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Select Board hears Verus plan to run community claims fund after GE Vernova blade failure
Summary
Verus LLC presented a nine-phase plan to administer a community claims fund created under the settlement with GE Vernova, proposing a 180-day claims window, online portal, deficiency cure period and a valuation process that would use net-income measures; presenters said claimant identities would be kept confidential in aggregate reports.
Mark Eveland, founder and chief strategy officer of Verus LLC, laid out a nine‑phase plan Monday for administering the community claims fund created under the settlement with GE Vernova after a turbine blade failure. He told the Nantucket Select Board the program would begin with a published legal notice that opens a 180‑day claims window and a public portal where claimants can register and submit supporting documents.
Eveland said the program’s phases include an initial filing period, concurrent claim review, deficiency notices to request missing documentation, a valuation period and a distribution phase. “We would provide, in the program we’ve designed here, a 6 month deadline for submitting a claim,” Eveland said. He estimated the full process could take up to 18 months from notice to final payment, depending in part on whether claimants request paper checks or direct deposit.
The Verus presentation emphasized documentation and a fact‑driven valuation. Eveland explained that allowed claims would typically be valued by net income loss rather than gross receipts. “It would be the net income,” he said, noting reviews would weigh the preponderance of evidence, prior patterns of revenue and documented expenses.
Board members asked whether individual claimants’ identities and paid amounts would be public. Brooke (Select Board member) said confidentiality was negotiated with GE Vernova during settlement talks: the town and Verus will provide sanitized, aggregate reports while GE will receive executed releases and is bound to confidentiality. Eveland confirmed Verus’ practice of protecting claimant privacy in similar private settlements and said that aggregate metrics would be provided to the board.
Multiple Select Board members asked staff to double‑check how confidentiality might be affected by public records requests and to confirm contractual terms with town counsel. The board did not take a final vote on the administrator or launch date during the meeting; Verus said a draft legal notice and claimant portal would be provided when they are ready to launch.
The Select Board also asked technical questions about documentation standards and recalculation/reconsideration. Eveland said claimants would have a 60‑day window to cure deficiencies and a short reconsideration period, often overseen by a neutral mediator, for disputes over allowances or valuations.
The board adjourned after routine committee reports; staff said it will follow up with more detailed materials about the notice, portal and confidentiality terms.
The next procedural step is for staff and counsel to confirm public‑records implications and for Verus to finalize the legal notice and portal prior to opening the claim period.
