Iola City Council member Ken Rowe addressed comments from fellow councilman Don Becker that appeared in Saturday’s Register, calling them “outrageous.”
Becker levied a number of criticisms of the council in Saturday’s paper, saying the governing body lacked moral courage to do in public what it does in private sessions. Becker also was critical of the council’s firing of two city officers, former City Administrator Judy Brigham and former Human Resources Manager Ken Hunt.
The Register reached out to all eight council members for Saturday’s article. Comments from all but Rowe and Joel Wicoff were in Saturday’s paper.
“Don’s very close relationship with Judy Brigham has made it difficult for him to distinguish the forest from the trees,” Rowe told the Register in an email. “When someone you respect and care about is feeding you less than accurate information, it makes it troublesome to understand the truth.
“If Mr. Becker would like to learn more about the facts in these issues, I’m sure any one of the other council members or the mayor would be willing to sit down with him and help him understand the complicated set of problems,” he continued.
Rowe also refuted Becker’s allegations of dissension within the council.
“I believe the next 12 months will be productive,” Rowe said.
Councilman Joel Wicoff was out of town Friday and Saturday for his daughter’s participation in the National Geography Bee state competition in Abilene.
Wicoff declined to address Becker’s comments, or their aftermath, but did speak about the ongoing city health insurance issue.
Wicoff noted that figures provided by Kendall Callahan — stating that low premiums have shorted Iola’s health insurance pool by $605,000 — do not reflect the actual insurance costs to the city.
Wicoff noted the city added funds to the insurance pool twice over a 10-year period, both of $100,000.
To better build up the insurance pool, the council voted 6-2 — Becker and Wicoff opposed — to increase the monthly premiums for employees receiving family health insurance from $250 to more than $509 by April 2013.
“If we go by actual costs, the city would only need to increase the per-employee premium by less than $20,” Wicoff told the Register. “The number is closer to $16.”
Callahan based his figures on the condition that all city employees would have joined the city’s family insurance plan at the higher rates. The Allen County family insurance plan, which is at a comparable higher rate, has no takers.
