These days we can’t be too careful to protect property that we’re responsible for. When handling property belonging to the corporation, extra care should be taken to make sure it’s secured. Especially in the event anyone has cash or checks that belong to the utility, it shouldn’t be left in a vehicle overnight. If you’re issued a company laptop, please don’t leave it in a vehicle when it is parked for the evening – it’s just too tempting to a thief. 
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Also, remember to lock your company vehicle when leaving at the end of the day, whether parked at the office or at an employee’s home.  ​

We are pleased to announce that Texas Mutual's board voted to pay $330 million in dividends to support our policyholders. Texas Mutual is working diligently to deliver dividends to our policyholder owners and are on target to mail checks on July 1st. Policyholders will also be able to log in to the Texas Mutual website to see their dividend information.
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This year marks the 23rd year that Texas Mutual is paying dividends to their more than 57,000 policyholders, bringing the total to over $3.4 billion back to Texas businesses since 1999. ​

As a policyholder-owned company, Texas Mutual clients contribute to their success when they make safety a priority and choose to do business with Texas Mutual. There are two components to earning a dividend. Safety, paid through the annual component, and loyalty, paid through the retention component. Our newer Texas Mutual policyholders can also earn dividends through the early qualifier program, which is paid in November. Since 1999, Texas Mutual has distributed over $3.4 billion back to Texas businesses.

Dividends are based on performance, are not guaranteed and must comply with Texas Department of Insurance regulations.

Many business owners and managers understand coinsurance from a health insurance perspective. The idea that the insured pays part of the cost of health services as a percentage of the total and the insurance carrier pays the rest. The consumer becomes the coinsurer. What a lot of people don’t know is there can be a similar “coinsurance clause” in commercial property policies. Many commercial property policies contain a coinsurance clause. This clause imposes a penalty when a policyholder suffers a loss and has failed to purchase an adequate amount of insurance.

In property insurance, coinsurance is based on the concept of insurance to replacement cost, meaning the ratio of your insurance limit to the value of your insured property. This means that you must purchase a policy limit that meets or exceeds the coinsurance percentage. If you have a 100% coinsurance clause and a building that would cost $1 million to replace, you must purchase at least $1 million in coverage. For example, let’s say the insured had only purchased $800,000 in insurance on the $1 million dollar building and had a covered loss with damage of $100,000. In this scenario, the building was only insured for 80% of its actual replacement cost value. Therefore, the carrier is only obligated to reimburse 80% of the cost of damages less the deductible. In other words, the insured would only receive $80,000 less the deductible of their $100,000 claim.
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The carriers we insure our water and waste water systems through have a 0% coinsurance clause. Meaning that in our above example, the insured would receive full claim reimbursement less the deductible. No surprises!

We all know about locating underground utilities before digging, but do you know the final step you should be taking before firing up the backhoe? 

It’s not uncommon for us to see claims for cut lines if the locates were inaccurate, even though the water system had underground utilities located prior to digging. For whatever reason, sometimes the utilities are marked incorrectly. And when the water system digs, they hit the mismarked underground utilities.  You can help your system’s insurance loss record if you’ll take some pictures of the locates before you start digging.  It’s especially helpful if your pictures have a landmark or two in them (a tree, fence, gate, road sign, etc.) so in the event the utilities are mismarked and you accidentally cut one, your insurance adjuster can use your photos to document that the problem is with the locate and that you did everything you could to avoid damaging the other utilities.  This may enable the adjuster to shift the claim to the responsible party and help improve your utility’s loss history, thereby allowing you to qualify for insurance discounts available to those with lower losses.
 
If you have any questions or comments about this, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of our water industry insurance agents. 

​It is with extreme sadness to announce the death of Ted Regnier, the former Chairman of the Board of Regnier & Associates / VFIS of Texas.  He passed on December 9, 2020 due to complications from COVID.  Ted was the face and fearless leader of our agency for many years before retiring to the hill country in October 2016.
 
Ted was a staunch supporter and fierce advocate for the fire service.  He would walk the halls of the State Capitol at every legislative session with Babe Schwartz to fight for our first responders.  He loved to travel and to visit with our first responders.  He had a deep respect for what they do and he always wanted to help them in any way that he could.  He was very passionate and made a huge impact on our state’s fire departments and EMS providers.  His tireless efforts, positive influence and significant contributions continue to benefit emergency service organizations today.
 
Ted’s funeral was held in Boerne, Texas on December 19, 2020.  He leaves behind his loving wife, Sherry Moses Regnier, and his granddaughter/daughter, Izabelle Regnier, along with a legacy that will last forever.

AUSTIN, Texas - 08/26/2020
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WinStar Insurance Group dba VFIS of Texas continues for the 2nd year to be part of an elite group of independent insurance agencies around the United States participating in the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA or the Big “I”) Best Practices Study Group.
 
The agencies comprising the study group are selected every third year through a comprehensive nomination and qualifying process and awarded a “Best Practices Agency” designation. The selected Best Practices agencies retain their status during the three-year study cycle (2019-2022) by submitting extensive financial and operational data for review each year.  During the 2020 Study year, only 262 independent agencies throughout the U.S. qualified and retained their status as a Best Practices agency.
 
The Best Practices Study was initiated by IIABA in 1993 as the foundation for efforts to improve agency performance. The annual Study of leading independent insurance agencies, which is conducted by the Big “I” and Reagan Consulting of Atlanta, GA, documents the business practices of these “best” agencies and urges others to adopt similar practices.
 
For nearly 30 years, the Big “I” has developed a family of products and webinars designed to help cultivate a Best Practices agency culture. The offerings include materials such as the Agency Comparison Workbook, Guide to Producer Contracts, the Customer Service Experience Handbook, Sales Potential Quick Check, Interactive Agency Self-Diagnostic Tool, and Best Practices Joint Planning Tool Quick Step.  Many of the publications include guidelines, worksheets, and case studies to help agents apply the information contained in each report and move beyond theory into practice.
 
In addition to these materials, hundreds of workshops and seminars have been conducted at various producer association functions, company sponsored agency meetings and national automation users group conventions. 
 
The Big “I” and Reagan Consulting jointly maintain the Best Practices Gateway website (www.reaganconsulting.com/reasearch/best-practices) that provides executive summaries of the annual Best Practices Studies and various Best Practices tools.  The Gateway, as well as the annual study, is made possible in part through the financial sponsorship of various insurance companies and industry organizations. 
 
The 2020 Best Practices Study sponsors include:  Amerisure, Applied Systems, Allstate, Beyond Insurance, Central Insurance Companies, Chubb, EMC Insurance, Encompass, Grange Insurance, The Hanover Insurance Group, The Hartford, Imperial PFS, InsurBanc, Integrity Insurance, Liberty Mutual, MetLife, Nationwide, Progressive, Safeco Insurance, Travelers, Vertafore and Westfield.
 
WinStar Insurance Group LLC dba VFIS of Texas purchased the assets of Regnier & Associates, Inc. on October 1, 2016. Regnier & Associates, Inc. was founded in May of 1982 providing coverage through the VFIS program for emergency service organizations in Texas. WinStar Insurance Group LLC also dedicates our time insuring niche industries including craft beverage, water districts, commercial ambulances, child care facilities and more and is dedicated to continuing the vision and commitment that Regnier & Associates, Inc. has provided for the past 34 years.
 
For more information on the Best Practices Study, contact Jennifer Becker at IIABA, 1-800-221-7917.
 
Founded in 1896, the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (the Big “I”) is the nation’s oldest and largest national association of independent insurance agents and brokers, representing more than 25,000 agency locations united under the Trusted Choice brand. Trusted Choice independent agents offer consumers all types of insurance—property, casualty, life, health, employee benefit plans and retirement products—from a variety of insurance companies.

In an emergency meeting called this morning, TABC Commissioners voted in favor of a set of emergency rules to loosen the requirements necessary for retailers (including brewpubs) to obtain a Food & Beverage Certificate for the purposes of qualifying as a restaurant and re-opening in compliance with Executive Order GA-28.

TABC's stated background and purpose for these amendments: