Agenda - Public Works Committee - 05/21/2019

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What happens if we provide emergency assistance under a mutual aid agreement with different provisions from the statute? It really depends on what the mutual aid agreement says. If the mutual aid agreement between the two cities is silent about workers’ compensation, tort liability, or damage to equipment, the provisions of the statute apparently would still apply on that particular issue. If the agreement specifically addresses any or all of those matters differently from the way the statute handles them, the terms of the agreement would govern. If both cities are LMCIT members, liability and auto liability coverage shouldn’t be a problem. Regardless of how the mutual aid agreement addresses tort liability, each city’s respective LMCIT coverage would pick up whatever liability the city has under the agreement. That would include liability for its own employees’ acts and any tort liability the city assumes under mutual aid agreement for the other city’s employees’ acts. LMCIT strongly suggests cities avoid using mutual aid agreements which have language like “each party shall be Model Mutual Aid Agreement responsible for its own liability.” Although it may sound źĻǞğƒƚķĻƌğŭƩĻĻƒĻƓƷźƓʹ like a fair allocation of risk, this language sets up the LMCITModelMutualAid potential for a defense conflict between the two cities if Agreement both are sued for a single incident. Under a contract provision like this, when a plaintiff sues both cities for LƷ͸ƭğǝğźƌğĬƌĻğƷǞǞǞ͵ƌƒĭ͵ƚƩŭ͵ their combined emergency response, the goal for each city becomes to show that the other city was more liable and should therefore pay the claim. This kind of conflict can reduce both cities’ chances of successfully defending the plaintiff’s claim. In addition, each city will need its own defense attorney, resulting in greater legal expenses all around. If a mutual aid agreement makes your city responsible for workers’ compensation benefits for another city’s employees, you need to contact LMCIT. There may be an additional premium charge to your city for this kind of additional workers’ compensation exposure. What about emergency volunteers? So far, we’ve talked about the implications of one city’s Learn More employees providing assistance in another community’s disaster. But we know that volunteers may also provide wĻğķƒƚƩĻğĬƚǒƷĭƚǝĻƩźƓŭǝƚƌǒƓƷĻĻƩƭźƓʹ critical help in emergency situations. AccidentCoverageforCityVolunteers Minn. Stat. 12.22 subd. 2a, says that a city volunteer LƷ͸ƭğǝğźƌğĬƌĻğƷǞǞǞ͵ƌƒĭ͵ƚƩŭ͵ assisting a city in a disaster or emergency is considered a city employee, if the volunteer: 4