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Regular City Council Meeting <br />January 12 , 2004 <br />Page 22 <br />said that one of the attachments, Exhibit I, showed the current and proposed <br />benefits. Gene Anderson explained that in network, there is no out of pocket <br />limit as opposed to out-of-network, where there is a limit. He said this would <br />give employees an incentive to stay in network. <br />Mr. Anderson said the City is currently contributing $450 per employee to the <br />plan. Councilman Guest said this was about a $2 million expenditure for the <br />city. <br />Councilman Guest said the Committee proposed to add sister-in-law, brother- <br />in-law, grandparent and guardian to the definition of immediate family under <br />leaves of absence for funerals. He stated the employees could currently <br />accumulate 135 days of sick leave before having to go on COBRA and civil <br />employees have no limit. <br />Councilman Plata asked what happened to sick leave over the 135 day limit. <br />Mr. Anderson said there was a sell back option that the employees could <br />participate in every year for excess sick leave. Mr. Anderson stated that he <br />looked back over the past five years at the sell back, which also includes some <br />vacation days. He stated last year’s figure was $98,725.00 and the year before <br />was $113,000.00. This year’s figure was $188,000.00, Mr. Anderson said, <br />which he felt like was because of all the talk of cutting employee benefits. He <br />predicted next year’s figure wouldn’t be near that much. On a question from <br />Councilman Plata about abuse of sick leave, Mr. Anderson said there was <br />probably some abuse, but he felt the employees generally did not abuse it. He <br />felt like one of the deterrents to abuse was the policy of requiring a doctor’s <br />excuse if an employee was off three days or one day, if abuse is expected. <br />Councilman Guest said he felt like 135 days was too much, although there was <br />no recommendation, as the budget had already been set. Councilwoman <br />Neeley suggested that the committee get information from other public entities, <br />such as the schools, on the cap for sick leave accumulation. <br />Mr. Anderson said that some industries don’t have sick leave because it wasn’t <br /> <br />