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Regular Council Meeting October 10, 2022 Page 3 area. He also asked Ms. Wilson about the possibility of other options for the people who needed to borrow money. Ms. Wilson said several businesses had been talking about creation of non- profit lending. Council Member Savage said he would like to see examples of ordinances. Council Member Pankaj said he was in favor of this type of ordinance and expressed appreciation that this item was brought forward. It was a consensus of City Council that staff put together an ordinance that had been tried and tested, and bring back to Council for consideration. 9. Discuss and act on an increase in the City of Paris' monthly health insurance contribution by $30.00 a month per employee, from $565.00 to $595.00 per employee per month effective January 1, 2023. City Manager Grayson Path said the City was a'member of the TML Health Benefits Pool which serves 980 Texas cities. Mr. Path explained that the City of Paris provides its employees four separate plans and the employee can select either employee only or employee and child, or employee and spouse or employee and family. He said the City contributes $565.00 a month to each full time employee under the City's health, plan and historically, the City has attempted to provide a monthly contribution that allowed for two of the plans employee only monthly premium to be paid for 100% by the City's contribution. Mr. Path explained that TML Health had submitted a letter, indicating that the City's rates were increasing by 16% in 2023 and in summary, and they stated CoVid-19 had an impact on the rates. He said he would like to try to fully fund two of the plans for "employees only," which were Plans C and D. Mayor Portugal said she thought they needed to take care of the City's most valuable resources, which was the City's employees. Council 'Member Pankaj said he thought it was very important to do this. A Motion to approve this item was made Council Member Pankaj and seconded by Mayor Pro ,Tem Hughes. Motion carried, 5 ayes - 0 nays. 10. Presentation of bids for the Wastewater Treatment Plant Project and potential utility rate increases necessary.to support the project. Mr. Path said at the Council meeting of July 25, 2022, Council heard a status update on the Waste Water Treatment Plant Project. He also said at that time they were informed that pricing over the summer was going up and were expecting to see some significant increases in the bids. Mr. Path explained said the City had received, opened and reviewed bids for the Project and had a presentation for the City Council. Garver Project Engineer Lance Klement said the project schedule was on track and outlined the bidding process as: 1) advertised for pre -qualifications, 2) reviewed packets and notified contractors, 3) advertised for construction bids, and opened and evaluation of bids. Mr. Klement explained of the seven contractors who submitted pre -qualification packets, five contractors were qualified. He said the market costs have increased construction estimates since the beginning of the project. Mr. Klement said that the low bidder was Thalle Construction, Inc. with the total base bid coming in at $66,143,950 deductive alternate 1 in the amount of $1,025,000, deductive alternate 2 in the amount of $1,080,000, deductive alternate 3 in the