If you have comments, please email them to info@cmnews.org

In the recent election you may have heard the Town Council say that they took care of the lifetime health care issue.   In fact that is far from what actually happened.   The Council changed the payment plan to a minimum payee plan.   The Council is still entitled to lifetime health care.   In addition, each Council Member's spouse and dependents are now entitled to the same lifetime health care benefit.   See the memorandum from the Town below.

Corte Madera Council:   Tuesday, February 18, 1992
Item 8, Adopt Resolution Adding An Additional Employee Category and Fixing the Employer's Contribution for said Additional Employee Category under the Public Employee's Medical and Hospital Care Act.

Note: If approved, health insurance would be available to Council Members who are a member of the Public Employees' Retirement System.

Summary: Council discussion related to having health benefits extended to Council Members, and there was consensus to support Resolution #2, which excludes dependents.   Adoption of Resolution #2 increased Corte Madera's yearly expenses by $10,200.   This agenda item was discussed late in the Council Meeting and it is likely few if any people heard the discussion and provided comment.

The above action taken by Council Members Airoldi, Larson, Medigovich, Richardson and Wolff was the genesis of lifetime health care for the Corte Madera Town Council.   Every Council member since then was notified of the lifetime health care option upon taking office.   Not one Council Member in 10 years took public action to remove this benefit.

In January 2002, Pat Williams requested that fellow Council Members place the issue of lifetime health care on the Council agenda.   This action started the current day review of the health care benefits.   Pat Williams cited the current yearly cost to provide health care to Council Members is $16,733.   For his honesty Pat Williams has endured untold criticisms and retribution.

From the records we could locate we know Airoldi, Gioia, Larson, Medigovich and Richardson are currently using this lifetime health care benefit.

Corte Madera Council:   Tuesday, February 4, 2003
Item 7, Discussion of Present Town Policy Regarding Medical Benefit for Members of the Town Council and for Retired Council Members.

In this discussion each Council Member spoke to the point that they did not know about the lifetime benefit when running for Council.   Each Council Member also said that this benefit was not a factor in running for Council and would not have been if they were aware of the benefit beforehand.   Except for Pat Williams, none of the current Council Members expressed the point that lifetime health care was improper for a Town of our size.

This discussion covered current costs to the Town and actions that were in progress with CalPERS.   No response or resolution with CalPERS was expected before March 25th, 2003.

Corte Madera Council:   Tuesday, July 15, 2003
Item 5, Discussion and Possible Action Regarding Medical Benefits for Active and Retired Council Members and Council's Selection from Options Available to Council.

The Corte Madera Town Council staff report distributed at this meeting is 97 pages in length.   It is Town policy not to release digital copies of Town documents.   As time permits significant sections of the staff report will be placed on this website.

At this meeting the Town Council decided to take Option 7, Adopt a Resolution Reducing the Employer Contribution Under PEMHCA to the Minimum Allowed by Law.   This resolution did not reduce Town costs for retired Council Members.   This resolution only minimally reduced costs for any future Council Member electing to apply for health care benefits.

Memorandum from Director of Administrative Services:   August 13, 2003
Excerpt from Item 2, An interesting feature of the State health insurance premium minimum payment option is that is also covers the spouse and dependents, which our former allowance did not.   Under the old system, surviving spouses and any dependent children would have to pay the total cost of their health insurance through PERS.   Under the revised allowance system, the State minimum would also pertain to surviving spouses and any dependent children.   Depending on the compensation of future active and retired Council Member enrollments, the new system could ultimately cost the Town more than the former system because of this feature.

Depending interpretation of this memorandum it would appear that the recent Town Council decision not only failed to eliminate lifetime health care for Council Members, the new direction could cost the Town even more money then the plan we had before.

If there is one thing you can say about a few of the people in Corte Madera, they have passion.   I may post emails on the website at some point.   A disappointing theme in a several of the emails was that a few individuals would or could not discuss the topic at hand, even when asked directly.