Insurance broker selected in Camanche

Feb. 25--CAMANCHE -- With the city of Camanche having selected an insurance broker, one council member expressed concern the City Council was not consulted further prior to the decision being made.

Camanche City Administrator Andrew Kida on Tuesday confirmed to the city council he made a "business decision" to select an insurance broker. The broker the city selected is Iowa Municipal Benefits Plan. After holding discussion with Camanche City Council members and reviewing proposals, Kida decided to proceed with selecting IMBP as the city's insurance broker.

"I reviewed proposals from different providers, and had some discussions with members of council and staff along the way," Kida said. "I floated the idea of selecting a different broker and considered the input. All of the brokers had points to consider, but in the end, I decided to utilize an operation that is focusing on municipal operations, compiling a larger group in which we can participate, provided a map for us to be removed from medical reimbursement administration, and had an in-depth knowledge of how HSA (Health Savings Account) plans operate. The city and the Bargaining Unit agreed to adopt HSA insurance in our negotiations."

Councilman Bill Wruck expressed concern Kida decided to select an insurance broker without first discussing the decision with the City Council. He said the city talked about selecting a local company to provide the services, and the insurance broker the city selected was not a local company. He also said he believes Kida "overstepped his boundary."

"You told me last week that you're not a manager, you're a city administrator and you can't sign contracts to do anything because it's above your pay grade," Wruck said. "But today you're telling me you made the decision just to go ahead with another insurance company without talking to the council."

Kida stated in the meeting he believed he did not need council approval to proceed with select the insurance broker. Camanche City Code said the city administrator is "authorized to direct the purchasing of all commodities, materials, supplies, capital outlay and services for all departments of the City that have been budgeted and appropriated by resolution of the Council and enforce a program to determine that such purchases are received and are of the quality and charter called for in the order," according to the ordinance in the city code for the powers and duties of the city administrator.

Kida stated Iowa Municipal Benefits Plan was chosen in part because it will help the city remove itself from reimbursement administration, which was one of the city's goals. Even though the price would be the same no matter which insurance broker the city chose, Kida said the city could see savings in the future, with IMBP representing over 20 other cities.

"Their model is to collect multiple small municipalities within the state of Iowa to create a larger group for lower rates," Kida said. "Having larger pools also allows them to offer other opportunities at a lower rate for our employees. They currently work with cities like Carter Lake, Delhi, and Sigourney. In total, the last I saw, they have 21 municipal clients."

Councilwoman Amber Metzger said she would have liked to have been notified about the decision, stating she is an "overcommunicator." She asked about whether they will have to travel for insurance meetings; Mayor Trevor Willis said the insurance broker will come to Camanche if requested to do so.

"They said that up front. There was never an issue with that. Anything that we needed they would come and address," Willis said.

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