City gets finance award

Boulder City received the prestigious Enterprise Risk Management Excellence Program Award (ERMEP) during the Oct. 22 city council meeting.

The award recognizes the staff’s outstanding performance in enterprise risk management, and their commitment to health, safety, and welfare of the community.

POOL/PACT, a non-profit organization of 140 public entities throughout Nevada, started the ERMEP program 28 years ago as an incentive to achieve enterprise risk management excellence among its members. POOL/PACT presented a check for $27,350 for the city’s Risk Management Fund on Oct. 22 during the city council meeting.

The ERMEP requires city staff to complete a comprehensive assessment and an intensive review of each department. Award recipients must adhere to more than 300 best practice policies and procedures.

“The Boulder City Council and staff are constantly striving to ensure that our programs and policies are the best they can be for the benefit of the citizens that we serve,” said Michael Mays, acting city manager. “Achieving the POOL/PACT’s rigorous Enterprise Risk Management Excellence Program Award confirms we are on the right track.”

Boulder City personnel who worked on the program include:

• Cokie Booth, city council member

• Cynthia Sneed, finance director

• Tami McKay, city clerk

• Greg Chesser, acting chief, Boulder City Fire Dept.

• Tim Shea, chief, Boulder City Police Dept.

• Gary Poindexter, public works director

• Julie Calloway, parks and recreation director

• Tim Lynch, streets division supervisor

• Jim Keane, city engineer

• Dave Stanton, public works superintendent

• Cheree Brennen, aquatic coordinator

• Lourdes Martin, human resources manager

• Ben Jurek, information technology coordinator

• Paul Sikora, purchasing, grants and risk manager, finance dept. (program liaison)

“The POOL/PACT enterprise risk management staff who conducted the audit were professional and skilled in enterprise risk management best practices,” said Paul Sikora, grants and risk manager, who led the effort for Boulder City. “We appreciate their dedication, patience, and hard work. We adopted and modified our policies where needed – a true testament to the dedication and commitment of our staff.”

POOL/PACT is a non-profit public entity formed in 1987 and serving more than 120 Nevada public entities. In the early 1980s, public entities throughout the U.S. faced an insurance crisis. Commercial insurance carriers began rapidly raising premiums for public entities, and in some cases, exited states or canceled coverage, leaving many Nevada municipalities without adequate, affordable insurance coverage.

In response to this crisis, the Nevada Public Agency Insurance Pool (POOL) was formed by Nevada public entities in 1987. By pooling resources to create POOL, Nevada public entities discovered that they could obtain quality property casualty coverage at a reasonable cost. As an added benefit, POOL members also found that they could access risk management resources superior to those previously offered to smaller, rural municipalities.

Boulder City joined POOL/PACT in 1996.

The Public Agency Compensation Trust (PACT) was formed in 1996 to provide workers’ compensation coverage. POOL/PACT membersinclude counties, cities, school districts, special districts, law enforcement, and towns.