City Board May 15: Insurance proposals accepted, roof bid awarded

The New Albany Board of Aldermen has received three proposals for health insurance coverage for its employees and their families for the coming year.
In a special meeting Tuesday evening, May 15th, the board received proposals from the Morgan-White agency, the John Stroud agency and joint bid from the Ray Collins and Gray Montgomery agencies. All three proposals would continue the city’s primary health care coverage with Blue Cross/Blue Shield, but supplementary or “gap” coverage is with a different carrier on each proposal.

The current coverage is with Morgan-White.

City Attorney Regan Russell was assigned the task of developing a comparison spread sheet so the three proposals can be considered by the board in a future meeting. Differences between the three proposals in the “gap” insurance coverage is among the objective issues to be resolved.

Selecting health insurance coverage for municipal employees is not, under Mississippi law, a competitive bidding process. The city board is free to consider issues other than price in deciding to which agencies the insurance contracts will be award.

The board also voted to replace the roof on the Magnolia Civic Center Complex. The civic center is closed to future events until the roof can be replaced. The board awarded a contract for the 8,670-square foot roof to the Marchbanks Specialty Company of Water Valley. Marchbanks is to install a new “Duro Last” roofing system on the complex for a total cost of $35,915. The new roof will carry a 15-year warranty.