It is 5:45 p.m. Monday, November 3rd. We will call the special city council meeting to order. Um, if you could join me for the pledge of allegiance, please. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Perfect. Thank you. And with that, Nick, we can jump right into the approval [clears throat] of Hartford insurance policies for life, accident, accidental death, and dismemberment, short-term disability, long-term disability, and Minnesota paid leave beginning January 1st, 2026. >> Thank you, mayor. So this was necessitated by the Minnesota legislature having passed their Minnesota paid leave law in 2023 codified in statute 268B which affects all employers across the state of Minnesota and it creates a short-term disability like coverage for nearly all Minnesota employees. [clears throat] The program takes effect on January 1st, 2026. And the goal of this legislation is to ensure economic security during life events such as serious illness, childirth, or caregiving. Um, cities generally do provide short-term, long-term accidental death and dismemberment and life insurance policies as part of group benefits. For the city of mayor, we do the same. And so when this law came about, since some of it mirrors on the short-term disability, we decided to go out and [cough] take a look at our group benefits as a whole, as well as make sure we're in compliance with the Minnesota paid leave law. With the Minnesota paid leave law specific, you have a couple of choices. You can go out to the private sector for a quote for the same coverage or you can elect to go with the state program uh through the uh department of e uh employment and economic development. Uh how the state and the private programs work is that a certain percentage the the premium to cover the amounts that is required by state law is determined through a percentage of the payroll uh wages that an entity has. For the state program that is going to be 0.88% of those payroll wages. And state law says that if you go at the state's program that at a minimum is split between employer and employee at 044% each. So 044 and point.44 for the 088 total. If you go to a private plan which you can do that's what we'll be recommending. [cough] Uh the state law as we are told also states that um the employer still has to meet that minimum of 0.44 with the balance of that whatever your rate you get would be owed by the employee. [clears throat] So, what we did is sta city staff gave our current uh uh group benefits policies to a third-party agent and we said go out and look for group benefits that are apples to apples what we currently had but then also get the paid family medical leave to wrap the whole thing into one nice picture so we don't have overlaps or conflicts or anything like that. Uh the agent that we were working with came back with two quotes. One was for one was from the Hartford, [cough and clears throat] excuse me, and one was from principal. Uh those were two were apples to apples. The Hartford was the lower of the two. So that's the one we're evaluating right now. Uh Lincoln Life is who we currently have our group benefits with, but because we those are just group benefits and not paid leave, we have kind of a twostep that we're looking at here. one is the changeover of group benefits in general then the other is electing uh the company to go with the paid leave on. So when we look at when we look at the group benefits as a whole we're currently on on an annual basis uh we're paying uh just shy of $5,000 a year on the group benefits. The Hartford as the low one on there came back with group benefits matching our existing plan at about uh $175824. You might say, "Holy cow, that's pretty low." And um so the what we heard from the agent is the Hartford has been very aggressive with this changeover and pulling in small groups like ours. They want to get a lot of them under their umbrella. So they've been very aggressive with their rates in that. Uh we got got uh the principal and the Hartford on the paid leave and the Hartford was lower by about 50ish bucks on the paid leave on an annual basis, but on the group benefits they were cheaper by about $1,100. So overall they win on that front. [clears throat] So I just want to go through a real quick comparison between the state program and the Hartford just so we understand. So the total volume is the total wages the W2 wages that the city has that we take into account. Um so the state program here the total uh rate basis is 0.88 and that's a 50% split here between 044 on each. So the total premium that is split between the employer and the employee would be the 2500 roughly on that. And then you have the total down here. So you have the 0.88 which is the adding of these two to match up and balance out there and then the total here which then balance out balances the total there. So we have our math working out for us. When we look at the Hartford uh instead of the 88 we received a quote for uh.809. 809 on that. So the total premium being $461. As I was explaining before, we still have to stay at the point44 of that, but then the remainder is then owed by the employee. So our portion here for the premium on an employer basis stays the same, but the employee portion is reduced on that lessening the burden on there. That's where you get the total match of that 4601 on the group benefit or uh not the group the uh paid family medical leave. [clears throat] And historically when we talk about the group benefits, those have been 100% paid for by the city. >> We're just going to roll that forward on that. And that's where you see the employer split on this. So this the 4966 that's just the group benefits because paid leave wasn't included with Lincoln. In this you have the split of the paid leave. So the 252 and then you add in that amount here and that brings you to the 246064 with the employee portion of it being right there. Couple notes on that. Mentioned the aggressiveness of the small groups at the Harford which is good to see. We have a 2-year rate guarantee on this and we can switch at any time. So, we're not beholden to this for two, three, four, five years. If rates jump, if rates change, if something happens where we can get a better deal elsewhere, we can certainly change on that. Um, any other questions I can field on this? >> And sta, all staff's okay with going from not paying anything to having to >> That's a requirement on the paid leave. >> Okay. I didn't have a choice. [clears throat] >> Y it's there's no choice. So this is so the 044 is the minimum the city is required to pay. >> If at some point in the future the city want to take on the total burden that's a decision for city council. But this is the this is the minimum that the employer is required to pay on that amount. The rest is the employees. Keep in mind that employee 29860 is the entire amount for all the employees for the year >> including council paid on call part-time. That's everybody. >> Oh, >> yep. This is our >> That's a small It's going to be a small amount when it gets divided. >> Okay. Okay. I thought that was per employee. Sorry. >> Yes, that's employees. >> Very good point. This 2100 is going to be split >> prorated amongst all. That's very >> appropriated. Our salaries are much lower. Our paid on calls is much lower than maybe the administrator. >> Got it. Got it. Got it. >> Nick will probably be the one who gets hit the hardest. >> Okay. Okay. That I thought it was per employee. >> I was like, are they sure? You know, that's a lot. >> Okay. So, I just have a question. >> Yes. >> Um because Okay. Where did the original like because it's a how do I explain how do I explain it? So is the 0.88 88 or the 809 that is how is that determined if this is like a state program where like uh social security like it's you know it's a standard deduction like how is that because from everything I've read it's by number of employees determines what percentage each employer has to pay. >> If you're the state's program, it doesn't matter how many employees it is. That's going to be your number. >> Okay. So, how can Hartford do lower? >> I'm sorry. I sorry. Sorry. I really I'll clarify on that. I apologize. If you qualify as a very small employer, then this rate changes on the state program. >> Okay. >> I forget what that threshold is. It's >> thought it was 30. as a lower >> I think it's 30 employees or >> and we have 50 something when we count firefighters and all that >> right so then you'd be paying a higher [clears throat] >> yeah so >> but what is that percent like that's where I'm just that's where I'm trying to understand the program is how can Hartford provide a different rate if we have 55 employees >> they're able to do it more efficiently than the state can So, you're not required to go with the state. You can get a private sector option to do the exact same thing as the state program. And then, uh, principal and Hartford are both lower than the state program. >> It's like just going with a different bank for a loan. >> And Hartford's a big >> I mean, I I mean, I understand that. I just I don't understand how it how it works. Why? in the sense of I understand that, but like >> this money goes into a pool of money that people can grab. And I've heard that these rates are only like guaranteed for like six months and they could go up. >> Ours is a two-year. >> Two-year. Okay. >> Ours is a two-year. State will change on an annual basis depending. They can only go to a maximum of 1.2 >> under state law. >> And can you change every year then? Yeah, just like a normal plan. Okay. Okay. >> As far [clears throat] as how they derive these numbers, I don't have the foggiest clue. Insurance >> insurance I am weak at. That's why we gave it to the third party to shop. >> I mean, it's like unemployment. Unemployment's based on number of is also a percentage based on people who draw from you to and that that does vary and that's issued every year. So, I don't know if that will move to something like that. >> But if in like two years that jumps up, you know, six months. No, it's not like they've got you, >> right? We could switch to another carrier or go to the state plan if the state plan ends up being cheaper. >> Okay. Okay. Well, thanks for answering those questions. >> Any other questions? With none, then I will look for a motion to change our current group benefits from Lincoln to Hartford along with having Hartford be the administrator for the uh Minnesota paid leave program with the employer contribution of $4,260.64 64 and the employees contribution of $2,9860. >> I would say have it have put [clears throat] it according to the rate >> uh >> rather than the dollar amount. >> Okay. Well, I was adding in and that's the rate just for the program, right? Not the added in for the group benefits. So, you want to just >> So, we would continue to fund the group benefits at 100% because that's what we currently do now. And then the PM uh paid family leave the employer rate would be the 044 and the employ. >> Fair enough. Yep, that makes more sense. All right. Then I'll look for a motion to transfer a group benefits from Lincoln to Hartford and then have Hartford be the administrator of the paid leave with a percentage employee percentage of 044% employee proportion at 369% effective January 1st 2026. >> Motion second. [laughter] All right, we got a motion and a second. Any further discussion? >> No. >> Hearing none. Um, thanks again, Nick. And if you could thank Tracy for doing some leg work and [clears throat] working through some of this also or Alicia. And >> yeah, big thanks to Tracy. She did the yman's effort on this. >> Certainly appreciate it. >> Big savings. So with that, all in favor say I. >> I. Oppos same. >> Motion carries 4. With that, we will move to consider approval of hire for public works utility operator. >> Thank you, mayor. Uh this we for the public works utilities operator position, we received 15 applications. Uh Greg and I met. We reviewed the applications. We uh selected five to move to the interview phase of hiring and we interview did interviews on October 28th and October 30th, Tuesday and Thursday last week respectively. Upon conclusion of the interviews, we deliberated and came to the decision for a recommendation to hire. And we are formally recommending Josh Harrow for hire as the new public works utility operator. Josh joins us from the city of Chanhassen where he works as a parks operator. He [clears throat] began with Chanhassen in 2020 and brings five years of experience in parks as well as some streets uh to help our operations. We believe his experience, personality, and demeanor will be a great fit for our team. We're recommending that city council approve the hire at public works utilities operator step three, which would be $3012 per hour, as well as at the first tier of PTO approval. So, talking with Josh, he has accepted these terms tentatively, and his first day would be Monday, November 24th, 2025. >> Any questions? >> Uh, what's our And our c our other public works utility operator is at step four, right? >> Um >> or we don't know. >> I don't remember. Sorry. >> Four or five. Four or five. >> Okay. >> Five, I think it was. All right. With that, then I'll look for a motion to approve uh the hiring of Joshua Harrove at a utility operator. Step three and first tier of PTO approval tentatively starting Monday, November 24th. >> Motion. >> We have a motion. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> We have a motion on a second. Any further discussion? >> Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. Same sign. Motion carries. 40. Thank you very much. Um I appreciate everyone coming in for the special meeting as we're under a time crunch to get some of this information to the state. So with that, I'll look for a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion >> second. >> We have a motion and second. All in favor say I. I. Post same side. We are adjourned. >> Thank you all. >> Yeah. Say your motion again five times fast. Like Sally shows up funny. aggressive