 2015
By Terry Bailey
The Mitchell County Commissioners received the final word on the Blue Cross/Blue Shield health care premiums at their regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, November 9. Alejandra (Alley-hon-dra) Juarez, Blue Cross representative was present to discuss the premiums for the County employee’s health insurance. It was a case of good news and bad news.
Ms. Juarez reviewed the County’s premiums for the last three years which had shown decreased costs each year. That was the good news. The bad news was that the premiums would see a 15% increase for the upcoming year.
Juarez said a number of factors came together to cause the rate increase. Last year there was a number of unexpected claims for the employees. The value of some the claims were more than anticipated. She said, “As time passes, people get hurt or wear and tear causes a need to get ‘fixed.’ Mitchell County simply had a few more people fall into those categories this last year.”
The Commissioners expressed confidence that Blue Cross was the kind of insurance the majority of the employees wanted and they understood that the higher use by policy holders would cause the premiums to see an increase.
Juarez also encouraged the Commissioners to take advantage of the Healthy Options Nurse as a resource to educate and encourage employees to consider healthy choices in their day to day lives. Juarez said, “We all know what we should do but sometimes we need a gentle reminded.” County Clerk Chris Treaster will look into scheduling meetings with the Blue Cross Healthy Options Nurse to encourage and educate employees about the best possible healthy lifestyle.
The Commissioners approved two applications for Neighborhood Revitalization grants. One application was from Farmway Coop for the construction of a 100’x120’x20’ steel building in the amount of $648,150. The second application was from Curt Farwell for the remodeling of the old Waconda Motel in the amount of $446,000.
Kelly Hawk, Emergency Medical Service Director, was on hand to give the Commissioners his monthly report for October. The EMS had 64 runs for the month of October. Tuesday and Thursday were the busiest days. The time period of 6 to 9 pm saw the most calls. Currently the EMS has made 537 runs this year. Last year at the same time 472 runs had been conducted.
Hawk announced that the EMS had received a grant from the Dane Hansen Foundation for $10,000 to offset the purchase of two Autopulse units. The Commissioners congratulated Hawk for his initiative to apply for the grant.
Hawk shared a communication from Jenna Kendall, office manager with the Delisa Medical Billing Service. Kendall noted that the Mitchell County EMS billed mileage when they transported someone at a rate of ten dollars a mile. She said that Blue Cross would reimburse transportation at $13.33 per mile. She advised them to raise their rates otherwise money was getting away that could be billed.
Larry Emerson, Public Works Superintendent, said he had been notified by the State that work on the Jordan Bridge was going to be advanced one month and they would start on it in November instead of December. Crews are working on the Shoo-Fly detour for the project.
Emerson said the bridge road beams had been set on the new bridge on K Road. They will begin putting on the decking soon. He has some concerns with the asphalt work with the cold weather approaching.
He said a bridge has went bad in Asherville Township south of Larry Heidrick’s place. Evidently someone had crossed the bridge with heavy equipment and weakened it.
Emerson said he had received an anonymous call from a man who was driving south of the lake and received damage to his vehicle. These roads usually have a ROAD CLOSED sign on them because they are not maintained. It was Emerson’s belief that the Wildlife and Parks office has jurisdiction to keep the signs posted. Evidently the sign was down and the driver was new to the area and drove on a road which was not be driven on. The issue became complicated and will most likely be revisited.