The internal audit on how the insurance debacle was handled is now out and it shows some serious problems in the way the matter was handled by the newly elected Mayor and his staff.

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Mayor Adrian Perkins told residents at the time of the change just after he took office:

"I changed the City’s insurance agent to save the citizens of Shreveport money and inject competition and fairness into the process."

The following was also part of the Mayor's statement at the time:

  • The new agent has saved taxpayers $18,000 in premiums to date. The previous broker charged the city additional fees on top of commission. These fees totaled $70,000. Thus far the new broker has saved Shreveport $88,000.
  • He anticipates $55,000 to $60,000 in additional savings in premiums by April.
  • The change cuts costs because the new agent isn’t charging additional fees.
  • The city pays $26.6 million in insurance premiums each year. These premiums cover health benefits and property and casualty.
  • The new agent handles the City’s property and casualty insurance which is about $3.18 million.  That is only 12% of total premiums.
  • The previous broker, Gallagher, still covers our health benefits, amounting to 88% of the City’s insurance business or about $23.4 million in premiums.
  • Minority participation in the City’s insurance business has been 0% for almost 40 years.
  • The new broker, Mr. Rodrelle Sykes, is the city’s first minority agent in decades, but his 12% of the City’s business falls far short of our 25% minority participation goal.
But the audit points out several inconsistencies. The big question is who made the decision and gave the order to change carriers? The audit points out that the risk manager told the interim chief administrative officer that the “directive” came from the current chief adviser to the mayor, Shanerika Flemings. She was not a city employee when she gave the order to make the change.
The audit shows this change left Shreveport with less coverage than what we've had in the past and actually cost considerably more.
This was how the Mayor explained what happened back in May.

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