DURHAM – Selectmen gave Fire Chief Bill St. Michel permission Tuesday night to consult the town attorney about the difficulty of collecting payments from Progressive Insurance Co. for Fire Department responses to accidents.
“Progressive refuses to pay for accident billing” and thinks “the town should provide this service,” St. Michel told the board. “I take exception to that.”
He provided the board with a copy of the company’s standard insurance policy and said costs for coverage at accident scenes is “written into every policy and they refuse to pay for it.”
He said he has billed Progressive 11 times since April 2003, has received four rejection letters and “no reply to most.” He said the minimum invoice is $100 and estimated the Fire Department is owed between $1,400 and $1,500.
“I recommend the matter be referred to the town attorney,” he said, but would hate to have the “town invest $10,000 pursuing this.”
Other insurance companies, he said, usually pay, if they don’t find other liability. Progressive is the only one to “flat out refuse to pay,” St. Michel said.
The fire chief said at least one other Androscoggin County town is having the same problem with Progressive, adding that would like all towns that are having a similar problem to get together.
In other business, former Selectman Alex Delicata presented selectmen with a petition signed by 30 neighborhood residents requesting speed limit signs be posted at or near the intersection of Quaker Meetinghouse Road and Old Brunswick Road and along both roads.
Over the years, they say, signs have been knocked down by vehicles, and the petition described the intersection as extremely dangerous and the site of many accidents due to excessive speed. The petition was accompanied by six photos and a map.
Delicata said residents would like to see a more visible law enforcement presence, with speed checks. He warned that if it’s not taken care of, “there’s going to be a serious problem. It’s a disaster in the waiting.”
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