Truckee council approves health, dental and vision coverage for council members, 3-2 vote

The Truckee Town Council voted 3-2 on Jan. 1, 2025, to allow council members and their families to enroll in the town's health, dental and vision insurance plans, with coverage to begin March 1, 2025. The council also authorized staff to enroll interested members and to place a revised town resolution and associated budget amendment on a future consent calendar to implement the change.

The measure passed after a lengthy public and council debate about timing, cost and the message the change sends following voter approval of Measure E. Council Member Henderson, who moved adoption, framed the change as a modernization of governance and a step to make elected service accessible to a wider pool of candidates. "This isn't about providing health care benefits just to those of us who happen to be sitting up here in this role tonight," Henderson said. "It is ... providing these benefits for those who are willing to take on this role, this service now and in the future." Counsel Andy Morris, the town attorney, told the council that state law permits the council to make this decision and that doing so under properly drafted resolutions is legally permissible: "The law says that if anyone is going to extend health and welfare benefits to you, it's you."

Human resources manager Bonnie Thompson Hardin…