T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Shomo-Madsen Insurance President Bobby Shomo presents worker’s compensation insurance options to the Marshall County Board of Supervisors during Wednesday morning’s regular meeting. The board ultimately accepted a quote from EMC for Fiscal Year 2027.

During Wednesday morning’s regular meeting, the Marshall County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to accept a quote from EMC Insurance for worker’s compensation coverage during the upcoming fiscal year, the first time the county has not purchased a policy with the Iowa Municipal Workers Compensation Association (IMWCA) in a decade.

The county had utilized IMWCA for its’ workers comp insurance since 2017, but at $224,286, their quote came in about $50,000 higher than the ones from EMC ($176,043) or Previsor ($167,411 with a recommendation to pay $180,000). Bobby Shomo from Shomo-Madsen Insurance stepped forward to present to the board and review the finer details, referencing a previous meeting with Dean Schade of IMWCA and describing the county as “under the gun” due to a recent increase in claims. IMWCA, Shomo said, offered a 10 percent reduction in discretionary credits as a result, while neighboring Jasper County did not lose any of its credits.

“It was, in my opinion, more a personality clash with IMWCA over a couple of recent claims and whether they could’ve been avoided, and there’s some issues with our safety committee where the expectations of IMWCA might just be a little too high,” Shomo said. “We might say Nan (Benson) has other things to do other than worker’s compensation loss control.”

From there, they put the package out to bid, and Shomo explained some of the work that went into the process. Although the original quote from EMC was $185,267, they had reduced it by about $9,000 by the time Shomo was standing before the board, which he called “a great number.”

Additionally, EMC offered a dividend plan that allows the county to recoup some of the premium, and the company has history with Marshall County as it paid out over $40 million after the 2018 tornado and continues to provide property insurance.

Shomo also provided information on Previsor, which currently has a large presence in Missouri and is working to break into the Iowa market.

“(They) certainly have experience in handling accounts like ours, but I have not gotten to see them with accounts like ours in Iowa yet. So I do know EMC better than I know Previsor,” he said.

Supervisor Carol Hibbs asked Shomo if any counties in Iowa currently have policies with Previsor, and he said there are none. Benson commented that the representatives from Previsor seemed great, but “the known is always nice.”

Shomo expressed concern about the level of oversight IMWCA is attempting to exert over the county’s safety committee, and he felt EMC would be a bit more “hands off” in allowing the group to continue doing its job. Supervisor Christian Goodman asked him if he was surprised that EMC bid given the courthouse history, but Shomo clarified that they were separate policies and said he was surprised by how well they’ve treated the county despite concerns that they may have been canceled in 2019 or 2020.

Prior to 2017, the county had utilized EMC for its worker’s compensation insurance. Hibbs then motioned to accept the EMC quote effective July 1, and it passed by a unanimous 3-0 vote.

In other business, the board:

• Approved the consent agenda as listed.

• Adopted resolutions appropriating funds for fiscal year 2026-2027 and authorizing the advance issuance of payments.

• Approved four separate fund transfers — the quarterly transfer of $750,000 from the Rural Services Fund to the Secondary Road Fund, an annual transfer of LOST revenue from the Rural Services Fund to the Secondary Roads Fund in the amount of $996,275.70, a one-time transfer of $850,000 from the General Basic Fund to the General Supplemental Fund and a one-time transfer of $215,000 from the General Basic Fund to the Capital Projects Fund.

• Approved the contract renewal between Marshall County and Cost Advisory Services Inc.

Approved the Mid-Iowa Drug Task Force Byrne JAG Grant contract conditions with an award of $100,405 for FY2027 and a $10,000 bonus for equipment to help with drug investigations.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.