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Home My WebLink About09022015 City Council Special Meeting Minutes City ofSeward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes September 2, 2015 Volume 39, Page 504 CALL TO ORDER The September 2, 2015 special meeting of the Seward City Council was called to order at 5:30 p.m. by Mayor Jean Bardarson. OPENING CEREMONY Assistant City Manager Ron Long led the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. ROLL CALL There were present: . Jean Bardarson presiding and Ristine Casagranda Christy Terry David Squires Dale Butts comprising a quorum of the Council; and Ron Long, Assistant City Manager Brenda Ballou, Deputy City Clerk Absent—Marianna Keil, Iris Darling CITIZEN COMMENTS ON ANY SUBJECT EXCEPT THOSE ITEMS SCHEDULED FOR PUBLIC HEARING—None APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND CONSENT AGENDA Motion (Terry/Casagranda) Approve Agenda and Consent Agenda Motion Passed Unanimous There were no consent agenda items. Special Orders,Presentations And Reports—None NEW BUSINESS , Resolution 2015-079, Approving The 2016 Grant Year Budget For The Seward Seward Community Health Center As Required By The Co-Applicant Agreement Between The City Of Seward And The Seward Seward Community Health Center. Motion (Terry/Squires) Approve Resolution 2015-079 Long said the Seward Community Health Center (SCHC) was submitting their budget to council for approval as required by their co-applicant agreement.Administration believed the SCHC City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes September 2, 2015 Volume 39, Page 505 needed to have a fully-staffed solid year of operations under its belt to serve as a performance baseline. Council suspended the rules to allow Patrick Linton to speak. Seward Community Health Center Executive Director Patrick Linton provided an overview of the two resolutions before council: the first resolution provided the SCHC's proposed budget for 2016 per their co-applicant agreement with the city;the second resolution authorized the SCHC to move forward on applying for a service area competition grant application that was due on September 15, 2015. Linton added that the SCHC was moving into the first year of a three year budget cycle. Linton reflected that the SCHC had been open for about 18 months, since March 10,2014. They were currently working with two permanent, full-time, board-certified family medicine physicians plus one permanent, full-time physician's assistant. The SCHC opened with six employees and was now fully staffed with 19 employees. They saw 1,072 unduplicated patients in 2014, and were on track for seeing over 2,100 unduplicated patients in 2015 and projecting to see over 3,000 unduplicated patients by year end 2016.Approximately one-third of SCHC patients were brand new,first-time patients. Approximately 15%of those patients were from out-of-service area. The federal base grant for the SCHC had grown from approximately $650,000 to over $900,000. • Very shortly, Linton was expecting to receive notice of another increase in grant funding and with that additional grant money,the SCHC would be recruiting a three-quarter-time internal medicine physician;the physician would work one-quarter time with the Providence Seward Medical Center at Mountain Haven. The SCHC was now fully compliant with all 19 program requirements as a fully qualified health care facility. Linton said that after 18 months in operation he was pleased to report that the SCHC had either met or exceeded the expectations and hopes of the City Council and the community. Bardarson disclosed that she sat on the SCHC board, but had not voted on the budget as an SCHC board member. Linton explained that the federal grant budget calendar began on February 1St and ran through January 31st;the budget figures presented tonight were crafted very rigorously and were compliant with federal requirements. Terry made the observation that the SCHC and council must remain diligent,conscientious and good stewards of the sales tax monies being contributed to the SCHC.To that end,she thought it would be wise to ask the question ever year,"How many more years did the SCHC think they needed to be part of the City of Seward?" Squires asked if council and the SCHC should be contemplating the impact of SCHC employees getting off the city's insurance,the coverage for which would contractually expire after three years,and Linton replied that the SCHC had been researching insurance but had not yet found a cost-effective product yet.Bardarson suggested that issue would be addressed in the SCHC's 2017 budget next year, and not the 2016 budget being considered tonight. • City of Seward,Alaska - City Council Special Meeting Minutes September 2, 2015 Volume 39,Page 506 In response to Casagranda's inquiry about contractual services,Linton said if the SCHC was approached by the city to offset the cost of additional Management Information Systems (MIS) staffing increases,the SCHC would be open to contributing to that cost. Motion Passed Unanimous Resolution 2015-080, Authorizing Submission Of A Service Area Competition Grant Application To The Health Resources And Services Administration On Behalf Of The City Of Seward And The Seward Seward Community Health Center,For The Purpose Of Continuing Operations As A Federally Qualified Health Center. Motion (Terry/Casagranda) Approve Resolution 2015-080 Long said this application was building on the work already begun,was a requirement of the co-applicant agreement,and clearly outlined the boundaries of the service area.In response to Terry, Long said Finance Director Kris Erchinger had sent an email outlining the total amount of taxpayer money from sales tax that was going towards Providence and the SCHC. Council recessed at 6:34 p.m. Council resumed at 6:43 p.m. Long corrected himself by stating the email Erchinger sent was a working document sent only to the City Manager. He added that Erchinger would be working with the SCHC staff to formulate the answer to what the overall cost was to the taxpayers of Seward for Providence Seward Medical Center and the SCHC.Long said council would see the numbers when they worked on the upcoming City of Seward budget and could,at that time,recommend a different amount for Providence and the SCHC if they saw fit. Terry reiterated her concern and request that the taxpayers be clearly informed about the true financial situation of both facilities, and that the city provide an honest answer to the question,"[Is the city] subsidizing health care more at this point than in the past?" Terry suggested that council self-impose this question every year on behalf of its citizens. Long agreed that was a fair approach, especially since the SCHC was stilldeveloping their business model. Motion Passed Unanimous COUNCIL COMMENTS Casagranda felt it was important that the public was as involved in this process as possible, and would prefer to have the health care discussions during a regular meeting rather than a special meeting because regular meetings were televised and would potentially help a broader audience of citizens stay informed. Bardarson agreed and would be requesting that the SCHC prepare their budget in a more timely manner going forward in order to accommodate council's regularly scheduled meetings. City of Seward,Alaska City Council Special Meeting Minutes September 2, 2015 Volume 39, Page 507 CITIZEN COMMENTS Skip Reierson thanked council for their support of the SCHC. He said it was absolutely critical that the city helped fund this operation when it started.Reierson said he had learned over the past year how competitive and how important it was to attract good physicians to the CHC,and how much it contributed to physician retention when they became embedded in the community.He added that as the SCHC matured and evolved,the finance committee was being very diligent,disciplined and conscientious. He commended the quality of work that Pat Linton provided. COUNCIL AND ADMINISTRATION RESPONSE TO CITIZEN COMMENTS Terry thanked the board and Pat Linton for their hard work. Squires said council asked the hard questions on behalf of the community, and in turn, council was building up their confidence in the board and administration at the SCHC. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 7:00 p.m. enda Ballou, /� C J n Bardarson eputy City Clerk Mayor (City Seal) , 14- :'r `t o o 0 o ° SEAL n o SEAL ° A, ti.,,t OFaRk .°°°° •