David R. LengOutsourced Chief Risk Officer · Author · Speaker

Public entities

Risk management for municipalities, school districts and authorities

Council or the board sees the premium and the big claim. The work in between is spread across departments. I pull it into one program, put it in writing, and keep it running through budget cycles and turnover.

Blind spots

Where public entities get hurt

Rentals, parks and playgrounds

The pavilion rented for a graduation party, with no certificate from the renter. The swing chain that missed its inspection. Municipal claims often start with routine things that never got written down.

Roads, sidewalks and what drives on them

Sidewalk defects, plowing, and the ordinance that let ATVs, UTVs and golf carts onto public roads. Each one changes who gets sued and for what.

Repurposed property

The old school becomes a community center. The firehall becomes a rental hall. The use changed, and the coverage and the inspection schedule often did not.

Police and personnel

A use-of-force complaint, a hiring decision, a termination handled badly. These are the claims that can follow a municipality for years.

Cyber and payments

Legacy systems, shared passwords, and a vendor's bank account changed because a convincing email asked. Taxpayer money is gone before anyone notices.

The lesson nobody wrote down

The manager who knew why a decision was made retires. The next one inherits the risk without the history. Turnover is a blind spot of its own.

How the work fits

Built for a public budget

Timed to your budget

Every recommendation comes with a cost and a year, on your budget calendar, so council can fund it instead of reacting to it.

Decisions on the record

When council decides to live with a risk, it goes in the minutes with a date. That preserves the reasoning behind the decision and gives the next manager a record to work from.

Trust or commercial market

Your Trust or carrier may already provide strong claims and risk services. I work alongside them, so the file is cleaner, the submission is better and claims get handled while they're still open.

Built to outlast turnover

Councils and managers change. The program is written down so it keeps running after the people who started it are gone.

I write the In the Workplace column for PSAB’s Borough News and present at PSAB conferences.

Read the columns

Questions officials ask

What managers and councils want to know

What would a risk assessment tell our borough?

It connects specific concerns with their potential consequences, the work needed to address them and who is responsible for following through. That can include parks, buildings, roads, vehicles, contracts and personnel decisions. Council gets priorities it can discuss and fund, along with a plan for each.

How do we make the case for prevention when nothing has happened?

A repair has a price tag. The claim it prevents never sends an invoice.

A sidewalk complaint can sit through several meetings. After someone falls, that same complaint is one of the first things the attorneys ask for.

I help your team put the concern, what it could cost and the options in front of council or the board while there's still a choice.

We're in a Trust. What would you add?

Your Trust may already provide coverage, claims handling and risk services. Use them.

A borough can also change who helps it manage its risk without changing insurers. That matters most when council allows a new activity in the park, or the firehall starts renting out for parties.

I work with your team, and with the Trust, on what those decisions mean before they take effect.

The budget is already set. How would we pay for this?

Some concerns can wait for next year's budget. Some can't. Some cost less than the meeting it takes to discuss them.

I help officials sort out which is which, with the cost, the urgency and the options in front of them.

Our manager is retiring. What should we worry about?

The files may record a decision without explaining why it was made. An unusual contract requirement. A promise made to an insurer. A recurring problem everyone learned to work around.

Will the next person know what they're inheriting?

I work with your team to identify what needs to carry forward before that experience walks out the door.

A story

A school district connected prevention and recovery across departments

School district ยท 775 staff, 6,000 students

The injuries reached past maintenance and food service, into the classrooms

The district’s premium had doubled. It was averaging 62 injuries a year and about 10 lost-time cases.

The assessment found injuries in maintenance and food service, and among teachers.

Our team worked with the board, HR and the labor unions. The board saw what the injuries were costing. HR added screening, including functional capacity testing for the physical jobs. The unions helped build a transitional duty program, and training was expanded to support the safety culture.

Over the next four years injuries averaged 28 a year and lost-time cases about four. The premium came down 45%, and the numbers were still improving.

Read the published case study →

Injuries a year (4-yr avg.)62 → 28
Lost-time injuries a yearAbout 10 → about 4
PremiumDown 45%

From Duncan’s published case study. The calendar years and payroll changes are not specified.

Results

What public entity clients say

“David Leng and Stephanie Botti are true professionals who took the time to carefully identify our unique needs and develop customized solutions that are tailored to us. What also comes through is they clearly understand municipal risks and insurance needs. They brought things to our attention that no other agent had done for us before.”

Joseph M. Varhola, Township ManagerNorth Versailles Township

“Over a four-year period, our Borough experienced nearly $240,000 in insurance-related savings while implementing comprehensive risk reduction strategies. These savings had a significant and positive impact on our fiscal situation.”

Clyde Wilhelm, Borough ManagerBorough of Swissvale

“Since becoming our broker of record, the City has saved over $200,000 while improving coverage and maintaining a proactive approach to risk management. We have strengthened our overall insurance program while securing competitive pricing.”

Howard Bednar, City ManagerCity of Clairton

A decision that deserves another look?

A building being repurposed, a claim that won't close, a contract waiting on approval, recurring employee injuries or a change in leadership. Tell me what your municipality, district or authority is facing. I'll tell you whether I can help and what a next step would look like.

Start a conversation