Edgar pays more to stick with local insurance carrier

By Kevin O’Brien

Edgar trustees decided Monday to stick with their local insurance agent for the village’s liability and property policies, choosing to forgo a potential $6,000 annual savings offered by a competing company.

By renewing its plan through Boehm Insurance for 2025, the village will pay a total of $50,209 for insuring all of its building, vehicles and equipment, along with providing liability coverage for employees and the village itself. It will be eligible for a $3,000 reimbursement for employees completing safety training or purchasing personal protective equipment (PPE).

A competing offer from Spectrum Insurance would have provided the same coverage for $43,674, with $3,000 also available in reimbursements.

At last month’s meeting, Jesse Furrer from Spectrum Insurance and Michael Boehm of Boehm Insurance each presented proposals to the board’s finance committee, which decided to table the issue until Monday’s meeting. The proposal from Furrer is offered through the League of Wisconsin Municipalities, while the one from Boehm is underwritten by EMC Insurance.

Boehm returned to speak to the board on Monday, explaining differences in the policies and pointing out errors in the proposal presented by Spectrum, including an outdated email address for the village and inaccurate phone numbers for the insurance agent.

Boehm also noted that EMC policies are currently covering the village sewer plant that is being upgraded, and if something were to happen, the claims process could be delayed if the village switches to a different policy midway through construction.

“I think that could be a little bit of an issue if it’s changed this year,” he said. “Once the treatment plant and everything is all done in 2025, that’s probably something that’s going to go away.”

Boehm’s comments seemed to resonate with board members when they were deciding which insurance carrier to sign a contract with.

Trustee Jon Streit said it bothered him to see all of the errors in Spectrum’s proposal, especially when it’s relatively easy to verify basic contact information.

“When you submit stuff like that, you are raising a red flag to me,” he said. Streit also agreed with Boehm’s concerns about switching plans during the middle of a major sewer upgrade and relying on an outside company to handle claims.

“I personally like having somebody local,” he said. “We get stuff done, we get results.”

When asked about the total cost difference between the two proposals, village administrator Jennifer Lopez said the one from Spectrum is $6,406 cheaper, but that difference increases to $9,406 when factoring in reimbursements offered by Spectrum. However, with the $3,000 reimbursement mentioned by Boehm at Monday’s meeting, the difference is closer to $6,000.

Lopez also noted that Spectrum Insurance offers EMC coverage for the sewer facilities, so that could be maintained throughout the course of the current project Still, board members thought it was worth the extra $6,000 to stay with Boehm. Trustee Cathy Schueller said she agreed with Streit on hiring a local agent.

“I don’t like these big firms that are just in it for the money,” she said.

Other business

■ Trustee Streit said he wanted to publicly praise village workers Doug Brehm, Bill Tess and Bart Lehman for coming out to fix a water main break in a timely fashion, working in cold weather to address an emergency situation.

“For giving up time with their families on a holiday weekend, I can’t thank them enough,” he said.

■ Lopez updated the board on the Scotch Creek restoration project being spearheaded by Edgar native Gordon Kroll, who recently flew in from his home in California for a tour of the local watershed and conversations with farmers about the plan for cleaning up the waterway. Kroll also met with fire chief Dave Wagner to discuss plans for a controlled burn of invasive species along the creek in the spring.

Lopez said Kroll has also ordered a solar power paver that will be installed on village-owned property along the creek to see how much sunlight it will get, which will help determine how much of a monetary credit is available through the electric utility as a possible funding source for the restoration project. Lastly, she said Kroll has hired a painter to create a rendering of what the restored creek will look like, which he hopes will help “market” the project to potential donors.

■ After meeting in closed session to review performance evaluations of village employees, the board approved a series of raises for 2025. Village administrator Jennifer Lopez will see her salary increase from $74,931 to $78,677, and deputy clerk/treasurer Teresa Marvin will be paid $19.53 per hour next year, up from $19.05 this year. The hourly wages for public works employees will go from $28 up to $28.70, and seasonal workers will see their wages go from $17.39 to $17.82.

Jon Streit