MARINETTE COUNTY, Wis. (WFRV) – The Town of Silver Cliff has closed down all of its town facilities amid a lapse in insurance coverage.
Officials posted on the town’s website that as of midnight on March 9 all town facilities have temporarily closed. The town chairperson told Local 5 News that the fire department is working with nearby Athelstane to continue to provide fire protection coverage.
“Our insurance company dropped us because we had several claims, and we had one large claim,” town chair Dee Farley said. “Well we lost our fire department that was a very large claim, we had some grants involved but the rest of it was insurance money.”
A tornado ripped through the town of Silver Cliff back in the summer of 2022 causing significant damage to the fire station.
Town of Silver Cliff chairperson Dee Farley told Local 5 News that their insurance provider told them in January that they would no longer provide coverage for the town of Silver Cliff.
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Farley said they started looking for a new insurance provider in January, but haven’t been able to find one yet.
“You have a lot of things going on, a town hall, a community center, fire department, emergency services building, so you have a lot of things that they need to look at,” she told Local 5 News when asked why it’s been so difficult to find a new insurance company. “We have a plan if things don’t work out with one insurance company we might go with two, we will work it out.”
Local 5 News received a statement from the town of Silver Cliff’s previous insurance company:
Rural Mutual Insurance remains committed to supporting municipalities across Wisconsin and works closely with local leaders to ensure communities have access to appropriate insurance coverage.
Situations involving municipal insurance can involve complex contractual and legal factors, and we encourage municipalities to work closely with their advisors and associations when securing coverage.
Confidentiality and privacy policies prevent us from discussing any specifics related to this inquiry.
-Rural Mutual Insurance
