Aragon Council approves pollution liability insurance cost, replacement police car
Pollution liability insurance is the latest expenditure to come from the Aragon City Council, that, seeking to protect itself from claims, approved $1,950 for a GIRMA based plan. Much like other liability insurance policies, GIRMA will now cover any sums the city becomes legally obligated to pay because of third-party bodily injury or property damage — though only as a result of pollution based conditions.
These conditions and hazards can range from anything from groundwater contamination from C&D landfills, the spill of polluting materials such as fuels or cleaners, road maintenance hazards, rail station hazards, law enforcement activities such as meth lab interaction, herbicide application, hurricane-related issues, leaking tanks, and many others.
The plan also includes clean-up coverage, waste disposal activities, crisis response, and business interruption.
The policy does make explicit coverage exceptions in regards to known underground storage tanks, sites listed with known conditions, fines associated with criminal penalties, riot hazards, and a few others.
The low annual premium stems from the city’s small population of 1,300, but each incident comes with a $1,000 deductible for a max of $1,000,000 per incident. The coverage aggregate limit is set at $12,000,000. Since the council opted for the more expensive option 2, the city is additionally covered against sudden and accidental onsite remediation expense claims.
The item saw unanimous approval alongside a new patrol car for the Aragon Police Department. While the purchase of new vehicles was previously tabled by the council, the group is purchasing the 2012 Dodge Charger for $9,095 using settlement money acquired from the department’s recently wrecked vehicle.
The $9,095 figure includes necessary police equipment, and once acquired, the department will effectively have a spare available in the event of future crashes or emergencies.
“I’m going to drive it,” Aragon Police Chief Paul Mazzuca said. “My car’s going to go to Sergeant Evans, (and) Evans’ car will go to Cruz, and the Crown Vic will be a spare.”
While the insurance and the car are already being purchased, the council held back on a few items.
No motions were made on the purchase of new signs, and no fence bids were formally accepted during the May 16 meeting. However, the importance of the items means they’re sure to make their way back to future meetings.
After a truck caused damage in Aragon, the council agreed new signs were needed to better dictate where the drivers can pass, where they can park, and where they can’t turnaround.
While the specifics still need to be worked out, the group did decide they want to spend a maximum of $1,000 on approximately 12 signs.
Those interested in the tabled items can visit Aragon City Hall on the third Thursday of each month at 6 p.m. for a work session and 7 p.m. for voting.