Mckinney Disability Insurance

The Carter County Commission discussed the cost of health insurance for County employees during Monday's meeting, the choice of Humana health insurance as a provider for Blue Cross-Blue Shield.


Humana representative Everley Stuart and Connie Tate Triten Insurance and Financial Services addressed the Commission and answered questions. Some commissioners have expressed concerns about losing benefits or access to certain doctors or specialists. Everley them assurances that there would be no loss of service.


County Finance Director said Jerome Kitchens Humana estimate for the county was $ 143,000 less than what BC BS offered.


Commissioners Gebe Ritchie, SC, Test, Steve Lowrance Ken Arney and Larry McKinney voted no, but Humana has been accepted as a supplier.


A motion for all new employees pay 10 percent of their insurance has been approved by a vote of 12-10, although several commissioners disagreed with this idea as well.


The Commission honored Snap-on Tools Company for 35 years of operations in Elizabethton with a resolution which was read by the County Attorney Keith Bowers. Snap-on Human Resource Manager Keith Whitehead addressed the Board expressing thanks on behalf of the company, which began in 1974 with plans to employ 100 employees for a forging operation. The company has since expanded to heat treatment and plating, key generation finishes that are sold worldwide, and subsequently making ratchets, after two other plants were closed. Snap-on Elizabethton currently employs 350 and sponsors various community events. Accompanying were Whitehead Site Manager John Carley and employee Clarence Wilson, who worked at the plant for 34 years.


Dean Blevins, Director of Technology Center of Elizabethton Tennessee, spoke of the school which provides vocational training in various career fields, including electronics, diesel mechanics, welding and nursing. Blevins said the school with two campuses in Elizabethton had an enrollment record this year, adding more space and staff are needed to meet demand. He said that the placement rate is 95 percent and the LPN training program, with a 99-percent success rate, is currently the largest program of its kind in the state.


Blevins said that every $ 1 spent in Elizabethton TTC generates $ 5.76 for the local economy. He said that the school's objectives include long-term consolidation into a single campus.


Carter County Tourism Director Larry Gobble said that the economic impact of tourism on the county in 2008, as the governor of the Tourism Conference, was $ 31,270,000.


Gobble said that, despite the difficult economic times, local tourism and the state is going very well. tax revenues of the State of Carter County last year were $ 1.9 million, an increase of 5.8 percent over the previous year, while local taxes were 1.95 million, an increase of 7.3 percent. Gobble said that the local tourist office has received 2,740 inquiries about the area in 2008 and received nearly 5,000 so far in 2009. He said that for every dollar spent on tourism in the county, another $ 347.83 is being returned to the region.


"People are really starting to have a real interest in the mountains," said Gobble.


Commissioner Lowrance publicly praised Elizabethton-Carter County Chamber of Commerce Director Candy Craig for his work on the recent Octoberfest craft and music festival and other community events.


Lowrance also spoke on behalf of the Tennessee Speaker of the House Kent Williams, who was elected as a Republican by the voters of Carter County. Lowrance said Williams was responsible for new roads and bridges and other projects in the county and has been unjustly removed from the state Republican Party. He asked her.