Safety training nets insurance refund for water district

A representative of the Association of California Water Agencies Joint Powers Insurance Authority (ACWA/JPIA) presented a check in the amount of $104,377 to the Ramona Municipal Water District (RMWD) Board of directors at its Feb. 9 meeting.

Melody McDonald, a director of the San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation District and a member of the JPIA executive committee, presented the check and congratulated the Ramona water district board and staff for doing so well with safety training. McDonald said the RMWD had 43 staff members who attended JPIA training classes and the district has also hosted classes for other water agencies.

“When they’re trained, there’s less risk,” McDonald said of staff members.

The JPIA is a partnership of water agencies in California working together to share the risks associated with purveying water. It provides risk-sharing pools to meet members’ needs for property, liability and workers’ compensation coverage, thereby allowing agencies to bypass the high cost of commercial insurance.

The JPIA does not automatically accept all water agencies. Prospective members must demonstrate a commitment to effective risk management programs.

McDonald described the Ramona water district as being very proactive in staff training to reduce their risk. The check, she said, is a retrospective premium adjustment. At the beginning of each policy period, the JPIA collects a deposit premium based on estimated costs for that year.

RMWD Chief Financial Officer David Barnum said the district will put the refund into the general fund, which is basically a holding place until the board decides at the end of the fiscal year where to apply that money. One option, he said, would be to apply it to the water fund to offset rates.