The board of park commissioners of any park district may procure and pay all or any part of the cost of group insurance policies that may provide benefits for hospitalization, surgical care, major medical care, disability, dental care, eye care, medical care, hearing aids, or prescription drugs, or sickness and accident insurance or a combination of any of the foregoing types of insurance or coverage for park district officers and employees and their immediate dependents issued by an insurance company duly authorized to do business in this state.

The board may procure and pay all or any part of the cost of group life insurance to insure the lives of park district employees.

The board also may contract for group health care services with health insuring corporations holding a certificate of authority under Chapter 1751. of the Revised Code provided that each officer or employee is permitted to:

(A) Choose between a plan offered by an insurance company and a plan offered by a health insuring corporation and provided further that the officer or employee pays any amount by which the cost of the plan chosen by the officer or employee exceeds the cost of the plan offered by the board under this section;

(B) Change the choice made under division (A) of this section at a time each year as determined in advance by the board.

Any appointed member of the board of park commissioners and the spouse and dependent children of the member may be covered, at the option and expense of the member, as a noncompensated employee of the park district under any benefit plan described in division (A) of this section. The member shall pay to the park district the amount certified to it by the benefit provider as the provider's charge for the coverage the member has chosen under division (A) of this section. Payments for coverage shall be made, in advance, in a manner prescribed by the board. The member's exercise of an option to be covered under this section shall be in writing, announced at a regular public meeting of the board, and recorded as a public record in the minutes of the board.

The board may provide the benefits authorized in this section by contributing to a health and welfare trust fund administered through or in conjunction with a collective bargaining representative of the park district employees.

The board may provide the benefits described in this section through an individual self-insurance program or a joint self-insurance program as provided in section 9.833 of the Revised Code.

Amended by 130th General Assembly File No. 25, HB 59, §101.01, eff. 9/29/2013.

Amended by 129th General AssemblyFile No.28, HB 153, §101.01, eff. 6/30/2011.

Effective Date: 06-04-1997 .

Note: The amendment to this section by 129th General AssemblyFile No.10, SB 5, §1 was rejected by voters in the November, 2011 election.