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<br />clearly more focused on benefiting the individual, rather than the city; and many have all of <br />these purposes in varying combinations. The city council might not have a clear idea of what <br />activities the outside organization is engaged in, or even that the employee is involved in <br />such an organization. At the same time though, most cities also won't want to just leave their <br />employee hanging on hislher own if slhe is being sued; and that may lead the city after the <br />fact to take an expansive view of what's part of the employee's duties. <br /> <br />· These organizations may be involved in any of a wide range of activities with significant <br />potential for generating liability claims: holding conventions; conducting training; fund- <br />raising activities; promulgating standards; advising, consulting, or making recommendations <br />to members or cities; "certifying" individuals or departments or cities; censuring individuals <br />for code of conduct violations; and so on. From LMCIT's standpoint, the concern is that we <br />have no opportunity to be aware of the activities of these organizations, to evaluate those <br />risks of those activities, or to provide risk management assistance to control and minimize <br />those risks. Essentially, it can put LMCIT in the position of being the "insurer by default" of <br />risks that we don't know about and don't have any opportunity to control. <br /> <br />· There's a potential for catastrophically expensive claim costs. Employees from many <br />different cities might be involved in the same organization, and could be sued in a single <br />incident. That in turn could mean that there's a claim under each of five or ten (or twenty or <br />fifty) cities' LMCIT liability coverages. Under the current coverage, LMCIT could be <br />responsible for up to $1 million of damages (or more if the city has excess coverage) for each <br />of the cities. In total, that could add up to an enormous cost. It can be even worse if the <br />claims arise from a dispute among the individuals participating in the organization; LMCIT <br />could literally end up paying for both sides who are suing each other. <br /> <br />How is LMCIT addressing this issue? <br /> <br />In addressing this issue, the LMCIT Board tried to find a balance between several somewhat <br />conflicting goals: providing the broadest possible coverage to meet cities' risk management and <br />coverage needs; protecting LMCIT members' funds by controlling the risk of very large loss <br />costs that could result from these types of claims; and providing some certainty as to when these <br />types of claims are covered and when they are not. <br /> <br />The changes make it entirely the city's call as to whether or not an employee's activities in any <br />outside organization are considered to be within the scope of the employee's city duties. That <br />eliminates any potential factual disputes about whether on not coverage applies. The city can <br />make that determination at any time, either in advance or after a claim has already occurred. <br /> <br />The $100,000 limit greatly reduces the potential for catastrophically large loss costs to LMCIT. <br />At the same time, it provides some safety net protection that should be enough to address many <br />of the "surprise" situations that might come up. <br /> <br />What kinds of outside organizations does this affect? <br /> <br />Here's the definition of the "outside organizations" that are affected: <br /> <br />2 <br />