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City Council decided to start a request for new insurance proposals for an agent of record on Wednesday.
Furth-Meile is currently the provider hired to advise the city and provide assistance with insurance coverage issues. The choice presented to the council was to stay with Furth-Meile Insurance or open the position for bids. Furth-Meile is expected to put in a bid in an attempt to stay in the position, which they have held since 2003.
Councilman Les Schultz started the discussion by asking if any new bids had come in when they did the process five years ago. City Manager Chris Dalton said they had one new bid for a total of two bids.
Councilman Larry Mack asked if there had been any issues from staff on how Furth-Meile had represented them. Council President Andrea Boettger answered that there had not been any issues reported.
"There's something to be said for consistency," Mack said. "They're always at meetings and answer questions and trying to be forward thinking and look at covering us."
Councilman David Christian pointed towards the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust's guidance. The LMCIT, who provides the city with most of its insurance coverage, recommends the position be opened up every five years.
Mayor Kathleen Becker summed up the talking points of the council and recommended moving forward with a request for bids.
"We’ve had a great service provider. But if the League of Minnesota Cities recommends bidding it doesn’t mean we wouldn’t be going with the same provider," Becker said. "It means we’re going through due diligence to make sure our rates are keeping with what other companies would be charging for the same services."
Mack made the motion to open the position for bids and consider new insurance proposals, which Warmka seconded. The council approved the motion unanimously.
The proposals would be due at City Hall by 10:00 a.m. August 28. A final decision on which proposal to choose would occur September 11 and the approval from City Council would come September 19.