City council Tuesday night approved property and liability and workers compensation insurance coverage from a company in which Councilman Ed Liverman is a contractor for.

Wayne Brown, the vice president and agency manager for the company which lost the bid, Proctor Owen Agency, says he expects to ask for an investigation into the matter by the state Insurance Commission and other authorities.

Discussion of the matter during the council meeting, which was called last week to approve the upcoming fiscal year budget, began with Liverman explaining the situation.

Liverman, who is a contractor for Snipes Insurance in Roanoke Rapids, said he didn't believe it was a conflict of interest for him to participate in discussion of the matter or to vote on it. He said City Attorney Gilbert Chichester spoke with the Institute of Government on the issue. “They advised him I have no ethical conflict and may have had a moral obligation to do this.”

Chichester said he was contracted by everyone on city council on the issue and by Brown. The questions asked in determining whether there was a conflict for Liverman to discuss and vote on the matter included whether the city councilman had ownership in the company, was a stockholder in the company, was a chief executive officer with Snipes and whether he stood to make any money off the contract with the city. The answer to all these questions, Chichester said, was no.

Chichester said he studied both state law and local policy involving potential conflicts and additionally spoke with the Institute of Government, which studied the same materials and determined it would not be a conflict for Liverman to vote on or discuss the matter.

Dal Snipes, of Snipes Insurance, which is based in Dunn, told council their proposal was $260,565, which Brown said following the meeting was some $37,000 less than the Proctor Owen bid.

Brown's contention

In a June 15 letter to city council, Brown said BB&T Proctor Owen has been the city's broker since 1998. “Throughout this time period, we have done our best to provide the best coverage available at very competitive prices.”

Brown noted in the letter, however, “Having been in the insurance business for 29 years, I fully understand the competitive process involved in quoting and writing insurance for all types of entities. I believe in fair competition and have dealt with that throughout my entire career.”

He said though, “I do not feel what has transpired this year with the property and casualty insurance has been appropriate.”

Brown wrote state general statutes and the city's own code of ethics, “Demonstrate that the public policy process should be fair and free of any conflict of interest. Having a current city council member or his agency quote insurance and manipulate (a request for proposal) deadline for his benefit is not fair and most certainly is a conflict of interest.

“He also had an unfair advantage by being privy to this information. Illegal or not, I would appeal to your ethical and moral responsibility as a member of the Roanoke Rapids City Council to make the decision right.”

While Brown said in the letter he has no evidence of the financial interest Liverman may or may not have in the matter, either direct or indirect, “This does appear to be a conflict of interest, and a whole lot of work if there is no personal gain. We did provide our renewal quote along with an alternate quote by the required deadline as provided to us via fax.”

During the meeting, Brown questioned whether Liverman would really see no benefit from Snipes getting the contract. “There's $37,000 in commission. It's hard to believe there would be no benefit coming back to Mr. Liverman.”

Asked by Councilman Carl Ferebee if he would see any personal gain from the contract, Liverman replied, “No, sir.”

Councilwoman Suetta Scarbrough broke discussion of the matter and offered a motion to approve the Snipes contract. “ I feel like I have enough information to make a vote tonight.”

Councilman Ernest Bobbitt cast the second and the vote was unanimous.

Asked following the meeting if he would press the matter, Brown said, “I would guess there will be further investigation. It seems to be a blatant conflict of interest.”

Asked if the state Insurance Commission would be involved, Brown said, “I would think that would be one of the areas.”

Brown said he believed council made the wrong decision. “I think right is right. I don't think he should have been involved or his agency. Why didn't they go to Rocky Mount? Did they come here because they knew they had an advantage? To extend the deadline is just not proper.”

Liverman response

In followup questions sent to Liverman by email Tuesday night, the councilman reiterated he was getting no pay or commission from the deal.

Liverman said he did collect appropriate data to quote the account. “I started work on lowering our insurance costs a little over a year ago. I was given the OK by the current manager to do so.

“I asked the manager to double check this sometime last week or so, with Mr. Chichester and the Institute of Government.  As soon as I found out about the statute I removed myself from any compensation and certainly any conflict of interest.  At this point I am a concerned taxpayer about our elevated insurance premiums.”

Liverman said despite what Brown has said, he still believes voting on the matter was the right thing to do. “I will weigh on the advice of our city attorney and the Institute of Government much harder than Mr. Brown's inaccurate attack on my integrity.

“It would have been easy to not vote.  I felt the moral obligation to the citizens and taxpayers to make this vote.  And the vote was to save the City of Roanoke Rapids in excess of $60,000.”

Liverman said he does not agree with Brown's assessment. “He made inaccurate comments about me and the structure of the local Snipes Insurance Agency.  I will remain professional in this process.  As Mr. Brown falsely attacks my integrity and twists past quotes, the focus is simple.  And that focus is a more competitive product, undeniable by Mr. Brown himself, was provided at a savings to our taxpayers.”

Liverman also said he will accept scrutiny from critics. “I cannot control the perception, scrutiny and criticism from others.  I will not act as politicians have in the past letting such dominate their decision making.  The reality is this — I have voted ethically and without conflict throughout my tenure on council and will continue to do so throughout the remaining portion of my term.  As I stated earlier, I voted on this issue as a moral obligation to the citizens and taxpayers of Roanoke Rapids.”