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BARNESVILLE -- Village Council recently voted to keep village employees' health insurance through The Health Plan, but only after making changes to the policy in order to avoid a steep price increase.
During a meeting held July 17, Fiscal Officer Jeannie Hannahs informed council that they were facing an 18% price increase to renew with The Health Plan at their current coverage level and that as a result she was working with a broker to look for other options.
At the council meeting held Aug. 28, Councilman Brian Yarnall acknowledged Hannahs for her work on the matter before explaining the proposal they had put together.
Yarnall said that by staying with The Health Plan and increasing the family deductible from $4,000 to $8,000 and the single deductible from $2,000 to $4,000, they were able to bring the rate increase down to a much more manageable level where monthly premiums would increase by $37.75 for families and $15 for singles, whereas those increases would have been $90 and $36 with the current deductibles.
He went on to say that the proposal also involved employees with single coverage being responsible for the first $250 and the last $250 of those deductibles while employees with family coverage would have to pay the first $500 and the last $500 of their deductibles with the village paying the rest.
Yarnall said that very few employees reached the deductible limit last year.
The village had previously been paying the full amount of their employees' health insurance deductibles, which was given as a potential reason for the large number of claims which had been a reason for the severity of the rate increase.
Yarnall and Hannahs said that they had shopped for other insurance carriers, but did not feel any of the quotes they had received offered enough advantages to switch to a different carrier with Hannahs citing one example that was 35% higher than their current plan.
Council voted to go with the proposal as outlined, with Councilman Terry McCort commenting before his "yes" vote that he "wasn't a big fan" of the employees having to pay part of their deductibles as he felt that their previous policy had been a huge incentive.
Meanwhile, Barnesville Area Chamber of Commerce Director Jill Hissom addressed council proposing that the village have a Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area, noting that a number of other local municipalities had done so.
A Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area, or DORA, is a specified area of land that a local legislative authority has designated as exempt from certain open container provisions as laid out in Ohio Revised Code Section 4301.82.
Hissom said she thought the West Main Street parking lot would be the best area to designate since it was where council had allowed the chamber to hold events.
Hissom said she had a number of events she would like to plan with the DORA in place including a cornhole tournament, an adults-only "Boo in the Ville" Halloween party, and an Ohio State Football game watch party.
Hissom later spoke of a new local winery, saying the DORA would allow them to hold a wine tasting.
Mayor Dale Bunting voiced his initial opposition to the idea, saying "You know how I feel. Why does alcohol have to be involved?"
Hissom responded, "It doesn't have to be, but if we go ahead and say you are permitted to have it, it will be less likely that people just sneak it in. I don't think you'll see any more of people drinking than if you go into our local establishments now."
When questions were brought up about the specifics of how the policy would work, Hissom said there were a number of ways it could be done, saying she was providing council members with information and asked that they take some time to go over it before deciding.
Police Chief Rocky Sirianni said he would like to find out if there had been any fallout in the other communities that had put a DORA policy in place.
Councilman Steve Hill said he had attended an event in St. Clairsville in which businesses along Main Street were handing out drinks and that he had seen no problems.
Concerns over liability were brought up, which Hissom said would be covered with certain rules and restrictions that would be covered under the policy.
No decision was made as the matter was tabled.
Barnesville's next meeting, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. today,, will be preceded by a meeting concerning the Rails to Trails and Tunnel project at 6 p.m., both in council chambers in the Municipal Building on Arch Street.