City council to hold special meeting to prevent lapse in CWLP property insurance

Jul. 10--With insurance for City Water, Light and Power properties set to expire this weekend, the Springfield City Council will hold a special meeting Thursday evening to approve a new contract and thus prevent a lapse in coverage.

The proposed ordinance would authorize payment of up to $2.1 million to R.W. Troxell and Co. to insure 40 CWLP properties, including Dallman Power Plant Units 31, 32, 33 and Unit 4.

Under the proposed arrangement, several insurance companies will split coverage, with STARR Companies and AIG covering the majority, 43 and 35 percent, respectively. But unlike past years, there is no guarantee the city will be 100 percent covered.

As currently written, the city would be 95.8 percent insured and liable for the remaining 4.2 percent. Officials from CWLP and Troxell cautioned, however, that more companies could be added to reach 100 percent coverage.

The urgency of the situation caught council members by surprise, with many saying they had not been looped in until Tuesday's meeting.

"We've had a quarterly report from our utility regarding issues that are important to talk about and then we had a special utility meeting to talk about issues and I would just like to remind the management of City Water, Light and Power that this very important matter was not brought to our attention in any form until tonight," said Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin. "And I think that reflects a problem in communication and the role of this council."

CWLP chief utility officer Doug Brown said negotiations have been going down to the wire, which contributed to the late hour the issue has come before council.

"Troxell's been working really hard on it, I guess, for the last month," said CWLP chief utility engineer Doug Brown. "And it seemed like they were always so close ... then last week was a holiday week, so it kind of delayed things until today."

Still, aldermen said they would not like to be surprise in the future, with McMenamin telling leaders of city departments to come to the council before they are forced into making "last minute, under the wire approvals."

The meeting is set for 7 p.m. Thursday, just barely outside the 48 hours notice needed to hold a special meeting. Only about six council members, a basic quorum, are expected to attend.

In other news, the council agreed to meet for a special meeting Tuesday to review Judge John Mehlick's report on the Ward 2 recount, which recommended that Ald. Gail Simpson be declared the winner of the race over Shawn Gregory.

Mehlick and representatives of both candidates will make a presentation to council members at that special meeting, which will be held in the council chambers at 5 p.m.

Contact Brenden Moore: 788-1526, brenden.moore@sj-r.com, twitter.com/brendenmoore13.

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