HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes City Council - 06/14/2017 - Workshop ¢yus Com`
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I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Workshop
Meeting of the Corpus Christi City Council of June 14, 2017 which were approved by the City
Council on June 20, 2017.
WITNESSETH MY HAND AND SEAL, on this the 20th day of June, 2017.
Re ecca Huerta
City Secretary
SEAL
INDEXED
Corpus Christi 1201 Leopard Street
Corpus Christi,TX 78401
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Meeting Minutes
City Council Workshop Session
Wednesday,June 14,2017 3:00 PM Basement Training Room
1201 Leopard Street
Public Notice-- ITEMS ON THIS AGENDA ARE FOR COUNCIL'S
INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. COUNCIL MAY GIVE DIRECTION TO THE
CITY MANAGER, BUT NO OTHER ACTION WILL BE TAKEN AND NO PUBLIC
COMMENT WILL BE SOLICITED.
THE USE OF CELLULAR PHONES AND SOUND ACTIVATED PAGERS ARE
PROHIBITED IN THE TRAINING ROOM DURING MEETINGS OF THE CITY
COUNCIL.
A. Mayor Joe McComb to call the meeting to order.
Mayor McComb called the meeting to order at 3:06 p.m.
B. City Secretary Rebecca L. Huerta to call the roll of the required Charter Officers.
City Secretary Rebecca L.Huerta called the roll and verified that a quorum of
the City Council and the required Charter Officers were present to conduct the
meeting.
Charter Officers:
City Manager Margie C.Rose,Senior Assistant City Attorney Lisa Aguilar,and
City Secretary Rebecca L.Huerta.
Present 6- Mayor Joe McComb, Council Member Rudy Garza Jr.,Council Member
Paulette Guajardo,Council Member Ben Molina,Council Member Lucy
Rubio,and Council Member Carolyn Vaughn
Absent 2- Council Member Michael Hunter, and Council Member Greg Smith
Note: Council Member Vaughn arrived at 3:07 p.m. Council Member Hunter
arrived at 3:20 p.m.and left at 3:27 p.m.
C. BRIEFINGS TO CITY COUNCIL:
1. Status of Health Plans/Preliminary Fiscal 2018 Budgetary
Feedback
Mayor McComb referred to Item 1.City Manager Margie C.Rose provided
opening remarks regarding the status of health plans/preliminary Fiscal 2018
budgetary feedback.
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City Council Workshop Session Meeting Minutes June 14,2017
Director of Human Resources Steve Viera presented information on the
following topics: per-employee,per-month cost by plan(Citicare,Premium,
Public Safety,Fire);cost factors;Citicare Fire forecast and premiums;Citicare
Police forecast and premiums;Citicare plans,forecast and premiums;
premium cost-sharing;and a summary.
Council members and staff discussed the following topics: effective date of
the proposed health plan changes;the need for Police and Fire to engage in
negotiations with the City to ensure Police and Fire share in the burden of
increased health care costs;how long the City has self-funded health
insurance;self-funding versus fully-insured health insurance;employees'
utilization of City health plans;employees obtaining coverage from outside
third-parties;how the newly proposed plans compare with the market;the
number of lower-/minimum-wage City employees impacted by increased health
insurance costs;the substantial negative financial impact of increased health
insurance costs on lower-/minimum-wage City employees;use of emergency
clinics and associated costs to the plans;that the Affordable Care Act requires
that plan participants pay in-network costs for higher-cost out-of-network
emergency claims,resulting in higher costs for the City;that an emergency is
defined by how the provider bills the claim,including diagnosis codes;that the
City has stop-loss coverage for claims equal to or greater than$250,000;
utilization of mail order pharmacy and the City's Wellness Clinic;that the City's
pharmacy benefit administrator is Express Scripts and the City's health plan
administrator is United Health Care;the use of a consumer-driven health plan
and Health Savings Accounts as an alternative;the City being restricted from
operating its Wellness Clinic if a consumer-driven health plan were to be
implemented;closing the City's Wellness Clinic;cash discounts from health
providers;the benefits of maintaining the City's Wellness Clinic;that the cost
to operate the Wellness Clinic is built into the health insurance premiums
employees pay;a request by council members that staff provide a cost
analysis of the Wellness Clinic's cost versus savings in the current and next
fiscal years;and cost avoidance versus cost savings.
Council members and staff went on to discuss the following additional topics:
sources of monies to fund the City's FY 2017/2018 budget;potential ad
valorem tax and utility rate increases; laying off City personnel;sales tax
trends;Code Enforcement's enforcement of City codes and associated
revenues;total number of Code Enforecment officers city-wide;potential
benefits of city-wide consolidation of Code Enforcement officers;enlisting
Solid Waste employees to report code violations to Code Enforcement officers;
City employee productivity;reduction of city staff and associated services and
realizing greater department efficiencies as cost-savings measures;freezing
vacant City positions;eliminating City positions;a long-term plan for Public
Safety;improvements to Junior Beck Drive potentially creating additional
revenues for the City;the long-term jeopardy in which Police and Fire
collective bargaining contracts are placed due to rising health care costs;and
the sustainability of the City's retirement plan.
D. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 4:34 p.m.
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