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Taylorville council approves new health plan recommendation and signs several construction pay estimates
Summary
After a presentation from Diamond Brothers noting a 29% renewal jump from the current carrier, the council approved a recommended move to Blue Cross Blue Shield options. The meeting also cleared multiple change orders and pay estimates for street, drainage and parking projects.
M. Brown, a representative of Diamond Brothers, told the Taylorville City Council on May 20 that the city’s July 1, 2024 medical-renewal landscape had shifted sharply: “we got a 29%” increase from the current arrangement and accompanying network disruptions, he said, and presented bids from Blue Cross Blue Shield and other carriers.
Diamond Brothers recommended moving forward with a Blue Cross Blue Shield plan that, in one bid, showed roughly a 4% increase over current premiums while preserving the existing benefit structure and offering multiple employee plan options. “That new Blue Cross Shield has come in with a 4% increase on your current renewal with benefits that match the current set up,” M. Brown said, and said the vendor would support open-enrollment sessions for employees.
The council voted to approve the Diamond Brothers recommendation on a roll call vote. The approval followed questions from council members about premium tiers and employee deductibles; the vendor offered options with differing deductibles to let employees choose their preferred cost-sharing level.
The council also approved several construction and procurement actions on motions brought during the meeting. Among the items the council authorized were: a $1,537 change order (Change Order No. 1) related to drainage improvements; pay estimate No. 1 for O’Neil Excavating in the amount of $2,821 for drainage work (conditioned on receipt of mechanic’s waivers and certified payroll); and final pay estimate No. 2 to Phil T Excavating for $9,375.35 for City Hall parking improvements, conditioned on the same documentation and the project engineer’s recommendation. The council voted to award the low bid of $29,951 to Phil TOS Excavating for the East Street project and approved equipment purchases including a $7,732 plate compactor for the water plant and a $9,214.53 quote from Coe Equipment for a truck repair/buffer system for the street department.
Motions on the items above passed on roll call unless noted in the record. Several votes were recorded in the transcript as affirmatives from council members present; where the transcript listed roll-call names, those names were recorded in the official minutes.
The meeting also contained housekeeping decisions: ratification of an easement agreement revised by the city attorney, approval of a special-events permit for a high-school band tag day on June 15, and a council vote to table consideration of an advertising-budget request (an item the meeting referenced as an arbitrary $40,000 figure) to a future session.
The council approved payment of bills totaling $446,900.
Next steps: several contract payments were approved subject to receipt of mechanic’s waivers, certified payroll and satisfactory confirmation from the project engineer; staff were directed to secure those documents before final disbursement.
