By a unanimous 5-0 vote, the Warrenton Board of Aldermen approved moving the city’s health insurance to The Cigna Group from current provider United Health Care.

City Administrator Brandie Walters said that current provider United Health Care proposed a rate increase of 25%. Due to this the city’s insurance broker Gallagher went out to bid and received bids from Cigna, Surest and Medica. Cigna provided the best bid at an 8.3% increase. Gallagher then went back to UHC and tried to negotiate for a better rate, Walter said. However, UHC only came back with a proposal for a 12.5% increase, but only if the city bundled their plans with them. Eventually after further negotiations, Cigna was willing to agree to a 5% increase if the city bundled with them. Based upon these figures, Walters recommended to the board that they vote to change the city’s health insurance provider to Cigna.

Walters said that the plan for employees would pretty much stay the same and that Cigna’s network is similar to UHC’s. Mayor Eric Schleuter asked Walters how big of a change this would be for those who used the insurance more frequently and Walters said that city staff made sure to check that employees could still utilize the same doctors.

Currently the premiums cover 58 different employees for a total cost of $63,670.02, of which the city pays $53,660.70 and the employees pay a total of $10,009.32. Under the new Cigna plan, the total cost of premiums would be $66,853.52, of which the city pays $56,343.74 and the employees pay a total of $10,509.79. The new plan would also include dental and vision options.

The board voted 5-0, with Alderman Christine Wait being absent, to approve moving to Cigna.

Open enrollment for city employees is scheduled from May 1-15.

Brune Business Park

The board also unanimously approved three different ordinances relating to a subdivision known as the Brune Business Park Plat 2. The approvals related to a preliminary and final plat, conditional use permit and a site plan.

The property is a 4.23-acre parcel on the west side of Highway 47, north of Brune Parkway. The applicant, Kris Wolf of Wunderlich Surveying & Engineering on behalf of Ed Schmelz, proposed to subdivide the lot into three separate commercial lots – a 0.87-acre lot that contains the existing ELS Properties office building, a second vacant 1.55-acre lot and a 1.81-acre lot containing a 8,240-square-foot warehouse, which the applicant intends to sell.

Wastewater treatment plant change orders

The board also unanimously approved three change orders for the wastewater treatment plan improvements from KCI Construction. The first change order in the amount of $24,618.02 was for grit waterline and rebar changes. The second was in the amount of $37,240.43 and was for changes in the layout of the sludge building. The third change was in the amount of $48,350.84 and was for additional structural support to the sludge system.

Public Works Director Guy Gevers said that even with the change orders, the city is still within its budget for the project.

Tuesday’s meeting was also the swearing in of alderman Brandon Lang and Josh Chandler. Lang retains his seat as alderman for Ward 3, while Chandler assumes the Ward 2 position previously held by Scott Schulze.