Council reverses course, will pay toward insurance

The Vancouver City Council voted unanimously Monday night to pay a part of their own health insurance premiums.

The council stirred some rancor from citizens and unionized workers when they voted in November against paying for 15 percent of their dependents’ premiums, which is what city management and nonunion employees pay. Before the vote, city council members did not contribute to their insurance.

The move, originally proposed by Councilor Jack Burkman, will save the city a minimum of $3,000 in 2011.

Burkman has said that while that’s not a lot of money, it’s more of a gesture to lead by example: This summer the city asked its unions to increase their contributions from 10 percent of dependents’ premiums to 15 percent.

“When I brought this up … I didn’t envision it would create quite the firestorm it has,” Burkman said Monday. “I didn’t do it for political goodwill, to be calculating … or other interesting terms that have come up. I did it as a simple act of leadership, where leaders treat themselves as those they are leading.”

Following the vote, the council will now pay whatever management and nonunion workers pay for their insurance. The resolution also gets rid of a $230 a month payment to the three councilors who opt out of the city’s coverage. That opt-out pay is well below the $1,000-plus a month cost of providing the health plan.

When Burkman first brought it up during a meeting on Oct. 18, some members of the council seemed to voice their support of the plan. Four of the seven council members use the city-provided benefits, including Burkman, whose wife is also on the city plan.

But then on Nov. 2, Mayor Tim Leavitt and Councilors Jeanne Stewart, Jeanne Harris, Pat Campbell and Larry Smith voted down the plan. Burkman and Councilor Bart Hansen, who does not use city benefits for his wife or two children, voted in favor.

Councilors expressed confusion over whether the independent Salary Review Commission was responsible for setting the council’s insurance payments (City Attorney Ted Gathe later said the city council could make that call); some felt they needed more information and time to vet the proposal.

Several councilors chided Burkman indirectly Monday before they cast their votes, with Stewart saying she was “glad for more time.”

Councilor Jeanne Harris said she was afraid it was using policy for political gain.

“If indeed this is an important thing to do, I want to be sure we’re doing it because we believe we should be doing it, not because of political goodwill, and that we don’t do it in a hurried manner to push it through,” Harris said, echoing a concern by Stewart that they are also setting the compensation for future city councilors.

“If this is political goodwill, sign me up,” Hansen replied. “This sets the stage for leadership by example. We’re going through different times here at the city. It’s unreasonable to hold ourselves up and above.”

While the Salary Review Commission will continue to set council salaries, City Manager Eric Holmes will be put in the unique position of setting the insurance contributions for the councilors, who are his boss. He said, however, that he was willing to do so, and would work closely with the council well in advance of any changes.

Last year, the council did ask the Salary Review Commission to not give them pay increases. As mayor, Leavitt earns $2,200 a month; Mayor Pro Tempore Larry Smith gets $2,000; and the rest of the council is paid $1,781 a month for their part-time public-service positions.

Andrea Damewood: 360-735-4542 or andrea.damewood@columbian.com.