Risk Management Pools merge boards

The Association’s Risk Management Pools Board of Trustees merged the decision-making authority over the Group Benefits, Workers’ Compensation and Liability and Property pools into one board at its March 13-14 meeting.

Hoke County Commissioner Jean Powell, Caldwell County Human Resources Director David Hill, Brunswick County Risk Manager Eileen Gardner and Hertford County Commissioner DuPont Davis discuss potential realignment of the Pools' governance structure. (Photo by Jason King)

Under the previous structure, each of the three pools was governed by its own seven-member board, with all three boards meeting as a group. The full Board of Trustees, which currently stands at 18 members due to three unfilled terms, will now make decisions for all three pools.

The Board will receive guidance from three committees – Finance, Membership, and Claims and Risk Control – that will oversee specific aspects of operations and act in an advisory role to the Board of Trustees. Each trustee is assigned to one of the committees.

The Finance Committee, which consists of commissioners Tom Anderson (Lincoln), Breeden Blackwell (Cumberland), Jimmy Maske (Richmond) and Danny Wright (Vance), and county managers Dan Scanlon (Currituck) and Steve Wyatt (Henderson), will review operational results, actuarial and audit reports, and monitor investment activities.

The Membership Committee is made up of commissioners Jean Powell (Hoke) and Bobby Greer (New Hanover), Durham County Deputy Manager Wendell Davis, Brunswick County Risk Manager Eileen Gardner, Caldwell County Human Resources Director David Hill and Orange County Director of Purchasing and Central Services Pam Jones. The committee will assist in new business development and membership retention, and approve ratings models and individual deviations from those models.

The Claims and Risk Control Committee consists of commissioners Ann Holton (Pamlico), Cookie Pope (Johnston), Ronnie Smith (Martin) and DuPont Davis (Hertford), Haywood County Assistant Manager Rick Honeycutt and Hertford County Director of Rural Addressing Rose Stephenson. The committee is charged with approving settlements, reviewing claims activity for all pools, and monitoring the risk control plan.

Blackwell, the Board of Trustees’ representative on the NCACC Board of Directors, said the three committees will be relied upon heavily by the full Board of Trustees, but the new structure will make governance of the pools more efficient.

“When we decided to change from BlueCross to CIGNA, the whole Board [of Trustees] heard the presentation, but only one board could vote,” he said. “We want to make sure your committee is comfortable with whatever the issue is.”

Staff researched county associations in Virginia, Georgia and South Carolina to obtain examples of how other risk management boards operated.

The Board of Trustees will next meet June 6-7 at the Quorum Center in Raleigh.