Herald-Leader
August 27, 2003
COLLEGES CONSOLIDATE
Big Sandy Community and Technical College will be the new name for the recently
consolidated Prestonsburg Community College and Mayo Technical College. Prestonsburg
Community College and Mayo Technical College have rich traditions and history
in Eastern Kentucky. The Big Sandy Community and Technical College will continue
to have four campuses: Pikeville, Prestonsburg, Hagerhill and Mayo. Students
will still be able to pursue coursework leading to transfer degrees or immediate
entry into the work force with technical credentials. The Big Sandy Community
and Technical College is one of 16 colleges or districts in the Kentucky Community
and Technical College System, which approved the name change this month.
The Daily Independent
August 31, 2003
Most jobs created by small businesses
ASHLAND While they are often overshadowed by the "big boys," small
businesses are, in fact, the engine that drives Kentucky's economy.
And, on Labor Day, it's well worth noting the contributions that businesses
that fall into that category make to the work force.
According to a new report from the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business
Administration, almost 97 percent of the businesses in the Commonwealth fall
under the government's definition of a small business - 500 or fewer employees.
Small businesses also create 70 percent of the net new jobs and employ almost
half of the state's non-farm private employees, according to the report.
"Main Street is where America goes to work," said Thomas M. Sullivan,
chief counsel for the Office of Advocacy. "Small businesses are driving
Kentucky's economy and creating jobs."
That holds true in Northeastern Kentucky, said Michael Goins, spokesman for
the Ashland Alliance, the chamber of commerce for Boyd and Greenup counties.
"You don't hear as much about them as you do the Wal-Marts of the world,"
he said. "But, the fact is, if you driven down Greenup or Winchester Avenue,
the majority of businesses that you're going to see are small businesses. That
holds true in pretty much any town around us as well."
According to the Office of Advocacy report, small businesses dominate several
sectors of the U.S. economy, including construction, professional, scientific,
technical services, social assistance and even health care.
One of the reasons for that, Goins said, is that small businesses tend to feed
off larger ones.
As an example of that, he cited the local medical-supply companies that depend
on King's Daughters Medical Center for a majority of their business.
While the alliance is always trying to recruit companies that employ large
numbers of people, it also recognizes the importance of nurturing and retaining
small entrepreneurs, Goins said. That's why it is affiliated with Morehead State
University's Ashland Small Business Development Center and Ashland Community
and Technical College's Entrepreneur Center.
"It's great when you can get large numbers of jobs," he said. "But,
it also hurts when you lose a large number of jobs," as was the case this
past spring when Applied Card Systems shut down its Russell call center.
Because of the looming presence of retail giants like Wal-Mart, entrepreneurs
face a more challenging business environment than in the past, Goins said.
The key, he said, is finding a niche.
"If you're thinking of starting a discount department store," he
said, "you're probably not going to be very successful.
At least 50 percent of the job orders that Manpower Temporary Services receives
through its Ashland office come from small businesses, said Leigh Ann Hopkins,
branch supervisor.
Some of those include medical offices, service businesses and small industrial
warehouses, she said.
The Daily Independent
August 30, 2003
Medical insurance struggle continues
State hopes to get coverage for FIVCO counties by Sept. 8
ASHLAND The state employee health insurance bidding process has been a struggle
for the FIVCO counties this year, but representatives in the state's Personnel
Cabinet hope to have everything worked out by Sept. 8 - in plenty of time for
open enrollment.
The state Finance and Administration Cabinet ended up requesting bids from
insurance companies three separate times for those counties. The last of those
bid solicitations ended Friday, and cabinet officials hope to be able to finally
award a bid without complication to get coverage for Boyd, Carter, Elliott,
Greenup and Lawrence counties.
The bid process started last January, and the requests for proposal were out
as early as April. However, when the bids came back in, no insurance company
had bid to cover the FIVCO counties under the plan accepted by the state.
"That is not unusual for those counties," said Carl Felix, executive
director of the Office of Public Employee Health Insurance. "It has happened
in that particular area two years in a row now."
So the Personnel Cabinet requested to declare an emergency and sent out a second
solicitation. More than one company bid on the region the second time, and all
five counties were awarded to Anthem, which had already bid on 14 other counties
during the original solicitation.
However, another insurance company did not feel the bids were awarded fairly.
CHA Health filed a letter of protest to the Finance and Administration Cabinet
on July 22.
"(CHA Health) thought they had sent a more competitive bid," Felix
said.
The protest was upheld by the Finance and Administration Cabinet, but not exactly
for the reasons CHA Health stated. The cabinet found that there was some confusion
in the way the bid criteria would be evaluated, causing CHA Health to feel it
was declined unfairly.
"... It must be concluded, as a matter of law, that inadequate notice
of the precise evaluation criteria was provided to proposed vendors for the
challenged emergency solicitation. The Finance and Administration and the Personnel
cabinets must, accordingly, disregard all bids received pursuant to the second,
emergency solicitation relative solely to Boyd, Carter, Elliott, Greenup and
Lawrence counties," states the cabinet's letter of response.
After the announcement, Anthem decided to rescind its entire contract - all
19 counties. Most of those counties had a second, or maybe even third, provider
to cover them. However, the FIVCO counties were again left without coverage,
and Henderson and Union counties were also left without a provider.
So the state issued a third solicitation for bids, which ended Friday afternoon.
"We have received responses. And we'll be evaluating them over the next
week or so," said Jill Midkiff, a spokeswoman for the Finance and Administration
Cabinet.
The state cabinets hope to award contracts in those seven counties no later
than Sept. 8. Provided that goal is reached, the dates of open enrollment will
not change. If open enrollment would change, the affected employees and retirees
would be notified. The current insurance for state employees in the FIVCO area,
with Anthem, does not expire until Dec. 31.
"This has been a most exasperating experience for all involved and we
are working diligently to obtain coverage and keep the open enrollment process
on the same timetable," stated Carol Palmore, secretary of the Personnel
Cabinet, in a letter to Rep. Tanya Pullin.
For the past several years, Pullin, D-South Shore, has been working with the
other local legislators to push legislation that could improve the insurance
situation in Northeastern Kentucky.
In the 2003 session, the General Assembly passed a House bill that required
the state to request bids on service to grouped "regions," as well
as the state-by-state insurance bids the state currently awards. The idea was
to keep insurance companies from bidding on just the counties they believe will
deliver the highest profit and leaving the others with minimal or more costly
coverage.
So this year, the state Personnel Cabinet requested the bids to include rates
for three different scenarios: a fully insured "regionally-rated"
bid, a self-insured administrative services bid and a fully insured state-wide
bid with a maximum of three carriers in each county - what the state chose to
use this year and in past years.
"With the plan we chose, 14,600 people would have had to make a different
(insurance) choice. We call that displacement," Felix said. "Under
regional rating, 50,000 people would have had to make a change. Self-insured
was just unaffordable."
Pullin is among those closely watching the events unfold with the area's insurance.
"I'm a state employee, a resident in Greenup County. This is my insurance,"
she said. "We've been experiencing difficulties with state and school employee
health insurance in our area for several years now. The difficulties in this
year's bidding process for us highlight the problems we knew we had. I hope
this will call to the attention of those in the personnel cabinet who are in
charge of our health insurance that we in the northeast part of the state are
indeed suffering and in need of special attention."
The confusion over not having, then having, then not having a bidder has left
some of the insurance coordinators at local school systems unsure of where they
stand.
"We're the insurance coordinators, and we don't have a clue where we're
at," said Dennis Chambers, finance officer for Russell Independent schools.
"It's just crazy this happens every year."
The insurance is also used by people in the Kentucky Community and Technical
College System. A majority of the employees at the Ashland Community and Technical
College campuses have state insurance, said John McGlone, an ACTC spokesman.
"Obviously it's a concern, but I think at this point most of us are taking
a wait-and-see attitude, confident something will be worked out," McGlone
said.
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