1 2 3 4 5 6 7 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 8 Special Session 9 Monday, November 10, 2003 10 10:00 a.m. 11 Commissioners' Courtroom 12 Kerr County Courthouse 13 Kerrville, Texas 14 15 16 17 ACCEPT/OPEN BIDS ON COUNTY INSURANCE COVERAGE 18 19 20 21 22 23 PRESENT: PAT TINLEY, Kerr County Judge H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 24 WILLIAM "BILL" WILLIAMS, Commissioner Pct. 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 25 DAVE NICHOLSON, Commissioner Pct. 4 2 1 On Monday, November 10, 2003, at 10:00 a.m., a special 2 meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in the 3 Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, Kerrville, 4 Texas, and the following proceedings were had in open court: 5 P R O C E E D I N G S 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, it's now 10 o'clock. 7 I'll call to order the meeting of the -- special 8 Commissioners Court meeting posted for this date, Monday, 9 November the 10th, at this hour, 10 a.m. The item on the 10 agenda for this morning is to accept and open bids on 11 proposed county insurance coverage. I have one package 12 here, which I need an axe to get in here. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do you need a 14 pocketknife? 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Asked for sealed bids. We've 16 got them; they're sealed. 17 (Discussion off the record.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: And the bid that we have in 19 this package is from Texas Association of Counties. 20 Proposals are for auto liability coverage, public official 21 liability coverage, automobile physical damage coverage, 22 worker's compensation coverage, general liability coverage, 23 property coverage. There's a notation here, law enforcement 24 liability coverage under the general liability coverage. I 25 assume there's a bid on that also. 11-10-03 3 1 MR. UVALLE: Yeah. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: But the package is quite 3 extensive. Do I hear a motion that we accept the bids and 4 refer them to the Auditor for review and evaluation? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Second. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Now, who's going to 8 do the evaluation? 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, the Auditor initially 10 will do the evaluation. And then, of course, the Court can 11 do -- any members of the Court can do whatever evaluation 12 they wish to do. But the Auditor has traditionally been the 13 one that has monitored our insurance program, other than the 14 health benefits program. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I understand. He's 16 done a good job of monitoring it as we progress through the 17 policy that exists. My question really goes to evaluating 18 this package against what we have to determine what is the 19 proper route to go for the future. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think the Auditor is 21 going to do exactly that. The alternative to that plan is 22 for us to hire some kind of insurance guru to do it. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's where I'm 24 heading. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I knew that's what you 11-10-03 4 1 were going to. If we -- if we had money to do that, I'm not 2 opposed to it. If we don't have any money to do that, I am 3 opposed to it. 4 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We did that the last 5 time. I think we took -- asked for proposals. If memory 6 serves me correctly, we hired somebody out of 7 Fredericksburg? Is that correct? Do you remember that, 8 Buster? 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, I don't, I'm 10 sorry. I remember doing something, but I don't remember 11 whether -- 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: For about $5,000; 13 that figure seems to stick in my mind. We did the 14 evaluation; tell us what is apples and apples and oranges, 15 and whether we're all screwed up in fruit salad or not. 16 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Did it cause any 17 changes in the evaluation? 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm sorry, Dave? 19 COMMISSIONER NICHOLSON: Did the evaluation 20 indicate that we need to make changes in the coverage? 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I believe we did make 22 some, but not on the health -- not on the health care. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the -- I guess 24 the -- this may be what Bill's talking about. The concern 25 that I have is that there's no holes in the coverage, and 11-10-03 5 1 because we have so many different policies, to make sure 2 that we are covered. And I think it is -- you know, because 3 of that, you know, I think going with one company for all of 4 it helps close those holes. But whether they're actually 5 all closed, now, I don't know. I don't know if the 6 evaluation would do it or not. I think we may be able to 7 talk with, you know, the TAC rep that put this together as 8 well. You know, if there is anything, at least get them on 9 the record to say that there's no holes. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Well -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That they're aware of. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: -- the bottom line is we have 13 one proposal on each of the coverages from Texas Association 14 of Counties. And the proposal itself mentioned the required 15 coverages in areas where there is required coverages 16 provided by law. And, certainly, it wouldn't hurt to enter 17 into a discussion with those people to make sure that 18 there -- there's no gap. We don't want to be paying for any 19 unnecessary overlap, but we want to make sure there's no 20 gap. But I think those people certainly, probably better 21 than most other private outside insurers, would -- would 22 know the requirements for county government. That's my 23 thinking. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And this does not include 25 health, correct? 11-10-03 6 1 JUDGE TINLEY: This does not include the 2 health coverage. The health coverage bids are due in 3 December 1st, if I recall. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And this does not 5 include law enforcement either, does it? 6 JUDGE TINLEY: I think it does, yes. Yeah, 7 it's listed -- the only reason I mention that is, each one 8 of these coverages that are noted, there's an asterisk by 9 each of them. But, even though law enforcement liability 10 coverage is listed, there's no asterisk by it, but it's 11 listed right under general liability, and that may be what 12 they consider a part of general liability coverage, and in 13 fact it is. And the Texas Association of Counties' rep has 14 indicated that this package does, in fact, include law 15 enforcement liability coverage. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. Okay. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: So, it's all here, with the 18 exception of our health benefits package. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Now, as far as -- 20 obviously, we have the TAC representative in the courtroom, 21 and I see him in this courthouse about as much as I see 22 y'all. It appears to me that -- I mean, I can't speak for 23 him, but I think that he would be more than happy to come 24 here and sit down with the Auditor and -- and go 25 line-by-line if necessary to answer those questions and 11-10-03 7 1 close those loops or holes or whatever it is you're 2 referring to, and do it that way. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: He certainly indicated that 4 willingness on numerous occasions heretofore, as well as 5 other staff members from -- from TAC. That might be 6 beneficial to review these. They have other -- other people 7 that work some of these fields, and if need be, I'm sure 8 he'd be happy to get them over here too. He primarily works 9 in the worker's comp area, I think. 10 MR. UVALLE: Judge, I also work with the 11 property liabilities. I do work property liabilities, 12 except that they don't ask too many questions about those, 13 but I can definitely help in that area. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. But -- but they've 15 always indicated a willingness to -- whatever staff people 16 that they can -- they can bring forward to assist us, 17 they've always been most helpful in that respect and most 18 willing to do so. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I think the fact that 20 we only have one proposal and the time that we're up against 21 is a -- we have to have insurance decided upon by the last 22 meeting in December. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That we really don't have 25 a whole lot of choice, as long as -- I mean, we have to make 11-10-03 8 1 sure that our coverage is complete, that there are no holes 2 in it. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Any further questions or 4 discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion, 5 signify by raising your right hand. 6 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed, same sign. 8 (No response.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion does carry. That's the 10 only item on the agenda for this morning, gentlemen. If 11 there's no other business to come before us, I will declare 12 us adjourned. 13 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 10:09 a.m.) 14 - - - - - - - - - - 15 STATE OF TEXAS | 16 COUNTY OF KERR | 17 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 18 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 19 County Clerk of the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 20 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 21 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 10th day of November, 22 2003. 23 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 24 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 25 Certified Shorthand Reporter 11-10-03