By Jessica Edwards
Haines Borough Assembly members who voted themselves health benefits
last October recently learned that coverage was mandatory for all members.
The cost of assembly insurance was estimated at $50,000, but that was
based on members Pete Lapham and Deborah Vogt opting out. Each already received full
medical benefits through the state employees’ retirement program.
"We were told as an assembly that because we have people who
don’t need or want insurance, they would be able to opt out," mayor Fred Shields
told the assembly last month. "We’ve been told after the fact that we have to
have it."
Borough manager Robert Venables said the mix-up stemmed from a
misunderstanding between the union representatives relaying information to borough staff
and the trust providing the insurance.
Shields met with union representative Tom Brice last week in Juneau to
discuss making an exception to the policy allowing assembly members to opt out.
Venables said it was yet uncertain if such a change could be made.
"Haines’ request is an exception that’s not done anywhere else. They agreed
to insure the borough assembly as an exception. This would be an exception to an
exception."
If a change wasn’t possible, the assembly could decide not to go
with the trust, he said.
In interviews this week, members Doug Olerud, Pete Lapham, and Jerry
Lapp said they voted for insurance with the provision coverage was optional. Deborah Vogt
raised the issue at the Feb. 26 and March 11 assembly meetings. "I was certainly
surprised to find that I can’t opt out," she said.
"It is ludicrous that the borough should pay essentially about
$10,000 for me to have insurance…for something I absolutely don’t need and
don’t want to have," Vogt said.
Olerud said that after he voted down insurance several years ago, he
received feedback from community members who said the benefits helped get more people
involved in public jobs. "A lot of people put in a lot of hours" on the
assembly," he said. "Several people complained to me that (compensation of) $200
a month was not enough." He said insurance in the past had been provided by a private
carrier and had been optional.
Venables said the borough had chosen to go with union insurance because
it was "much, much cheaper."
Lapp said it was important that members not be pushed into policies
they didn’t want. "I think what I would favor is to look at a different
policy." He said over the 13 years he had worked in borough government, insurance had
been optional when there was money in the coffers and rescinded in tighter times.
"That’s been the norm."
Lapham said benefits were an important perk to offer people who gave a
lot of time.
"I supported it and would continue to support it," he said of
optional insurance benefits. "It’s a lot of time you invest" as an assembly
member, with minimal compensation. "It’s really hard to get good, qualified
people and if that would be an incentive, I would support it."
Assembly members Norm Smith and Steve Vick gained their seats after the
insurance vote last fall.
Vick said while he supported insurance for assembly members and had
benefited from it himself, he didn’t believe in mandating the coverage. "I
don’t think it’s right for people to be forced to have insurance," or to
replace their primary carrier. "If it meant I had to get rid of my insurance, I would
back other members."
Vick said coverage had become cost prohibitive for individuals, and was
an issue of national significance. "It’s $900 a month," he said. "How
many people could afford that on their own?"
Smith, who has tried to avoid being "drafted" into the
insurance policy to no avail, said he wouldn’t have voted for insurance to begin
with. Smith said he voted down insurance for assembly and council members twice in the
past to save municipal dollars. He said he didn’t agree with giving part-time people
the same insurance benefits as full-time borough employees.
After Smith didn’t reply by the insurer’s deadline, one
hundred dollars was subtracted from his last check for insurance co-payments, he said.
"I was signed up without consent…I never signed anything."
Smith said he resented the cost to taxpayers caused by his and other
members’ inability to opt out. He said he was considering hiring a lawyer and suing
the borough and the union.
The assembly next meets 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 8 at the assembly
chambers. Agenda items include a public hearing on a proposed vote on exempting assembly
members from state financial disclosure laws.
