Staff writer
Marion City Council members learned Monday that the renewal rate for the city’s property, liability, and umbrella insurance policies has decreased, primarily as a result of fewer claims.
Alex Case of Case and Son Insurance presented the good news to the council.
“You’re going to pay less money than you did last year,” Case said. “Fortunately for our city, our experience has been so good, and last year you also voted to go from a $500 deductible to a $1,000 deductible, so because of those two things that caused your premium on property to go down.”
Case noted the liability and umbrella premiums also decreased. The policy rate for law enforcement also went down, Case said.
“Part of the premium is based on the number of employees, and I think our force has decreased by one or two,” Case explained.
“So if that were to go up when we get some more hired that would mean we would have to adjust this?” Mayor Mary Olson asked.
“I’m not sure if we would need to do anything during the policy period. If you added one or removed one I don’t think it would be a big deal, but if we doubled our force, then we probably would need to inform them,” Case replied.
City Administrator Doug Kjellin clarified that the city electrical network is not covered under the policies.
“That’s one of those things we’ve talked about off and on about, insuring our infrastructure, our poles and our transformers,” Kjellin said. “The decision at this point is probably we would only lose those in case of a natural disaster and we would have other sources for reimbursement of those items. Typically a huge loss like that we would experience FEMA assistance and reimbursement.”
The council unanimously approved the payment of the $104,510 premium cost for the policies issued by Case and Son through EMC Insurance. The total savings for all insurance lines under the plan was $4,331.
Tree planting
Olson inquired about the status of tree planting in Brooker Central Park.
“We’re actually waiting to see how these trees leaf out. We think there’s probably two or three trees that are under stress or absolutely dead in the park,” Kjellin said. “If we can get those things out and get the stumps up we would replace those with appropriate trees.”
Park board member Todd Heitschmidt asked for clarification of the board’s role in determining what trees would be removed and replaced.
“Is there going to be consultation with the board?” Heitschmidt asked. “I think the board would appreciate being in on those discussions.”
“Once we identify potential trees we will mark them and then contact the board to see what their final recommendation is,” Kjellin said.
In other business:
- Lineman Randy Kelsey was appointed to the Kansas Municipal Energy Agency as a director.
- Dorothy Youk was appointed to the Marion Housing Authority Board of Directors to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Harold Conyers.
- Kjellin reported approximately 90 new water meters have been installed and read electronically. The rate of installation is proceeding faster than expected, Kjellin said.
- Bills in the amount of $48,042 and payroll in the amount of $27,547 were approved.
The next council meeting is scheduled for April 16. A reception at 4 p.m. prior to the meeting will honor outgoing and incoming council members.