CLEARLAKE, Calif. – This week the Clearlake City Council will discuss council member benefits and whether to continue them at current levels or seek other options.
The council will meet at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, March 27, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive, for a closed session regarding public employee discipline, dismissal and release before the open session begins at 6 p.m.
During the meeting, the council will present three proclamations, one declaring April as Child Abuse Prevention Month, recognizing April's National Volunteer Week and April 2 as World Autism Awareness Day.
Under business items, the council will hold the discussion on council member health benefits.
City Manager Joan Phillipe's report to the council explains that the issue is on the agenda based on council consensus.
“It was going to be part of the budget discussions but on further consideration it was felt that having the discussion prior to the budget workshop(s) made more sense,” Phillipe wrote.
She said there also is interest in seeing if there is the possibility of providing lower cost coverage, a project that's still in progress.
The cost of providing the coverage is $827 monthly, $9,924 annually for a single person; for single plus one person it's $1,617 monthly, $19,404 annually; and for a family, the cost monthly is $2,170 and $26,040 annually, Phillipe reported.
Currently, three council members are at the single plus one level, and two are at the family level, with total costs to the city totaling $110,292 annually, according to Phillipe's report. The annual cost to provide single coverage for the council members would be $49,620.
Phillipe noted that it's a matter of city policy to provide the benefits, although she understands that at one point during the past decade the benefits were temporarily suspended due to budget issues.
She said options available include continuing the benefits with no changes, providing coverage to council members only, providing coverage at any level for the council members but having them cover costs for remaining family members, or providing no health insurance coverage at all.
“These costs are based on currently premium rates which are anticipated to increase in the next budget year,” she wrote. “If the city is able to negotiate a reduced cost health insurance package with employees, there would be additional savings to the city. This is a meet and confer item not open for discussion at this time.”
In other council business, the Clearlake Waste Solutions Annual Report will be presented and the council will discuss a letter in support of SB 1262, which concerns regulation of medical cannabis.
Planned discussions regarding a request from Lake County Youth Services to use city-owned property on Golf Avenue located next to the youth center and a proposed amendment to the youth center lease to provide for no-cost use of the Clearlake Senior Community Center for fundraisers will be continued to the April 10 meeting.
Items on the consent agenda – considered to be noncontroversial and accepted as a slate with one vote – include warrant registers; authorization to purchase 25 X-2 Taser units with holsters; request for authorization to execute contracts with Coastland Civil Engineers for design engineering and Green Valley Engineers for construction management in amounts not to exceed $38,490 and $15,000, respectively, for the city's Highway Safety Improvement Program Safety Project; consideration of approval of a proposal from Terry Krieg, CPA, for audit services; consideration of rejection of claim from Daniel York for unspecified damages; consideration of rejection of a claim for damages from Smiley Harris; and consideration of the CDBG program application for the 2014 program year.
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