Election qualifying opens
BY MELISSA PYLE
Special to the Telegraph
Lawtey City Council amended employee benefits this month and set new base salaries for two offices open for election this year.
Starting salary for the city clerk’s position was approved at $35,000, while base pay for police chief going forward will be $40,000. These positions and council seats 1, 3 and 5 are up for election on Dec. 2.
Qualifying for the Lawtey election began at noon on Sept. 22 and ends at noon on Sept. 26.
Councilwoman Amy Blom presented the council her proposal to give the city employees a stipend for health insurance instead of paying the current high costs. She said after going over the numbers discussed at the recent budget workshop she was convinced the stipend was the most cost-effective way for the city to move forward.
According to Blom, the current health insurance coverage is for two elected officials (clerk and police chief) and five full-time employees: one administrative assistant, one maintenance supervisor, and three police officers. Blom went on to explain the cost of insurance per year would be $15,273 per employee. That’s a yearly total cost of $106,911 under the proposed 2025-26 budget.
In contrast, Blom said the health stipend would be $7,200 per year, per employee, costing only $50,400 per year. This change would cut the city’s budget by $56,511.
She said she understood that suddenly cutting health benefits could cause hardship and said there would be a grace period: staff would be allowed to keep their coverage if they wanted to for two more months.
She said employees could be given the option to opt out as soon as October if they’d like to: the current coverage for city employees is a monthly policy, not annual.
There was pushback on Blom’s proposal from Council Member Virginia Warner, who said this was not what they discussed at the budget workshop. She said she wasn’t aware the policies were up for debate. City attorney Dan Sikes suggested the employees should have enough notice to plan for their coverage and voice their opinion to the council before there are votes to change to the stipend.
Warner suggested having workshops to discuss various health insurance plans with employees. Blom said pushing things down the road for more workshops and discussions has historically left Lawtey without any progress.
Blom grew frustrated, saying, “I’ve seen it too many times when I bring up policies and procedures, everything gets pushed back … just keep pushing everything back and not moving it forward.”
Blom made a motion to move forward with the stipends. Council, except for Warner, voted to approve the stipend option. Employees will be given the option to opt out of current coverage and begin the stipend or keep their current contract until the end of the year. Council clarified that new employees do not receive the stipend until 90 days of employment are complete.
In other business:
—council voted to approve Resolution 25-01, maintaining current flood insurance.
—council voted to approve Resolution 25-02, a recreational grant application, a possible $200,000 available for both Lawtey parks.
—The recreation department announced a fall event schedule to host Bingo Nights Oct. 16 at 7 p.m., a Fall Festival on Oct. 31, and Family Movie Nights on Nove. 8, 15 and 22.
—the next council meeting is Oct. 6 at 7 p.m.
