CRUHSD to look for legal counsel options

BULLHEAD CITY — The Colorado River Union High School District governing board voted to continue insurance coverage through Arizona Risk Retention Trust and Alliance for the coming year, but without legal counsel services previously covered.

CRUHSD currently utilizes the Trust and Alliance for its property, liability and worker's compensation insurance. As the insurance was up for renewal, the Trust and Alliance alongside Farmers Insurance presented coverage options for the incoming year at the April 8 governing board meeting.

Ultimately, the governing board voted to remain with the Trust and Alliance with one major change to the services provided: carving out the prepaid legal services coverage.

According to information provided by the Trust during its presentation to the board, CRUHSD has used the Trust prepaid legal services 29 times per year on average.

The school district is not billed per claim under the Trust, but prepays at the beginning of the year.

"You're paying for legal services upfront and those prepaid services are available to you throughout the year," said Kendra Callahan, Arizona Risk Retention Trust representative.

Board president Richard Cardone said he did not believe the prepaid legal service was meeting the current needs of the school district.

"Our needs here are from A to Z. We're trying to buy land, we're trying to get it from the state. We have this fieldhouse, we've got two physically planned schools and a third school that's at one of our other physically planned schools. It's very confusing," Cardone said. "It seems like every time we call them ... it seems like they just want to deal with some teacher and their appeals process. That's a thumbnail of what we do."

When the school district's prepaid legal services can't address a specific issue, the district has to hire an outside attorney to work for them, Cardone said.

Board Member Carey Fearing also supported carving out the prepaid legal services and staying with the Trust and Alliance, believing business Manager Sam Dell and the board had a strong working relationship worth preserving.

With the prepaid legal services included, the cost of renewing the Trust would have been $455,778, up about $30,063 from last year. Renewing the Alliance was projected at $105,460, up about $21,938 from last year, based on estimated payroll values.

The board did not determine how or whom they would be hiring for legal services within the school district, though Board Member Ashley Gerich raised the possibility of representation through the Mohave County Attorney's Office, from which Fearing said CRUHSD had previously extradited itself.

Although CRUHSD elected to remain to the Trust and Alliance, the board did give due consideration to Farmers Insurance, the other company who presented at the meeting.

Jerry Thompson of Farmers Insurance wasn't able to provide the board detailed information about coverage options available because the underwriting hadn't been completed.

However, Thompson did confirm the agency would work with a third-party brokerage, Johnson & Johnson, to provide specialized school district coverage if selected.

Fearing and Marahi Flores expressed concern over whether a local company would be able to handle the scope of the district's needs without previous experience.

"We have a lot of liability resting on us and we need a company that can handle the bandwidth of that," Fearing said.

Another concern raised was the district's claim history — it's nearly impossible for a district like CRUHSD to go multiple years without filing an insurance claim.

Without a five-year controlled loss history, it's unlikely for the school district to receive the best rates for their needs, Dell said.

On the flip side, Cardone said that he liked the idea of having a local point person, like Thompson, to contact when needed.

In other board business:

Accepted the fiscal year 2023 audit and financial reports.

Approved the EMI employee benefits renewal for fiscal year 2025.

Approved a $149,500 contract for Chromebook procurement with CTL, of Beaverton, Oregon.

Discussed policies and procedures related to student supervision and fundraising. No changes to existing policies were made.

Tabled the purchase of field and conference lighting for the Anderson Auto Group Fieldhouse.

Tabled a cooperative agreement Murphy Broadcasting. The board requested the contract be brought back after revising it to a one-year term.

Approved 3-1 (Gerich voting no) intergovernmental agreements with BCSD regarding the administrative services, purchasing, technology and transportation.

Approved 3-1 (Gerich voting no) an addendum to intergovernmental agreements with Bullhead City School District for the Music Academy program.

Approved the terms for a new superintendent contract, to be signed by Cardone once the final draft of the completed contract is reviewed by the school district's attorney and other board members.