Trustees hear from insurance broker, make annual appointments

During a meeting that moved swiftly Monday night, Fort Scott Community College trustees heard concerns from an insurance broker with which the college has previously dealt, set 2018-19 meeting dates and made appointments for the upcoming school year.

Representatives from Dissinger Reed, Chuck Howze and Sarah Doherty, came to the board to ask how it was determined to choose a different broker for the school’s catastrophic injury and athletic insurance policies for its athletes.

The board had previously used the services of Dissinger Reed but used IBG Insurance Group this year instead. Both agencies submitted a bid of $18,895 from Zurich American Insurance Company — the only bid submitted — later in the meeting.

“There isn’t a policy,” FSCC President Alyssa Johnston told the representatives. “But we will (in the future) change how we go about how we choose a broker. We haven’t changed a provider but we changed brokers.”

The college will start looking at insurance on a three-year rotating basis. One year, it will be athletic insurance, the next property and liability, and the third health insurance.

“We want to offer as many people we can to get the best offer for the college,” Johnston said.

Howze said the decision to change brokers caught his firm by surprise. He indicated that he felt the other broker merely took “what we proposed and offered it to FSCC.”

Beyond this, there was not much debate as all items on the agenda passed by unanimous votes – 4-0 as trustees Dana McKenney and Liz Meyer were absent.

Appointments of officers for 2018-19 were approved with all positions to be retained by the people already in those positions. Julie Eichenberger remains information officer, Juley McDaniel clerk of the board and KPERS representative, Mindy Russell treasurer, Liz Meyer KACCT representative and council of presidents representative, and John Bartelsmeyer as Greenbush representative.

The board also voted to retain Landmark National Bank as the designated bank for the general fund, Zackery Reynolds as the designated attorney, and the Fort Scott Tribune as the official newspaper.

Board meetings were approved for 2018-19 with one change made to accommodate a conflict that Johnston will have on the originally scheduled date of Sept. 17. Meeting dates will be Aug. 13 to hold a budget hearing, Sept. 24, Oct. 15, Nov. 26, and Dec. 17, 2018 and Jan. 28, Feb. 18, March 25, April 15, May 20, and June 24, 2019. The November meeting will be one week later due to fall break. The January meeting was moved to due to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The March meeting was moved due to Spring break. And the June meeting will be one week later to facilitate the year-end closeout.

The consent agenda was approved. Then the date for the budget hearing on Aug. 13 was also approved.

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