The MTMIC Board of Directors is pleased to inform you that at the last Board Meeting the Board Members unanimously passed a resolution setting the stage for a Policyholder’s Dividend in the first quarter of 2015. Final determination of the dividend will be made in February 2015 once the 12/31/14 financial results are finalized. It is anticipated that the Policyholder Dividend will be based on policyholder premiums paid with eligibility determined by account loss history. While we do not yet have year-end results and final determination of the dividend, the Board Resolution is the first step in the process of a Dividend Declaration for early 2015.
2014 MTMIC Annual Members meeting:
Location: St. John’s, Plymouth
Surveys were given to each attendee. The comment on the meeting location – all checked “Excellent”. Hand written comments added “St. John’s is Awesome”, “Very Nice, and “Keep the same location”. Food also had unanimous “Excellent” grading.
Our guest speakers were: Keith Castora, Workers Compensation Claims Magistrate and John Harris, President of Shadow Investigations. Both were informative. John had interesting investigations stories that were enjoyed by all. For full disclosure, a couple surveys commented that the audio system needed to be turned up for the Magistrate as he was soft spoken and hard to hear. We will have a more rapid response to the speaker system next year.
General comments about the meeting:
“The meeting location was beautiful. I enjoyed my first time at the annual members meeting.”
“I was happy I attended and wish I had come in the years past. It (the meeting) moved quickly and was time well spent. Also I enjoyed the networking opportunities with other members, including Board Members.”
“This was my first time attending the Annual Meeting and it was a very positive experience! The site, food spectacular and the hospitality was excellent. Looking forward to 2015.” The plans have already begun for next year as we have already reserved our meeting rooms at St. John’s. When it gets closer to the meeting date, we will give you specific information and hope you will put this on your list of things to do.
Best Part of my Job
Every job and profession has fun parts and not so fun parts. For me ranking in the top three of fun parts is visiting our policyholders/ owners and seeing first-hand what they build. This was true 40 years ago when I was a young insurance auditor/Loss Control representative and remains true today. Recently I joined Travis Halsted, one of our Loss Control Representatives on a regular policyholder visit. On this selected day, I was going to Dowding Industries in Eaton Rapids. My job was to let my technician do his job and for me to listen and learn. Well I found our contact at Dowding, Andy, to be technically oriented, focused and enthusiastic. My curiosity of their company caused me to break my silence. I first learned the formation of the company and family history dating back nearly 50 years. Still today, the founder’s daughter remains the Chief Executive Officer for the Company. Their 3 building complex employs 171 Michiganders. During our tour/inspection, I found Andy knew their process, their equipment and every staff member by name.
All three facilities encompass work (metal stamping, large-scale precision machining and fabrication) which can be extremely dangerous if proper attention and emphasis is not given to ensuring work is completed with a “safety-first” mentality. Andy’s focus on ZERO losses is apparent from his first sentence. It involves a positive safety culture – a Company position that we will return workers home safely after each and every shift.
Net impact – last year Dowding reduced their losses by half. This year, they are on track to do the same again, yet won’t be satisfied until they attain zero injuries.
Our congratulations to all the employees at Dowding Industries.
BTW – I asked Andy several times if I could operate some of their equipment. I was rebuffed with each request. Guess their safety culture applies to outside visitors as well as their staff.
