Starkville will again allow its employees to place same-sex partners on the city’s insurance plan after the board of aldermen fell one vote shy of overturning Mayor Parker Wiseman’s veto of their action to limit the expansion to only legally married couples Tuesday.
Wiseman’s veto was guaranteed to survive when Ward 2 Alderman Lisa Wynn recused herself from the vote and physically left City Hall. By being absent from the table, Wynn’s vote could not be counted as an abstention, therefore would not be counted with the majority.
Five votes are needed to override a mayoral veto. Aldermen could have reached that figure since Tuesday’s challenge reached the same 4-2 margin that first amended the city’s policy and Wynn’s abstention last week would have counted toward the majority of votes cast.
Wynn, who previously lobbied in favor of the new insurance option’s cost-savings for employees, countered the brunt of public pressure from the city’s religious community seeking an end to the extension by alluding to the non-discrimination policy the city issued in January specifically protecting LGBT employees’ rights and by saying she could not use religion to set city policy.
“So many of you all were telling me to apply the Bible to this,” she said. “I tried, but I can’t use the Bible to operate city government.”
The Ward 2 alderman’s temporary exit from City Hall came after the board limited public comments from the new policy’s supporters and detractors was limited to 15-minute blocks. Residents continued last week’s hammering of city leaders for both passing and retracting the expanded health care option, and even Wynn’s Second Baptist Church of Starkville pastor spoke to her and the board in favor of overturning the mayor’s veto.
Aldermen first extended Mississippi Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance coverage to an adult of employees’ choosing with a unanimous Sept. 2 vote. Once the Human Rights Campaign, an organization that champions the advancement of LGBT rights and issues, applauded the city’s move as one that would benefit same-sex couples, aldermen and city staff began receiving complaints from the public over.
The board turned on Wiseman and Chief Administrative Officer Taylor Adams as the four aldermen who supported limiting the policy to only couples in a state-recognized marriage – Ben Carver, David Little, Roy A. Perkins and Henry Vaughn – blamed the duo for hiding information from them and not conveying the policy’s full effects.
Aldermen held a special-call session Sept. 9 where Carver attempted to rescind the policy, but his motion died at the table for a lack of a second. Perkins and Vaughn were absent from that meeting. The policy change followed a week later when Little introduced the matter to the full board.
As approved earlier this month and rubberstamped last night, the new medical insurance policy added new coverage options for employees’ dependents. Previously, the city paid for individual employees’ coverage – approximately $393.13 per month – while workers could add their spouse and immediate children for an additional $600.39 monthly out of their own pockets.
The new policy creates two additional tiers: The single employee and whole-family rates remain but are each $2 cheaper per month, however workers can now choose to add either an adult or their children for an additional $348.74 or $268.95, respectively, per month.
Starkville previously passed a non-discrimination policy for the city in January, which included base-level protection for LGBT employees for the first time. After Starkville garnered state and national attention for the move – it was the first Mississippi city to codify such a policy on the local level – Carver openly said he was not aware of the implications of the board’s actions and went as far as suggesting a new vote on the matter.
The city’s equality resolution again became a talking point in last week’s meeting when a local pastor called for its removal and said the document’s language went too far and was unnecessary.
Wynn used it as leverage in her fight against the board’s attempt to nullify Wiseman’s veto Tuesday, saying aldermen knew what they were doing in that vote just like they did when they approved the expanded health insurance option.
The first-term alderman said she put her trust in the document with the alderman who brought it to the table – Perkins – but the board did not question its implications due to the city’s better chances of obtaining federal funding through grants.
“Not one alderman said one thing about the equality resolution. It was passed under the radar on consent,” she said. “When this document was in my packet, it kind of concerned me. Nobody said anything, though. I trusted the person who authorized it.
“It’s about federal dollars for Starkville. I’m ashamed about (the board’s action), but nobody said anything,” Wynn added.
A two-page letter from Sept. 2’s meeting is present on the city’s website and was included with aldermen’s board packets. The document shows Cox Consulting Services Inc. acknowledged “domestic partnership eligibility” despite aldermen’s claims that information was purposefully kept from them.
“For any alderman to say they didn’t know (the implications of the equality resolution and plus-one insurance extension) isn’t true,” she said. “We can’t pick and choose.”
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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