By HOLLY GASKILL
In a special session Tuesday morning, the Wells County Commissioners approved an insurance renewal that increases their liability coverage on several county buildings.
The approved policy covers a $25 million replacement for the jail, up from $5 million, and a $3 million replacement for the Carnegie Annex for a $98,843 premium.
The commissioners had twice delayed action on a renewal to increase these building valuations, criticizing the back and forth for quotes. However, Dann Lipp of WalkerHughes told the commissioners Tuesday that they needed to have increased communication about county needs. He emphasized that he only heard updated numbers about highway assets and the new salt storage building last week.
“In the future, I don’t want to have conversations where we show up to a meeting, and we don’t know what’s insured on what value … we’ve got to pay very close attention to what we have in the jail, what we have in the annex — and if you don’t feel it’s the right coverage, we have to be notified as soon as possible, because we don’t want to be in this situation at all,” Lipp said. “And if (you) feel that (value needs to increase) from a jail renovation that was done in 2022, and we don’t know about it until we show up with numbers to discuss the renewal — we’ve got to have something better in place.”
The commissioners agreed that communication needed to be better and expressed that fine-tuning insurance needs would be considered an ongoing process. Commissioner Jeff Stringer noted that building costs have increased significantly and Commissioner Blake Gerber added that the courthouse and annex are unique buildings to quote since their historic construction would be irreplaceable.
Also during the meeting, commissioners stated that Nate Rumschlag, former Wells County engineer, has dropped from two county projects. Rumschlag, now working for Adams County, had been assisting Wells through an interlocal agreement, which expired earlier this month. Stringer said an agreement is still in the works, but there has not been progress in filling the role full-time.
holly@news-banner.com
