Should Luzerne County make insurance broker switch?
The unknown: Would it perform as well as
This question is on the table because a council majority made the unusual decision Tuesday to reject county Manager
The broker seeks insurance providers and administers claims for county coverage. County officials have said they are not required to select the lowest price for such specialized services as they would be for construction or basic supplies.
With his first choice denied, Pedri recommended council hire
Brown & Brown representative
At that session, Councilman
"If there is someone in
Councilman
"If someone local is employing people in
Pedri later sent council a memo saying Brown & Brown and two other companies were not located in the county, while three were.
The prices of the in-county proposals:
Service touted
Pugielli told council during the
The county's insurance tab is
"I think we've done a good job with all the marketing efforts," Pugielli said.
In 2017, the company negotiated a
Brown & Brown also documented actual county claims in 2017 to convince the public officials insurance provider to reduce that deductible from
Company representatives also focus heavily on risk management, attending all county safety committee meetings, providing at least six training sessions annually, performing regular county property safety inspections and offering online programs, Pugielli said.
In response to council inquiries about lower-priced options, Pugielli told council his company is charging a fair price based on the extensive work involved. He said council would have to decide if it has confidence another company would put the same energy into monitoring claims, risk management and reducing premiums and deductibles.
"I can only tell you that when we started here, there were a lot of things we had done that were not ever done in the past," he said. "Maybe you get what you pay for."
In addition to Vough and Bilbow, the following council members opposed retaining Brown & Brown:
Councilman-elect
Past argument
Some council members also had raised the issue of local brokers in 2014, when a majority ultimately decided to keep Brown & Brown.
Two other companies with local offices had applied for the work, with one charging more and the other less than Brown & Brown. The lower local proposal was from
According to past published reports:
In recommending Brown & Brown, the administration cited a past negative experience with the low bidder.
Prior county commissioners had decided in 2011 the county would not do business with
Joyce had supplied the county with a certificate of liability insurance stating it had the required
A representative of
However, Griffith said he and other county officials did not believe those policies complied with the county requirement because the affiliated companies were not hired by the county to provide insurance or listed in documentation submitted to the county at the time of the insurance awards.
Instead, commissioners voted to purchase most insurance through
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