The in basket: Kim Rye wrote to say, “On August 7, I was on
McWilliams Road making a left turn onto Highway 303. The county
truck came up the road past me spraying lines the entire time.
“No problem, that’s their purpose. (But) I realized when I
returned home that the paint had over-sprayed onto my car from
front to back.
“When the county was notified, they sent me information on how
to remove the paint myself. Evidently, this happens quite
frequently. Following the instructions, I was not able to remove
the paint from my car or the molding without potentially damaging
the finish.
“So the county’s protocol for the auto owner to receive
professional help with the paint removal is to have the owner get
two estimates from a repair shop, fill out a damage claim that can
be downloaded from their website and have it notarized. You are to
send said documents to the Risk Management Department for review.
They will then get back to you.
“I don’t understand why it was MY responsibility to drive all
over the county to get estimates and to find a notary,” Kim said.
“Gas is not cheap. If I worked a full-time job, I would have lost
time and possibly money from work. If this happens as often
as it appears, why don’t they contract out with a company that can
take care of this in a timely manner?
“One of the places I went to for an estimate is contracted by
the city of Bremerton to handle these situations. There were AT
LEAST four to five other cars in the turn lane, as well. “The
lowest estimate I got was over $200. This is a very expensive
problem. Maybe they should ‘re-think’ a better way to handle the
line-painting as well as keeping from having to deal with the
aggravation AFTER the fact,” she concluded.
The out basket: Tim Perez, Kitsap County risk manager, says,
“While we understand that it can be cumbersome for some individuals
to go through the claims process, Kitsap County is required to
abide by all laws related to filing a tort claim against a
government entity.
“Until a claim is investigated and filed through the appropriate
channels, we cannot say if it will be a claim which the county
would be accepting liability for or not. As it is our
responsibility to protect the county’s assets and to ensure
appropriate use of taxpayer dollars, every claim we receive must be
investigated and determined based upon the circumstances
surrounding the alleged incident.
“Kitsap County makes every effort to investigate claims quickly
and if it is determined that the county is at fault, we attempt to
remedy the situation as quickly as possible.
“In the case of paint claims, since we do not know at the time
of the call if the claim will be covered, we offer the paint
removal instructions so that the caller is able to take immediate
action to mitigate their damages in case they are responsible for
the removal cost.
“The paint removal instructions are easy to understand and
follow, and more often than not remove the paint completely without
any further effort on the part of the caller or the county. If the
driver follows the paint removal instructions, additional detail
services are generally not necessary.”
The law doesn’t prohibit the county from establishing a contract
with a single provider, such as Kim suggests, Tim said. “This is a
good suggestion and Risk Management will assess whether an
agreement of this nature would be feasible and appropriate,” but he
said he doesn’t intend to introduce it for now.
“At the time of an incident, Risk Management does not know
whether it will be a covered claim,” he said. “If indeed it is a
covered claim, the remedy may not always be routine and therefore
specific arrangements may need to be made to assist the
individual.”