Public Entity Insurance Agent Ellen Martinez remembers the days before the birth of CIS when placing insurance for her local cities, counties, school districts, and special districts was a harrowing event.
Ellen, a many-year insurance and risk management veteran of Field-Waldo Insurance —a multi-generational family insurance agency located in Ontario, Oregon — recalls working with her father back in the late 1970s and early ‘80s. It was during the insurance crisis when cities and counties had extreme difficulty securing coverage for cities and counties.
Ellen recalls vividly “the day before a commercial renewal, there still wasn’t an insurance company renewal offer of terms for the following day’s expiration date.”
Only through the diligence of Ellen and her father — and a lot of sweat and tears — did they cobble together a patchwork of up to 12–15 costly policies from different insurance carriers that would solve their clients’ needs.
The national insurance market back then was in a downward spiral, with insurance companies limiting coverage options, significantly increasing pricing, and enforcing strict underwriting standards. For local governments across the nation, insurance was becoming a national crisis. In Oregon, public entities were also forced to make budget and operational sacrifices to keep even the basics of government functioning.
Oregon experienced this firsthand when Juntura, a small city in Eastern Oregon, was forced to disincorporate because their insurance premiums were higher than the taxes they collected.
Then, in 1981, the League of Oregon Cities and the Association of Oregon Counties collaborated to meet the insurance and risk management needs of Oregon cities, counties, and other local governments by forming the CIS Property/Casualty Trust. The CIS Trust was specifically formed to support its members and provide more affordable insurance coverage.
Today, CIS provides quality coverage forms, expert claims management and legal defense, training, and personalized risk management services to Oregon’s cities and counties. All these solutions and resources came with a valued-packed premium contribution that represented the principles aligned with a member-owned self-insured trust.
In the early days, Ellen recalls working through a bit of trepidation with CIS, not knowing what to expect of the programs capsulized under the banner of the CIS Property/Casualty Trust. But it didn’t take her long to start understanding the value proposition of a non-profit organization solely dedicated to the needs of its members. As such, Ellen Martinez and Field-Waldo Insurance were one of the first insurance agencies to place business with CIS.
“CIS streamlined the process and package coverage that cities and counties needed at a time when they needed it,” said Ellen. “The new CIS package policy encompassed many coverages instead of piecemealing them through the commercial insurance market.”
“Instead of multiple carrier underwriters, we had one underwriting team of which to interact. Our CIS clients were also assigned loss control assistance, which didn’t exist with the (private) carriers that were exiting the market. With CIS, we had consolidated billing, claims management, and renewal processing. The biggest change from before the existence of CIS was the Package Policy… CIS brought it all together.”
Today, CIS supports 98% of cities and 78% of counties in Oregon with at least one type of coverage. CIS members are large and small and represent every corner of the state.
Local insurance agents, just like Ellen Martinez, represent approximately 90% of the CIS membership.
Although some members choose not to appoint an agent and instead work directly with CIS staff, in February 2022, the CIS Board of Trustees made an important change to encourage members to work with a local agent.
Recognizing the value and importance of local agents, the CIS Board adopted a policy to reduce the Risk Management Allowance applied to property/liability invoices so that by the 2024–25 coverage year there will be a 5% credit instead of the previous 10% credit. This is designed to encourage members to hire a local agent who can provide crucial counsel regarding the complexity of public-entity insurance.
Besides territorial familiarity, local advocacy, coordination of coverage not placed with CIS, and other tangible benefits, CIS greatly values local agents across the state.
According to CIS’ Executive Director Patrick Priest, “it can be documented that CIS members represented by an agent have a lower five-year loss ratio — measuring claims costs against total member premium contributions — than members without any agents. This brings meaningful value to the CIS Property/Casualty Trust.”
For Ellen Martinez and the staff at Field-Waldo Insurance, to this day they continue to work hard with their represented CIS members. Yes, there is more stability in the market these days, but instead of using the agency’s skillset of marketing their city and county clients, they use their local knowledge and relationships to participate heavily in risk management and loss control efforts.
Ellen routinely meets with her members, including participating in safety committee meetings. Besides the multiple phone calls and e-mails, she also has had conversations at the local supermarket where CIS members ask for coverage and risk management advice regarding typical daily operations, special events, and other vital functions of local government.
There’s much more stability in the market today versus the early 1980s, but this is, in part, due to the continued efforts of insurance agents across Oregon like Ellen Martinez. Ellen was there from the very beginning of CIS, and she and her agency continue to be a living reminder of the lasting value of the CIS Property/Casualty Trust.