City workers' health coverage threatened by Cairo impasse

CAIRO, Ill. -- Health insurance coverage for city employees remains in danger following another deadlock between the city council and Mayor Paul Farris over whether to borrow money to pay a past due bill.

Council members refused again to vote on a proposal to borrow approximately $140,000 to pay off a debt to the Laborers Health and Welfare Fund. If the debt dating from 2004 isn't paid, city employees will lose their health coverage on March 31.

Farris told the council he has arranged to borrow the money at 5.25 percent interest from Capaha Bank. During the meeting, council member Elbert "Bo" Purchase seemed to tie a vote on the proposal to borrow money to Farris' withholding the salaries of four council members who consistently oppose him.

But in a break before the council went into closed session, Purchase said the refusal to approve the loan stems from a lack of trust that Farris will spend the entire amount on health insurance premiums.

Farris, in reply, said in an interview there is no way to avoid paying the full past due amount of more than $136,000 plus interest. "They are just trying to damage my character," Farris said.

The four council members -- Purchase, Bobby Whitaker, Linda Jackson and Sandra Tarver -- announced in December they would boycott regular council meetings. Farris, in retaliation, stopped paying them. The four have also been dropped from city-paid health insurance coverage.

The other two council members, Carolyn Ponting and Joey Thurston, continue to receive pay and benefits.

The anti-Farris faction changed course after skipping one regular council meeting.

"You had no right to withhold our paychecks and drop us from the insurance," Purchase said.

The exchange then escalated into the kind of angry confrontation that has characterized every council session since the four began attending meetings again.

Farris asked council members if they had formally dropped their boycott. In reply, Whitaker told Farris they would not back down from the statement issued at the time when they called him a dictator.

The question about the boycott, Farris said in the interview, was an attempt to gauge whether his foes were willing to discuss cooperation. Receiving back pay and reinstated health insurance is the carrot he's offering, Farris said. "They don't have to agree with me, just come to the meetings and stop playing their games," he said.

Ponting, who has repeatedly attempted to distance herself from both sides, again called for cooperation. "Let's get on with trying to do something," she said. "It is on both sides of the aisle, but we have to sit down here and work together."

In other business, council members refused to approve the city payroll and declined to vote on the appointment of Alan McIntyre as city attorney to replace the late Michael O'Shea.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126