During Wednesday night’s meeting of Conshohocken’s Borough Council it voted 7-0 to name Brown & Brown as its insurance broker of record. The selection of Brown & Brown came after a RFP and interview process. Cohen Partners, its most recent broker, made it to the final round of the process, but was not selected.

Here are some thing we learned:

• Historically the Borough has not had adequate safety procedures in place. Lots of the questions from Borough Council involved how the insurance broker would assist the Borough to develop a safety manual and provide training. The goal is to decrease the number of workers comp claims
• The Borough is working towards being able to qualify to obtain its insurance through the Delaware Valley Trusts, which provide custom health, workers’ compensation, and property & liability coverage for public entities using a cost-effective risk-sharing model. Trust members are financial stakeholders who enjoy broader coverage, long-term rate stability, exceptional client service, and a wide array of exclusive value-added benefits
• The Delaware Valley Trusts has strict requirements and reviews how the municipalities operate and makes recommendations to put them on the path to qualifying. For example, Conshohocken’s trash collection currently involves the workers lifting every trash can and dumping it in the back of the truck. This process results in more workers being injured. It has recommended the Borough implement a semi-automated system (an apparatus on the back of the truck to lift and dump the cans)

The post-interview discussion focused solely on Brown and Brown and Keystone Insurers Group. Each had provided additional information the members of Borough Council found valuable, however, the Borough Manager and members of Borough Council were concerned how Keystone addressed the question about Delaware Valley Trusts.

One thing that was totally strange and tone-deaf. So as you may remember, MoreThanTheCurve.com published an article that detailed how the incumbent insurance broker, Cohen Partner, was politically connected. Cohen Partners’ Jason Salus is the Area Leader for Conshohocken’s Democratic Party. In this role, he has a role in recruiting and raising money for candidates for Borough Council.

During the presentation by Cohen Partners, Barry Cohen mentioned how he was involved with the Josh Shapiro/Leslie Richards campaign, not once, but twice. Shapiro and Richards previously served on the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners. Shapiro is the current Attorney General of Pennsylvania and Richards serves as the Secretary of Transportation of Pennsylvania.

Incredible.