County concerned after fair forgets to pay insurance premium

FINDLAY — The Hancock County Fair Board neglected to pay a $46,000 liability insurance premium on time, a lapse that raised concern among county commissioners about potential legal exposure.

At the Nov. 20 meeting of the Hancock County Board of Commissioners, Commissioner Jeff Hunker said he had received a call from an insurance agent asking Hunker for help getting the delinquent bill paid. The bill was due Sept. 30.

Hunker said he was concerned about liability to the commissioners if the insurance was allowed to lapse.

Fair board Treasurer John Livingston said the bill had been sent to an unused email account and was not found until after the due date.

“The liability bill was discovered in an incorrect email box on Nov. 18,” Livingston said. “Shelly (Metzger) cut the check Thursday morning (Nov. 20) and a conversation was held with the liability insurance company,” Livingston said. “I told them the check was mailed today (Nov. 20) and they said that was fine … The liability company assured me via a phone call that we were still fine.”

Livingston said there was no late fee.

Metzger, fair office manager and bookkeeper, provided The Courier with a copy of an invoice from the Public Entities Pool of Ohio (PEP) and the check stub used to pay the bill on Nov. 20.

Representatives of PEP would not confirm whether the liability insurance coverage had been renewed.

Commissioner Bill Bateson said at Tuesday’s commissioners meeting that fair board representatives would stay in contact with insurance agents until the check was marked as received.

It was not clear on Tuesday what funds were used to pay the bill.

By a supermajority vote at the November fair board meeting, the agricultural society agreed to tap funds from a restricted account to right a $75,000 operating deficit. The money was taken from the funds left to the society in the 2000s by the Flinchbaugh estate. The penalty for using funds from the unmatured CD is the loss of six months of interest revenue. Agricultural society officials have said the goal is to only use the estate funds if necessary.

There was no response to emails sent by The Courier to Livingston, Metzger and board President Levi Beagle on Nov. 20 asking what funds were used to pay the insurance bill.