Ware County Commissioners, after nearly 20 minutes of discussion, voted to discontinue medical, dental and vision insurance for the Director of the Downtown Waycross Development Authority at the end of Fiscal Year 2026 during a Wednesday called meeting.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was presented by the Downtown Waycross Development Authority (DWDA) to provide medical, dental and vision insurance for newly hired Director Savannah Varnadore.
The MOU states the DWDA will pay Ware County for the premiums of each coverage selected with and in this memorandum.
Assistant County Attorney Jennifer Herzog said the county needed to revise the MOU with the removal of a sentence and add a termination date for the coverage of June 30, 2026, or upon the termination or resignation Varnadore at the August 27 session.
Since Ware County is now self-insured and the hiring of the director was just recently completed, County Manager James Shubert suggested the county not “move the goal posts” and go ahead and offer the insurance coverage to the DWDA, but when it expires at the end of the fiscal year (June 30, 2026), the insurance will not be offered again.
“I just want to make sure the county has thought this through with us (county) going from insured to self-insured,” said Herzog.
When question by Commissioner Lucas if they (DWDA) employed by the City of Waycross, the attorney said they are employed by the Development Authority and funded by the county and city.
“It’s a bit of an unusual beast, to be honest,” said Herzog.
“They’re funded by both,” said County Manager James Shubert. “They’re funded by a special tax tax district downtown.”
Shubert said the DWDA reimburses the county for the premiums.
“Since we’re self-insured, the county is responsible for the first $100,000 of an insurance claim,” explained the county manager. “We pay that out of pocket. The question is will they (DWDA) refund any of that money? This started back when we weren’t self-insured.”
Senior Accounting Supervisor Beverly York said the county has a set premium for each employee which has a stop-loss aggregate of $100,000.
“This should have been done before she was hired,” said Shubert. “We should have told that board we’re not going to do the insurance and not wait until they’ve hired somebody and promised them this.
“We stay with what we’ve done in the past and this be the last year we do it.”
Commissioner Leonard Burse said maybe the City of Waycross could put the DWDA employees on its insurance.
The county manager said he could meet with City of Waycross officials to see if they could offer the insurance.
“I agree with that,” said Burse. “I also think maybe we can send a letter notifying them this will be the last year.”
Commissioner John Tindall made the motion to approve Memorandum of Understanding with the DWDA for the medical, dental and vision insurance for the new director, Savannah Varnadore, and the understanding the DWDA will pay Ware County for the premiums of each coverage selected with and in this MOU there will be the revisions discussed.
Commissioner Timmy Lucas seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
