It appears Tim Cox will continue to serve as Starkville’s insurance agent of record as a challenge to a recent veto from Mayor Parker Wiseman is absent from Tuesday’s board agenda, but a separate item is expected to start a process aimed at replacing the long-serving agent.
Last month, Wiseman vetoed a 4-2 board decision to replace Cox, who has served in his capacity for 18 years, with the Integrity Group’s Debbie Jaudon after Ward 2 Alderman Lisa Wynn alleged Cox concealed information from aldermen regarding the city’s controversial plus-one insurance option.
With guidance from city staff, Cox authored Starkville’s self-funded insurance policy for Fiscal Year 2014-2015. Within that policy was an option that extended coverage to adult dependents of employees’ choosing, including their same-sex partners.
Five votes are needed to override a veto, and only six aldermen voted in Tuesday’s decision since Ward 5 Alderman Scott Maynard recused from the debate. At the time, Cox served on a board of trustees on which Maynard’s brother sat.
It appears aldermen are not seeking the veto override since Maynard confirmed Friday he would vote on the matter after Cox resigned his position from the board.
Aldermen David Little and Jason Walker previously opposed the insurance agent switch. Little, a potential swing vote, previously told The Dispatch he would be out of town for a week and without phone access.
In their defense of Cox, both Wiseman and Little said they would support a deliberate process seeking proposals and information from multiple potential insurance agents.
That proposal appears listed on Tuesday’s consent agenda. It calls for Chief Administrative Officer Taylor Adams to work with staff and prepare a request for proposals for the consolidation of the city’s pre-tax benefits and cafeteria plan administration.
If approved, the motion sets a March 17 deadline for the RFP’s development.
Contentious debate about the plus-one insurance extension followed after aldermen approved the policy in September. City leaders were pressed to repeal it and Starkville’s statement of inclusion, the first non-discrimination policy from a Mississippi municipality that extended protections to lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender employees.
Behind closed doors in January, aldermen repealed the statement of inclusion and amended the city’s plus-one policy to apply only to employees in state-recognized marriages – heterosexual couples.
Wynn previously targeted costly insurance fees passed to workers as the reason driving the change, but last month she claimed Cox knowingly withheld “crucial information the board needed to make an informed decision” on the policy.
“It is evident Mr. Cox does not want to be transparent or accountable with his business relationship with the city,” she said in February’s second board meeting. “Mr. Cox was present during one of the board meetings as our discussions arose, but (he) failed to request recognition to clarify any misunderstandings board members clearly had relating to the health coverage’s contents. Mr. Cox, in my opinion, can no longer be trusted as it relates to his business relationship with the city.”
In preparation of delivering the proposed policy to the board, Cox met with Maynard, who serves as the city’s budget committee chairman, and was available, along with city staff, to answer questions as aldermen decided its passage.
He also sent a letter to the city, including the seven aldermen, outlining Starkville’s proposed insurance policy.
The two-page letter from Sept. 2’s meeting shows his organization acknowledged “domestic partnership eligibility” with all capitalized letters at the bottom of the first page.
In his veto, Wiseman wrote the board’s decision would unfairly deny Cox the pay he’s due for tediously preparing the policy and would allow a new agent to poach the pay, all while the city continues to operate under the same self-funded plan, with the board’s amendments, that Cox authored.
Cox is not a salaried employee, nor did he receive hourly wages for his work, the veto states.
“Rather, Mr. Cox worked on the good faith principle that if the city accepted the plan he created, he would receive a monthly commission as the city’s insurance agent for the entire year,” Wiseman wrote. “I strongly object to changing agents with no bidding process in the middle of the year. It is by Mr. Cox’s efforts that the city of Starkville maintains excellent health benefits and low health insurance premiums.”
A slew of Open Meetings Act complaints against the city in regard to how it used executive session to tend to the plus-one offering, statement of inclusion and discussions on Starkville Parks Commission’s impending takeover are expected to be filed with the Miss. Ethics Commission soon.
Industrial park issuance expected
The board is also expected to authorize the issuance of $5 million in economic development bonds that, in conjunction with a county issuance, provide funding to develop 326 acres of rolling hills and farm land into a major industrial park.
The board will consider that resolution and an agreement with Neel-Schaffer Inc. for professional services associated with infrastructure improvements at the Innovation District, located near the Miss. Highway 182 and Miss. Highway 25 interchange.
The combined $10 million issuance — $5 million is also expected from the county — will specifically install water, sewer, electrical, transportation and other infrastructure improvements. The city’s issuance is expected to require a 2-mill tax increase, and a similar financing package is expected from the county board of supervisors.
Joey Deason, the Golden Triangle Development LINK’s chief operating officer and representative for Oktibbeha County, previously said the bond sale should move forward and yield proceeds by mid-April at the earliest.
Bond issuance resolutions are needed from both the two governing boards to meet the deadline.
The Innovation District is expected to finally make Oktibbeha County a viable competitor in the world of industrial recruiting.
Officials predict it will provide about 1 million square feet of business space for advanced manufacturing.
About 1,300 or more jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenues could follow depending on the LINK’s success with attracting tenants.
Deason previously said his organization would apply for the Tennessee Valley Authority’s $500,000 investment preparation grant, which requires some matching funding that the local bonds would cover.
If the county receives the award, the LINK could increase a planned two-lane road to four lanes and add additional landscaping options.
Covenants, conditions and restrictions (CCR) agreements are also in development to help the LINK control the Innovation District’s growth, while also ensuring all tenants and the organization itself remain good stewards of property and respectful of homeowners in the area.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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