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GIRARD —
At their Tuesday meeting, Crawford County Commissioners approved a resolution establishing an early retirement program for county employees.
On Friday they took a second look at one portion of the resolution dealing with spouses of employees who take the early retirement option.
The resolution provides that eligible employees taking the early retirement option will continue to have their health insurance paid by the county until they reach the age of 65, when they are eligible for Medicare. However, if an employee’s spouse is also included in the coverage and the spouse turns 65 before the employee does, the resolution says that the spouse will be dropped from the county’s insurance coverage.
“The more I think about it, it’s kind of unfair,” said commissioner Linda Grilz.
“We don’t hold active employees to that, and it’s not fair to hold retirees to it.”
County clerk Don Pyle said that he and county counselor Jim Emerson had also discussed the matter and had talked to the county’s Blue Cross and Blue Shield representative.
“We can make our own resolution, but if a person is still actively working, you can’t tell the employee that his or her spouse is pulled off the insurance,” Pyle said. “Under federal rules, if an employee is actively working, their spouse can’t be asked to get off the insurance. You don’t want to run afoul of the law.”
Grilz said she felt that commissioners needed to have more discussion with Emerson, who was not present at the meeting.
“When we started this discussion on early retirement, we had so many rules and regulations,” she said. “I think we’d be better off with something looser.”
Pyle also reminded commissioners that organizations will be making application for funds for parks and recreation programs and programs that serve the elderly.
These include funds designated for parks in some small cities in the county, J.L. Hutchinson League in Pittsburg and other organizations that sponsor ball teams, Friends of Historic Girard, the Crawford County Historical Museum and the Miners Hall Museum.
“It should be decided by the end of January how much they’ll get,” Pyle said.
The next commission meeting will be Dec. 18, when a public hearing will be held on a proposed budget amendment.
At their Tuesday meeting, Crawford County Commissioners approved a resolution establishing an early retirement program for county employees.
On Friday they took a second look at one portion of the resolution dealing with spouses of employees who take the early retirement option.
The resolution provides that eligible employees taking the early retirement option will continue to have their health insurance paid by the county until they reach the age of 65, when they are eligible for Medicare. However, if an employee’s spouse is also included in the coverage and the spouse turns 65 before the employee does, the resolution says that the spouse will be dropped from the county’s insurance coverage.
“The more I think about it, it’s kind of unfair,” said commissioner Linda Grilz.
“We don’t hold active employees to that, and it’s not fair to hold retirees to it.”
County clerk Don Pyle said that he and county counselor Jim Emerson had also discussed the matter and had talked to the county’s Blue Cross and Blue Shield representative.
“We can make our own resolution, but if a person is still actively working, you can’t tell the employee that his or her spouse is pulled off the insurance,” Pyle said. “Under federal rules, if an employee is actively working, their spouse can’t be asked to get off the insurance. You don’t want to run afoul of the law.”
Grilz said she felt that commissioners needed to have more discussion with Emerson, who was not present at the meeting.
“When we started this discussion on early retirement, we had so many rules and regulations,” she said. “I think we’d be better off with something looser.”
Pyle also reminded commissioners that organizations will be making application for funds for parks and recreation programs and programs that serve the elderly.
These include funds designated for parks in some small cities in the county, J.L. Hutchinson League in Pittsburg and other organizations that sponsor ball teams, Friends of Historic Girard, the Crawford County Historical Museum and the Miners Hall Museum.
“It should be decided by the end of January how much they’ll get,” Pyle said.
The next commission meeting will be Dec. 18, when a public hearing will be held on a proposed budget amendment.
