HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommittee of the Whole April 23 1987WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
April 23, 1987
The meeting was called to order at 7:55 p.m. by Council
Chair Burton with Hansey, Muenscher and Warner present.
DISCUSSION OF IHE C O S OF ASSUMP119H OE SELE-INSURANC E
FOR THE COUNTY'S RJaK MANAGEMENT PRQGRAM
The Committee discussed with Gail Kelley, Safety Director,
and Randy Watts, Chief Civil Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, various
aspects of the self - insurance issue, including the organization
and functions of the Prosecuting Attorney's Office and the
Personnel Office as they relate to self- insurance, and the
possibility of self - administration of the programs.
Hansey and Warner agreed to develop a list of questions and
issues concerning self - insurance, to which the administration
would be requested to respond.
At 9:25 p.m. the meeting was recessed into executive session
for discussion of labor negotiations. The meeting was reconvened
into open session and adjourned at 10 :15 p.m.
WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON
Tom Burton, Chair
ATTEST:
('1#1114e all ��_
Carol Ebergson
Clerk of the Council
Notes on COTW meeting of April 23, 1987.
Randy Watts described the general organization of tort investigation and risk -
management. His office deals with injuries to non - employees, and is particularly
concerned.with road design, drainage, and signing. Since the County has gone
self- insured for most liability, there has not been a difference in his work
load, and he feels he can handle the job without more staff.
Terry Zemel, secretary in the prosecuting Attorney's office, is the secretary for
the civil deputies, and there is another �1 secretary shared with Dave MacEachran.
There is a set rountine for investigating accidents which might cause liability,
though there is nothing in writing; Ola Sinnas is the accident investigator, and
recently the County has been taking video films of accident scene conditions. Staff
immediately interview witnesses if possible. The road crew sign men have logs
in which they record the placement and replacement of signs, and the ditch crews
also record their activities in logs so there will be records of preventative
measures taken by the County.
Nasal
d Raymond's office, through Gail Kelley, deals with all aspects of risk
mnagement relating to employees.
If an employee causes injury or property loss, to County property or to others'
:property, it is possible that the employee might have to pay for all or some of
the loss. There is an "incident review board" which investigates the accident
to determine liability.
Gail Kelley deals with workers' compensation, health benefits, unemployment,
and preventive health programs. Caroom and Black helps process the workers'
compensation paperwork, but all claims originate with Gail and she deals with workeers.
The County is governed by OSHA, WISHA, and other regulations dictating safety
standards for various places and types of work County employees do. Department
heads are kept advised of what is necessary and this system seems to work well.
The sense of the Committee is that we would like the administration, at its
convenience before September 15, to describe to us the status of our various
insurance policies and self insurance areas. Specifically, there are these
areas: property and damage, liability, medical, state industrial and unemploy-
ment, and ferry insurance.
Some of these are purchased (which ones, at what amounts for what kind of coverage),
some are self insured. Within the self- insured there are some which are self -
administered and some for which we contract out administration (which ones, and
at what cost).
What additional resources would it take to completely self- administer? What
are the likely cost savings once the program is established? What areas, if
;any, should we assume for self- insurance which we don't presently?
1 It may be useful to consider an RFP for a broad -scale review of this area. It
may be useful to consider the creation of an Insurance and Liability Department.