The Cherokee County Commission has opted to remain with its current insurance provider for coverage over the next year.

In the past, Cherokee County has been covered by Rankin Insurance of Decatur through Insurance Facilities. Under this new proposal, however, Insurance Facilities has stepped out of the picture and the county will deal directly with Rankin Insurance.

In a previous meeting, the commission heard two proposals, including one from the Association of County Commissions of Alabama (ACCA) and another from its current provider, Insurance Facilities. In a more recent meeting, Cherokee Count Administrator Tim Burgess explained the proposals and recommended that the commission remain with its current provider.

In the previous meeting, Burgess said, the Insurance Facilities representative was unable to meet with the commissioners and someone filled in for him. However, the representative later came back and met with Burgess and Cherokee County Commission Chairman/Probate Judge Kirk Day and he explained their findings to the commission.

“We are dealing really with two separate types of policies,” said Burgess. “One is a claims-made policy (proposed by ACCA). Whenever there is a claim made on an insurance policy that is when the coverage begins for insurance. The other one that Insurance Facilities had is an occurrence policy. Whenever a particular problem occurs, that is when the coverage begins. When we met with the gentlemen from Insurance Facilities, they gave you a premium amount of $164,251. They revised their premiums down to $159,898. After discussing it, Insurance Facilities decided to withdraw their coverage and let us use their agency. If that happens, we can go straight to the insurance company, Rankin Insurance. Withdrawing their commission would save the county $14,536. That would bring the premium to $145,362.”

Said Burgess, “If we stay with the same insurance company, we have no lapse in coverage, we don’t have any gaps. If we go with ACCA, there are still some things that need to be worked out. The coverage from Rankin includes property and liability coverage. ACCA only gave you a quote at the last meeting for liability, a little over $98,000.”

“In my opinion, we need to stay with what we have,” said Burgess. “They said they would be able to provide the same coverage as afforded in the past.”

The commission voted to go with Rankin Insurance for the period Jan. 1, 2005 through Dec. 31, 2005.

The commission re-appointed Ralph Bradley, Troy Chesnut and Tom Harton to the Cherokee County Health Care Authority to serve six-year terms.

Upon Chairman Day’s recommendation, the commission voted to table an employee grievance discussion which was tabled from a previous meeting, pending more legal findings.

The commission agreed to a special meeting Thursday, Jan. 13, at 4:30 p.m., with Third Congressional District Congressman Mike Rogers and staff to discuss needs of the county.

In other business, the commission:

-voted to allow Roofcraft Systems to repair the roof on the Cherokee County Board of Education building, which is owned by the county, for $7,450. According to law, projects do not have to be bidded if they are under $7,500.

-adopted a resolution for the Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan. This is part of the paperwork Cherokee County EMA Director Beverly Daniel is required to complete as part of the Federal Mitigation Act of 2000