After debate, Farmington Hills council approves membership in West Michigan Health Insurance Pool

Farmington Hills’ City Council on Oct. 27 voted to join the West Michigan Health Insurance Pool, a public-entity self-funded health plan, authorizing membership for a minimum three-year period and naming the city manager and assistant city manager as the city’s trustees. The resolution passed on a 5–2 roll-call vote after extended debate about timing, bargaining-unit involvement and potential benefit changes for public-safety employees.

City Manager (unnamed in the record) told council the pool serves roughly 17,000 public-sector employees in over 170 organizations and that pooling benefits can reduce premium volatility and expand PPO options for employees. Laurie Brown, the city’s human-resources director, and Chris Glass of Gallagher Benefits Consulting joined the presentation and answered technical questions.

"Membership in that insurance pool will help alleviate this issue that we have, and it'll also improve the coverage that we have," the city manager said during the presentation.

Supporters, including Council member Dr. Bruce, urged approval, saying the pool offers lower costs and more plan choices, including options with health savings accounts. "Anytime we can save our employees that much money, save the city money, and give them at least the same but looks like even better benefits, more choices," Dr. Bruce said.

Other council members voiced concern about the timing of the change, union and public-safety impact, and the relatively small number of nearby municipalities already in the pool. One council member said they could not vote to approve without more analysis of how the change would affect police and fire benefits. Multiple council members asked about communication with unions; staff said union engagement was on the administration’s docket. Council member Dwyer raised whether the pool’s plan designs would preserve options such as high-deductible plans for younger or healthier employees; consultant Chris Glass said the pool would offer a range of options, from lower-deductible to higher-deductible plans, and still include PPO network access.

At roll call the motion to adopt the resolution carried 5–2. The roll call, as recorded in the meeting, showed affirmative votes from Council members Knoll, Aldred, Boulware, Bridges and Bruce; Council member McGuire and Mayor Theresa Rich voted no.

The resolution authorizes the city manager to execute required documents and to serve as trustee (with the assistant city manager as alternate) on the pool’s board of directors. Staff said open enrollment timelines require prompt administrative action so coverage changes can take effect for the coming plan year; staff also said the city will continue to work with unions and employees during implementation.

Council directed administration to proceed with implementation steps and to continue negotiating and communicating with union representatives and employees about specific plan choices and employee contributions.