Published: January 07, 2009 07:00 pm      

Garfield board to mull benefits today

TRAVERSE CITY -- Free family health insurance for part-time Garfield Township trustees could either be struck down or adopted as law when the board meets at 7 p.m. today in the township hall.

The benefit is a contentious issue among new township board members, though thus far no trustee has opted to take it. Health insurance costs the township over $1,300 a month per person and employees who don't take it receive a cash payment of about $400 a month. The benefit is available to all full-time township employees and trustees who attend two meetings a month.

Township Clerk Kay Schumacher wants to end the benefit. She researched the matter and discovered the township is required to adopt an ordinance in order to provide health insurance to any employee.

The board will take up the ordinance tonight. Its current draft is basic language provided by the Michigan Townships Association, but Supervisor Chuck Korn said there are some who want the ordinance to define which employees are eligible for insurance and the cash benefit. Defining employees in the ordinance would require public notice before a future board could add, or subtract, trustees from health insurance coverage.