01/23/2017 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Minutes of the Regular Meeting of Council` Monday; January 23; 2017 Page .17 Co.uncil President Saponaro replied, they can. What Mr. Carinen has suggested is correct. If we want to bririg this up tonight and it sits there and no one wants to continue to rrioye it forward, it will die on the floor. .. Mr. Mitchell stated, I would like to ditto what former Mayor Carmen said. There's a lot of hard" . working people here who pay over $1,500 a month for healthcare.. Council President Saponaro stated, I pay well over that, so I know. Mr. Mitchell stated, so you should understand. Council President Saponaro stated, I do. Mr. Mitchell stated, thank you for your time. Mr. Jerome asked, Council President, may I inake a statement? Council President Saponaro stated, sure. Mr. Jerome stated, over the past week, there has been a lot of outrage and it has been brought to my attention of the specifics of the proposal of insurance for Council members: I was inappropriately tagged in a Facebook post. This is not the proper forum for me to have discussion on the matter which vilified me as the instigator of this prop.osition and I received phone calls and e-mails by displeased residents which I am kind of glad. I will take phone calls in the middle of the night if I have to. . In this rooin tonight, I am one of 7 Council members. I did not propose or draft the language or contents of the proposal nor did I know of the proposal's existence until the Friday of the last Caucus meeting. I was aware of the discussions over the past year regarding the introduction of an insurance plan available to Council members but did not know to what extent the cost or coverage would be until the evening of Friday, January 6th. In addition, I want to stress, I am not a lawyer and the law director advises on these matters. I am in complete agreeance that this is more extravagant plan than I assumed any Council member would get. I also do not agree with the allowance of $300 to any member who chooses to opt out in the plan. To infer that I. am personally responsible for behavior so devious or dishonest, I am extremely disheartened. I 100% agree that just as our Council and Mayor's raise after 15 years was brought to the residents on the ballot, this matter should also be subject to a public vote. I present to the residents with an open, honest and transparent policy. I pride myself on continually trying to propose measures which would reduce the cost of tax to residents which is money back in your pocket.-I am often one of the few or lone members who vote no on these expenditures and view them as too extravagant or that may be approached in a more frugal way to best benefit the residents. It is easy to go back through public record of Council meetings to affirm this and see