VIENNA — The Maries County Commission continued to hear quotes on health insurance packages at its Nov. 2 meeting.

Brad Roark, an employee benefits consultant with the county’s insurance broker Wallstreet Group, came to the meeting to discuss health insurance options for next year.

Western District Commissioner Ed Fagre asked if Roark was “the bearer of good news.”

Roark said he wished he had better news. The insurance market is horrible right now and rates are increasing for nearly everyone. The quotes he had came at about a 29 percent increase from last year’s plans.

When rates increased before, the insurance company did not provide detailed reasons. Last year, the county switched to a different plan, and Roark said the new plan gives more information about why rates would increase. Through August, the money in claims by people on the county’s insurance plan was greater than the money collected from premiums. The deficit is about $56,000.

Maries County’s current health insurance plans are through Anthem. Roark asked if the commissioners had heard about contract discussions between Anthem and Jefferson City Medical Group (JCMG).

On Oct. 6, JCMG sent a letter to Anthem policyholders who use the group’s clinics. In the letter, JCMG wrote that it still hoped to reach an agreement with Anthem before the expiration of the current contract on Nov. 8. The Jefferson City News Tribune reported on Nov. 5 that the two sides were unlikely to reach an agreement before the contract expired.

Roark reviewed a few Anthem plan options with the commission. He said he was also waiting to hear back from a few other carriers about their offerings.

One of the options the commission considered was a high-deductible health plan, which does not include copays or drug cards. Employees on the high-deductible health plan would be responsible for the deductible of their plan upfront. If the commission decides to offer a high-deductible health plan it would be one of two options. People who use high-deductible health plans are eligible to use health savings accounts.

Roark said if he heard back from another insurance provider he would get the quote to the commission as soon as he could.

License Office Contract

Jennifer Roberson, the former manager of the Vienna License Office, came to the Nov. 2 commission meeting in her capacity as a customer service manager with the Missouri Department of Revenue. She told the commissioners that there had been an error when they filled out their application earlier this year to continue operating the license office.

The application asked applicants to answer several questions about the facility. One of the questions asked about where the bathrooms were located. The commission answered that the bathrooms were within the license office instead of within the building.

Roberson told the commissioners that they could fill out a form to request to have the license office contract modified to reflect that there are bathrooms near the license office but not within it. At the Nov. 6 meeting, the commission filled out the request form.

GIS Map

During some downtime at the Oct. 30 meeting, County Clerk Rhonda Rodgers connected her computer to the commission room TV and the commission looked around the Maries County Geographic Information Systems (GIS) map.

The GIS map shows an overhead view of the entire county. Using data from the county assessor’s office, the GIS map also shows who owns each parcel of land. All a user has to do is click a piece of land to see details such as the owner’s name and the address. Someone looking at the map can scroll to zoom in on an area. The “Full Extent” button at the top of the map can return to the beginning. Users may also select the “Bookmark” button to return to a specific area later.

Another feature of the map allows users to search for a piece of land by property identification number, owner name or 911 address. Another tool allows for searching by road name.

The “Tasks” tab at the top of the screen includes features such as printing, saving part of the map as a download and sharing to social media. Users can also change layer settings and add points or lines to the map. The “Analysis” tab can show the distance or area of a section of the map selected by the user.

Integrity, the company that hosts the GIS map, has a series of training videos explaining how to complete specific tasks. The Maries County map interface includes a link to the company’s YouTube channel.

Anyone can access the Maries County GIS map at maries.integritygis.com.

Cow Path

Rodgers played the commission a voicemail from someone calling to ask about Maries Road 225. The man described it as a “cow path” and asked when the county would grade it.

Fagre said the man had also called the Road One shed. The voicemail must have been from before the road crew graded Maries Road 225 the previous week.

Driving Exams

The Vienna License Office is not offering driving exams on Nov. 15. Driving tests will resume in December.