The Normal Town Council on Tuesday approved a measure to extend a municipal insurance agency program.
The Municipal Insurance Cooperative Agency (MICA) is an agency risk pool of municipalities and other public entities in Illinois. The program provides insurance coverage, including general liability, automobile liability, property, workers’ compensation, tax interruption, public officials liability, employee benefits liability, criminal acts and cyber liability to the town.
The current term for MICA expires in April 2026. Approval of the measure both allows the agency to continue until 2038 and acknowledges some changes to the organization’s bylaws.
The measure was the only agenda item aside from approving meeting minutes and town expenditures during the 15-minute meeting that was held on Tuesday because of the Labor Day holiday.
The measure does not obligate any member municipality to stay for the full duration of the extended term. One significant bylaw change was reducing the notice required for a member to leave the agency to 120 days, rather than one year.
Andrew Huhn, the town's finance director, said the other members of MICA are approving identical measures to affirm a continuation of the agency.
Micromobility concerns
Before adjourning, council member Kathleen Lorenz spoke about electric bicycles and scooters in Normal. She said she's been seeing them more frequently recently, namely around the Illinois State University campus.
An Illinois law passed in 2024 requires low-speed electric scooter operators to be age 16 or older and have a valid driver’s license, instruction permit or state identification card. The law also provides requirements for lamps or reflectors during nighttime use.
The Town of Normal has not yet formally allowed E-scooters due to safety concerns. City manager Pam Reece said the elimination of lawsuit protections for municipalities kept Normal from pursuing updates to local laws after the state law passed.
“To my knowledge, we don't have clear guidelines on whether we have opted in or out of the state laws recently, and if we have, then I'm not sure that we've rolled out that communication very effectively,” said Lorenz. “Because I'm not sure when I see these and when people ask me whether or not they're allowed.”
Lorenz floated the idea of clarifying town policy on E-scooters and E-bikes in a future council work session.
