At this week’s Macomb City Council Committee of the Whole meeting, aldermen discussed the one-year renewal of the city employee health insurance contracts.
City Administrator Scott Coker told the committee the city could save $380,000 next year by switching carriers from Healthlink to Aetna. Andrea Leinbach of Dansig, which is the city’s local insurance rerpsentative, shared that Macomb would receive a 55 percent saving with Aetna versus 37 percent with Healthlink.
Leinbech added that seven percent of city employees and families incur 20 percent of claim costs, and because of heavy users this year, the city’s $50,000 stop loss limit would increase from $1,055 to $1,201 per claimant.
Coker said that rising costs and increased claims would result in a total plan cost of $3.5 million for 2026; however, the plan would have $2 million in reserve funds. Aldermen voted to put the health insurance plan renewal on next week’s City Council consent agenda, which means it could be approved without further discussion.
Lift-assist fee proposed Council members also discussed approval of an ordinance adopting a $500 cost for lift-assist calls in non-emergency situations as these calls are becoming more common. The fee would go into effect when firefighters are called more than six times to a nursing home or assisted living facility in a given year. Macomb Fire Department Chief Dan Meyer said lift-assist calls averaged 60 to 80 calls per year through 2015, with the number of calls in 2021 totaling 257. To date, there have been 307 calls in 2025.
“Each call takes 20 to 25 minutes. One location called us 27 times in a single year,” Meyer added.
Electric vehicle charging stations
The Committee of the Whole also discussed advertising for bids to place three electrical vehicle charging stations downtown. Ameren has donated $50,000 for acquisition and placement of the charging stations. Coker said possible locations include the south side of the square, the bus transit center across from the Amtrak station and the city parking lot at the corner of Campbell and Calhoun streets.
