Town of Haxtun to switch insurance carrier

The Haxtun Town Council voted to make changes to policy regarding the use of the community center by non-profits as well as elected to change employee health insurance companies during a recent, April meeting. Additionally, the Council discussed the possible annexation of one acre of land on the west end of Town and signed a letter of support for Haxtun Health.

During a meeting earlier this year, the Council disused the use of the community center by local non-profits. Recently, there has been an influx of non-profits booking the community center and never calling to cancel. That doesn’t allow the Town to rent that space to others in the community.

At the most recent meeting, the Council voted to update community center policy asking that groups call Town Hall to cancel with in 48 hours. If that cancellation is not completed, a fee in the amount of the deposit may be charged.

“I will be sending notices to the non-profits that use the Center regularly and notifying them of the changes,” said Town Clerk Kelsey Harms.

The Council also discussed employee health insurance in last week’s meeting. CEBT, the company currently used by the Town of Haxtun, implemented an 11 percent increase last year. That sparked the Council to look into other companies and options for health insurance. This year, council members voted to terminate the agreement with CEBT and switch to Public Sector Healthcare Group.

Harms said the coverage is almost identical and employees will remain with United Health with the same deductible, however, premiums will be lower. She said there should be no disruption to employees healthcare, just some administrative changes.

PSHCG is a Trust and works similarly to CEBT but caters more to smaller municipalities and works to help keep costs down, Harms said.

“So it’s good news for the Town and employees!” the Clerk added.

At the start of action items, council members talked about the possibility of annexing one acre of land into city limits. The land in question sits just west of Dollar General and Better Forage lots on the south side of Highway 6. The plan is to use the space for storage units by CB & Pods.

The Haxtun Town Council will hold a public hearing on the annexation on May 20 at 7 p.m. to determine zoning.

In other business:

• ˙The Council heard an update from Darcy Garretson on the Drake Building Project. Garretson is working with the Department of Local Affairs on a grant;

• Vickie Freemyer, with the Haxtun Police Department, applied for and received a grant from FEMA for an emergency backup generator for the community center. The Center is a designated Red Cross shelter. The total project cost is $67,100. FEMA will cover 75 percent of the project, the Town of Haxtun will be responsible for the remaining 25 percent. The Council recently voted to appoint Superintendent Ron Carpenter as authorized signer for the grant;

• The Council signed a letter of support for Haxtun Health as the organization applies for grants to update operating room facilities;

• Council members reviewed a Rural Action project through Colorado State University and Phillips County Economic Development. Local art classes will be using a canvas to paint a mural and the artwork will be voted on to be used as a mural in a public space. PCED is looking for ideas to paint the mural. The Council would like to see the winning artwork before deciding a location.