The city of Chillicothe is changing its health insurance provider, effective Jan. 1, 2010.
Chillicothe City Council members during their regular meeting Monday night chose Blue Cross Blue Shield over five other bids that were submitted. The annual cost to the city is anticipated to be around $371,200, which results in a savings of $114,000 when compared to the city’s existing plan, according to City Administrator Dean Brookshier.
City representatives held a series of meetings with the proposed insurance carriers and chose Blue Cross Blue Shield. The selected proposal has a low deductible and is a PPO provider, rather than the existing HMO which was no longer available, and provides comparable coverage.
The city pays full coverage for all full-time city employees and 50 percent for their dependents.
Also Monday night, the council accepted bids relating to Hedrick Medical Center: a boiler brick and burner replacement, a re-roofing bid, and a house demolition bid. Despite plans for wanting to build a new hospital, hospital officials told council members that the pending work was necessary.
One bid was received for the boiler brick and burner replacement and that was from U.S. Engineering Co., of Kansas City in the amount of $32,953. The company has performed several jobs in the past at Hedrick Medical Center.

...Personnel changes
Chillicothe City Council members took action on several personnel matters Monday evening in executive session.
Chillicothe Department of Emergency Services
• Approved the status change of David Coult from a full-time fire fighter/EMT to a paid-by-call status at the employee’s request;
• Hired Derrick Allen as a firefighter/EMT.
Chillicothe Police Department
• Approved the promotion of Sgt. Matt Rodriguez to the position of lieutenant;
• Approved the promotion of Officer/Detective Scott Chubick to the position of sergeant;
• Approved the hiring of Jonathan Maples as a patrol officer.