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<p>Pittston-based Joyce Insurance Group is once again Luzerne County&#8217;s insurance broker.</p><p>A county council majority voted Tuesday to retain the company to seek insurance providers and administer claims for county coverage, pointing to a $10,000 savings on brokerage fees and the opportunity to reward a county-based business.</p><p>County Manager C. David Pedri had recommended the Joyce company after a council majority rejected his initial proposal to keep Bethlehem-based Brown &amp; Brown of Lehigh Valley at its current $60,000 yearly fee as endorsed by an employee committee that reviewed all proposal submissions.</p><p>After more than an hour of discussion and a presentation from Joyce representatives Tuesday, seven council members supported the Joyce Insurance hiring: Rick Morelli, Chris Perry, Sheila Saidman, Robert Schnee, Matthew Vough, Jane Walsh Waitkus and Tim McGinley.</p><p>In opposition were Linda McClosky Houck, Stephen A. Urban and Harry Haas.</p><p>Councilman Patrick Bilbow abstained from voting after acknowledging in response to citizen inquiries that he had been close friends with a late member of the Joyce family.</p><p>Haas, Urban and McClosky Houck unsuccessfully proposed postponing a vote so four new incoming council members could weigh in on the decision. Brown &amp; Brown representative Paul Pugielli told council a delayed decision is possible because all insurance policies will be finalized and in place by the end of the month, and his company would be willing to remain broker, even without a contract, at the start of 2020 to allow more time.</p><p>McClosky Houck pointed to past concerns about the Joyce company when voting against the contract.</p><p>Prior county commissioners had decided in 2011 the county would not do business with Joseph J. Joyce Associates Inc. the following year due to discrepancies in information provided by the Joyce firm.</p><p>Joyce had supplied the county with a certificate of liability insurance stating it had the required $5 million coverage, but then-county controller Walter Griffith obtained documents indicating Joyce Associates never purchased that amount.</p><p>A representative of Joyce Associates told county officials its two other affiliated companies carried an additional $8 million in errors-and-omissions insurance that could be accessed by the county. However, Griffith said he and other county officials did not believe those policies complied with the county requirement because the affiliated companies were not hired by the county to provide insurance or listed in documentation submitted to the county at the time of the insurance awards.</p><p>McClosky Houck said Tuesday records indicate the state ended up imposing a three-year license supervision on Joseph J. Joyce Jr. as a result of the liability coverage matter. She also questioned the county&#8217;s inability to recoup full expenses for water damage during a courthouse restoration project at the time the company worked for the county.</p><p>Joyce representative Leland R. Moran told council he was unaware of an issue with the restoration. In the liability coverage, the company has implemented a tracking system to prevent that situation from occurring again, he said, adding that the company is a &#8220;much stronger staffed agency&#8221; than it was a decade ago.</p><p>Perry said everyone makes mistakes and that the company has reorganized and costs less.</p><p>&#8220;I believe they deserve another chance,&#8221; Perry said.</p><p>Morelli said &#8220;it comes down to cost&#8221; because Pedri confirmed the Joyce company agreed to provide all the same services the county has &#8220;come to expect&#8221; from Brown &amp; Brown.</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_TTL101719Luzerne-County-Courthouse1-6.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Luzerne County Courthouse </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_TTL101719Luzerne-County-Courthouse1-6.jpg</photo0><caption0>Luzerne County Courthouse </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jennifer Learn-Andes</p><p>jandes@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Pittston-based company hired as Luzerne County insurance broker