August 19th 2009
TO:
WSTIP Board of Directors
FROM:
Al Hatten, Executive Director; Jerry Spears, Deputy Director; and
Tracey Christianson, Member Services Manager
SUBJECT:
Executive Staff Report – August 2009
GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES MUTUAL, INC (GEM)
The GEM Board met July 22 - 25 in Minneapolis. The agenda included a seminar on coverage
comparisons, a regular board meeting, the annual meeting including the elections of officers, and a
NAGeP meeting. WSTIP’s Executive Director was elected as the Chair/president of GEM. The next
GEM Board meeting is October 1 – 2 in Meredith, New Hampshire. GEM has distributed their Annual
Report which is located in the side pocket for your information.
PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST FOR TRANSIT VIDEO
WSTA’s Legislative Task Force on the public records request for transit video is tentatively scheduled to
meet on August 25 at Pierce Transit.
WSTA ROADEO
The WSTA Roadeo will be August 29 and 30. The Executive Director will attend all day on August 30 to
represent WSTIP.
MISCELLANEOUS MEMBER SERVICES
TRAINING COALITION – The Training Coalition goes quiet in the summer months of July and August
and picks back up in September with the Supervisor’s School.
EVERETT STATION – DAN SNOW TRAINING ROOM
WSTIP has purchased chairs and tables for the “Dan Snow Training Room” at Everett Station. The chairs
have been delivered and the tables are scheduled for delivery in mid-September. Our first training in the
room is scheduled for October 1.
UPCOMING AUTHORIZED CONFERENCES
If you are interested in any of the following conferences and would like to attend or find out more
information, please contact any of the WSTIP staff for assistance. The Executive Committee authorizes
the following WSTIP reimbursable trustee development courses: If you would like the Executive
Committee to consider other conference possibilities, please submit your interest directly to the Board
Chair for consideration and approval.
Page 1 of 3
Conferences and Training Events of Interest to Board Members
October 2009: 1 – 3 – GEM Business Meeting – Concord, NH
Web site: www.gemre.com
October
2009: 19 – 21 AGRIP Governance Conference – Seattle, WA
Web site: www.agrip.org
CLAIMS/FINANCES AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
WSTIP currently has 302 open claims. Twenty-four claims are in litigation status. Total case reserves for
these 302 files are $5,944,445. For loss year 2008, subrogation totals are $470,848. All these
subrogation monies are returned to the members when recovered by staff. For 2009, we have collected
$138,126 so far. Given that Pierce Transit is a full member now, we are incorporating 2009 Pierce
Transit liability claims data into the monthly RiskMaster report. This will include their claims counts,
reserves and paid claims.
Everett Transit had a left hand turn fatality bus/motorcycle accident in March 2007. A $5 million Claim for
Damages was filed by the estranged wife of the deceased a few of months ago. We retained defense
counsel for this matter. We recently held mediation on this case in Seattle. It was not successful. We
expect a lawsuit in the next three to six months. Everett Transit was also involved in a serious chain
reaction rear-ender collision in October 2006 involving six vehicles where the Everett bus was the last
vehicle in the chain. Fifteen claims developed from this accident against Everett Transit. We have
resolved eleven of the fifteen claims. We will attempt to resolve three of the remaining four over the next
three months via mediation and/or negotiation. We remain very hopeful this will be done.
Ben Franklin Transit had a serious rollover vanpool accident in January 2008. It was a single vehicle
accident. This event has seven claimants including the driver. One passenger was at Harborview in
Seattle for six weeks. We are closely monitoring this file. Four of the seven passengers have retained
the same attorney to represent their interests. We have retained defense counsel and an outside
adjuster to help resolve this matter. We settled two claims at mediation in December. We were unable to
settle a third claim at mediation in Spokane. There is a wide discrepancy on value between WSTIP and
the plaintiff in this case. This plaintiff/passenger filed a lawsuit on this matter but recently returned to
work. There is one other passenger from this accident that is still treating because of this accident. He is
represented by a Kennewick attorney. We do not expect resolution on this one for at least a year. He
has not filed a Claim for Damages or a lawsuit yet. The most seriously passenger has presented a $3.2
million demand to WSTIP. We are currently evaluating it and hope to have a January 2010 mediation on
this case. We will present the case to the WSTIP Executive Committee for review and consideration at
the December 2009 meeting in Tacoma.
Spokane Transit has a 2005 case that appears headed for trial next month. It is an auto rear-ender case.
There is wide discrepancy between WSTIP and the plaintiff on the value and extent of her injuries
sustained from the impact. We have mediation scheduled for this case this week but it appears unlikely it
will settle. Spokane Transit also has a November 2008 bus/pedestrian accident where a bus struck a
pedestrian in the crosswalk in downtown Spokane. The pedestrian sustained a skull fracture from the
accident. The pedestrian has retained an attorney for this accident. WSTIP has retained defense
counsel as well. No claim or lawsuit has been filed on this matter yet.
Community Transit had a bus/person on scooter collision in April. The person on the scooter was 86
years old, a retired pediatrician and missionary. The scooter driver died from his injuries sustained from
the collision. The accident occurred in the crosswalk near a senior center in Stanwood. The entire event
is captured on the bus camera system. The family of the deceased has retained an attorney. WSTIP has
Page 2 of 3
retained an attorney and adjuster for this event. We will look for opportunities to resolve this matter later
in the year. Plaintiff’s family is ready to settle.
Finances – Staff is working on the 2010 budget and strategic financial forecasting for the next 5 years
and liability reinsurance renewals. Staff is currently reviewing updated exposure data from the members
for 2010 and 2011 to 2015 which will be submitted to the WSTIP Actuary shortly. The 2008 WSTIP Audit
will be in November. Jeff Ristau was just at WSTIP to help with the strategic financial ratios evaluation
recently.
Google Transit - Staff has also arranged for a Consultant to be available for those small and medium
member’s that wish to upload their scheduling data to Google Transit. Please contact Andrea Powell if
interested. It appears the WSDOT version of Google Transit, “travel options”, will no longer be funded by
the State. WSDOT staff has approached WSTIP/WSTA about moving the data in “travel options” to
Google Transit via the WSTIP IT Infrastructure. There may be state funds (a potential grant) available to
facilitate the transition and continue the project in a Google conduit and staff are exploring the potential
for a partnership. There is nothing to report on this.
WSTIP Website – Work continues on the new Transit Portal joint member website. The design of the site
was completed under the MVR project. Tracey and Andrea will be meeting with the WSTA Board to give
an overview of the project on September 24.
Pierce Transit - Staff has started the transition process for Pierce Transit’s full membership January 1,
2010. Staff expects this to be a smooth but very involved process that includes meetings, negotiation and
coordination over the next six months. We expect results from the Pierce Transit claims audit later this
month. We recently arranged for an IT security review of Pierce Transit. We have another meeting
scheduled for September 14th with Pierce Transit to discuss transition. Pierce Transit has signaled they
will be joining the WSTIP property program 9/25/2009. We will have 20 members in the property program
now. We are conducting a property inventory audit of Pierce Transit right now.
Page 3 of 3