Town celebrates safety recognition
HALFMOON, N.Y. » An insurance company’s award for outstanding risk management was celebrated Monday by the administration and employees of the Town of Halfmoon with an afternoon luncheon buffet and the deep gratitude and appreciation from Supervisor Kevin Tollisen.
The short break from their daily duties was the result of the town being awarded the New York Municipal Insurance Reciprocal Risk Management Award for 2020.
New York Municipal Insurance Reciprocal is an insurance company formed by villages, towns and cities throughout the state to cover their insurance needs. The association has approximately 900 members.
In his letter to the town announcing the award NYMIR Executive Director Kevin Crawford said the town was chosen to receive the award “because it is a town that incorporates safety into its operations at all levels and has created a culture of safety”.
Crawford said the town has an outstanding record of reducing losses and that its loss ratio of just 13 percent was the best of the association’s more than 900 members.
Retired Malta Supervisor and longtime insurance business owner and insurance consultant Dave Meager attended the celebration and gave the employees some insight on their achievement.
“I’ve been writing insurance for a long time and this is the first time any of my municipal clients has won this award,” he said. “You are number one out of 900 and that is quite an achievement.”
Meager went to explain that having a ratio of 13 percent means that for every $100 in insurance coverage paid by the town, NYMIR had paid out $13.
“That has to be one of the best ever,” Meager said. “That says a lot about you observing safety rules and you are to be commended for it.
Meager later said NYMIR covers insurance for all its subscribers’ buildings, their contents, vehicles, liability, personnel bonding, cyber threats, and much more.
“That’s all they do, insure towns, villages and cities in the state with the exception of New York City,” he said.
“Last year they had such a good year they distributed some of their operating reserve or profit back to the owners, who are the members, the municipalities. This award the town received means they do the common sense things to prevent the claims from happening.”
Meager said NYMIR goes to the members, sur
veys all their properties and makes recommendations. The company holds training courses, webinars on the internet, and has online training courses and seminars also. The town’s employees have been heeding the training and the recommendations.
To emphasize the appreciation felt by Tollisen and the Town Board for all the town employees and their efforts, he and others in the administration had filled tables with platters of pastries, fruit, veggies and small sandwiches. There was sparkling cider for a communal toast.
A white board with the meetings’ agenda was, in actuality, a giant thank you from Tollisen to the town staff for taking pride in their work, going the extra mile, doing their best at every task, exhibiting a positive attitude at all times, and “for working together to achieve a better result”.
In his brief remarks at the start of the staff meeting/luncheon Tollisen thanked the employees for their efforts.
“This is all about you and the great job you do,” he said to about 50 employees seated at tables that had been strategically placed to surround the buffet. “The letter (from NYMIR’s Crawford) exemplifies not only what NYMIR saw but what I see every day. So congratulations and thank you. This is all about you.”