From The Iowa County magazine August 2019 issue

Who is CRMS?

County Risk Management Services, Inc (CRMS) serves as the bridge between counties in Iowa, and their agents, and the Iowa Communities Assurance Pool (ICAP) and the Iowa Municipalities Workers’ Compensation Association (IMWCA). In that capacity, CRMS works with local insurance agents to provide them with training and assistance when insuring a county.

If you attend events, like the ISAC Spring School, ISAC Annual Conference, Statewide Supervisors Meeting, ISAC Scholarship Golf Fundraiser, or the recent Iowa State Association of County Auditors conference, you’ve probably seen a CRMS representative at the CRMS booth. They provide the fun-shaped pens each year.

The formation of CRMS dates back to the days when counties first became eligible for coverage through IMWCA and ICAP in 1985-86. At that time neither program had dedicated individuals to work with counties to talk about their coverage. Four prominent insurance agents with a history of being active in the county insurance scene formed CRMS to fill that need. CRMS continues to serve as that liaison today, working with local agents and counties.

In working with your local insurance agent, CRMS helps them understand the processes, procedures, and other considerations that are unique to counties. While agents have plenty of experience insuring business, cars, farms, and homes, very few agents have experience insuring their local county government (there’s only one courthouse per county except for Lee County – they have two). That’s where the expertise of ICAP, IMWCA, and the CRMS representatives comes into play. CRMS helps ensure both counties and their local agent take full advantage of their relationship with each other and ICAP/IMWCA.

Adair and Adams Counties were the first to join ICAP and IMWCA in 1986. Now ICAP and/or IMWCA serve 82 of Iowa’s 99 counties, with an additional 10 counties participating in the Heartland Pool. The numbers tell the story…governmental pooling is the preferred, favored county choice in Iowa! ICAP and IMWCA continue to grow, offering more services specific to the needs of counties in Iowa at no additional cost to the member (see ICAP’s latest Summary of Benefits – ask your local agent for a copy). In fact, the financial stability of these programs has never been better. Additionally, both programs offer cash grants to their membership.

The programs CRMS represent are endorsed by ISAC, and CRMS is an endorsed elite preferred vendor.

Two of three current principals of CRMS have served as President of the Independent Insurance Agents of Iowa, a statewide association for agents. These connections across the state and the combined knowledge and experience of the CRMS representatives, nearly 125 years, help counties know their agents have them covered.

ICAP and IMWCA are great examples of a stunning story of successful cooperation of local governments joining together to accomplish what none could do on their own. And even with all the success so far, to paraphrase Paul Harvey and the rest of the story, “the best is yet to come” for counties, ICAP, and IMWCA.