The Elgin City Council learned Monday night they are limited in what they can do to offer insurance coverage to organizations wanting to sponsor events inside the city limits.
Kathy Volk, who handles the city’s insurance policies, told the Council there is very little they can do under the current set of circumstances. She said organizations can’t be covered under the city’s insurance policy because the City of Elgin does not “control” them. Unlike in other communities where a commercial club is an “entity” under the city, no such plan exists with the City’s current coverage.
The issue has recently come to the forefront as the Elgin Community Club has seen their insurance policy cancelled, the Elgin Ko-ed Group has had to purchase separate insurance to cover the Bull-O-Rama and future potential issues with the Q125 Committee planning events for Elgin’s celebration slated for 2014.
Volk said insurance companies are seeing a trend whereby clubs and organizations are having events, creating more liability exposure. “Twenty years ago it was not a big issue,” she said. “Now, everybody is pretty happy to point fingers in this day and age so everybody needs to be protected.”
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