Director made ‘premature” statement on health care, Warren official says

WARREN — Human Resources Director Gary Cicero’s statement that city’s six unions agreed last week to pay a part of their health care was “premature,” Safety Service Director Doug Franklin said Monday.

But Franklin added he believes such an agreement will be reached sometime this year.

“I’m very confident we will get something done,” said Franklin, who supervises employees in one of the last government bodies in the Mahoning Valley that do not pay a part of their health care bill.

“It’s a Cadillac plan,” Franklin said of health care benefits that cost Warren taxpayers around $13,669 per employee per year in 2008. “The private sector has made these adjustments some time ago, and we intend to do the same.”

Read more in Tuesday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com