There are life’s realities that cannot be avoided. The Sequoyah County Commissioners faced one of those at their weekly meeting last Monday.

As District 3 Commissioner Jim Rogers explained, because of a litigious society and a several lawsuits — some resulting in astronomical judgments — in counties across the state, the county’s “original reinsurer would not reinsure us. So we had to go back out and try to find somebody to do that.”

The result is the Association of County Commissioners of Oklahoma self-insured group (ACCO-SIG).

And despite Rogers serving as ACCO president, the agreement the commissioners approved came with a hefty annual premium, which was emphasized when District 1 Commissioner Ray Watts reviewed the documentation prior to the vote.

“Jiminy Crickets!” Watts exclaimed in an astonished but hushed voice when he saw the cost of coverage. “Gee!”

“I’m going to be Fred Sanford-ing it in a minute … holding my heart,” he hammed it up, channeling the 1970s TV sitcom.

Then, recalling that the Cherokee Nation had only an hour earlier presented several rural fire departments with automated external defibrillators (AEDs), Watts jokingly summoned help. “Bring one of them AEDs in here.”

That’s when Rogers stepped in to justify what he said was a cost increase of “probably 20%, at least.”

“One of the things we had to address, we had to remove five counties off our insurance because of multiple lawsuits over the last five to seven years,” Rogers said, adding that an additional five counties in jeopardy of being uninsurable were allowed to be included in the SIG, but only at $250,000. “All of these increases are due to all the lawsuits we’ve had across the state of Oklahoma. The majority of them come out of jails, but right now we have real issues with wrecks. That’s been a huge deal. We’re going to have to just tighten the belt a little bit and say, ‘Hey, guys, you’re going to have to slow down, you’re going to have to pay attention’.”

Watts, who had recovered from the initial sticker shock as Rogers explained the state of the insurance industry and the liabilities counties face, then revealed the bottom line.

“Everybody hold your breath,” Watts warned.

If the county pays the annual premium in one lump sum, the cost is $403,560, which the commissioners quickly eliminated.

If paid in two payments, the total cost is $408,113 — a first payment of $201,780 and a second payment of $206,333, which is the option the commissioners approved.

Rogers also reminded his colleagues that the county must pay a $100,000 assessment, which will also be paid in two installments “We’re getting ready to get hit with a $100,000 assessment where we have to go back and make sure we have monies in our insurance, so we’re solvent,” he explained. “We (ACCO) have had to do that across the state, as well. We got hit for $100,000, but we’ve got counties that are going to get hit for close to a million dollars. Everybody’s going to have to tighten their belts.

“That’s why you hear me brag on Larry’s jail operation,” Rogers said, citing Sheriff Larry Lane. “I promise you, if you could see some of these lawsuits across the state … Larry runs a good operation.”

Rogers said ACCO has hired a law enforcement liaison to inspect county jails across the state “just to try to look at the operation and make recommendations. But we have so many sheriffs across the state, they don’t want them there, they don’t want anybody else telling them [how to run their jail]. But when it gets to the point where you have to kick them off the [insurance] program, they all show up with their commissioners, state reps.

“That was one of the things at one of the last meetings we had with the executive board, we had one of our state reps, he’s looking at tort claims. It’s $25,000 and $125,000 is the max, but that’s not the way it works on civil suits … there’s no limit.”

Rogers said tort claim maximums have been increased for fiscal year 202526 — $25,000 has increased to $75,000, and $125,000 to $250,000. Therefore, as an example, Rogers said for an accident, the maximum the county would pay was previously $25,000, but now it’s $75,000. For injuries, the amount has increased from $125,000 to $250,000. “So that affects us as well,” he said.

Rogers then cited a wrongful death lawsuit from two years ago, a ruling that sent shockwaves throughout the state and was a jarring wakeup call for counties to take immediate action to protect themselves from similar judgments and to make sure that when a county is found liable, that it has sufficient coverage to insulate its taxpayers from having to foot the bill.

“The lady in Ottawa County got a $50 million judgment, and that falls on the taxpayers’ back,” Rogers said. “When you have the same counties, same jails, repeating the same offenses over and over and over again, and not paying attention until you kick them out of the [insurance] program … Even state legislators didn’t fully understand how everything functions out of there. They do now. I think they’re even trying to look possibly maybe at setting tort claims [maximums] on the federal level as well, because these can absolutely do real damage,” Rogers explained.

Due to Lane’s operations efficiency and commitment to limiting the county’s liability, Sequoyah County has avoided the financial impact that has befallen other counties.

“A lot of the commissioners are pushing to get these liaisons into their jails and things like that, but some of the other sheriffs won’t get on the same page,” District 2 Commissioner Beau Burlison reiterated. “We’re lucky we’ve got somebody we can work together with, because commissioners are urging them to get this help, because it’s putting counties in a bind.”

“In our state board meetings, I actually try to share what our sheriff does,” Rogers added.

Other business

In other business, Debra McClendon reported on Saturday’s Marble City fireworks display.

“If you didn’t make it out to Marble City for the fireworks this past Saturday, you missed a good show. There were so many people,” she said.

Marble City resident Stephanie Six added that “there were probably at least a thousand people there Saturday night. It was crazy. Absolutely crazy. I would say we’ve got the best fireworks show in Sequoyah County.”

In addition, the commissioners approved:

• An amendment of detention services agreement between the commissioners and ROCMND Area Youth Services. ROCMND is a community-based agency that provides therapeutic behavioral health services to children and their families, helping curb substance abuse and misuse. ROCMND has residential services for youth which receive their referrals from the Office of Juvenile Affairs.

• A remodel of the courthouse annex to ensure the county’s 911 center is ADAcompliant, expanding some of the current offices. David Slaughter, 911 coordinator, told the commissioners the remodel is being paid with a $120,000 grant from the state, which means “you won’t have to pay a thing.”

• A project agreement between Sequoyah County and ODOT for a lake access on Vian Landing Road.

• Transfer of appropriations from Assessor Visual Inspection Personal Services to Assessor VI maintenance and operations.

• Letter of participation to OMES for the state P-card program.

• Adoption of county’s purchase card policies and procedures manual.

• Keysha Shoemake as authorized signee for the inmate trust fund account.