Tripoli Community School District

School Board Meeting-Work Session

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

4:45 p.m. – MS/HS Community Room

Board Vice President Jamie Dettmer called the School Board Meeting to order at 4:48 p.m. with the following members present: Max Ambrose, Laurie Buhrow, Scott Danner, and Ally Mueller. Also present were Troy Heller, Phyllis Schnurstein, representatives from Krehbiel Insurance and Community Insurance companies. Tom Nuss came in at a later point of the meeting.

Motion by Laurie Buhrow, seconded by Ally Mueller, to approve the agenda as presented. Motion carried unanimously.

Mr. Heller introduced Mr. Dennis Krehbiel of Krehbiel Insurance to the Board who gave a presentation on the Iowa Star Trust. The Board is considering going with Krehbiel Insurance of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, as a way to save the district approximately $40,000 as compared with the school’s current insurance carrier, Community Insurance. Iowa Star is unique in that there are 19 schools as members of this insurance group, which covers 1,600 school employees. The premium rates offered for the plans are the same throughout the 19 schools. The company has been in business since the mid-90s, and Krehbiel Insurance has been the broker for Iowa Star for the last ten years. Iowa Star has $2.6 million in equity. The insurance is underwritten by Wellmark, and there are eight medical insurance plans to choose from.

Each school has one vote, and there is 100% participation required for administrators and full-time certified staff. Non-certified staff can join (it is not mandatory). Iowa Star offers other benefits such as dental, vision, life, long-term disability, voluntary life, billing, and retiree insurance.

The process of being approved in Iowa Star has several steps. The Tripoli Schools would sign Mr. Krehbiel as the Agent of Record, and he would then ask Wellmark if our district would adversely affect the Iowa Star rates. Wellmark would give either a positive or negative decision. Each member of the Iowa Star Group would vote to approve Tripoli joining the Group. The school agrees to have all certified staff and administrators take at least a single plan. The district would then decide which plans to offer the staff. Krehbiel Insurance enrolls the employees with their benefits. If the school is not approved by Wellmark, Mr. Krehbiel would remain our Agent of Record for the 2015-16 school year and would work with the district on a new insurance package.

Mr. Krehbiel noted that the sooner the Board could approve going with the Iowa Star, the sooner the insurance package could be rolled out to the employees (approximately February 2015). Mr. Heller will be meeting with our current insurance company to review the benefit plan they can offer the district before a decision can be made. This insurance decision will be continued as an agenda item on the November 17 School Board Meeting.

The Board reviewed Series 300 of the School Board policies. There were minimal changes, and Mr. Heller suggested having the first and second readings at the November 17 meeting.

Mr. Heller attended a Budget Prioritization Workshop on October 9 and presented to the Board ideas he learned from this workshop on the best way to prioritize budget reductions. He has been working with surrounding districts to try to work on creative ways to save the school money. Mr. Heller repeated that after this year, an Early Retirement Package would not be offered again for quite some time. He asked the Board to identify 5-7 main budget objectives when looking at proposed cuts and to bring them to the November 17 meeting. Once the main objectives have been determined by the Board, this will allow the administration to sort the reduction areas in a least important to most important ranking, reflecting a dollar amount for each deduction. This will hopefully help the Board, staff, and community members understand the direction and process that the administration is taking. The Board will continue these discussions at the November 17 School Board Meeting.

Motion by Scott Danner, seconded by Ally Mueller to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:05 p.m.

Jamie Dettmer Phyllis Schnurstein

Board Vice President Board Secretary Pro Tem