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Council expected to delay decision
HUNTINGTON -- Huntington City Council is expected to delay a vote on a proposed contract for the city's non-uniformed workers until it has more time to review the contract.
The proposed five-year contract for members of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 598 is on the council's agenda this evening. Its meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall, 800 5th Ave.
The AFSCME union represents 109 of the city's 360 employees. Those employees include workers in the Public Works Department, including its garbage, sanitation, streets, motor pool and floodwall divisions.
On June 30, the union voted 56-21 to approve a contract that includes the new health insurance plan implemented by Mayor David Felinton. The union also agreed to forego pay raises in the first year of the contract. Union members will receive pay raises totaling $3 an hour over the final four years of the agreement.
The AFSCME union is not involved in a legal dispute between Felinton and the police and firefighter unions over contract negotiations.
Fraternal Order of Police Gold Star Lodge 65 and International Association of Firefighters Local 289 filed a complaint in Cabell Circuit Court last month after Felinton announced he intended to unilaterally change city workers' health insurance on July 1. They also sought a temporary injunction preventing the mayor from enacting the change.
Circuit Judge John Cummings issued an order two weeks ago that allowed Felinton to implement the new health insurance plan for active employees. He also ruled that police and fire retirees will remain under the city's old health insurance plan for at least four months or until both sides reach an amicable agreement.
Under the new health insurance plan, active employees' premiums are about six times higher than the $12 or $25 a month they paid for single or family coverage under the old plan. Individuals are required to pay $73 a month, while family premiums have risen to $153 a month.
The new plan includes a pre-tax program by which employees can have their premium contributions deducted before taxes. The estimated savings is more than 25 percent, according to city officials.
Annual deductibles for active employees are $1,500 for a single employee or retiree and $3,000 for a family plan. Deductibles were $250 per person under the old plan.
The city also offers employees annual health reimbursement accounts of $1,000 for individuals and $2,000 for families to help pay deductibles and other out-of-pocket expenses.
The council has scheduled a special work session for 5 p.m. Wednesday, July 23, to discuss the AFSCME contract.
Here is a look at other items on this evening's agenda:
CONSULTANTS: The council will discuss the first reading of an ordinance authorizing a contract with a consulting firm that will help Huntington develop a long-term plan. The $29,600 contract would be awarded to Collective Impact of Rochester, Pa. The city would pay the firm with funds from a $50,000 Benedum Foundation grant that it received earlier this year.
The grant has been matched with a financial contribution from First State Bank and in-kind contributions from Marshall University's Center for Business and Economic Research and Mountainside Media.
The grant also has been used to pay for visits from community development specialists and trips to Morgantown and Paducah, Ky., to learn about their community-vision process.
The next step is creating a private, nonprofit organization called the Create Huntington Foundation that will capture intellectual and creative capital in Huntington and turn it into economic development, city leaders say.
DELINQUENT FEES: The council will discuss the first reading of an ordinance authorizing a contract for the collection of delinquent municipal and refuse fees. Rossman and Co. of Columbus, Ohio, would be awarded the contract. It would keep 18 percent of whatever it collected. Three other companies that submitted bids proposed to keep between 25 percent and 28 percent.
RECYCLING: The council will discuss the first reading of an ordinance offering discounts up to $4.50 per quarter on refuse fees to residents who recycle. The city does not have a recycling program, but private hauler Allied Waste does.
FLOOD ASSESSMENT: The council will vote on a resolution reallocating $10,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant money to a flood assessment project in the Harveytown neighborhood of Huntington. The money will be used to match $10,000 that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has committed to the project.
