Members of the Houston City Council voted Tuesday to make its employee health insurance “agent of record” a local firm.
Burch Insurance of Houston was awarded the business. The same health insurance policy will result, but will be serviced by the local business and not Connell Insurance in Springfield. The city pays premiums for its employees and all of their dependents. Both firms had earlier quoted identical costs for the same health insurance policy.
At the special meeting, some employees said they were pleased by Connell’s service and did not want to make a change. The vote was 4-1 (Tim Ceplina, no; and Don Romines, absent).
The board also approved the South Central Ozark Council of Governments to administer a $900,000 grant awarded for a new library in Houston. The City of Houston sponsored the Community Revitalization Grant application that was awarded to the Texas County Library Foundation by the Missouri Department of Economic Development. It was the final piece for a $2.3 million funding package.