Click the hyperlinks above to contact an insurance or financial services representative directly.
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In This Issue:
- Call for Applications: FMLC Bond Issue
- Estero and Pinecrest Close Bank Loans Through FMLC
- Florida Municipal Insurance Trust Gives Free Access to Employment Law Attorney
- April Seminars Cover Human Resources and Risk & Safety
- Simple Secret Allows Successful Disaster Recovery
- Panama City Improves Training with Safety Grant
- NWFWMD Uses Safety Grant to Purchase Work-Safety Boots
- Take Steps to Avoid Distracted Driving
- Mega Claims and Workers’ Comp – A Match Made in Heaven!
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Call for Applications: FMLC Bond Issue
The Florida Municipal Loan Council is accepting applications for its 29
th
series of bonds to be issued in fall 2019. Bond proceeds can be used for capital improvements, renovations, fixed asset additions and the refinancing of existing debt. The minimum loan size is $1 million. There are flexible terms of repayment, up to a 30-year maturity.
Applications are due no later than April 15, 2019. Click
here
for an application, and click
here
for more information on the FMLC. Please return applications via email to Molly Button at
mbutton@flcities.com
. Contact Button if you have questions about the program.
This fixed-rate bond pool program enables cities, counties and other governmental entities to finance projects on a cooperative and cost-effective basis to benefit from economies of scale associated with larger financings.
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Estero and Pinecrest Close Bank Loans Through FMLC
By Molly Button
The Village of Estero and the Village of Pinecrest have closed bank loans through the Florida Municipal Loan Council’s Competitive Capital Access Program.
The Estero loan was issued for $20 million. The loan proceeds, along with a $4.6 million down payment from the village, were used to purchase 62 acres along the Estero River.
The Pinecrest loan was issued for $2.6 million. It was issued to fund capital projects including improvements to the Pinecrest Community Center, improvements to the Pinecrest Municipal Center, improvement to Pinecrest Gardens, monument entrance signs to the village and improvements to parks.
Molly Button is a senior analyst at the Florida League of Cities.
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Florida Municipal Insurance Trust Gives
Free Access to Employment Law Attorney
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The Florida Municipal Insurance Trust has launched a new service for members who need legal guidance on liability issues regarding employment-related matters. For members insured by FMIT for employment practices liability, this new Employment Law Advisor (ELA) program offers access to a Florida-based attorney with significant public-sector employment law experience. And, the best part is there is
no cost
to you or your organization.
Some of the employment-related matters the program is intended to address are:
- hiring;
- discipline;
- promotion/demotion;
- transfer;
- reassignment;
- layoff;
- termination;
- complaints of discrimination, harassment, unfair treatment and retaliation.
Help is only a phone call away. Members can call (888) 368-FMIT (3648) to speak with an attorney Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time). Save the ELA phone number in your contacts today!
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April Seminars Cover
Human Resources and Risk & Safety
Human Resources and Risk & Safety Management Seminars will be held in April, sponsored by the Florida League of Cities, administrator of the Florida Municipal Insurance Trust. Seminar titles include FMIT Disaster Preparedness and Recovery Program, Employment Law Advisor, Life of a Workers’ Compensation Claim, Risk and Safety Management Tools and Solutions, Americans with Disabilities Act Website Compliance and
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – What to Know.
Seminars are available on the following dates:
- South: April 2 at Oakland Park and April 4 at Greenacres.
- West: April 16 at Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council.
- East: April 18 at FLC University, Orlando.
Registration is from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., and there is no registration fee. Each seminar will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and lunch is provided. To register, click
here
. For more information, contact
Dorothy Rollins
. Phone: (407) 367-1798.
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Simple Secret Allows
Successful Disaster Recovery
by Tony Scott
Three Category 4 Hurricanes (Matthew, Irma and Michael) have made landfall in Florida over the past three hurricane seasons and affected over 80 percent of Florida Municipal Insurance Trust Property members in some way. In the case of Hurricane Michael, some members were devastated to the point that employees could not physically get to work for weeks after the storm.
What can municipalities do to better prepare themselves for these catastrophes in order to recover quickly while supporting personnel? Click
here
to read more.
Tony Scott is principal/chief technology officer at Synergy Companies
–
FMIT Turnkey Recovery Program Managers
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Panama City Improves Training
With Safety Grant
The City of Panama City uses a safety grant from the Florida Municipal Insurance Trust to cover the cost of some staff training, including attendance at the annual conference of the Workers’ Compensation Institute.
“We are definitely concerned with staying up to date in new laws, trends and ideas,” said
Diane Hagler
, risk manager for Panama City. “Keeping up with current laws for workers' compensation is a must.”
The safety grants have an application deadline of the last day of the quarter. The next deadline is June 30.
Click
here
to download the
2018-2019
FMIT matching safety grant guidelines. To fill out the safety grant application online,
click
here
.
Click
here
to download a printable version of the application. To request further information, contact
Nadine Llewellyn
. Phone:
(800) 445-6248 ext. 1758.
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NWFWMD Uses Safety Grant
To Purchase Work-Safety Boots
The Northwest Florida Water Management District uses a safety grant from the Florida Municipal Insurance Trust to purchase work safety boots that help prevent on-the-job injuries.
The boots help prevent lower leg and foot lacerations, sprains, falls and burns for employees who have potentially hazardous duties such as prescribed burning and inspecting wetlands and stormwater structures. The NWFWMD has established a policy for the boots which explains that they can be replaced every year or two, depending on use. The policy also says that snake chaps can be purchased.
The safety grants have an application deadline of the last day of the quarter. The next deadline is June 30.
Click
here
to download the 2018-2019 FMIT matching safety grant guidelines. To fill out the safety grant application online,
click
here
.
Click
here
to download a printable version of the application. To request further information, contact
Nadine Llewellyn
. Phone: (800) 445-6248 ext. 1758.
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Take Steps to Avoid Distracted Driving
by Jonathan Jaramillo
It is a little-known fact that driving distracted at 55 mph typically results in traveling the length of a football field, approximately 100 yards, without looking at the road. Could you imagine the devastation that can come about from drivers simply taking their focus off the road for a short time?
Over the past four years, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has placed a special emphasis on eliminating distracted driving. For more information and resources, click
here
.
Jonathan Jaramillo is a risk and safety consultant with the Florida League of Cities.
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Mega Claims and Workers’ Comp
–
A Match Made in Heaven!
by Vernell Kevin Goodridge
We are seeing more mega claims than years ago, and they can be monstrously expensive, sometimes to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.
Mega claims are claims in which people have been catastrophically injured. These claims require much more in the areas of rehabilitation, home modifications, psychiatric treatment, attendant care and overall medical treatment. The workers’ comp system is the perfect system to handle these types of claims, and it far succeeds the group health system in several areas.
I’ve seen injured workers opting to use their health insurance to pay for medical treatment over workers’ comp when injured at work. However, group health insurance pays based on what’s in the policy only. Workers’ comp pays for so much more. Click
here
to read an article from the Workers’ Compensation Institute on the value of the worker’s compensation system when it comes to mega claims. It might surprise you!
Vernell Kevin Goodridge, CWC, ACA, CWCL, is the workers’ compensation claims manager for the Florida League of Cities.
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