Commissioners weigh shift from flat $3 million event insurance to risk-based tiers; decision continued to May 7

The Board of Commissioners on April 23 discussed proposed revisions to the county Facility Use Policy that would replace a flat $3,000,000 per-occurrence insurance requirement for events on county property with insurance limits set by risk-based categories and would remove the current appeals process for insurance reductions. Commissioners voted to continue the agenda items for additional work and take them up again on May 7.

The proposed change would categorize events by risk (low, medium, high) and assign insurance minimums accordingly rather than applying a single $3 million per-occurrence requirement to all events. A county staff member described the change as an effort to “base the amount of insurance not on a single standard but on the type of event,” and said the category list is included in the event insurance standards tied to the facility use policy.

Supporters of the change said categorizing by risk should reduce the number of waiver requests because many current applicants already meet the lower, category-based limits. Commissioners raised concerns about removing the process to request a reduction or waiver of insurance requirements for partner or community groups. One commissioner said they wanted “the ability to ask us” for relief in special cases; staff suggested fee waivers could remain an option for lowering the overall cost to organizers without creating exceptions to the insurance standard.

County staff and the risk management office told commissioners some activities would be refused regardless of insurance because the county considers them inherently too risky. Staff specifically cited bounce houses as an example, saying, “Those are just too risky,” and added that illegal activity would also be denied. Staff also said the risk categories and amounts are based on industry standards from event insurance providers and other risk analyses.

A commissioner asked about past cases in which applicants sought insurance waivers or reductions; staff said there had been instances where an initial complete waiver request was later reduced and then approved, and that under the new policy those applicants would not come to the commission for an insurance reduction. The transcript also records discussion of which county office handles appeals or reviews: public works and the civil division were mentioned as having been involved in prior cases, and the county risk manager was identified as the staff contact for questions about risk categories.

After the discussion, a commissioner moved and a colleague seconded to continue the two agenda items to the board’s May 7 meeting. The board approved the continuation by voice vote; the record shows the ayes were spoken but no roll-call tally was given.

The board moved on to open public comment and then into a closed session after the continuation vote.