Detective Gerry Brady with the Stoddard County Sheriff’s Department opened the weekly commissioner’s meeting with concerns over the new insurance. Brady said his insurance card has the incorrect name on it. His card lists his first name along with a coworkers last name. He further stated the cost of the prescription medication he is required to take went up significantly. Brady said he has been unable to get the card corrected. He also questioned wether he was actually insured since he could not get a card with the correct name on it. Brady asked if the new insurance was saving the county money.
Stoddard County Clerk Cecil Weeks said Brady was on the list of covered employees received from the new insurance company. Weeks said Brady’s name was correct on the list.
Presiding commissioner Greg Mathis said he has spoken John McCarty, the new insurance representative with Arch Brokerage, about the issues. Mathis was expecting a call from McCarty later that day. Mathis then turned the floor over to Commissioner Carol Jarrell due to her being the only current commissioner involved in the insurance decision.
Jarrell apologized to Brady for his difficulties. She said she was unsure why McCarty would not answer questions, saying he should have had the answers.
Jarrell said they went with this company believing it would save money money. Jarrell said she does not know now because she has heard the premiums have gone up. Jarrell said she was the current commissioner that sat there and will point all ten of her fingers at herself. She said she was going by what she was told by Weeks and former Presiding Commissioner Danny Talkington. She asked Weeks if the premiums had gone up.
Weeks said he had not sat in on any of the insurance business. Jarrell said she was not going to get into a he said she said. But she alleged that McCarty had said he spent a lot of time in Weeks office talking about insurance. She alleged Talkington spoke to Weeks as well.
The premium per employee is $776.21. There is an administrative fee the county pays to the insurance company to ensure employee questions.
Both Mathis and Jarrell apologized to Brady. Mathis said if McCarty did not call him back the county would look at options to pursue something else. Mathis said he would personally keep Brady in the loop.
Katelyn Lambert with Bootheel Regional planning said the legal team got word back to her. She said the legal team recommended not using the ARPA funds for any loan reimbursement. This will affect the City of Bloomfield’s ARPA fund request. No representatives for the city were in attendance. The other claims with the Bell City Fire Department, Water District Number 5 and Duck Creek Township could proceed.
Stoddard County Sheriff Carl Hefner asked the commission about an employee who asked to sell his vacation days back to the county. The employee told Hefner he wants to work. Hefner said this is the first time this has come up. Hefner said with this employee out on vacation he is down three employees in the jail.
Commissioner Lintz asked if this could be separated from other employees in the county. Mathis said no they couldn’t. Hefner said his department is different from other departments in that they stay at work during any weather situation and holidays.
Jarell made a motion to authorize the buy back of vacation for the year 2023 with the ability to revisit this in 2024. Lintz seconded and the motion passed.
Lintz made a motion to pay $13, 200.15 to Water District 5 for ARPA reimbursement. Jarell seconded and the motion passed.
Christy LeGrand with Bootheel Regional Planning addressed those in attendance on the 2023 Hazmat Mitigation Plan. Representatives from each community and school district were in attendance. LeGrand spoke about the process in which the new plan will be written. The plan is reviewed every five years.
This plan is put in place to reduce long term risk to people and property, be proactive and be eligible for FEMA Hazard Mitigation.
This was the first meeting in the process to form a new Hazmat Mitigation Plan. Two more meetings, one in March and one in April, will be held. In May a meeting with the commissioners will take place. At this meeting public comments will be taken and resolutions will be initiated. The resolutions will be finalized in June and the first draft of the plan will be submitted to SEMA and FEMA. The previous plan was started in early 2018 and approved in 2019.
Each organization/school was asked to complete a questionnaire as well as attend two meetings. Public involvement will be through questionnaires, public comments and the Bootheel Regional Planning Commission website. The questionnaires given to the organization/school will be given will range from five to ten pages in length. LeGrand asked that the questionnaires be returned within two weeks. She said they’re essential for participation and to access needs and capacity.
She said there are multiple grants linked to the plan which include Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, Building Resillent Infrastructure and Communities, and Flood Mitigation Assistance Program. These could be used to aide with repairs in the event of a disaster.