Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-Council Office .Cfty OF SAN BERNARD1HO - ~T. ~t) ".\~' From: councilma~i~.!hk Reill~ 1.S \" y~ Dept: Council of~~i\)" Dau: November 14, 1988 REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACT_ON SU~Kt: Personnel Committee Report -J~ Synopsis of Previous Council action: Recommended motion: That minutes of Personnel Committee meeting held November 10, 1988 be received and filed. ,-- \ , . C"\- , , \11. .. \'-- -1"'" ". .-- , Signaf~ Phil Arvizo Contact person: Supporting data attached: Yes Phone: 384-5208 Ward: N/A FUNDING REQUIREMENTS: Amount: N/A Source: (Acct. No.) (Acct. DescriPtion) Finance: Council Nous: 75-0262 Agenda Item No -3 .. ~ PERSONNEL COMMITTEE November 10, 1988 ATTENDEES: Councilman Jack Reilly - Chairman Councilman Tom Minor Councilwoman Valerie Pope-Ludlam Acting City Administrator - Jim Robbins Sr. Asst. City Attorney - Dennis Barlow Deputy City Attorney - Diane Roth Parks, Recreation & Community Services Director - Annie Ramos Parks, Recreation & community Services Admin. Operations Supervisor - Tom Boggs Personnel Director - Gordon Johnson Water Department Director: Administration & Finance - Bernard Kersey Finance Director - Andrew Green Chief Examiner - Roger DeFratis Personnel Analyst - Doug Chandler Council Executive Assistant - Phil Arvizo Mayor's Executive Assistant - Richard Bennecke 1. REQUEST TO FILL VACANCY - DEPUTY CITY ATTORNEY II - Item continued at the request of the City Attorney represen- tative. 2. EMPLOYEE MEDICAL INSURANCE PROGRAM EVAWATION - The Committee recommended acceptance of PERS coverage for city employees after a briefing by Mr. Johnson. The Committee requested a comprehensive matrix be brought to the full Council at the meeting of November 21. (Brief evaluation attached) . 3. FULL TIME CLERICAL POSITION FOR SENIOR COMPANION PROGRAM/RETIRED SENIOR VOWNTEER PROGRAM - PARKS, RECREATION AND COMMUNITY SERVICES DEPARTMENT - The Committee recommended approval. (Supporting information attached.) .. 4. DISCUSSION OF EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS - The Committee recommended continuation to special meeting at 10:00 a.m., ~ovember 17 in Council Conference Room. Mr. Johnson will provide the pros and cons of employment contracts. The Committee will have time to review the proposed policy presented by the Acting City Administrator. Meeting adjourned. R~~fully submitted, t / _ .]~; ~.!' //~.~ I:<'~ ~cilman aC~ReillY , Chairman , Personnel C~ittee JR:ej Attch. C I T Y 0 F ~ A N B ERN A ~ DIN 0 INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM 8811-2705 TO: Council Personnel Committee FROM: ~~}IJ Gordon R. Johnson, Director of Personnel /U~ Employee Medical Insurance Program Evaluatio SUBJECT: DATE: November 8, 1988 ~ COPIES: City employees eligible to participate in health insurance programs choose between two options: Kaiser and a self- insured fee-for-service plan where John Hancock processes the claims. The 1988 rates for these two plans are very similar, however, we are facing an average increase of 46% in the John Hancock rates for 1989, much higher than the 10% increase Kaiser has quoted us. The major reasons for the large increase in the self-insured plan, according to Mike Baker of the Wyatt Company, our insurance consultant, include: o Claims and expenses for 1988 projected to exceed funding by 25% o Medical utilization increased by 31% over 1987 o Annual medical care inflation increased to over 20%; a trend rate of 14% was assumed in performing last year's projection for active medical claims o 1988 PCS drug claims costs are up 45% over last year's projection o The experience of retirees, who make up 1/3 of the plan enrollees, is 2-3 times worse than for active employees. Mike Baker recommended several medical and PCS plan design changes including: o Increasing medical plan deductible and the annual out-of-pocket limit o Changing the PPO medical providers' reimbursement percentage back to 90% from 100% o Increasing the PCS deductible from $2 to $5 per prescription. ~~ INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM: 8811-2705 Employee Medical Insurance Program Evaluation November 8, 1988 Page 2 In addition, he recommended that the current practice of active Hancock program participants subsidizing the retirees' rates by themselves be expanded to include the over 500 active Kaiser enrollees. This plan would have led to rate increases of around 30-35% for everyone, both Kaiser and Hancock enrollees. These suggestions and many more were discussed at several meetings of the Insurance Committee, composed of representa- tives of the various employee bargaining units and interested management employees. After lengthy discussion and analysis, the majority of the Committee recommended going to the PERS health plans and dropping the self-insured indemnity plan for health insurance. Attached is a booklet describing the PERS plans for the current year. The PERS health plans are administered by the same Board of Administration which manages the PERS retirement system. The Public Employees' Medical and Hospital Care Act was enacted in 1962 to provide medical insurance for active and retired employees of the state of California. In 1967, the act was amended to permit cities and other public agencies to parti- cipate as well. As of July 1, 1986, all contracting agencies may elect to contract for participation of all the agency's members, or to contract for the members of one or more individual employee organizations. The types of health plans offered include a statewide indemnity plan, numerous HMOs (ie: Kaiser, Health Net, Cigna, and Partners), and two Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs). Participating cities include Lorna Linda, Rialto, Pomona, Garden Grove, Burbank, Torrance, Carson, Barstow, Pasadena, and Upland, as well as Cal state San Bernardino. There are currently 276,000 households representing active and retired public agency employees who participate in a PERS health plan. The City is required by law to contribute at least $16 a month for each program participant, be they active or re- tired. The City currently contributes $17.74 per month for each of the 1030 participants in the Hancock plan, including 343 retirees. In addition, the City had to subsidize this self-insured plan by $200,000 during the past year. The City is required to contribute an administrative fee which by statute cannot exceed 2% of the total monthly premium to PERS to cover the cost of providing the program to the City. The rate for the current contract year is 0.5%. If we were to transfer to the PERS plans, there would be no need for the City to maintain the risk it now has being self INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM: 8811-2705 Employee Medical Insurance Program Evaluation November 8, 1988 Page 3 insured for health insurance since PERS would assume all the risk and fund all their costs from the premiums assessed. The PERS plan rates are lower than those we can obtain by our- selves. Don Harrington, manager of the San Bernardino PERS office, has met with me and my staff and with the Insurance Committee to discuss implementation of their plans. Since the increases for the self-insured and Kaiser plans are scheduled to take effect January 1, 1989, it is in the city's best interest to proceed to change to the PERS plans as rapidly as possible. We propose the following timetable for implementation: January 1 - Police, Fire and Management since we are current- ly in negotiations with all three groups. February 1 AFSCME and Mid-Management since they have existing MOUs which will require amending. The Water Department is interested in switching over effec- tive January 1 as well. The Redevelopment Agency's employees currently are only eligible to participate in the Hancock plan. The Community Development Commission would need to consider adopting a resolution permitting their employees' participation in the PERS plans as well or make some other arrangements for them to have medical insurance coverage. If you concur with my recommendation, I would like the full Council to consider adopting resolutions (one per bargaining unit) at their November 21, 1988, meeting, implementing the program. C I T Y 0 F 3 A N B ERN A A DIN 0 INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM 8811-903 TO: James E. Robbins, Acting City Administrator FROM: Fred A. Wilson, Assistant to the City Administrator S~BJECT: Full-Time Clerical Position for SCP/RSVP ~ DATE: November 8, 1988 COPIES: ------------------------------------------------------------- Annie Ramos indicated that the request to hire a full-time Typist Clerk I would not impact the General Fund, as the position would be fully funded through the Federal Action Grant Program. She also stated that the position will not result in an increase to the number of authorized positions in the Park, Recreation and Community Services Department, as the position will terminate at the time the federal funding is no longer available. The total annual fringe benefit cost for the position is ~~jimatelY $3,500.00. ~ILSON Assistant to the City Administrator FAW/dm ~ I CITY OF SAN BE: .NARDINO - .- MEMORANOUrv. To Jim Robbins, Acting City Administrator Subject FULL TIME CLERICAL POSITION FOR SCP/RSVP From Annie F. Ramos, Director Parks, Recreation and Date Conrnu n i ty Serv ices October 14, 1988 Approvec Date ~~is is a request for authorization to hire a full time Typist Clerk I to work with the Senior Companion Program (SCP) and the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP). 7his position would not be an increase in Department manpower positions, but would be only for the two (2) federally funded ACTION programs. Sackground Curing the past two and one-half years, the Senior Companion Program (SCP) has had a ;art-time clerical worker furnished through the Office on Aging Senior Employment =rogram. While this has been a welcome help, it has only provided for minimal clerical support. 7here has also been and continues to be assistance from the department administratipn staff, but this has also become a very limited clerical assistance effort because of the growing administration tasks throughout the department as the number of recreation and community service activities have increased. :n addition, the SCP has recently received a grant for providing companions to individuals who have Alzheimer's and related disorders, and a new program has also been funded to provide companions to assist homebound veterans through our local ~eterans Hospital, a program which will eventually include volunteers through the ::SVP. ~ll this has increased the clerical requirements of the two program Coordinators, particularly in the SCP area. The numerous reports, time sheets, requests for payments, client records, companion folders, training sessions and information, increased phone inquiries and a myriad of tasks that are necessary to keep all information and activities up-to-date, have required the Coordinator in both programs to spend an inordinate amount of time in the office when they should be in the field monitoring and promoting their programs. The SCP Coordinator has funding to provide 16 more volunteers, raising the total volunteer force for the programs to 68. These volunteers will provide more than 5000 hours of service to fellow senior citizens during a months time. All this requires much record keeping and other related clerical tasks. The RSVP Coordinator has approximately 350 registered volunteers working at more than 60 work stations. This program has provided approximately 65-70 thousand hours of volunteer work throughout our area. The value of this volunteer service to our community is approaching the $300,000 level and is expected to grow as our coordinator is able to get out into the field and promote the program. Z E {)J hay 1. I 130 9861 I ::a m n a . .:UO "NINOY - .0.03" 0 PRIDE ./ . I ~ESS ,. ....., 0 Z ~ - a . ~ 0 -2- The two programs together, when figured at the minimum wage, are providing more than $600,000 worth of annual volunteer service to our community. At the same time, the goals and objectives of ACTION, which are to provide a challenging and fuWilling life for our seniors, are being met because more than 400 senior volunteers are serving in meaningful situations with other seniors and in the community at large. Recommendation It is recommended by staff and by the ACTION representatives who monitor our programs, that clerical assistance in the form of a dedicated full time position be authorized for these vital ACTION programs. This provision of a clerk will allow the Coordinators to spend more time at their primary tasks, which are: to monitor work stations, volunteer performance and needs and to promote the programs in order to involve more and more seniors and to promote volunteerism as a way to assist in all segments of our society. The Budgets for these programs are: SCP $247,867 RSVP 70,924 Total $318,791 In addition, the SCP has received a Grant of $50,260 for a 24 month program to provide volunteers to assist patients with Alzheimer's and related disorders. Of this Budget, the City provides in kind services for space and administrative assistance and a cash contribution of $35,889. Some of the expenses such as recognition programs for the volunteers, meals at the work sites, some transportation costs and a variety of other program related expenses are paid for by fund raising efforts on the part of the Coordinators and by contributions and unsolicited gifts from those who have benefitted from the programs. The expanded efforts at promoting the program which will be made asa result of hiring a full time clerical position, will also increase the amount of funding from private sources in the form of gifts. Because of this, the amount of funding increase from City General fund will be minimal and the initial pOSition cost for the remainder of the fiscal year may be absorbed in the current budget. It is anticipated that this position could come on board around January or February 1989 when the current Senior Employment Program assistance ends. The pOSition requested is a Typist Clerk I which has a beginning salary of $6.83 per hour plus approximately $1.70 per hour in Fringe benefits for a total cost of $17,763, which will be shared by both the SCP and RSVP budgets. -3- It is recommended that this request to hire a full time Typist Clerk I for work with the Senior Companion and Retired Senior Volunteer Program be approved and that the recruiting and hiring processes be authorized to get underway as soon as possible so that there will be no delay in meeting the administrative needs of the two programs. Your consideration of this request is appreciated. ~l.~ ANNIE F. RAMOS, DIRECTOR Parks, Recreation and Community Services AFR:TB:fw