In late 2016, we had the opportunity to discuss health insurance options with a local town.

Due to the enrollment date being so close, we were unable to get the information needed to make proper recommendations and get plans in place at that time.

We were told by them to please follow up in the fall of 2017 to gather information and run accurate quotes to review and compare.

Initial reports were showing we were looking at saving the town roughly $238,000 annually. As locals to this town, we were ecstatic we could potentially save them this much money, especially when they appeared to be in a budget crunch, just by showing a few ways to restructure their insurance needs.

We spoke with a few council members of the town and were instructed to make a presentation to council in the summer of 2017. We went in July and made our presentation and seemed like we made an impression.

We were then told to follow up with human resources in the fall to begin the information-gathering process. We began calling in early October, and were told to call back in a week or two.

We continued contact every week or two until we were getting really close to the deadline of where we needed the information just to run the quotes. At that point, we came back to council stressing the need for the info.

Council instructed us at that point to call and get the info we needed and instructed city leaders that it needed to be expedited. After several calls and voicemails were left, we received no response. Needless to say, we didn’t get the info needed and time has expired yet again.

It was beyond unfathomable that a town in such a crunch for money wouldn’t at least look at options, considering initial reports were looking at a savings of nearly a quarter million dollars.

Our goal in this letter isn’t an attempt to try and garner business, it’s a call for residents to hold their hometown leaders fiscally responsible. A good policy, or something similar to this might be good practice.

If a job or service must be outsourced, at least three bids should be obtained, let council discuss, ask questions where needed, then make an informed decision, especially when the cost of the service is nearly one third of the operating budget.

Under no circumstance in today’s municipality money crunch, should every service needed not be assessed for better options. Hold your leaders accountable!

Rick Stamper
Bryant & Stamper Insurance and Planning