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Chairman
Abernathy called the meeting to order. Trustees present:
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| Trustees
Present: |
Absent: |
William "Bart" Creech III, Chairman
Robert L. Abernathy, Vice Chairman
Judy Baker
Neal Gibbons, Sr.
Robert Jackson
Ron Hooker
Joyce Murphy
Gary O'Neal
Dan Schuette (Designee for Steve Mahfood) |
James Ford
Don McNutt |
| Staff
Present: |
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Carol
R. Eighmey, Executive Director
Tim Duggan, Assistant Attorney General
Terry M. Nichols, Administrative Assistant
Pat Vuchetich, General Claims Manager
Mike DePaemelaere, Operations Manager
David Pate, Claims Manager |
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Claim
Appeal - Cardinal Ritter College Prep, Claim 61286
Anna Smith, an attorney representing Cardinal Ritter College Prep,
was introduced. She reviewed a chronology of events beginning with
the school's purchase of the property in March 2000, and asserted
that the school had presented a valid claim for benefits which should
be reimbursed.
Patrick
Vuchetich distributed a time line (copy attached), and reviewed the
basis for Williams & Company's decision to deny the claim. He emphasized
that, to be valid, a claim must be made by a person insured by the
PSTIF while the policy is in effect, and asserted that the school
failed to make a claim during the time it was insured.
The Trustees
asked several questions. Ms. Smith asserted that the claim form filed
by the school in June 2001 constituted a valid claim. Ms. Eighmey
noted that the PSTIF insures persons, not tanks or properties, against
the risks associated with a leak. There were questions about why the
school indicated the tanks were still in the ground on its insurance
application, when they had in fact already been removed, and why it
took so long for the school to submit the information requested by
the underwriting staff, and later the evidence of contamination. Ms.
Smith indicated she would attempt to get answers to these questions.
DNR
GSRAD GIS Report
Mimi Garstang, state geologist and director of DNR's Geological Survey
and Resources Assessment Division, was introduced. She reminded the
Board that it had provided funding of $162,000 to assist in the conversion
of a variety of environmental data from paper or electronic storage
to a Geographic Information System database. She reported that students
from University of Missouri-Rolla had done much of the work, with
supervision and management by DNR's staff, and that the project was
completed for $37,000 less than projected.
A demonstration
of the GIS database was provided. Ms. Garstang indicated that training
sessions would be provided to environmental consultants in the coming
months.
Approval
of Minutes
Bart Creech moved that the minutes from the January 22 meeting be
approved. Bob Jackson seconded the motion, noting a grammatical error.
Following correction of the error, the motion was approved.
Monthly
Reports
Ms. Eighmey reviewed the reports provided in the Trustees' notebooks,
and requested approval of funding for the one new remedial claim which
had been received. Dan Schuette moved that funding be released for
the one claim which was "on hold." Bart Creech seconded the motion,
which carried.
Chairman
Abernathy reviewed the number of open claims, and noted the number
that have costs pre-approved. The latter is a fair representation
of the number of sites where work is ongoing.
The annual
maps showing claim payments by county were reviewed. The monthly report
from Division of Weights and Measures was distributed; copy attached.
Actuarial
Report
Lee Bowron of Matthews Actuarial was introduced to present the results
of his actuarial study. Mr. Bowron made a Power Point presentation
and summarized the study, noting an Executive Summary was included
in the Trustees' notebooks. He reported he had evaluated claims in
four categories - UST insurance, UST remedial, AST insurance and AST
remedial. He encouraged continued consistency in claim reserving practices,
so that trends could be analyzed again in the future. Mr. Bowron said
the primary difference between his projections and the ones routinely
provided by Williams & Company was in the timing of the projected
expenditures.
Ms. Eighmey
noted the text of his report would be posted on the PSTIF web site,
and the full report is available for the cost of duplication.
Status
Report - RBCA
Ms. Eighmey reviewed the memorandum provided in the notebook, noting
the goal is to have a workable RBCA procedure ready to use at tank
sites by June 2003. She reviewed data showing the number of tank sites
being remediated, compared to other types of cleanups.
Legislative
Issues
Chairman Abernathy directed Trustees' attention to the summary of
legislative activity. Ms. Eighmey noted the state's budget is contained
in twelve separate bills, and expenditures from PSTIF appear in five
of those bills. She reported the House of Representatives had passed
appropriations bills which contain "lump sum" amounts and less detail
than usual. Joyce Murphy suggested the Senate will likely return to
a more traditional format for the appropriations bills, which will
then trigger negotiations by a conference committee.
Other
bills which could affect PSTIF were reviewed.
Miscellaneous
Issues
Ms. Eighmey reported that the PSTIF Advisory Committee would meet
the following week, and that it would be discussing the possibility
of offering an Extended Reporting Period to UST owners/operators,
among other issues.
Trustees
were reminded to send their financial disclosure reports to the Ethics
Commission by April 31.
Ed Galbraith
briefly reported on his recent experience testifying before a Congressional
subcommittee.
Recent
bills were reviewed; Bob Jackson asked that a summary of legal defense
fees be provided at the next meeting. Mr. Jackson then moved that
the Board go into closed session to discuss and vote on matters related
to legal actions, causes of action, litigation and/or personnel issues
pursuant to Section 610.021, RSMo. Bart Creech seconded, and the motion
carried.
If
such action is approved a majority vote of a quorum of the Board,
the Board of Trustees of the Petroleum Storage Tank Insurance Fund
may go into closed session at this meeting to discuss legal, confidential
or privileged matters pursuant to Section 610.021, RSMo.
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