Insurance agents, invited by Fredonia officials to give quotes on coverage for the village, said this week that the poor condition of the spillway and a dam are a problem.

Sue Polichetti of Lawley Insurance and Debra Dillenburg of Northwoods-Dillenburg Insurance Agency agreed at a Board of Trustees workshop that the water infrastructure questions negatively impacted their proposals. They differed somewhat on the details, though.

Polichetti and Lawley currently work with the village and she made it clear at the very start of her presentation that the dam is an issue.

“We did have a bit of a struggle this year with the dam/reservoir and some of the latest engineering reports. We did convince the carrier to continue without any type of dam exclusion,” she said.

Polichetti said that for 2022, three carriers actually would not offer a quote. “They either had an issue with the dam or they weren’t able to meet the $10 million liability requirement,” she said.

Overall, she said, the 2022 costs and coverage areas would be similar to 2021.

Mayor Douglas Essek asked Polichetti if planned work on the reservoir and spillway would impact the village’s rates. “It would definitely affect,” she said. “We have a list of some engineering issues. … I know you guys are aware of some of them because they’ve been going on for many, many years.”

Once the improvements are made, “it would open up the market for you,” she said, meaning the village would get more interest from insurance carriers than it currently does.

“I think the work is absolutely necessary, and it will reduce our liability, but it won’t necessarily reduce the premium of the coverage,” Trustee EvaDawn Bashaw said. “We’ll have a lot more money in that dam and they’re going to need to cover that some way.”

Dillenburg flatly said her proposal does not provide dam coverage because none of the carriers she spoke to would offer it.

“At some point where the betterments are made, the company is very much willing to re-look at it, see what the condition is, look at the DEC report again, and revisit that to include it into the coverage,” she said.

“So we would still have to seek coverage for (the dam) from another agency.” Essek said.

“If it were available,” Dillenburg replied. “You’re in a pickle, for sure. Definitely, it’s a bad situation.”

The Board of Trustees will apparently decide on the village’s insurance coverage at its next meeting Monday, as the current policy expires Dec. 31.