Selectman upset new personnel policies not being developed by Belmont board

BELMONT — Selectman David Morse says that he is concerned that proposed changes in the town's personnel policy on health insurance coverage are apparently being developed without public session input from members of the board.

He made the comments at the end of a brief meeting of selectmen last night, after expressing disappointment that the proposed changes weren't on the agenda of the meeting.

"Wouldn't this evening be a good time to talk about them?" he asked fellow selectmen Jon Pike, board chairman, and Ron Cormier, saying that it was his impression that the suggested changes in the town's policy regarding health insurance coverage for the ex-spouses of employees "condones current practice and I find fault with that. We should be doing this as a Selectboard," he said.

Pike said that development of the new policy would "depend on the outcome of some other things" and was then challenged by Morse to explain what "those other things" were.

"I can't answer that question in a public session," said Pike.

The insurance issue had been raised a few months ago when it was announced that Pike, who is currently covered by the policy of his ex-wife, TownClerk\Tax Collector Cynthia DeRoy, had reached a settlement with the town in June that called for a lump sum payment of $11,000 and an agreement that the town pay his premiums until he is 65. The couple was divorced in 2006.

Morse had recused himself from a vote on the settlement agreement, as had Pike, leaving Cormier as the only selectman to vote. Cormier has since then said that he consulted with former selectmen Ron Mitchell and Ward Peterson before he made a decision to support the settlement.

Cormier said that he would be happy to discuss what was happening with the proposed changes but not in a public session.

Morse said that he was concerned that he would be left in a "take it or leave it" proposition when it came to any changes and that he wanted to play a role in shaping them.

A draft amendment to the town's policy on COBRA, a federal policy that allows former employees to continue to keep employer sponsored health insurance for up to 18 months, usually at their own expense, would allow an ex-spouse to remain on an employee's two-person or family plan "until the subscriber remarries" and that the covered employee is "responsible for paying any insurance premiums in excess of those for the coverage of the employee and his or her children, if any, associated with the ex-spouses coverage."

Pike said that the proposed changes will be discussed at the August 29 meeting of the board.