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Council hears wellness report; staff recommends expanding city clinic hours and reinvesting healthcare savings
Summary
Staff reported a multi-year wellness program that has increased wellness-center use and helped hold healthcare renewal rates lower than projected; staff proposed expanding clinic hours from 20 to 24 per week (estimated $105,000) and reinvesting savings toward public safety pay increases and other benefits.
City staff provided council with a detailed update on the city's employee wellness program and health-plan experience, saying the program has helped reduce health-care renewal pressure and produced measurable outcomes in clinic use.
The presentation traced the wellness effort from simple "city walks" in 2015 to the introduction of an on-site wellness center in 2019 and services such as on-site dental clinics, Texas Mobile Imaging body scans, and behavioral health services introduced in 2022. Staff reported that wellness-center visits increased from about 200 visits annually early on to roughly 700 visits a year more recently, and that behavioral-health utilization rose substantially after that service was added.
Staff said the city paid roughly "$8,000,000 for our medical, dental, vision in 2024, 2025" and that this year the city experienced a renewal increase of roughly 5% (about $400,000), under a budgeted estimate of 10% (about $800,000). Using those savings, staff proposed increasing wellness-clinic hours from 20 to 24 per week to stabilize staffing (through benefits paid by the contracted operator, Marathon) and improve access, an item to appear on the Dec. 16 consent agenda with an estimated annual cost of $105,000.
Staff also described reinvestment priorities already included in the budget: market adjustments to police and fire pay and 34 additional certification pay positions for the fire department. The presenter argued that improving clinic access reduces employee downtime and sick-leave use while producing a return on investment in reduced medical spending.
Council asked clarifying questions (for example, whether a physician assistant serves as the primary clinical provider) and expressed support for the approach, noting that conserved funds can be redirected to public-safety pay and other workforce needs. No formal council approval for the hour increase was recorded in this meeting; staff said the item would appear on Dec. 16 for consent approval.
