Lowndes County supervisors voted unanimously Friday to amend the county’s health coverage for retirees.
The amended plan comes after two meetings of the board’s insurance committee and was passed without discussion.
Under the new plan, any employee who was hired after Jan. 1, 2015 will not be allowed to stay on the county’s health insurance plan upon retirement. The plan also made other changes for those who have already retired or who were hired prior to Jan. 1, 2015. To be eligible, a current employee must have worked for the county on a full-time basis for eight years, retire in good standing and be a full-time employment at the time of their retirement, among other criteria.
The adoption of the new policy comes two months after changes in the health plan for retirees were first proposed.
During the board’s Dec. 2 meeting, supervisors voted, with Jeff Smith of District 4 and John Holliman of District 3 opposed, to follow the path of the city of Columbus by dropping its retirees from the county’s insurance plan after a short discussion during which County Administrator Ralph Billingsley said the move would save the county $150,000. Billingsley told the board the change would affect 10 retired employees who were currently on the county’s health insurance plan.
But at the board’s next meeting, District 5 supervisor Leroy Brooks asked that his vote be changed and after further discussion, the board voted to rescind the measure until the board’s insurance committee could examine the measure and make a recommendation.
“I’m glad we talked about this more before we made the changes,” Brooks said. “I think what we wound up with was a real good policy that is fair to everyone.”
Trust investment income
The board unanimously approved a recommendation from the Board of Trustees of Lowndes County Reserve & Trust Fund to withdraw $942,000 in gains from the $30 million hospital trust fund account. The withdrawal leaves a fund balance of $30,491,031. If the county chooses to make a withdrawal next year, it cannot withdraw funds that reduce the fund balance below that new balance. Billingsley noted that the county has been able to make two withdrawals since the law was changed to provide a wider range of investments at much higher yields. “In that time, we’ve withdrawn $2,732,000 in 16 months while actually growing the fund,” Billingsley said. “This has turned out to be a great thing for the county.”
Road sign thefts
The board also heard from roads manager Ronnie Burns, who called attention to recent series of road sign removals and thefts throughout the county.
“This is not a harmless prank at all,” Burns said. “It’s serious. We’ve had stop signs taken down and dumped on the road. One was even dumped on a bridge, which could have been very dangerous. A gust of wind could have sent that sign flying through a windshield and killed someone.”
Burns said the street sign thefts also pose risk the community by making it hard for first-responders to find addresses when called for emergencies.
“This is just something I wanted you to know about because it’s not just an expense for us to replace the signs; more importantly, it’s dangerous. It’s only a matter of time before someone who isn’t familiar runs through an intersection where a stop sign was removed and has a wreck. We need to put an end to it.”
Sheriff Mike Arledge said he would get the word on to school resource officers in the county.
“In the past, we’ve seen these kinds of things done by juveniles, so we’ll let the resource officers know about this so they can keep their ears open.”
The board tabled a proposal to sign an agreement with Code Red Emergency Notification System, which provides phone calls to residents who sign up for the service during weather emergencies. The plan would cost the county $5,400 annually.
“Personally, I’d rather see that money go to our E911, which always seems to have a shortfall,” Board President Harry Sanders said. “Most people can get these kinds of warnings on their cell phones anyway, so unless anyone wants to do this, I suggest we say no.
No motion was made to enter into the agreement and the matter was dropped.
In other board business, supervisors appointed veteran poll worker Shelby Stratton as temporary election commissioner for District 3 to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Peggy Barksdale. The board authorized a Nov. 3 special election to fill the position.
The board’s next meeting will be held March 2 and 9 a.m.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.