Newsletter. Learn the Easy Way MAY, 2018

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1 MAY, 2018 Newsletter LEARN THE EASY WAY... 1 CITY MANAGERS MEETING... 2 FROM THE BOARD ROOM... 3 CALENDAR OF EVENTS... 3 CLAIMS CORNER... 4 LOSS PREVENTION SCORES ARE IN... 4 LOSS CONTROL TIP OF THE MONTH... 5 MEMORIAL DAY CLOSING... 5 ASSESSMENT INVOICES SENT... 5 SPRING SEMINARS CONCLUDE... 6 NOMINATING COMMITTEE... 6 MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR MEMBER BENEFITS... 7 Learn the Easy Way By: Kelly Beets Every year as spring rains arrive, so does the number of sewer claims that are being reported here at the MIRMA office. In the imbedded chart is a listing of the top five claims in the Association from The most frequent claims are sewer backups. As low as 32% and as high as 64% of all general liability claims come from sewer backups. The approximate average of these claims is 44%. Sewer backups are usually caused by structure defects or by an accumulation of material in the pipe. Accumulated material can include grease, sediment or other solid materials. Structural defects may catch debris, which then causes a further buildup of solids that will eventually block up the sewer. Root intrusion through structural defects is also a major contributor to blockages. Sewer maintenance is one of the items that is covered on MIRMA s annual evaluation. Sewer maintenance should be scheduled on a regular cycle. For example, every pipe in the system should be cleaned out every five years and some problem areas might have to be cleaned out annually. In severe problem areas, cleaning might have to be conducted on a monthly basis. Below are a few proactive sewer maintenance cleaning methods: Sewer jetting is one of the more common methods used. Jetting directs high velocities of water against the pipe walls to remove debris and grease build-up, can clear blockages and even cut some roots. Sewer cutters use sectional rods to drive the unit through the sewer line. Blades cut, they break up grease deposits, cut roots and loosen debris. This type of cleaning is inexpensive and can provide an effective method of cleaning in smaller systems or remote easements where large equipment cannot. Chemical maintenance is gaining more popularity every year. Chemical maintenance is effective in killing and retarding the regrowth of roots in the wastewater collection system. If the problem is roots, then chemical treatment is a cost-effective method of cleaning. Another item that is on MIRMA s annual evaluation is sewer line inspections. Inspections are important to determine current sewer conditions. Below are some inspection methods that can help identify problem areas. Smoke testing indicates sources of water inflow and water infiltrations. 1

2 Dye testing is used to determine sources of both inflow and infiltration. Dye is introduced into the potential source and downstream manholes are observed to determine if and where it enters the system. Visual inspections are vital to fully understand the condition of a sewer system. Visual inspections of manholes and pipelines are comprised of surface and internal inspections. Operators should pay special attention to sunken areas in the ground cover above a sewer line. Also, inspectors should examine the physical conditions of streams crossing and the condition of the manhole frames. Video inspections are the most common inspection tool available and cost efficient in the long term. Video inspection can provide documentation of the internal condition of a sewer system. Video inspections can identify cracks, root intrusion, improper sewer lateral construction and many other obstructions. Important reminders: Learn the Easy Way- Continued By: Kelly Beets Remember, documentation is key to help defend the city if a claim is presented. It is always better to document as you go along than to try to reconstruct the event later. MIRMA s Risk Grant program offers assistance in the purchase of a sewer camera. All grant entry forms need to be sent to the MIRMA office (3002 Falling Leaf Court, Columbia, MO 65201) and all entry forms shall be received by September 1 of each year at the close of business hours or you can the Risk Grant forms to Patrick Bonnot, Loss Control Director at pbonnot@mirma.org. By: Matthew Brodersen The first week of May held MIRMA s second of three member appreciation dinners. MIRMA continues to be a top sponsor at the Missouri City Manager Association annual conference and Patrick and I set up the booth and invited our members to an appreciation dinner on Wednesday, May 2 nd. We had 12 members join us, representing towns from A to W (Albany to Willow Springs, there are no Missouri cities that start with X, Y or Z according to Wikipedia. The list stops with Wyatt. With a population of 319, they are reportedly the easternmost city west of the Mississippi River). During the conference we had the opportunity to visit with several city administrators and city managers from both member and prospective member cities. Our final dinner in the spring trifecta is during the MML Elected Officials Training dinner on June 7 th. The invitations recently were ed to all members, so make sure you sign up your officials if they plan to attend the conference, or if they just want to drive over for a free meal at D Rowe s! 2

3 From the BOARD ROOM By: Matthew Brodersen The final Board of Directors meeting for fiscal year 2018 took place on Friday, May 11 th. The meeting began with a discussion of a video conferencing policy that would allow board members to participate in the meetings remotely on limited occasions. Establishment of this practice will require a few By-Law changes that will be presented for adoption at the Annual Meeting. The next eight items included the acceptance of proposals from MIRMA s various service providers, our excess insurance placements and the approval of the administrative budget, all of which combine to form item #9, the establishment of MIRMA s rate for the upcoming year. The rate established for the upcoming year is an increase of 1.8% over the last year s and is 4 cents higher than our rate one decade ago. The invoices for FY2019 have already been ed to each official and alternate representative at the time of this reading. The rate this year also includes funding to purchase a risk management system to reduce MIRMA s reliance on a claims third party administrator. Changes to the coverage packet for FY19 were discussed, with the only significant change being the addition of motorized watercraft and heavy equipment to the existing exclusion on racing. If you had been planning on MIRMA covering any upcoming road grader racing, you need to have the event before July 1 st. This was followed by the adoption of a resolution approving the Association s renewal application for recognition of compliance with the Association of Governmental Risk Pools (AGRiP) Advisory Standards for governmental risk pools. Then came the appointment of a Nominating Committee comprised of Amy Strough - Maryville, Steve Lawver - Carl Junction and Greg Hodge - Moberly, to prepare nominations for election to the Board of Directors at the Annual Meeting. If you are interested in running for any of the three seats, please contact any committee member or the MIRMA office. The meeting concluded with several reports including: the activities of the Health Program and the Association s marketing activities, a review of the large open losses and the conveyance of the third quarter Loss Control Services Report. The members subject to a sewer backup deductible for FY19 were reviewed. Congratulations to Ava and Savannah for getting off of the list. Their spots were taken by Hannibal Utilities and New Haven who are subject to the deducible for their first year, leaving the list at five members. The final item was establishment of the dates for the FY19 Board Meetings: July 26, 2018; November 2, 2018; February 1, 2019 and May 10, These meetings are open to the membership and are free, so put them on your calendars early, you re welcome to attend. CALENDAR OF EVENTS July 25-27, 2018: November 2, 2018: February 1, 2019: May 10, 2019: MIRMA Annual Meeting: Held at Tan-Tar-A Resort, Lake of the Ozarks, MO MIRMA Board of Directors Meeting: Held at the Hilton Garden Inn, located by Bass Pro Shop, Columbia, 10:00 AM MIRMA Board of Directors Meeting: Held at the Hilton Garden Inn, located by Bass Pro Shop, Columbia, 10:00 AM MIRMA Board of Directors Meeting: Held at the Hilton Garden Inn, located by Bass Pro Shop, Columbia, 10:00 AM 3

4 Claims Corner By: Glenn Price In some very specific yet conspicuous circumstances, pithy phrases become reality to us. We ve heard many of these phrases: People don t care how much you know until they know how much you care. ~ Theodore Roosevelt You can t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have. ~ Maya Angelou A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. ~ Laozi (Chinese Philosopher) One phrase that came to mind this spring was, when it rains, it pours. The phrase has come to mean that when bad things happen, they just keep coming. This spring, we had a particular rain event in mid-missouri that brought that saying to life in a dramatic fashion. Certain towns in mid-missouri, and members of MIRMA, received 4-5 of rain in a two-hour period! This kind of rain event is extraordinary and hard to handle in many locations. When extreme rain events occur, overland flooding becomes an issue where city streets, manholes, and other areas are underwater. In many of these circumstances, claims generated from extraordinary rain events are denied. For a city to be held liable for a sewer back up, Missouri courts have noted that a city must have taken some form of affirmative action to cause a backup OR failed in the duty to properly maintain the sewer. Most of the claims we pay fall under this second reason. This is why maintaining a well-documented sewer maintenance program is so vital for handling claims. Providing the documentation on what sewer maintenance is performed is a key element in defending a city for a sewer backup claim. Another key element in defending a sewer backup claim is the city s response time. When city personnel timely respond to a backup and are able to quickly identify the probable cause of the backup, claims handling (and customer service) runs much smoother. A final key element in defending a sewer backup claim is communication. Please contact MIRMA as soon as possible with the claim information so that an adjuster can be assigned, quickly investigate the claim, and adequately answer questions the claimant might have. When it rains, it can pour. Sewer backup claims can be the most difficult claims to handle because the issues become dramatically personal in a short time period. However, they can be handled efficiently and effectively if we remember the key elements in helping us handle sewer backup claims. By: Patrick Bonnot The loss prevention evaluation scores have been finalized and are attached to this month s newsletter. Overall, the membership scores decreased slightly compared to last year s score, with the average score at 93%. Even though the scores remained fairly similar, this level of performance remains exceptional and shows that our membership is committed to the concept of risk management. Please remember the credit formula provides a credit only to those members whose overall score was 90% or better (from the debits collected). The debit portion remains unchanged and applies only to those members whose score was below 80%. Scores in the 80th percentile will be unaffected by the debit/credit. MIRMA staff is looking forward to presenting the plaques at the Annual Meeting to the members with perfect scores, and to the most improved members. Again, MIRMA thanks all of you for your hard work. 4

5 Loss Control Tip of the Month New Evaluation Requirements for 2018 By: Patrick Bonnot By now you should have read about the new MIRMA Annual Loss Prevention Evaluation elements for Those include the following: 1. Attendance was increased from 75 points total to 100. The increase in points is attributed to a greater point value for the Annual Meeting which is now worth 50 points by itself. 2. There is an additional requirement regarding additional insured endorsements. 3. Jobsite inspections for those departments working at various temporary locations will change from the current requirement of 12 per year to 9. The reason behind the change was related to the burden of having to do inspections when sometimes this was impossible due in large part to winter conditions. 4. For municipal swimming pools containing an aquatic climbing wall, operators shall ensure there is a roped off area immediately below the wall itself. Otherwise known as a fall zone, this area should be kept clear of other swimmers and allow a climber to safely fall back into the water from the wall. 5. The police policy section has been updated to reflect the changes made to the model policies within the last year. The biggest difference in this section is how some of the model policies are weighted versus others. 6. New sulfur testing for 10,000 KVA and larger transformers. This was a recommendation by Travelers, MIRMA s reinsurer on boiler and machinery property. 7. An annual training requirement has been created for personal protective equipment. In previous years the program has asked that municipalities have a policy on PPE, but we had not yet enacted a requirement to train on this topic. 8. Lastly, there are several instances where we have moved items around within the evaluation to provide for better flow and ease of management. I think you will find these movements better serve the program as a whole and minimize confusion, especially for people that are new to the evaluation process. A copy of the changes will accompany this newsletter and if questions arise, please contact your MIRMA Loss Control Representative. Just a reminder, the MIRMA office will be closed on Monday, May 28 th, 2018 in observance of the Memorial Day holiday. We hope everyone has a safe and wonderful holiday! The assessment invoices for FY2019 were ed to each official representative on Tuesday, May 15 th. A rate per hundred of $9.52 was established at the May board meeting and was applied to the assessments. Please see Matthew s article about the board meeting for more details. Mark your calendars the assessments will be due in the MIRMA office by June 29 th! 5

6 By: Patrick Bonnot The MIRMA Loss Control staff has been racking up miles in the last few weeks executing seminars regarding trenching and shoring, personal protective equipment, confined space entry, fall protection and defensive driving. Approximately 300 city employees attended the locations of Springfield, West Plains, Jackson, Pacific, Maryville, and Macon. A big shout out to the staff at all of those locations for offering their awesome facilities in the name of safety training. MIRMA looks forward to future seminars where we can assist you in helping to make your cities safer for employees and residents. If MIRMA staff can ever assist you in your safety meeting development, please let us know. We pride ourselves on being able to provide any required training whenever called upon. Macon Safety Seminar, Held May 10, 2018 Springfield Safety Seminar, Held April 26, 2018 Pacific Safety Seminar, Held May 9, 2018 Nominating Committee There are three Board Member terms that are are expiring this July. If you are interested in being a member of the MIRMA Board of Directors, please contact someone on our Nominating Committee for more information: Amy Strough - City of Maryville, Steve Lawver - City of Carl Junction, or Greg Hodge - City of Moberly. All biographies with photos should be sent to Terri Crane at tcrane@mirma.org. 6

7 By: Matthew Brodersen MIRMA s Loss Control Department offers the following on-site services at no additional cost to the membership: thermal imaging, simulated use of force judgmental trailing (milo), certified playground inspections, aquatic facility operator guidance, safety training, jobsite and facility hazard inspections, municipal operation advice and guidance, contract reviews and a little light flower bed maintenance. Jeff Arp, Loss Control Specialist during a visit to the City of Maryville. Photo courtesy of Amy Strough. 7