The proposed health insurance trust agreement for the Bradford Area School District that gave some school board members pause earlier this month has been approved.

The group talked about the trust Seneca Highlands Regional Insurance agreement at the board’s Feb. 13 meeting, but the panel defeated the measure 4 to 3 until an attorney could review it.

Judy Bodamer, district director of finance, described the proposed three-year commitment with the Intermediate Unit 9 insurance consortium at the Feb. 13 meeting. Instead of participating school districts sharing expenses of insurance claims, under the new agreement, each district will be responsible for its own claims, but districts will still get a group rate for negotiating using Highmark.

At that time, board member Pat Vigliotta wondered what the “administrative costs” were that could mean a surcharge of up to 15 percent. Wanting more information on what those costs could be, he suggested having a lawyer provide an opinion on the agreement. Vigliotta, along with board members Frances Forbes, Dave Feely and Joe Troutman, voted against the agreement until an attorney reviewed it.

On Tuesday, the board had Erie-based attorney David Mosier’s response, along with answers to any questions the board members submitted.

The board has been recommended to approve the agreement, which they did in a vote of 7 to 1.

In Moshier’s response, he wrote, “Based on my review, the Amended Trust appears to accomplish the primary objectives that we discussed: each member district being responsible or (sic) its own deficits and retaining the benefit of its own surpluses; the IU serving as fiscal agent; establishing uniform (based on district size) stop-loss protection; and engaging qualified professionals (Highmark and Key Insurance) to minimize the risk of year over year pricing fluctuations/surpluses and deficits.”

All told, the board spent about 45 minutes on Tuesday discussing the topic, much of the time with Superintendent Katharine Pude reading the questions members submitted, along with the answers. Vigliotta had a few more questions, and Bodamer was on hand to clarify information.

For her part, Bodamer noted she took part in a webinar earlier in the day on Tuesday about health care costs that it was not just the Bradford district looking at this type of health care change, but districts across the state, and it confirmed in her mind this was a good agreement for Bradford. “The direction we’re heading is a good direction.”

Among the details brought up was that it was not the IU9 board but rather a separate board of trustees who will be making decisions for the consortium; however, that separate board will be almost identical to the IU9 board. For instance, school board president Paul Ridley will represent Bradford on both boards, just like representatives from other school districts. The IU9 board and consortium board will have separate meetings.

Pude noted at one point, “Every single district has their own collective bargaining agreement.” She also said Bradford will have ability to do some of its own initiatives that it couldn’t before.

Also, because the Bradford school district will be the largest in the consortium, Vigliotta is concerned it will be “picking up the risk of smaller entities.” He explained the district “will count as 20 percent of the membership, yet we only get one vote.”

While he was ultimately against the agreement, Vigliotta shared his appreciation that the school officials made sure he had all the information he needed, offering a “very informative and understandable approach to answering the questions” for what he explained was a “large and complicated” expenditure.

Before the vote was taken, Vigliotta summed up his position, explaining he weighed the risks and rewards to the agreement.

Vigliotta suggested it would be better to consider working alone rather than with other districts for health insurance, “based on the school district’s size and 15 percent average number on top of the premium.”

He explained, “If we’re going to risk 15 percent of our own monies, we’re better off taking it on ourselves.”

Board member Shane Oschman recommended insurance officials continue to meet monthly, as he felt misunderstandings happened when they did not meet regularly.

Bodamer indicated her faith in representatives from area school districts to work together, saying she has “a high respect” for the business managers and superintendents in other districts. She added that she has no problem speaking up if she has an issue she needs to address with the insurance company.

Ridley asked that a roll call vote be taken for the matter.

Only Vigliotta opposed, and Helen Schuster was not present to vote.

Also at the meeting, the board voted to cancel an internet network connections equipment purchase agreement with IT OutLet Inc. Instead, the board is opting to go with the second lowest bid submitted by Reabah Inc.

Technology director John Petruzzi explained the purchase agreement had to be cancelled as they found out the company was “not an authorized reseller” and couldn’t offer a license or warranty for the equipment.

The bid was awarded to the second lowest bidder.

The board also voted in favor of granting permission for the Floyd C. Fretz Middle School Science Club to go on an overnight trip March 21-22 to the Carnegie Science Museum and PNC Park in Pittsburgh, to employ Emily Frederick as assistant play director at Fretz, and to hire Nicole McFarlin as a part-time special education aide at School Street Elementary School.