Settlements won’t impact county’s insurance costs

Kootenai County will pay the same amount for insurance next year even though it had to shell out more than $336,000 to avoid lawsuits by two former employees.

That’s mostly because the insurance company—Idaho Counties Risk Management Program— looks more at the frequency of such losses when calculating premiums and not necessarily the price tag of claims.

Kootenai County has had to pay very few claims in the last five years, meaning these two high-publicity settlements are abnormalities, said John Goedde, the county’s local insurance agent.

“If we had one of those every year you can bet it would be used in the premium calculation,” Goedde said.

The county commission is considering restructuring its human resources and risk management departments to help ensure that these types of employee situations are resolved internally—long before the insurance company gets involved.

The county also is shopping around to see if it can get a better deal from another insurance carrier.

Within two months this spring, the county’s insurer paid $336,550 to two former Kootenai County employees for “employment mistakes.”

Marina Kalani, the administrator of the county’s failed juvenile drug court, received a $69,150 settlement March 23 after she threatened to sue Kootenai County over an allegedly “false and defamatory” memo criticizing her job performance.

Former Kootenai County Sheriff’s Captain Sam Grubbs received a $267,400 settlement in April. The county has never disclosed the details of the settlement.

The county may have more expenses associated with employee claims in the months to come.

Dannie Fast Swanson, a probation officer who also worked for the county’s failed juvenile drug court, filed her intent to sue for $354,000 last month, alleging that she was verbally abused, harassed and intimidated by Prosecutor Bill Douglas. She also filed a separate complaint with the Idaho Human Rights Commission regarding the alleged hostile work environment.

A Kootenai County public defender is deciding whether to sue the county, saying it violated her free speech rights. She was suspended in July for sending the commission a greeting card along with a jar of Vaseline and tube of red lipstick to express her disgust for a mistake made in calculating her pay increase.

Even with this year’s two substantial payouts, the premium will remain at $468,338 for fiscal year 2006. That covers the county for everything from general liability and employee claims to buildings, automobile and personal property.

“It’s not like when you get in a car accident and your premium automatically goes up,” said commission Chairman Gus Johnson. “Yet I bet that will fall on deaf ears with the community.”

The commission has asked St. Paul Travelers – the only other insurance carrier interested in providing coverage – for a price quote. Goedde is waiting for an official response, but the preliminary estimate is higher than the $468,338 premium for Idaho Counties Risk Management Program, he said. The program covers more than 600 public entities in Idaho, including all but Ada County.

The commission also is looking at whether to create a new administrative services department that would put the responsibility of human resources, legal services and risk management with the county attorney. Johnson said that would eliminate the position of human resources director and create more consistency when dealing with employee issues – and perhaps reduce claims.

Currently, the human resources director handles personnel issues and keeps most employee records. Yet the county attorney oversees legal issues and is in charge of risk management.

Not all elected officials, including the sheriff and prosecutor, use the human resource director’s services.

The idea for restructuring was proposed after Human Resources Director Cherie Bates resigned in July to take job in California.