Weems staff could become county employees

Voicing general support for the idea, Franklin County commissioners signaled earlier this month that they would like to explore whether employees at Weems Memorial Hospital could become county staffers and receive the benefits of the state retirement system.

As it stands now, the hospital, while owned by the county, is a separate entity and while employees have private sector health insurance and retirement plan, they are not under the Florida Retirement System (FRS) pension plan, as are city and county employees, and school district employees. The FRS is generally regarded as offering more generous benefits than private sector retirement accounts.

Weems CEO David Walker was on hand at the Nov. 19 to secure permission to purchase a new $115,000 ultrasound machine out of the county’s capital outlay fund. Walker said the hospital has seen steady growth of about 20 percent in ultrasound testing.

“It will pay for itself in two years,” he said.

Commissioner Jessica Ward told Walker she would like to see the hospital staff become county employees, similar to where in Gulf County, the ambulance service employees all work for the county.

“Everyone wants to be a part of FRS,” Walker said.

Courtney Alford, the hospital’s chief of nursing, echoed the sentiment. “I’ve heard it for years,” she said. “I’ve had multiple nurses leave, and most of them say if they had better benefits and retirement they’d be here.”

Commissioner Anthony Croom, who like Ward was sworn in prior to the meeting after each were elected to full four-year terms, said he too would support their becoming county employees.

“I share the same concern,” he said. “They don’t do it for pay, they do it for benefits. It’s something we need to address or we’ll lose good people.”

County Coordinator Michael Moron said that due to recent tightening in the state retirement system, there has been in the past some indication that the private sector plan may be better than FRS. In addition, he said Weems employees, were they put on the county’s Capital Health Plan, may find problems with in-network coverage of providers in Gulf County.

Moron said he is concerned about what effect such a change would have on salaries and budgeting, particularly since the county is weighing “getting out of the hospital business.” Currently, they have a consultant from Baker Tilley doing a report on the feasibility of options for Weems future, including its possible conversion to the newly created Medicare status as a Rural Emergency Hospital.

Commissioners Cheryl Sanders and Ottice Amison both supported having Baker Tilly examine the possibility of converting the staff to county employees. Moron said he would see if it could be added as a condition to the existing contract, and at what cost.

“Whatever we decide to do, you still have people depending on a wage every week to provide for their family,” said Sanders.

“This is just another option we need to look at,” said Amison.