MONROE - The Green County Board of Supervisors has voted unanimously to make the executive director of the Green County Development Corporation a county-run position to save money on health insurance.
All benefits, including wages, retirement and health insurance, will still be paid for by the Development Corporation. But the reclassification allows the position to join the county's bigger, cheaper insurance plan.
Up until now the Development Corporation had to pay for a single-person insurance plan, at a cost of about $1,000 per month just to cover one person, according to County Clerk Mike Doyle. Under the new plan, insurance will cost $1,200 per month for full family coverage.
In other business at the board's Tuesday, Sept. 10 meeting, supervisors unanimously approved:
• Disallowance of a claim notice filed by the parents of a 17-year-old boy, Kyle Peotter, who died in January while jailed in Green County. The parents, Amber and Michael DeGraff, have said they intend to sue the county for wrongful death. "Disallowing" the claim is a legal procedure. It shortens the time the parents have to file their civil action against the county from two years to six months.
• New Human Services positions that department head Greg Holcomb says will help the department serve about 10 more mental health patients and handle increased work associated with the Affordable Care Act. Currently there are about 20 people on a waiting list for mental health services.
• The transfer of a 62-acre prairie to a nonprofit organization, The Prairie Enthusiasts. The county originally purchased the Muralt Prairie in sections in 1971 and in 1982 and has maintained the land in conjunction with the Department of Natural Resources Nature Conservancy. The land is located just west of Albany, in the Town of Mount Pleasant.
"To be honest about it, we weren't a very good steward of the land," Doyle said.
Tom Mitchell, a member of The Prairie Enthusiasts, called Muralt "the finest prairie in Green County." Since June, he said volunteers have spent a cumulative 224 hours working on Muralt and the surrounding landscape.
"We have a real affinity for Muralt," he said.
All benefits, including wages, retirement and health insurance, will still be paid for by the Development Corporation. But the reclassification allows the position to join the county's bigger, cheaper insurance plan.
Up until now the Development Corporation had to pay for a single-person insurance plan, at a cost of about $1,000 per month just to cover one person, according to County Clerk Mike Doyle. Under the new plan, insurance will cost $1,200 per month for full family coverage.
In other business at the board's Tuesday, Sept. 10 meeting, supervisors unanimously approved:
• Disallowance of a claim notice filed by the parents of a 17-year-old boy, Kyle Peotter, who died in January while jailed in Green County. The parents, Amber and Michael DeGraff, have said they intend to sue the county for wrongful death. "Disallowing" the claim is a legal procedure. It shortens the time the parents have to file their civil action against the county from two years to six months.
• New Human Services positions that department head Greg Holcomb says will help the department serve about 10 more mental health patients and handle increased work associated with the Affordable Care Act. Currently there are about 20 people on a waiting list for mental health services.
• The transfer of a 62-acre prairie to a nonprofit organization, The Prairie Enthusiasts. The county originally purchased the Muralt Prairie in sections in 1971 and in 1982 and has maintained the land in conjunction with the Department of Natural Resources Nature Conservancy. The land is located just west of Albany, in the Town of Mount Pleasant.
"To be honest about it, we weren't a very good steward of the land," Doyle said.
Tom Mitchell, a member of The Prairie Enthusiasts, called Muralt "the finest prairie in Green County." Since June, he said volunteers have spent a cumulative 224 hours working on Muralt and the surrounding landscape.
"We have a real affinity for Muralt," he said.