Cloverdale council switches workers’ comp carrier

CLOVERDALE — Seeing it as having been a revolving door of sorts, town leaders in Cloverdale are now wanting to have greater constancy with employee insurance.

However, with a separation made between workers’ compensation and property-casualty, the Cloverdale Town Council was not unanimous on two providers’ offerings for the former Tuesday evening.

Bringing proposals as such to the council, Andrew O’Hair of EPIC Insurance prefaced that rates are going up and underwriting is cracked down upon in a still-volatile market. On the plus side, though, he said that Cloverdale has gone “in the right direction” with risk management.

“This is not the year that we were gonna shotgun it out to market,” O’Hair said, referencing how the town’s property-casualty coverage was shaken up by having to switch carriers last year. He stipulated that municipality insurance in general has a decidedly small pool.

O’Hair relayed that Trident Insurance withdrew a quote to the town when he showed the renewal terms from EMC Insurance, which the town signed on with last year. In turn, the town also went over to Bitco Insurance from Indiana Public Employers Plan (IPEP) for workers’ compensation.

As such, O’Hair said IPEP came back well under Bitco in its offer. However, noted that the town can get a considerable discount from the state through IPEP because of its relative infrequency with claims.

“They insure a lot of municipalities in this area, all over the state,” O’Hair said in recommending the council go with IPEP. Providing though that it is stable, he cautioned that IPEP is an assessable pool, which means that it could run out of money.

O’Hair advocated that he had IPEP as an option because they did not like losing the town’s investment, and also because it and EMC are tied business-wise. Council Vice President Brice Howell, however, questioned whether IPEP “dropped their drawers” to get the town back.

“They’re playing games,” Howell said adamantly, with O’Hair relating that IPEP greatly dropped its approximate initial quote. “We gotta get back in a strong position on insurance, where we’re not having to deal with this every year.”

While Howell made a motion to select EMC and Bitco, it was not seconded. Meanwhile, O’Hair gave cybersecurity, crime and the umbrella as the town’s key gaps to be addressed. As to the latter, he noted that the $1 million umbrella is well under the state’s tort limit.

In a twist, Town Attorney Richard Shagley then suggested motions to approve the carriers separately. The council agreed unanimously on EMC for property-casualty.

A motion by Howell to approve the more costly Bitco was opposed by councilmen Larry Fidler and Greg Jay and Council President Brandon Tancak. However, though technically passed, a motion by Fidler for IPEP was opposed by Howell and Councilman Scott Stierwalt.

“I want to be able to take this to market and have a feeding frenzy of eight carriers trying to bid on it,” O’Hair said ultimately. “It makes my job a heck of a lot easier, and makes you a lot happier when I leave here.”

In other business:

• The council approved a quote to replace two computers at the town hall which deputy marshals use to log police reports. Interim Town Marshal Adam Hull noted that all but five computers, including these, have been upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11.

Recognizing that the two office computers were essential at this point, the council agreed for Hull to get quotes for the other three computers. This is as they are still functioning on Windows 10.

• The council approved awarding a contract to Feutz Contractors for improvements to Beagle Club Road. Feutz submitted the only bid at $399,424.82, which HWC Engineering’s Eric Smith noted was under budget.

The improvements are to entail stormwater drainage, curbing and resurfacing. Beagle Club Road is considered the second phase, along with improvements made to Bennington Way nearby, in a Community Crossings project. Feutz also undertook the former.

• The council approved splitting an overall water main extension project through the Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI). The project entails a line going from a relocated section down and across U.S. 231 and then boring across Interstate 70 to meet County Road 900 South.

Noting that there is “quite a bit of permitting” with the interstate, Smith said the section under the county road and east of the highway could be ready to bid next month and then built. He provided that this will allow the Beagle Club Road work to begin sooner.

• Tancak tapped Justin Witt as his presidential appointment for a vacancy on the Cloverdale Plan Commission.

• The council conducted its second reading of and passed Ordinance 2023-4 to amend the salary ordinance. On a request from Tancak, the council in turn passed a motion to retro-pay Hull back to June 16. Steve Hibler resigned as Cloverdale’s town marshal on June 15.

In this vein, Tancak announced that the council will conduct interviews for a new town marshal next week.

• The council held its first reading of Ordinance 2023-6 concerning a fund for the railroad depot owned by the town. In May, the council broached accruing rental funds to provide the building for strictly educational purposes.

• After hearing Greencastle/Putnam County Development Center Executive Director Kristin Clary, the council adopted Resolution 2023-9 confirming tax abatements for Pyrochem Catalyst Company. The council approved a declaratory resolution last month after a public hearing on the abatements.

Town Manager Jason Hartman and Deputy Clerk-Treasurer Rebekah Kelly were also in attendance.

The next regular meeting of the Cloverdale Town Council is set for Tuesday, Aug. 8 at 7 p.m. at the Cloverdale Town Hall.