Those City employees enrolled in the City’s group health plan should be aware the unlimited medical coverage on your auto insurance is no longer necessary. No-fault auto insurance reform legislation was approved in 2019 to take effect with policies issued or renewed after July 1, 2020. In the past, employees have had to call BCBSM to request the letter needed for their auto insurance provider to prove adequate health coverage is in place to forego this option on their auto insurance. The letter is now able to be obtained from the BCBSM website where you can login with your account, navigate to the ID Cards & Proof of Coverage button, scroll down to the Proof of Coverage section and download the PDF.

The City of Marquette will be implementing a Work Share program as a first line counter to anticipated budget shortfalls. Michigan’s Work Share program allows employers to keep employees working with reduced hours, while employees collect partial unemployment benefits to make up a portion of the lost wages. Employees participating in Work Share due to
COVID-19 are also eligible to receive the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation of $300 per week in addition to their Work Share weekly Michigan unemployment benefit. The City will be filing for benefits for each affected employee and will handle recertifying benefits on a weekly basis.

Excluding emergency responders (Police and Fire), each department will be furloughing qualifying full-time employees one day a week until March 13 and is planned to start next week (January 18). The furlough day can be any day of the week, but departments will be required to remain available to the public for the normal work week. Furlough schedules will be at the
discretion of the Department Head. This action will potentially save the City an estimated $200,000 through the middle of March and will be a tremendous help in overcoming the estimated budget shortfalls.

City of Marquette staff able to work remotely from home will continue to do so at status quo for the immediate future. The MiOSHA emergency rules that required this have not changed since they were released in October. When administrative staff is expected to return to the office, they will be given adequate formal notice prior.

For those employees that participated in the State of Michigan Work Share program over the summer, please remember to wait for your 1099-G from the State to report unemployment wages prior to filing your income tax return for 2020. By default, no taxes are withheld on unemployment paid through Work Share.

As we continue to deal with COVID-19 in our communities, Blue Cross and BCN are extending the timeframe for covering the member portion of costs for COVID-19 treatment for fully insured members through March 31, 2021.
Member costs for physician-approved COVID-19 tests and associated services are waived until the end of the public health emergency. This is part of a federal mandate that will continue as long as the mandate is in place.

On November 10, City Attorney Ron Keefe notified the City Commission that he will be stepping down as City Attorney and that his final day in office will be December 31, 2020. He and his law partner Suzanne Larsen have been providing legal services to the City for the last 15 years. On Monday, Nov. 30, the City Commission approved the appointment of Suzanne Larsen to the position of City Attorney effective Jan. 1, 2021. Ms. Larsen and the rest of the attorneys at Kendricks, Bordeau, Keefe, Seavoy & Larsen, PC remain committed to providing the same quality legal services the City is used to
receiving from the law firm.

Updated versions of the City's Preparedness and Response Plan including the COVID-19 Emergency Policy are available through the employee website. After the invalidation of the Governor's executive orders, we have some new rules and requirements from MiOSHA and MDHHS so the documents we have now reflect information we are required to address. 
One of the rules brought forward by MiOSHA is to notify co-workers and others that may have been affected when an employee tests positive.  This message serves to notify you that we've been informed two staff members from the Police Department at City Hall have tested positive recently as well as a staff member at the Fire Hall and one staff member from the Public Works Department at the Municipal Service Center.  Close contacts have been notified directly.

The MERS Annual Meeting upcoming in September has gone virtual. The City will still need to seek nominations for an employee delegate that will vote at the business meeting to be held on Sept. 24. All MERS Defined Benefit members have been informed to send nominations for an employee delegate to Human Resources by Monday, Aug. 3. Eligible employees will then vote electronically between Wednesday, Aug. 5 – Friday, Aug. 7 until 4:30 p.m. The link to use for voting will be shared with eligible employees on Tuesday afternoon prior to the voting window opening. Election results will be finalized by noon on Aug. 10th.

As the COVID-19 situation evolves, the City has reevaluated our emergency policy. A revised policy will be emailed to employees shortly that will require daily health screening forms be filled out by all employees working onsite at a City of Marquette facility. Employees with computer access will be able to fill this daily survey out at their computer prior to beginning work daily by utilizing the Employee Portal at https://www.marquettemi.gov/covidscreening/. A hard copy survey will be available for all other employees, or those departments that would prefer that method. The City has ordered thermometers for daily temperature screening. Your temperature reading will be recorded on the daily surveys which will be reviewed by supervisors at the start of each shift. Thermometers are expected to arrive next week sometime. At that time,
staff will be updated of the effective date the daily surveys will be mandatory for all onsite staff.