COUNCIL WORK
SESSION
CALLED BY RULES
COMMITTEE
5:30 P.M.
1. CALL TO ORDER: Mr. Smith opened the Council Work Session at
5:30 P.M., with the following council members present: Mrs. Riggs, Mr. Smith, Mr. Fix, Mr.
Hackworth, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sabatino, and Mr. Wisniewski. Others present were: Judy Gilleland, Lynda Yartin, Linda Fersch,
Phil Hartmann, Sean Casey, Rick Palsgrove, Harry Myer, Rex Myer, Carl Reedy,
Ted Reedy, Chief Kenn Taylor, and others.
2. SCHEDULED
MATTERS:
A. Discussion
regarding proposed revisions to Administrative Code. Mr. Smith stated Ms Gilleland would open the
presentation regarding the proposed changes.
Ms Gilleland stated she would go through a brief power point
presentation detailing the proposed revisions and then we can have
discussion. She stated the power point
would provide an overview of the changes that had been discussed in Rules
Committee. (Attachment 1 to these
minutes)
Mr.
Smith clarified that Mrs. Yartin would keep a record of the changes as
discussed by council.
Mr.
Hackworth stated on page 3, Veteran’s Day is listed as a City holiday and the
Friday after Thanksgiving is not listed and that should be corrected. Mr. Wisniewski stated he did have some
questions regarding Chapter 204 pertaining to the City Seal. Ms Gilleland stated we have made some changes
and modifications to the Seal and she has discussed this with the artist, who
is fine with it. Ms Gilleland stated she
wanted to be sensitive to Mrs. Brackbill’s feelings regarding the Seal, as it
was her artwork. Mrs. Riggs requested
Mr. Hartmann check to see if the City has a copy write on the seal. Mr. Sabatino stated he would recommend some
of the language not be deleted and Ms Gilleland stated the entire section can
remain if that is what Council desires.
Mr. Smith clarified that the words “to be mounted” were probably put in
by the codifier meaning that the seal would be placed in that area. It was determined that wording could be
removed. Ms Gilleland clarified that we
do use the outline of Mrs. Brackbill’s artwork; we just no longer use the
colors. Mrs. Yartin clarified that
Council desired Section 204.01(a) through (c) remain in the Administrative
Code.
Mr.
Sabatino stated in Section 206.02, Schedule of Regular Meetings, he thought it
should read that the schedule of regular meetings should be posted prior to the
second regular meeting of Council because the schedule is determined at the
first meeting of Council each year. All
Council members concurred with that wording and Mr. Hartmann stated he would
include that change. Council further
determined that Section 206.06 could be deleted as it was redundant.
Mr.
Sabatino stated in Section 206.08, Records, he would like that sentence to
read, “The Municipal Clerk shall establish and maintain a complete record of
all action taken pursuant to this chapter and be the designated repository for
all communications involving council members and the Mayor in reference to
fulfilling public information requests.”
Mr. Hartmann stated it made sense to put that statement in this
section.
Mr.
Sabatino questioned striking the duties of the Municipal Clerk that were
outlined in the current Code under Section 220.03. Ms Gilleland stated this was more appropriate
for a job description rather than the Administrative Code. Mr. Sabatino stated he had a problem with
striking sub section C. Mr. Wisniewski
stated he felt this indicated Council should not be addressing the Municipal
Clerk and what she should be doing. Mr.
Hartmann stated the Administrative Code should not be directing things in
miniscule levels, and as the Municipal Clerk does not report directly to
Council the authority should be vested in the Manager to come up with her
duties. Mr. Sabatino stated he felt if
Section C were deleted it would be taking away something that currently
exists. Mr. Hartmann stated nothing was
being taken away; it was just putting the duties of the Municipal Clerk under
the City Manager’s authority. Mr.
Sabatino stated this section states the council members will be furnished, free
of charge, any information they request.
He stated if that is taken out of this section it should be put
somewhere else. Ms Gilleland stated perhaps
we could come up with some language to put this under another section. Mr. Sabatino stated he was not looking at
this as the Municipal Clerk’s duties, but in striking this and not putting it
somewhere else, it is a policy change and he would not support that. Mr. Hartmann stated there has been discussion
that the City Manager would issue an Administrative Order outlining the
Municipal Clerk’s duties based on the City Manager’s supervision. Mr. Sabatino stated the fact of whether
council is charged or not should not be part of the duties of the Clerk, that
is a policy statement. He stated the
policy now is not to charge council and if that is going to be changed it
should be made clear. Ms Gilleland
stated that is not going to change and perhaps it should be included under the
“Records” section. Mr. Smith stated
Council is going to schedule another work session and he would request the City
Manager and the Law Director have some alternate language regarding this issue
for Council to review at that time.
Mr.
Smith stated he would like to recess the work session at this time as Fire
Chief Kenn Taylor was scheduled to give Council a brief presentation regarding
possible charges for emergency service runs.
Council Work Session recessed at 7:00 P.M.,
and reconvened in open session at 7:05 P.M.
B. Presentation by Fire Chief Kenn Taylor
regarding possible charges for Emergency Medical Service runs. Mr. Smith stated Violet Township Fire Chief
Kenn Taylor was present to address Council regarding EMS Transport Billing.
Chief
Taylor he would like to go over the possibility the Fire Department is
considering regarding billing for emergency transportation. He stated in the next few years the fire
department will need more money and the only way the fire department has to
generate revenue is through property taxes.
Chief Taylor stated in order to keep up with growth one of the things
they are considering is the possibility of billing for EMS transporting. Chief Taylor introduced Mr. Carl Reedy and
Mr. Ted Reedy from a company called Med 3000.
He stated this company knows how this program works and he would let
them explain the program. Mr. Carl Reedy
gave a brief power point presentation (Attachment 2 to these minutes).
Mr.
Reedy stated most taxpayers use Fire/EMS services once every two decades. He stated there would be two types of billing
programs, hard billing and soft billing.
Mr. Reedy stated this program helps reduce the burden on taxpayers and
provides a necessary funding source for challenged communities. He further stated Ohio state law requires any
health insurance company selling health insurance in Ohio must have a basic set
of coverage provisions in each policy, so if you have health insurance some of
your premiums are set aside for this service.
He stated the department would continue to provide the same care they
are providing today, and the billing is all secondary to that.
Mr.
Reedy stated in using ‘soft billing’ the patient would be treated and
transported to the hospital, they would gather the information and then bill
the insurance. If there were a co-pay
the resident would be billed in 30 days, another bill in 60 days, and a final
bill in 90 days. Whatever was not
collected would then be written off. He
further stated if you are a municipal provider of EMS you do not have to bill
the co-pay to your residents. He stated
a patient would be treated in the field, the information would be obtained from
the hospital, and then the insurance would be billed. He stated in the case of a resident, if the
insurance did not pay the entire amount, the balance would be written off. He stated the resident would not get any type
of invoice from the EMS provider. He
stated a non-resident would be billed for the balance.
Mr.
Reedy stated typical charge rates in this area would be $500-$600 for a basic
life support call, $700-$800 for an advanced life support 1, $800-$1,000 for
advanced life support 2 such as cardiac arrest, etc. He stated they also bill for mileage. Mr. Reedy stated on a call where the patient
is not transported, there is no bill.
Mr. Reedy stated he would answer any questions anyone might have.
Mr.
Wisniewski stated he understood Mr. Reedy’s company was the third party billing
company and they charged somewhere between 6.5 and 6.8 percent of the amount
that is collected. Mrs. Hammond stated
there is a large group of individuals who do not have health insurance and
questioned how that would be handled.
Mr. Reedy stated if they were a resident they would never get a bill. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that the billing
would be done in whatever manner Violet Township would determine. Mr. Sabatino inquired if the fire department
had determined how they would do the billing.
Chief Taylor stated he felt they would adopt the option of not billing a
resident. Mr. Fix clarified that the
fire department was estimating that the billing process would bring in
somewhere between $600,000 and $800,000 per year in revenue for the fire
department. Mr. Wisniewski ascertained
that the Ohio Revised Code requires this money go back to the fire department
and not into the Township’s general fund.
Chief Taylor stated the fire department receives no money from the
Township’s general fund, the only money they receive is what is collected from
property taxes. Chief Taylor stated his
department does about 4,000 calls for service each year and about 2,000 of
those are transports. Chief Taylor
stated his biggest concern is that even if they implement this billing process,
the fire department will not do anything different in the field. The third party billing company will get the
information on the patient from the hospital and take care of the billing for
service. Mr. Smith ascertained that in
Fairfield County the City of Lancaster and Amanda both already charge for EMS
transport. Chief Taylor stated the next
step is to hold public hearings and allow the community to provide input to
them before a decision is made. Mr.
Smith clarified that if anyone has any questions on this issue they can call or
contact Chief Taylor and he will be glad to answer any questions.
3. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, the Council Work
Session closed at 7:25 P.M., July 17, 2007.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:
______________________________
Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk
ATTEST:
____________________________________
Keith Smith, Council President Pro Tempore