Dougherty County Commission considers employee health clinic

ALBANY — The Dougherty County Commission is expected to vote next week on a recommendation by its Insurance Review Committee that the county provide an on-site health clinic for its employees.

The commission discussed the possibility of contracting with CareHere Management, which manages a similar clinic that is utilized by city of Albany employees, during an extended work session Monday morning and afternoon.

“The Insurance Review Committee recommends wholeheartedly that we move forward with this project,” County Administrator Richard Crowdis told the commission.

Spence Allen, vice president for county group health plan consultant Wells Fargo, told the commission it would need to utilize $125,000 in “start-up costs” to open the clinic. He said that money and subsequent operating costs would come primarily through retail savings that he said would allow the clinic to potentially “break even within 18 months or sooner.”

“Our records show 46 percent of your employees utilized preventive services in 2014,” Allen said. “That’s good. But that also means 54 percent of your employees did not. There were 371 emergency room visits by your employees, and 51 percent of those were inappropriate.

“With an on-site clinic, you could avoid inappropriate ER visits and help your employees stay healthy while decreasing costs to your plan.”

Allen said the county’s Insurance Review Committee had been discussing the proposed clinic since 2012 and had “gotten really serious about it in the last18 months.”

Crowdis said if the commission approves the clinic at its business meeting next week, the county would contract a build-out of the clinic at a vacant county-owned property on South Jackson Street.

“We’ve talked about being more involved in downtown, and this clinic is going to help bring traffic to downtown if you approve it,” the county administrator said.

Spence also told the board projected increases in insurance plan costs, based primarily on an unusually high number of large claims in excess of $75,000 at the end of 2013 into the first part of 2014, had not scored as big a hit as expected.

“We’d projected an increase of around 29 percent, but we were able to get that down to between 9 and 11 percent,” he said.

The Wells Fargo executive said county insurance expenses for the current fiscal year are at 87 percent of budget and would, if they continue at that rate, allow the county to move $400,000 into its general fund. He also said smaller, “mid-sized” claims had developed into an “underlying problem” with insurance costs but that having an on-site clinic would help in that area.

Citizens Greenspace Committee Chairman Bill Swan told the commission the county lacked eight “fairly small” parcels of land having a complete 7-mile corridor from “top to bottom” along the Flint River, starting in south Albany and continuing to the north county line.

“There are three parcels on the west side of the river and five on the east side (which are privately owned) that are the only gaps in the greenspace corridor,” Swan said. “We’re pleased that you voted to approve money for a master plan because the land along that corridor is owned by the state, city, the Board of Regents, FEMA and the DNR. The Board of Regents has indicated they would be amenable to allowing trails on their land (which is the site of Albany State University), but they want to see a plan in place.

“One of the things you have to realize with a project like this is that it takes patience.”

County Tax and Tag Director Shonna Colley said in a report to the commission that the county’s overall tax digest had increased slightly, to $2,030,179,384, based on the value of 37,853 parcels. She said her office had collected 96 percent of taxes owed before conducting property auctions.

“We usually have a collection rate around 98 percent, and I expect we’ll get there,” Colley said.

The commission got some good news from Debbie McDonald, social media manager for the Georgia Statewide Coalition on Blindness. McDonald said the state group would hold its spring convention in Albany May 1-2.

“The group usually holds its conventions in Atlanta, so this is good for Albany,” McDonald said. “You’re probably going to see a lot of people with white canes and guide dogs over the (convention) weekend.”

County Attorney Spencer Lee gave the commission a detailed update on the progress of the proposed Sabal Trail Transmission Pipeline, a $3 billion-plus project which may move up to a billion cubic feet of natural gas a day through a portion of Dougherty County. In his report, Lee said a restraining order was filed in Dougherty Superior Court last week seeking permission to survey land of seven property owners in the county who had refused to allow Spectra Energy employees onto their land.

A similar case was filed in Lee County recently, Lee told the board, and the landowner there filed trespassing charges against the surveyors who came onto his land.