Demorest switches workers’ compensation coverage to lower-cost Apex plan

Demorest’s City Council voted 4-0 on Jan. 2, 2024, to move the city’s workers’ compensation coverage from Travelers to Apex Insurance Agency under a $49,820 proposal. The policy was approved to take effect Feb. 4, after Councilman Allen made the motion and Councilman Ferguson seconded it.

The decision determined how Demorest would replace workers’ compensation coverage that, city officials said during the work session, had expired the day before the meeting. The competing proposals ranged from $49,820 to $70,782, making the choice a direct question of city spending as well as insurance administration for employees and workplace claims.

At the Jan. 2 work session, Mr. Musselwhite presented bids from Travelers for $70,782, Apex for $49,820 and Key Risk Insurance for $56,841. He recommended Apex and said the agency was soft-binding coverage while the city addressed the lapse. Later that day, at the council meeting, Musselwhite formally recommended that Demorest switch from Travelers to Apex; the council then approved the proposal unanimously.

Musselwhite backed Apex, the lowest-priced option presented. Mayor Harkness noted that Travelers was top-tier coverage and asked Jimbo of Turner, Wood & Smith to compare the carriers. According to the work-session record, Jimbo said workers’ compensation coverage is the same across carriers, while describing Key Risk as having more electronic claim-filing capabilities and Apex as offering a more personal, “mom-and-pop” style of service.

The council’s vote was a completed action, not merely a proposal: it accepted Apex’s $49,820 offer effective Feb. 4, 2024. The work-session discussion documented the competing price quotes and the stated comparison of coverage, but it did not establish how the change was ultimately implemented, whether terms were amended, or whether claim handling differed after the switch.

There is no further public action identified in the record after the Jan. 2 approval. The next concrete development for residents to watch is a later city record showing the policy’s implementation and any subsequent payments, amendments, costs, claims experience, renewal decision or replacement coverage; those outcomes remain undecided in the documented record.