Commission approves insurance RFP package; two commissioners recuse or abstain over conflicts

The Ormond Beach City Commission approved an RFP to select an agent of record for the city's property and casualty insurance May 20 while two commissioners recused or abstained because of conflicts of interest.

The consent-item vote authorized staff to release an RFP and continue procurement work for property and casualty insurance services. Commissioner Travis Sargent announced he currently works for the company that supplies the city's property and casualty insurance and said he would abstain from the vote; Deputy Mayor Lori Tolland said her son works for Foundation Risk Partners and recused herself. Both provided the required Form 8B financial-disclosure filings to the city clerk.

City staff described the evaluation criteria in the agenda packet as qualifications of the firm (30 points), experience of dedicated team members (40 points), references (20 points) and price (10 points). A resident speaker questioned that weighting and urged a more open procurement process; the speaker also urged commission scrutiny because the city had prepared the RFP packet and Foundation Risk Partners was the incumbent agent of record.

The city clerk recorded the roll call vote with Commissioner Kristen Deaton — yes; Commissioner Briley — yes; Commissioner Tolland — abstain; Commissioner Sargent — abstain; Mayor Jason Leslie — yes. The motion carried with those recorded votes. The commission did not select a vendor at the meeting; it authorized the RFP process to proceed under the stated evaluation criteria.

Minutes and filings will be posted with the city's procurement records; any vendor selection will return to the commission for final approval.