Agenda - Public Works Committee - 05/21/2019

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Is registered with the city; and Is working under the direction and control of the city. A registered city volunteer who is injured while assisting in a disaster would therefore be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. LMCIT’s practice has been not to charge any additional premium for this workers’ compensation exposure. Like any city volunteers, disaster volunteers are automatically “covered parties” under the city’s LMCIT liability coverage. Thus for LMCIT member cities, LMCIT would cover liability claims against a registered emergency volunteer working under the city’s direction and control. These volunteers do not need to be reported to LMCIT. However, because the statute specifies that emergency volunteers must be “registered”, the city should maintain a record of the individuals that provide volunteer help to the city in an emergency (or at any other time for that matter). If an injury occurs, the LMCIT work comp claims staff will need that record to determine whether or not the individual is covered. What about other political subdivisions or cities that arenÔt LMCIT members? Obviously, we’re only in a position to tell you how the city’s LMCIT coverage works. If you’re not an LMCIT member, talk to your insurer about work comp, liability, and equipment coverage. Make sure your insurer will cover whatever exposures you have, whether you’re operating under the statute or under an agreement. Make sure too that you understand what items or exposures you need to report to your insurer, and what the added coverage will cost. Similarly, if your city receives assistance from a political subdivision that’s not an LMCIT member, make sure that that political subdivision is aware of these various coverage and liability issues and has addressed them appropriately with their own carrier. Providing help outside of Minnesota Sometimes a Minnesota city is called to help in an emergency outside the state. Sending help to other states is of course very valuable to their disaster response needs, and may also provide some important “real life” training to local responders. Cross-border assistance It’s common in border communities to have mutual aid agreements that cross state lines. This is a perfectly okay practice and the provisions of that contract will control the arrangement, just as it would if both cities were in Minnesota. It may sometimes be the case where a city in another state calls a Minnesota city directly to provide assistance, but the two cities don’t have an existing mutual aid arrangement. Again, this is probably most common in border communities. This scenario can be a bit tricky, because state laws may differ in terms of how liability and workers’ compensation issues are handled. In 5