Insurance suspension impacting Genoa employees

GENOA – Village employees are still feeling the effects of suspended insurance at the beginning of the year because of a missed payment by the village’s fiscal officer.

Rex Diebert, a 33-year veteran employee and equipment operator for the village, said the lack of insurance has caused problems with a pile of medical bills and late fee charges that are beginning to arrive in the mail. Diebert said he pays his premiums and feels he is not obligated to pay bills or late fees.

“I’m not paying for nothing,” he said. “Council said they would take care of it. They got to stand behind us.”

Kevin Gladden, the village’s administrator, said Sprouse Insurance agent Julie Hasselbach is working diligently on fixing the insurance issue. Gladden said Medical Mutual suspended insurance coverage once the payment was late. Since then, he said, many employees have received large medical bills or have not been able to receive medication.

“The employees at Sprouse Insurance, since that time, have worked over and above their responsibility to see that claims were processed, employees were covered, and worked individually with our employees. They should be applauded for their efforts,” Gladden said.

The payments, made by fiscal officer Charles Brinkman, were delayed because he was working on the end-of-year budget for the village.

“The end of the year was a problem and I got the payment out late,” Brinkman said.

Brinkman submitted his letter of resignation to village council and will be leaving when a replacement is found. He said his resignation has nothing to do with the insurance cancellation.

“I’m 65 years old,” he said. “It is a good time to go.”

cshoup@gannett.com

419-734-7504

Twitter: CraigShoupNH