Hello ,

I just came back from the spring AGRiP conference, a meeting of 320 people from 79 public entity pools and related vendor companies. I got to spend some time with some of the staff and board members from the Ohio counties pool, a program very similar to our PCoRP pool. As happens at these events, over dinner we talked about all sorts of things including finance issues, reinsurance and of course we swapped stories about claims. There I learned a new term, "vexatious litigator." In Ohio their state judges can declare someone a vexatious litigator if they have "habitually, persistently, and without reasonable grounds engaged in vexatious conduct in a civil action or actions, whether in the court of claims or in a court of appeals, court of common pleas, municipal court, or county court, whether the person or another person instituted the civil action or actions, and whether the vexatious conduct was against the same party or against different parties in the civil action or actions." Interestingly it appears their attorney cannot be found to be vexatious, just the plaintiff.

 

The Ohio law establishes a procedure for having courts of appeals and common pleas courts declare certain persons to be vexatious litigators. The statute requires the clerk of court that enters a vexatious litigator order to send a copy of the order to the Supreme Court for publication, and the Supreme Court maintains a list on their website. Those who are sued by someone deemed to be a vexatious litigator can file a civil action against them, and then the courts may bar the vexatious litigator from filing suits and may end suits already filed.

 

First of all, I just love this terminology. My initial reaction is it sounds like the name of a southern plaintiff's attorney (probably with a really bad toupee), especially if you draw out the terms in a slow southern drawl: vex-say-shush lit-ee-gaytor.

Secondly, and more importantly it is illustrative of the frustrations counties can face in this litigious time. We don't have this type of provision in Pennsylvania law, but some of the complaints we see filed against counties are very close to just harassment.

 

Many of us understand that people might sue the county if they believe the county or its employees are liable for some action taken which allegedly damaged them in some way. But claims which are designed to harass, or are clearly filed without any proper research being done, take up a lot of time and other resources which the county could be using to provide needed services.

 

So I like the idea of Ohio's vexatious litigator designation, especially if it makes potential plaintiffs consider whether their suit is really about a valid issue.

 

Make sure you call us when you need help with something,

                              John Sallade

PELICAN will hold it's eighth annual subscribers luncheon at noon on Wednesday, May 4, 2011. Held during the PACAH Spring Conference, the meeting will begin with a buffet lunch at noon followed by a short business meeting. 

  

Nursing home administrators, local insurance producers and other representatives of PELICAN insurance subscribers are invited to attend. Pre-registration is required. Invitations will be sent this week.

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While a 'normal' office environment offers its own set of risks, those who are considered 'field' employees face a diverse and often deadly array of risks on a daily basis. The following article reviews some of those risks and how to minimize them for your field employees.

 

A field employee is one who normally works outside the typical office environment and can include any number of locations or environments. These positions might include maintenance workers, those involved with transportation, animal control, visiting nurses or other social services and a host of other employees who are outside more than inside. CCAP Loss Control Specialists are the prototypical field positions as we each have a certain territory that we cover. While there are times we need to be in the office to complete paperwork and attend meetings etc., our main concern is visiting our members and providing any services requested which puts us on the road a lot! The following are some dangers that one might face while working in the field:

 

• First off, a field employee will usually need to drive to where they're going and this presents serious potential risks. With more than six million car accidents each year in the United States and car accident related injuries every 14 seconds, this is where you're most likely to be injured in the field.
• Maintenance workers face a litany of dangers while on the job. They often work outdoors which we'll cover later but also work on elevated platforms, work with electrical equipment, deal with insects that may bite or sting, work around pressurized boiler systems, spinning blades and strings of lawn maintenance equipment and also need to deal with the stress that comes with a very demanding schedule.
• CYS and other social service folks face dangers such as driving to and from their appointments, dealing with the pets of families they visit and the potential for emotionally charged situations that come with intervening in family matters.
• Planning and parks employees also need to be outside a good deal and often in less than ideal circumstances. Those in the planning department will do site visits to construction areas where many hazards may exist.

 

Jail personnel and sheriffs transport prisoners, serve warrants and a host of other potentially deadly risks while out on the job. The training required by these occupations also carries its own risks as it includes firearm training, hand-to-hand combat and other physically demanding techniques needed to gain control of potentially hostile, life-threatening situations in the field.

 

 

The 10th Annual Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Conference will be  held on June 1-2, 2011 at the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center. This year's conference offers updates on topics such as Medicare's impact on workers' compensation, the practical presentation of evidence, mediation and settlements and pre-hire and post-injury physical testing. Attendees will also enjoy long-standing favorites including As the Claim Turns, Judges Unplugged and Avoiding Claim & Litigation Errors.*

 

This event is attended by approximately 1,000 representatives from the workers' compensation community, including employers, case managers, third party administrators, defense/claimant counsel, labor and others. Attendees will have the opportunity to visit with 100 vendors and learn about their workers' compensation-related goods and services.

 

Attendance to this event promises a sharing of practical, useful and timely information and provides attendees with the unique opportunity to network with other workers' compensation professionals while renewing valuable contacts. It's a conference you don't want to miss! For more information, please visit:

 

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/annual_conference/12991

 

*Unless indicated otherwise, the views and opinions expressed by the speakers in any presentation are solely those of the speaker and do not necessarily represent the position or opinion of the Bureau of Workers' Compensation, the Workers' Compensation Office of Adjudication or Department of Labor & Industry.

 

All managers of local governments, regardless of the size of their municipality, are charged with making decisions that will affect their neighbors. Decisions are made on issues related to taxation, spending, growth management, zoning, roads and streets, code enforcement and more. It makes sense, then, that managers are uniquely focused on "keeping things local."

 

As I travel across the state speaking with supervisors of different municipalities, I often hear the remark that a manager may like what PLGIT does but "they would really like to invest locally."

 

This sentiment is admirable in many ways. However, municipal investors may not understand the ramifications of an investment strategy that's overly focused on smaller, local institutions. In addition, many investors don't recognize that, in many ways, PLGIT's role - exclusive to Pennsylvania, supported by local government associations - is inherently "local."

 

Through our many community outreach opportunities, PLGIT has always sought to emphasize that it can provide services of a local and a regional financial institution that are important to investors. Services include: oversight by a Board of Trustees comprised of local representatives, working closely with the seven statewide associations that sponsor PLGIT, a history of intergovernmental cooperation, and above all, a commitment to the pursuit of safety.

 

DIVERSIFICATION FOR INVESTORS

 

We often pose the following scenario when we address the topic of investing locally:  Suppose a municipality chooses to have its accounts at a local, independent bank. Those deposits, while supporting a local financial institution, may mean that that the municipality becomes a major depositor in that bank - and therefore becomes much more than just a customer: it becomes the key stakeholder in the institution, and one whose financial health is intertwined with the financial health of the bank. To some managers, that scenario is cause for careful analysis, especially in the current economic environment. PLGIT offers an opportunity to diversify funds.

 

PLGIT: LOCAL OVERSIGHT BY LOCAL OFFICIALS

 

PLGIT is overseen by government officials just like you. PLGIT has an 11-member Board of Trustees elected annually by a majority of PLGIT investors.

 

In addition to representing their specific type of municipality, PLGIT Trustees' responsibilities include:

 

• Reviewing the investments of the Trust;
• Providing input regarding programs and services;
• Working directly with PLGIT's service providers; and
• Acting as advocates for the Trust.

 

All of these elements place decision-making responsibility in the hands of people with first-hand knowledge of local issues and citizens.

 

PLGIT: WORKING WITH A VARIETY OF STATEWIDE ASSOCIATIONS

 

The members of the PLGIT Board of Trustees are nominated by the seven statewide associations that sponsor PLGIT. These associations are

 

• The Pennsylvania State Association of Townships Supervisors (PSATS)
• The County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania (CCAP)
• The Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators (PASA)
• The Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs (PSAB)
• The Pennsylvania State Association of Township Commissioners (PSATC)
• The Pennsylvania League of Cities and Municipalities (PLCM)
• The Pennsylvania Municipal Authorities Association (PMAA)

 

By "sponsoring PLGIT" these associations have each endorsed PLGIT as the investment option for their membership, as well as the PLGIT P-Card program as the preferred procurement card program. These associations and the Board of Trustees provide valuable feedback to the Trust's service providers on the evolving needs of the public entities in the Commonwealth. Association staff members participate in meetings and internal PLGIT workshops and work closely with the PLGIT marketing staff throughout the year. Associations provide forums such as sessions at conferences or regional meetings, or even this regular magazine column, for PLGIT to communicate with and educate local government officials on pertinent issues related to public finance.

 

Intergovernmental cooperation 

 

PLGIT's 30-year intergovernmental cooperation is a unique example of local and regional strengths - all in one example. Since 1981, PLGIT has grown from two participating local governments to more than 2,800 participating townships, boroughs, school districts, municipal authorities, and other local governments. PLGIT has members in every county in the Commonwealth (including most of the county governments), and, as of December 31, 2010, over $3.9 billion in assets across all of PLGIT's programs. This represents a regional strength.

 

As a not-for-profit, cooperative investment program, PLGIT returns all dividends and net income from PLGIT investments directly to its local government investors. Over the past 29 years, dividends to investors have amounted to over $2.4 billion. This return of dividends and income to local municipalities shows PLGIT's commitment to local investors. 

 

Safety as primary goal

 

Regardless of the type of your municipality, there is nothing more important than safety of your invested funds. PLGIT invests solely in investments permitted by the codes governing local governments and school districts in Pennsylvania. The code of any local government and an investment policy, if your municipality has adopted one, represent local rules governing what a local government can invest in. 

 

Those investments include:

 

• U.S. Treasury Bills/Notes
• Short-term debt of highly rated federal agencies such as the Federal Home Loan Bank;
• Appropriately collateralized certificates of deposit and time deposits in banks;
• Debt issued by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or a state-level agency; and
• Short-term repurchase agreements with highly-rated financial brokers backed by appropriate collateral held in custody in the name of the Trust.

 

The primary goal of PLGIT's investment policy, as outlined in the PLGIT Information Statement, is to comply with these permitted investments. A local bank, by comparison, can invest funds for many types of investors: individuals, retirees, small businesses, and even the funds of that bank. While the bank may invest public funds on deposit in accordance with Pennsylvania statutory provisions, it is not subject to the same specific local government oversight as PLGIT has established with its Board of Trustees. It is the responsibility of supervisors, managers and staff to ensure that funds on deposit with a financial institution, including PLGIT, comply with Pennsylvania statutory provisions. PLGIT's only members are public entities in the state and as such PLGIT's investment objectives are clear. 

 

PLGIT has always believed that local governance is what keeps it connected to investors and fully informed of those investors' concerns and priorities, but it is PLGIT's size and diversity that gives local governments confidence in the knowledge that their investments are being managed with safety, diversity and growth as top priorities.

 

For more information, visit our website at www.plgit.com or call your PLGIT marketing representative.

 

Tamara Dzeskewicz is a senior marketing representative with PLGIT working in its Pittsburgh office. She can be contacted at dzeskewiczt@pfm.com or (800) 388-4736.

 

This information does not represent an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any fund or other security. Investors should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses before investing in any of the Trust's portfolios. This and other information about the Trust's portfolios is available in each portfolio's current Information Statement, which should be read carefully before investing. Copies of these Information Statements may be obtained by calling (800) 572-1472 or are available on the Trust's website at www.plgit.com. While the PLGIT and PLGIT/ARM portfolios seek to maintain a stable net asset value of $1.00 per share and the PLGIT/TERM portfolio seeks to achieve a net asset value of $1.00 per share at its stated maturity, it is possible to lose money investing in the Trust. An investment in the Trust is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. Shares of the Trust's portfolios are distributed by PFM Fund Distributors, Inc., member Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) (www.finra.org). PFM Fund Distributors, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of PFM Asset Management LLC. Member SIPC.

^SMPLGIT, PLGIT-Class Shares, PLGIT/PLUS-Class Shares, PLGIT/I-Class Shares, PLGIT/TERM, PLGIT-CD, PLGIT/ARM, PLGIT/SAM, and PLGIT-CAPare service marks of the Pennsylvania Local Government Investment Trust.

 

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Preparations for the retirement of two insurance staff members are in process. Below you will see an article noting we are seeking a loss control specialist. This is a result of the retirement of Bruce Mitchell, CCAP's loss control manager. Bruce will be retiring sometime in June, and Gary Nicholson will become the loss control manager. In addition, Greg Cunningham, loss control specialist, will start working from his home in Indiana, PA in June. So we are seeking a loss control specialist to work with our eastern and central PA counties and county related entities.

 

Nancy Witaconis is also retiring in June. Nancy is one of our workers' compensation claims representatives. We will be advertising in late April to fill this position and the ad will be on the CCAP website's "job postings" section.

  

  

The CCAP Insurance Programs is offering some excellent educational opportunities this month. We hope to see you!

 

Please keep in mind that most of our training sessions are free (if sponsored by an insurance program in which your employer is a member) AND for PCoRP, PComp and UC Trust members you can SAVE MONEY off your insurance costs by attending training sessions.

 

Here is a listing of what is in store for April!

 

April

 

• 5 - KEYS: Managing and Improving Performance, CCAP North Office - Harrisburg
• 8 - PCoRP Loss Control Workshop, The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel - State College
• 13 - Defensive Driving Course, The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel - State College
• 13 - 2011: The New Face of Substance Abuse at Work, The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel - State College
• 20 - KEYS: Managing and Improving Performance, The Regional Learning Alliance (RLA) - Cranberry Township
• 20 - KEYS: HR Boot Camp 2011: You Said What?, CCAP North Office - Harrisburg
• 21 - 2011: The New Face of Substance Abuse at Work, Scranton Hilton - Scranton
• 27 - KEYS: "BEE": Be Excellent Employees, Best Western/Country Cupboard -Lewisburg
• 28 - 2011: The New Face of Substance Abuse at Work, CCAP North Office - Harrisburg

 

For additional information on the rest of the workshop season, please refer to Glimpse Online. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact Linda Rosito or Jenn James at (800) 895-9039.

 

Thank you for your continued support of the CCAP Insurance Programs trainings. We hope to see you in April!