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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCalled Commission Meeting October 15, 2013 CALLED MEETING COMMISSION CHAMBER OCTOBER 15, 2013 Augusta Richmond County Commission convened at 1:00 p.m., Tuesday, October 15, 2013, the Hon. Deke Copenhaver, presiding. PRESENT: Hons. Lockett, Guilfoyle, D. Smith, Williams, Fennoy, Johnson, Jackson, Davis and G. Smith, members of Augusta Richmond County Commission. Absent: Hon. Mason, member of Augusta Richmond County Commission. Mr. Mayor: We have a quorum so I’ll go ahead and call the meeting to order and turn it over to Mr. Russell. Mr. Russell: Mr. Mayor, Members of the Commission, we’re today in a Special Meeting to talk about our health care. As you know we have a presentation that is going to be made and Ms. Bryant will begin that presentation. Tanika. Ms. Bryant: Good afternoon, Mayor and Commissioners. Thank you so much and we appreciate your time here at the Special Called Meeting to review and receive our presentation for, a recommendation for the Review Committee with regards to RFP 13-190 Self Funded Health Insurance Services Proposal for Augusta, Georgia. We have gone through this extensive process and I would like to introduce and ask Mr. Roger Holden who’s our consultant and has been working with us diligently throughout this process to really walk through our presentation this afternoon in regards to our recommendation for our provider. Mr. Holden: Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Commissioners. I appreciate this opportunity to explain the scoring process in this, for all three vendors. Sorry. As Tanika said this has been a very exhausting and detailed process. Based on the scoring process and the evaluation of costs it is our recommendation that it would be in the best interests of Augusta to enter into a Self Funded Administrative Service Contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield effective 1-1-14. Blue Cross had the highest scores of anyone in the scoring process as you can see in the copy of the booklet that was passed out. Blue Cross Blue Shield is offering a maximum cost including the fixed costs --- Mr. Lockett: Mr. Chairman, excuse me --- Mr. Mayor: Yes, sir. Commissioner Lockett. Mr. Lockett: Mr. Holden --- Mr. Holden: Yes, sir. Mr. Holden: You’re making your presentation to a group that I don’t imagine’s got the slightest idea what you’re talking about because we just received this information some 24 hours ago. And it’s 100 plus pages. So we can sit there and listen to what you have to say but we have 1 no way of following up on anything because I don’t know whether my colleagues stayed up all night last night reading this or not. But I didn’t and, Mr. Mayor, I’d like to find out if we’ve got to have our agenda book days in advance why would they give us something so important as this something that we had to go to court behind and expect us to listen and possibly make a decision as to what we want to do? Mr. Mayor: Does anybody have? I mean I think we can listen to the presentation and then whether or not we make a decision today it’s --- Mr. Lockett: But the only thing about it, Mr. Mayor, is when I listen to something I like to have already been exposed to it so if at any point during the presentation I have a question I listen to them and I’m going to have to assume what whatever he’s saying is correct and it is fine. I mean that’s why it puts me in particular at a disadvantage. Mr. Mayor: Thank you, sir. Commissioner Fennoy. Mr. Fennoy: Yes, I’d like to ask the presenters when you, if you could refer, I mean if I could know what page you’re referring to so that I can follow you during your presentation that would be most helpful I think. Mr. Mayor: Okay. Commissioner Williams. Mr. Williams: I’m, I got no problem listening to the presentation but I mean to make a decision that we are to make a decision today will be unfair to me as a Commissioner. I’m assuming that the information that I’ve gotten and I did just get it like Commission Lockett said. And I looked at some of it and I even brought it with me today because I knew there was going to be some questions. We have been in court with this so this is something that we need to make sure that we are dotting every ‘I’ crossing every ‘T’ on it. And I want to make sure we’re doing that. I’ve got no problem listening but I think we’re going to have to have another conversation so we can ask some of those questions back and forth because there’s going to be some things said that I’m going to understand and there’s some things I’m not going to understand. There’s some things that are going show me later when I look at this further that may you know that may explain that. But if we’re going to listen to the presentation and I’ve got no problem just listening but to make a decision before I have a chance to even ask some questions and you all know I don’t ask many questions. I try not to do that but there might be one or two in this booklet I might want to ask. So I just want to make sure. Mr. Mayor: Mr. Russell. Mr. Russell: Yeah, Mr. Mayor, you know we’re all working on a fairly tight time frame but we did allow for about two weeks for you to be able to look at this. We’d like to go ahead and get this information in front of you. We’d like to go ahead and make the presentation. If you have questions, please note those as we go down the line. If you have questions that develop after that or our comments make, if our comments raise questions then there will be a time appropriate later to talk about that. In no way while we hoped to be able to get something done today but in all practical purposes we thought that there would be. And I agree you need to be 2 able to suggest this. But I think to go through it this way would be the first step in doing so. You’ll have some time to look at it afterwards then we’ll be back together again to hopefully answer all those questions and if we need to get back together again to answer any further questions you have. Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Williams. Mr. Williams: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And that’s why my comments is just what it is because it’s so crucial, Mr. Russell, and I thought we would’ve known before now when I got a call about a Called Meeting at 11:00 o’clock that I couldn’t make and I decided to try and make this one at 1:00. But since it’s so crucial it looked like we would’ve known prior to just because we’re up against the wall that’s what happens lot of times we get up against the wall and we make the wrong decision then we end up in court. We done that two or three times I know. But that’s why we need the information ahead of time because we have to make that decision and then the buck stops with us not with the Administrator not even with the Mayor but with these Commissioners up here that make that decision. And for me to make a decision and we already had a preceding that was fair and it was upright and everything was straight and I wasn’t here at that point. But I like to accept whatever responsibility that the Commission goes for. I’m going to take the good and the bad. So I don’t want to be pushed up against the wall anymore about anything so important. Mr. Russell: And I don’t disagree that’s why we’re attempting to do it in this manner. Mr. Mayor: Okay, thank you, Commissioner Williams. Yes, sir, please continue. Mr. Holden: Thank you. If I could just add before I continue this yellow section in your book is on a PowerPoint presentation and I will be going through and explaining the scoring process so hopefully you’ll be able to understand a lot better when I get to that process and also have the opportunity to ask questions. But I was saying earlier that Blue Cross Blue Shield had the highest scoring of any of the vendors. And also from a financial perspective Blue Cross is offering cost a maximum cost to Augusta including fixed costs at $1,456,031.00 less than anyone else. Blue Cross Blue Shield has the best discounts from the providers which offers an additional $1.8 million dollars in savings. A final thought any transition costs can be avoided by staying with Blue Cross and there’s no disruption to employees of having to change doctors for a new network. I understand that the evaluation process involves a lot more than money. It involves people’s lives and that’s part of the reason or a big part of the reason that we have this scoring process. So if you could follow me on the slides up on the screen. I’m going to have to read from mine. I can’t see that far. Under the program design you’ll see each of these scoring points are labeled A, B, C, D etcetera. The question, the ability to meet the RFP requirements for stop loss (unintelligible) and proposal provided you can see the scoring across there. And the explanation below is none of the companies, none of them got a perfect five score because none of them were perfect. All three companies are good companies but none of them were perfect. Under B all three companies have the flexibility to accommodate flexible benefit plan design. And C Meritain had the highest score because they’re using Health Scope for their Wellness Programs and other customer service functions. Quantum is extremely flexible and very innovative and therefore they deserve a higher score. D Reporting Capabilities. All three 3 companies have good reporting capabilities but they all have multiple systems. There’s still room for improvement there. For client’s processing accuracy Health Scope was the highest at 99.9%. That’s truly awesome. Blue Cross Blue Shield’s at 98.95 and Meritain at 98.33. So obviously Health Scope deserves the high score. Under Claim Processing Timeliness Health Score was at 90% within two weeks. Blue Cross Blue Shield is at 93.1 and Meritane at 93. So Blue Cross and Meritain were almost the same while Health Scope was about three percent less so therefore a --- Mr. Lockett: Mr. Chairman, may I --- Mr. Mayor: Yes, sir. Commissioner Lockett. Mr. Lockett: Mr. Holden --- Mr. Holden: Yes, sir. Mr. Lockett: --- I think even though Blue Cross Blue Shield was rated better than their opponents were when you’re standing up here telling me why Company B or Company C didn’t do as well as Company A and there’s nobody here to speak on behalf of Company B or Company C to me that doesn’t provide anything to me because what I want to see as a Commissioner, I want to see how you all came up with this with these numbers for Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Because Blue Cross Blue Shield is the one that’s been recommended. I want to know what was in the pie, what the ingredients were for Blue Cross Blue Shield to get the numbers here. Now I don’t need any discussion at all about those other companies because you all are the ones here that we’re going to ultimately make a decision to whether we want you or we want to go out with another RFP. And the fact that you all are here now well that’s questionable because if we wasn’t questionable you wouldn’t be back here again. So making reference to the fact that are already here and you’re in place and continuity and so forth to me and I think to my colleagues that doesn’t mean too terribly much. Ms. Bryant: And, Commissioner, these are cumulative scores and Mr. Holden doesn’t represent any of the vendors. He’s strictly our consultant with Wells Fargo. These are combined scores of all of the committee members and he’s going to take us through the whole scoring process. And of right now he’s just showing what type of scores came (inaudible). Mr. Lockett: Is he with Wells Fargo? Ms. Bryant: Yes, sir. Mr. Lockett: Okay, I think this may have been before your time but the last time they were before us a representative of Wells Fargo was also doing what he did and that didn’t work out too well. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Holden: I believe we were talking about claim processing timeliness and I was trying to explain why Health Scope got a lower score than Blue Cross or Meritain. All of the companies have a great claims processing system and today’s technology all the major carriers 4 have good claims processing systems. Service Performance Guarantees Blue Cross and Health Scope offer reasonable service performance guarantees however Meritain either provided no response or listed to be determined as their response therefore a lower score. For account management staff level Meritain, Blue Cross and Health Scope all have excellent staff level experience however Quantum who is the big part of the Meritain proposal says this would be determined if they are awarded the business therefore a lower score. Employer Member Services: All three companies have room for improvement. Blue Cross Blue Shield is not as user friendly as their claims reports are still on two different systems. In order to get any meaningful reports for you as an employer to understand what’s happening with your plan the data has to come from two totally separate computer systems and then it’s up to you to combine those reports to see where you are. Wellness Resources: Wellness resources for both Blue Cross and Meritain Quantum are very good however Health Scope was only offering $50,000 versus $100,000 for the other two vendors. Also Health Scope Wellness Program has an additional fee of $1.25 per month per employee so therefore they got a lower score. Zee’s Management Programs Health Scope had somewhat limited information regarding these programs. Both Maritane and Blue Cross had good disease management programs. Access to Provider Network: Blue Cross Blue Shield has the largest access to providers. Health Scope and Meritain both use the Aetna Network which has good access but it’s not as good as Blue Cross Blue Shield. And the next slide should give you an example. Blue Cross Blue Shield’s network discounts for inpatient hospital charges it’s 56.18%. Outpatient it’s 65.48 and Professional Services 57.53. And you can see the Aetna discounts are lower 53.3 Inpatient 54% Outpatient and 56.7 Professional Services. And this represents a difference 2.88% for inpatient and 11.48% difference in what you have to pay for outpatient charges. Blue Cross does retain 2.5% of the savings for their fee to administer this network. And at the bottom of that slide is illustrated what this means. Based on the last 12 months of claims, that amounts to $1,953,000.00 in outpatient charges plus inpatient charges of $383,567.00 for total of $2.3 million. And then you subtract out 2.5% of Blue Cross keeps it’s still a net additional cost of $1,800,000.00. All three companies have good technological capabilities. I alluded to that earlier. And all three also have good communication materials. Under External Vendors value and ease of doing business Blue Cross owns almost everything so they don’t outsource services to third party vendors as much or the same as Meritain. It uses Quantum for wellness and Zee’s Management Programs and also a lot of the other services as well. On Site Clinic Integration. This is very important. The ability to integrate data with onsite vendors all three companies have room for improvements however Blue Cross Blue and Health Scope already work with HealthStat who provides your services for your onsite clinic. Meritain does not so a lower score there. Under ability to work with onsite clinic creative disease management wellness initiatives again both Blue Cross and Health Scope already work with HealthStat. Meritain is relying on Quantum for disease management and wellness and Quantum only has one client with an onsite clinic. That’s reflected in the scoring. Under experiences related to former requests and services all three companies have tremendous amount of experience doing that. All three companies are financially and administratively very strong. I’d point out however that Meritain answers on some of the financial questions were to be determined. Under quality and completeness in the response to the RFP sometimes Meritain and Quantum had two answers and other parts only one vendor answered and there was no explanation as to why. For example question 13 on page 23 Quantum answers 38% versus 5% on (unintelligible) groups of over 1,000 lives. Another example question 5 on page 33 Meritain does not provide an answer on reporting customers service calls. Another words the question was 5 do you record all customer service calls. Quantum does record but Meritain does not answer the question. Another example question 15 on page 39 health promotion in the vicinity with on-site clinic Meritain did not answer and we feel that Meritain should be involved in the administrative incentives for this. Another example question one of page nine, provide a list of current municipal groups in Georgia Meritain says this list is proprietary. Health Scope and Blue Cross both provided this information. Meritain failed to complete the performance question there. Overall Proposition Health Scope has additional charges for wellness and offers on 50,000 versus 100,000 for the other two. Under character representation and references all three companies have very good references. In fact I called as many as I could get and it was like a recording, every one of them had nothing but praises for all three companies. And ‘x’ we’ve already discussed $50,000 dollar offer by Health Scope instead of $100,000 but hopefully that will help you understand how we got to the scoring process and the value points that were assigned to it. I’d be happy to answer any questions you have. Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Lockett. Mr. Lockett: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Holden, no disrespect at all I just have some concerns. And I have a question also. Affordable Care Act, will it have any impact on costs and coverage and so forth? Mr. Holden: I’m sorry, can you repeat that? Mr. Lockett: The Affordable Care Act, Obama Care. Mr. Holden: (inaudible). Mr. Lockett: Will it have any impact on the costs that could be potentially be incurred by members? Mr. Holden: Well, it’s definitely going to have an impact on every health insurance plan in America. Mr. Lockett: Did you say that to mean it’s a possibility that the costs that Blue Cross may incur for providing the service that they would have provided anyway would be cheaper? Mr. Holden: Well the costs, the proposals that they offer are guaranteed costs and you’ll see, the numbers later but they are --- Mr. Lockett: They might be guaranteed but I’m saying the costs to the insurance carrier, could it possibly be cheaper because of the Affordable Care Act? Mr. Holden: I don’t see how it can be cheaper. Mr. Lockett: Okay. In this I may have to ask the, well, no, you wrote this memo. You said it’s our recommendation that Augusta in a Self-funded Administrative Only Contract would be BCBS effective 1-1-14. Based upon that response to the RFP BCBS provides the most 6 significant savings discounts to Augusta Georgia based on network discounts. The maximum costs including administration are significantly less than the other vendor quotes. Now my question is this you continue to say and is even less than your current maximum costs. Are you saying that this government enter into a new contract on 1-1-14 our expense will be less than what it is currently. Is that what you’re saying or did I misinterpret that statement? Mr. Holden: No, what I’m saying is that your worst case scenario your maximum cost would be less in 2014 than your maximum cost is in 2013. Mr. Lockett: And why would that be? Mr. Holden: Because they’ve lowered their guarantee. Mr. Lockett: Blue Cross Blue Shield. Mr. Holden: Yes. Mr. Lockett: And would that have significance as far as the fact they’re competing to be our vendor beginning 1-1-14? Mr. Holden: I have no idea why they arrived at that. Mr. Lockett: Well, you’re here telling us why they’re so great, well then you should be able to answer that kind of question I would think, sir. Mr. Holden: Well, I have not interviewed Blue Cross Blue Shield and asked them how they arrived at these numbers. My assignment was to evaluate this RFP process and give you our recommendation based on their answers. I don’t know how they came up with those answers. Mr. Lockett: And lastly you made the fact that these other carriers did not answer questions so and so and so and so. Were there any questions at all that Blue Cross Blue Shield didn’t ask? Mr. Holden: Not to my knowledge. Mr. Lockett: Does that mean no? Mr. Holden: No. Mr. Lockett: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Mayor: Commissioner Donnie Smith. Mr. D. Smith: Yes sir, thank you. I think there’s a little of, I want some clarification and I think you can provide it. You don’t have a dog in this fight, do you? 7 Mr. Holden: I do not. Mr. D. Smith: You’re a contractor that was hired by this government to review these companies or four companies or whoever. Right? Mr. Holden: That’s correct. Mr. D. Smith: And you work with a panel of people to get this done? Mr. Holden: Correct. Mr. D. Smith: Were those people within our panel from within our government? Mr. Holden: Yes. Mr. D. Smith: Can you tell me who they were? Mr. Holden: Uh --- Mr. D. Smith: What agency, what part of our government they represented? Mr. Holden: Oh um, Procurement, Human Resources, Finance (inaudible). Mr. D. Smith: You’ve answered my question. My point is that these are our employees that are trying to look out for the other 2,700 employees that are employed by this government. So it’s in the best interest of the people making the decisions about these three companies or four companies to bring forward to us. It’s in their best interests to try to get the best deal done on behalf of this government. Am I correct? Mr. Holden: Absolutely correct. Mr. D. Smith: So you don’t have a dog in the fight and your company doesn’t have a dog in the fight. Mr. Holden: No. Mr. D. Smith: Okay. My last question to you, sir, is you talked about maximum exposure over the life of this contract being smaller, the risk being smaller than we currently are paying in, or exposed to in 2013. Mr. Holden: Yes. Mr. D. Smith: Will that be for, how long will this contract be for, do you know? Mr. Holden: For one year. 8 Mr. D. Smith: For one year. And so at the end of next year at this time we’re going to be sitting here doing, going through the same stuff again? Mr. Holden: Unfortunately, yes. Mr. D. Smith: It seems we have a difference of opinion here. Ms. Smitherman: The ASO Contract is a three year contract but the Stop Loss Contract is a year to year contract. But the hope is that as your claims go down year to year that stop loss premiums will go down. So your exposure will also go down. But what your guaranteed maximum is only for one year and then hopefully we’ll hope to see that go down. Mr. D. Smith: Thank you and that was the point of clarification I wanted. Thank you, sir. Mr. Mayor: Okay Commissioner Williams and then Commissioner Guilfoyle. Mr. Williams: I’ll yield to Mr. Guilfoyle and then I’ll come behind my friend with the Camaro. Mr. Guilfoyle: Actually I was just pushing my, thank you, Mr. Mayor. This whole thing is we actually are a self-insured government as of this year. This Blue Cross Blue Shield, Meritain and this other company Health Scope what that is, is a third party management company. Would that be correct to say? They’re actually doing the medical administering, the paperwork for this government. Mr. Holden: They’re providing all the administrative services, correct. Mr. Guilfoyle: Okay, with them lowering the exposure or the cost that’s actually a safety net for this government? Mr. Holden: That’s right. In the case of Blue Cross Blue Shield they provide that, they have their own underwriters and actuaries who determine that. And Meritain is owned by Aetna so Aetna helps Meritain provide that number. And also Health Scope is using Aetna network for their underwriters. Mr. Guilfoyle: I heard you say that. Another thing is that was a concern of mine last year. When it comes to the employees that with ongoing health issues, illnesses they have to stay with their doctor consistently. Going with these other two companies they could not guarantee that. And with the lasering would that be right to say lasering in effect they say maximum. No? Mr. Holden: There’s two different, there is no lasering in any of these proposals. Mr. Guilfoyle: Okay. 9 Mr. Holden: That’s specified in the RFP that we would not accept any lasering. But there is a possibility that if you leave Blue Cross Blue Shield network which is the largest network in Georgia --- Mr. Guilfoyle: Right. Mr. Holden: --- that some employees or their dependents might have to change providers in order to realize the same cost savings. Mr. Guilfoyle: So they’ll lose their primary care doctor at that time. Mr. Holden: It’s possible. Mr. Guilfoyle: Thank you. Mr. Mayor: Okay. Commissioner Williams. Mr. Williams: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I was just stating earlier about dotting every ‘I’ crossing every ‘T’. And the way we got to this point now is because we didn’t do this in the first place. Is that right? Mr. Holden: I’m not sure I follow this. Mr. Williams: Somebody from Finance or the Legal Department why were we being sued? I’m --- Mr. Mayor: Mr. MacKenzie, that would be a question for an attorney. Mr. MacKenzie: Well, without getting into any attorney/client privileged information the long and short of it is there is a court order that specifies that the government’s required to rebid the contract that was bid last year. So that’s what this process is. Mr. Williams: Well, and I guess to go back to what I said about dotting their ‘I’s’ and crossing every ‘T’ I mean we’ve done all the things we’re supposed to do. And I want to make sure know that we have done those things with our staff with this consultant that we have laid everything out that we won’t be back again next year at this time doing the same thing because there’s some things that’s going to repeat themselves but some things don’t have to. But if we had followed the guidelines and we are where we need to be helps me out a lot. And I guess that’s my question. Have we done those things? I see some heads nodding but I don’t hear nothing. I need somebody to say something, the attorney, somebody, Mr. Russell? Mr. MacKenzie: I’ll just say the Law Department was involved in the process in insuring compliance with the court order. And it is my belief that this process was in total compliance with the court order as well as the Procurement Code. 10 Mr. Williams: Okay, that’s my question, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Mr. Mayor: Okay. Commissioner Lockett. Mr. Lockett: Thank you. I wish my colleague Commissioner Smith was here. I don’t have a dog in this fight either but I was here the last time we went through this. And I do believe if my colleagues at least enough of them would have listened to me we wouldn’t be back here today. I have no animosity against Blue Cross or any other cross for that matter but there are certain questions that we need to ask. And I don’t think if this thing has to go to litigation again we’re going to come out so lucky. And that’s why I want to make sure that we have done everything that we are supposed to do that we have dotted the ‘I’s’ and crossed the ‘T’s’. And no disrespect to you, Mr. Holden, I know what your job is. I went through this whole process before. I held hearings with a dozen attorneys on this same thing. So I’m fully aware of that. But, Mr. Mayor, if I may I would like to just briefly ask the Procurement Director a question because last year she was involved but this year she hasn’t said anything thus far. And I want to find out why is it that Human Resources appears to have taken the lead role and Procurement is in the back row. Can you help me with that? Mr. Mayor: Ms. Sams? Ms. Sams: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Commissioners, Mr. Lockett. The Procurement Departments role in this process was primarily to make sure that the Procurement codes and guidelines were followed. As in any process the user department takes the lead and at the time when we were doing Blue Cross Blue Shield the Procurement Department stepped up to the plate taking the lead as it related to procurement issues. This time because of certain perceptions the Procurement Director stepped out of the process allowing her staff to take the lead. And if you have any questions as it relates to procurement issues I would be more than happy to address them. I read all of the manuals, I checked the process again and again and again hoping the city of Augusta would get the best the best provider as it relates to competition. Sitting in the room watching the entire committee was something that I found to be challenging for them and of course it was a bit challenging for me to sit back and watch them at work. But I wanted to be able to tell you that this committee did an exceptional job in making sure that the ‘I’s’ were dotted and the ‘T’s’ were crossed. Mr. Lockett: The reason I asked you is because our procurement contract specialist is not here today, Commissioner Mason, because he had quite a few pointed questions that he asked you previously. I don’t have that particular expertise so I can’t ask you. But I know one of my colleagues asked you, asked the question about, what was that questions you asked about? I can’t even think of the name of it now. We talked about this in, many times before and you said it’s not in this particular what you call it. I know it’s not because I’d read it. Mr. Russell: The lasering? Mr. Lockett: That is what I’m talking about. Ms. Sams: The lasering. 11 Mr. Lockett: Yeah, but I’ll be quiet when I ask you this. What you’re saying is from your procurement level and your expertise you don’t see any procurement irregularities at all within this particular documents that we have. Ms. Sams: No, sir, I don’t see any. Mr. Lockett: All right, thank you. And thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Mayor: Thank you. Please continue. That’s the end of the presentation? Mr. Holden: I was just asking if anyone had any questions and I was trying to answer them. Mr. Mayor: Do we have any further questions? Okay, yes, sir. Commissioner Guilfoyle. Mr. Guilfoyle: I’d just like to thank the staff as well as you for taking your time to do your due diligence. And because you know there’s a lot of people that has spoken on this and wanted to make sure that we, like Mr. Lockett said do our process right do where we’re not in the same position we are this time next year. Mr. Holden: I understand. Mr. Guilfoyle: Thank you. Mr. Mayor: And I’s just like to echo those sentiments Commissioner Guilfoyle. I’d like to thank Commissioner Lockett for his diligence on this of making sure the ‘I’s’ are dotted and the ‘T’s’ are crossed. And I’d like to particularly thank our staff for doing a great job. Commissioner Smith. Mr. D. Smith: Point of personal privilege, Mr. Mayor. There are two distinguished gentlemen in this crowd. And I think they came down here about concerns about insurance. You gentlemen have a question for us? Mr. Calhoun? Mr. Calhoun: (inaudible). Mr. D. Smith: Okay. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor: Thank you, sir. Let me ask is, yes, ma’am, Ms. Sams. Ms. Sams: (inaudible). Mr. Mayor: Can you speak into the microphone, please, ma’am? Ms. Sams: There is a Phase 2 of this process and Phase 2 deals with the price. And I would like if you will allow the Finance Department to present that cost to you. 12 Mr. Mayor: Okay. Ms. Sams: And it was part of this presentation. Mr. Mayor: Okay. Ms. Williams or? Ms. Sams: If you turn in your books, that’s this sheet in your books. Ms. Williams: Once we went through Phase 1 on the proposal which was the rankings of the all the different scenarios that you saw before you we, and those were just us going through the books and looking for the answers to the questions that were predetermined on that scoring sheet and then awarding the points based on the answers that those three companies gave to us. And as Mr. Holden mentioned in some of the proposals it was a really clearly defined answers to some of those questions. And some of the proposals there they were a joint answer or answers from two different companies that made it a little more challenging for us to try to decipher what the answer they were trying to give us. But once that was done there was a score sheet compiled which you saw in Mr. Holden’s presentation. Once that was done we moved forward to the pricing which was a sealed bid, it was handled by Ms. Sams’ department. None of us saw anything until those sheets were opened. When they were opened the guaranteed maximum cost from each proposal was taken. And you see those three numbers in front of you. Blue Cross Blue Shield was $21,205,000. Health Scope was $23 million and some change and then Meritain/Aetna was $22.6. The information that you see on the left hand side of the screen is a point scale that was devised by the selection committee before any of those pricings were opened. It allowed us to assign points based on our exposure under the guaranteed maximum price. So once we had those three prices when the proposals were opened we looked over at the scale which like I said we had set that scale up well before the prices were opened. And those points were awarded and dropped into the total overall evaluation of the three companies. Very simple, very straight forward. Mr. Mayor: Okay. Commissioner Williams. Mr. Williams: Mr. Mayor I would entertain a motion to go ahead and approve this. Staff and everybody has dotted a lot of their ‘I’s’ we talked about all the ‘T’s’ have been crossed. And, Finance, we need to go ahead and move forward with this. So my motion is to approve. Mr. Mayor: Do we have a second? Mr. Fennoy: Second. Mr. Mayor: We have a motion that’s been properly seconded. If there’s no further discussion Commissioners will now vote, oh excuse me. Commissioner Lockett. Mr. Lockett: Mr. Chairman, I’d like to make a substitute motion that we hold this in abeyance until the next meeting which well give us an opportunity to do our due diligence as our Mayor Pro Tem says and read this and have a good understanding. 13 Mr. Mayor: Do we have a second to that? Okay, that motion did not receive a second. Commissioner Guilfoyle. Mr. Guilfoyle: Nothing, sir. Mr. Mayor: Okay, we have a primary motion to approve that’s made and properly seconded. If there’s no further discussion --- Mr. Williams:I’d like to amend the Wait a minute, Mr. Mayor, hold on. Mr. Mayor, motion just to add final negotiation before signing the contract to make sure that everything’s in place. Mr. Mayor: And the seconder of the motion is okay with that amendment? Mr. Fennoy: Fine, but I’d like the motion repeated. Mr. Mayor: Okay, Madam Clerk, if you could please repeat the motion for clarity. The Clerk: Yes, sir. That was to approve the recommendation from the review committee for Blue Cross Blue Shield with final negotiation to take place. Mr. Mayor: Is that correct? : And execution by the Mayor. Mr. Russell Mr. Mayor: Okay. We have a motion that’s been made and properly seconded. Commissioners will now vote by the usual sign. Mr. Lockett votes No. Motion Passes 8-0. Mr. Russell: Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen. Mr. Mayor: If there’s no further business to come before the body this meeting stands adjourned. [MEETING ADJOURNED] Nancy W. Morawski Deputy Clerk of Commission 14 CERTIFICATION: I, Lena J. Bonner, Deputy Clerk of Commission, hereby certify that the above is a true and correct copy of the minutes a Special Called Meeting of the Augusta Richmond County Commission held on October 15, 2013. ______________________________ Clerk of Commission 15