Minutes
Town of Greenfield
Greenfield Town Offices, 7 Sawmill Road Greenfield, NH
Selectmen’s Meeting Minutes
Thursday, May 17, 2012 – 4:30 pm
Board of Selectmen: Chairman Robert Wimpory; Selectwoman, Karen Day; Selectwoman Debra Davidson
Staff: Town Administrator Patt,
Public: Ken Paulson
The meeting was called to order at 4:30 PM by Chairman Wimpory.
Documents for Approval/Review/Signature
The Selectmen reviewed and signed the following items:
§ A/P Check ManifestA/P Checks
§ A/P Invoices
§ Approval of Selectmen Minutes
§ T.O.G policy review
§ Notice of TAN award
§ Code Enforcement Officer’s report
§ DPW Truck purchase confirmation letter
§ Homeland Security radio recipient and MOU certification
§ Uplift Music Fest Oak Park rental application
§ MS-5 report from Auditors
§ Fairpoint License for pole installation on Old Bennington Road
§ B.T.L.A appeal notice and request for information form
4:30 PM: Presentation by NH Interlocal Trust
At 4:30 pm Kirstin Van Buskirk approached the Board to provide an update on the New Hampshre Interlocal Trust (NHIT) program as it transitions into the role as the risk pool for Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare. This is a newly formed risk pool company that will be taking the place of Primex as they exit the healthcare market. The Board was provided a presentation on the role of NHIT as the risk pool for HPH and the process for enrollment. Ms. Van Buskirk outlined the hope of NHIT that the town of Greenfield will stay with Harvard Pilgrim as their healthcare provider. Ms. Van Buskirk is currently the main point of contact for the program and NHIT has plans to hire a full time claims coordinator, and another person to coordinate programs. Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare was voted the number one provider of healthcare
in the region and flyers were provided to the Board to highlight this achievement. Ms. Van Buskirk indicated that if the Board were to look at Rx changes there could be some savings over the quoted price increase of 3.51% from the 2011 pricing.
5:00 PM: Review and Approval of Documents
The Selectmen reviewed and signed the check manifest, AP checks, AP invoices and the previous meeting’s minutes. The Selectmen reviewed and signed updated Town policies including the delegation of deposit authority, and the cash receipts policy. There was a brief discussion of employee sick and personal time available in the personnel policy that was tabled to the next meeting. The Board reviewed several items including a homeland security grant to provide a new digital radio for the police department, the MS-5 report from the auditors, a license for installation of poles from Fairpoint, a bureau of tax and land appeals notice, and the TAN confirmation letter from People’s Bank.
The TAN commitment letter from People’s Bank was reviewed followed by a memo from the Treasurer, which highlighted the TAN line of Credit details. The Treasurer’s bullet points were read aloud as follows:
§ Amount of TAN: $470,000
§ Interest Rate: 1.67%
§ Closing Date: on or before 5/21/2012
In conjunction with the TAN commitment the Board received a request from Bond Counsel to adopt a post-issuance compliance policy, which was adopted on a motion made by the Chair and passed on a vote of 3-0. Bond Counsel provided five additional resolutions that they felt would be helpful in connection with the TAN commitment, therefore:
Chairman Wimpory at the request of Bond Counsel on the issuance of the Tax Anticipation Notes made the following motions:
Chairman Wimpory made a motion to authorize at least a majority of the Board of Selectmen and the Treasurer to sign the Notes, or to have said signatures printed in facsimile on the Notes and to affix the Town's seal thereto, the motion was seconded by Selectwoman Davidson. The vote passed 3-0.
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Chairman Wimpory made a motion to authorize the Treasurer to deliver the Notes to the purchaser, People’s United Bank, against payment therefor; the motion was seconded by Selectwoman Day. The vote passed 3-0.
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Chairman Wimpory made a motion to authorize at least a majority of the Board of Selectmen and the Treasurer to execute and deliver the Town’s closing certificates and IRS Form 8038-G and such other documents as may be necessary or appropriate to accomplish the sale and delivery of the Notes in accordance with the foregoing; the motion was seconded by Selectwoman Davidson. The vote passed 3-0.
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Chairman Wimpory made a motion to authorize the Town to act as its own Paying Agent with respect to the Notes; the motion was seconded by Selectwoman Day. The vote passed 3-0.
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Chairman Wimpory made a motion to approve the terms of the Notes including, without limitation, the amount, interest rate, premium, if any, maturity and form and the sale of the Notes to the purchaser, People’s United Bank, all as being in the best interests of the Town. The motion was seconded by Selectwoman Day. The vote passed 3-0.
The Board was advised that the Administrator and Treasurer had provided an email to Bond Counsel’s Renelle L’Huillier of Devine Millimet & Branch outlining the minutes of May 3rd’s vote by the Board to authorize the Selectmen to carry out their fiduciary responsibilities and to sign documents during the weeks when there is no regularly scheduled meeting. Ms. L’Huillier responded in the affirmative to the request by the Administrator to waive the requirement that the TAN documents be signed in a properly noticed meeting. As such the Board was informed that it could sign the documents at each members earliest opportunity during the upcoming week.
6:30 PM: Presentation by Schoolcare
At 6:30 pm Jeff Kantorowski of Schoolcare came before the Board of Selectmen and presented the Schoolcare health insurance package that was recently chosen by the Town of Peterborough. The New Hampshire School Health Care Coalition is a company that was founded by five Board of Education organizations in the State of New Hampshire. The healthcare programs provided by the coalition are called “Schoolcare”. The founding members of the coalition are:
§ NH Association of School Business Officials
§ NH School Boards Association
§ National Education Association of NH
§ NH School Boards Insurance Trust
§ NH School Administrators Association
Mr. Kantorowski provided an in-depth overview of the self-funded Schoolcare health programs. Claims are funded through the self-funded pool and administered by Cigna, a third-party company. Cigna is paid an administrative fee to manage the health programs and does not have any financial interest in the result of claims filed by the group members. Mr. Kantorowski said that Schoolcare is know for its historically low premium increases compared to other plans.
7:20 PM: Healthcare working meeting
The Board deliberated over the healthcare packages that were outlined in a binder provided by Administrator Patt. The options for the healthcare packages have been narrowed down to three primary choices. The choices are:
§ Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare through NHIT
§ Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield – Matthew Thornton through the Local Government Center
§ Schoolcare programs administered by CIGNA
Each of these plans is comparable in services, although not exactly the same. There was a discussion of the cost of the plans. The Anthem plan is approximately $415, on an annual basis, higher than the Harvard Pilgrim program in 2011. The NHIT Harvard Pilgrim program is up 3.51% over 2011, which represents an increase of $4,444 on an annual basis than the total cost the Town paid last year. Schoolcare’s program, outlined above, is approximately $868 less overall than the annual cost paid in 2011.
Each of the Selectmen expressed concern for the employees and stated that they were interested in providing good coverage while balancing the cost against the services. There was a discussion of each program’s highlights and areas of concern. The NHIT program is just ramping up and expects to have 20-30 towns join their risk pool. They have one full time employee now with several part time people and will have to ramp up quickly. Harvard Pilgrim Health is rated the number one health plan, however and this helps offset the potential growing pains that NHIT is likely to face. Additionally, this program is seamless for enrollment purposes since NHIT has adopted the same program plans that Primex offered.
Anthem’s product through the ConVal School program is a known product, the pricing is better than the NHIT quote, and the Town has provided this in the past. One concern about this product was that for several years there were increases that were double digits in percentage points, which is why the town left LGC’s healthcare. Also LGC has been in the news recently and one Board member indicated that the cost of their legal issues was sure to be borne by the enrollees in the future, causing increases to the plans.
Schoolcare has a very comparable program to Harvard Pilgrim, but without deductibles for the employees. There is concern about Cigna, which has had a reputation for being difficult/strict with its commercial programs. There are town employees that have had Cigna programs in the past and reported that there were acute problems with billing and customer service. Mr. Kantorowski explained earlier in the evening that he hears this concern frequently, but that the Schoolcare program is nothing at all like the commercial programs offered by Cigna, because Schoolcare bears the risk; Cigna is only administering the programs. The criterion that Cigna uses to administer claims is comparable to HPH and Anthem because this is a highly regulated industry and it’s a competitive industry.
A motion was made at 8:05 pm by the Chair to select Schoolcare. The motion was seconded by Selectwoman Davidson. During discussion Selectwoman Day indicated that she was not convinced that Schoolcare could offset the bad reviews of Cigna. The Administrator asked her what information could be provided that would help the Selectmen reach a unanimous agreement. After some discussion the motion was tabled and a request for additional information from the towns enrolled in the Schoolcare program was made. The Administrator indicated that he would call contacts at the towns that are using the Schoolcare program and report back on their level of satisfaction. The Board agreed to set a meeting for Weds. May 23rd at noon to meet for thirty minutes, review the information gathered and vote on a healthcare program. The
time and date was selected in order to provide the Town with enough time to complete the enrollment process with the chosen provider.
8:30 PM: Adjournment
There being no further business, Selectman Wimpory moved to adjourn the meeting. Selectwoman Day seconded. The motion carried 3-0.
The meeting adjourned at 8:30 PM
Respectfully Submitted:
Aaron Patt
Town Administrator
The minutes are final when approved and signed by the Board of Selectmen. A signed copy is on file in the Selectmen’s minutes.
_______________________ _______________________ ______________________
Robert Wimpory, Chairman Karen Day, Selectwoman Debra Davidson, Selectwoman
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