Agenda Packets - 2005/11/14 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mounds View City Council October 24, 2005 Regular Meeting Page 9 1 Councilmember Thomas suggested that be delayed until January of next year, after the election. 2 3 MOTION/SECOND: Thomas/Flaherty. To waive the reading and adopt Resolution 6665 4 Approving the Terms of Proposal for the sale by the City of Blaine of its G.O. Capital 5 Improvement Bonds, for SBM Fire Department Improvements, as amended to reduce the bond 6 amount to $8,050,000. 7 8 Councilmember Stigney drew the Council’s attention to the last Now Therefore Be it Resolved 9 paragraph, noting the extract of minutes shows a member introduced the motion and it was 10 seconded. He asked if it should be included in the same document, noting this is a different 11 format. 12 13 City Attorney Riggs advised that the document follows the standard format of bond consultants 14 and while not typical, is no different from what is adopted. He assured the Council this format 15 change is not a significant concern. 16 17 Ayes-5 Nays-0 Motion carried. 18 19 H. Resolution 6654 Approving New Health Care Insurance Provider for 2006 20 21 City Administrator Ulrich explained that over the past year, the City purchased employee group 22 health insurance with HealthPartners through Johnson McCann, the City’s broker and consultant 23 since January of 2005. Johnson McCann started the bid process again for 2006. In conjunction 24 with the annual renewal process, Johnson McCann was able to get more competitive rates from 25 other insurance companies, much better than the current health insurance provider whose rates 26 would be increasing rates by 18% in 2006. 27 28 City Administrator Ulrich stated the City sought proposals from five insurance companies but 29 Medica and Preferred One did not submit a proposal. Proposals were received from existing 30 carrier Health Partners and Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) and BCBS in the Cooperative. As 31 far as coverage, all groups were bidding on the same package for the same coverage. He 32 explained that the difference in premiums is reflected in the staff report. BCBS provided a more 33 comprehensive package than Health Partners for the same coverage so Staff recommends the 34 Council approve BCBS. The second decision whether is to go with them as an independent or 35 cooperative. A number of cities have bid BCBS through the cooperative; the administrative 36 company is known as Appletree Institute. They serve a number of cities, schools, and counties, 37 primarily in southwest Minnesota but now more in the metropolitan area. City Administrator 38 Ulrich explained the advantage of a co-op is that it provides stability of rates. In looking at this 39 number over time, the indication was that rather than going up and down each year, it is more 40 stable and predictable for budgeting each year. 41 42 City Administrator Ulrich stated there would be a 7.76% increase in the rate with the cooperative 43 compared to 18% if the City stayed with Health Partners and somewhere in-between if going 44 with BCBS as a separate entity. Staff checked with several metro communities including Anoka, 45