Dubuque County's insurance carrier advised county officials that it will likely not cover the loss of more than $524,000 meant for the city of Dyersville, Iowa, that was intercepted by a third party late last year.
According to a letter obtained by the Telegraph Herald that was written to county officials by insurance carrier Iowa Communities Assurance Pool, the method by which Dubuque County transferred the funding — which came from Dubuque County's nearly $19 million allotment from the federal American Rescue Act — to Dyersville and how it was intercepted by a third party does not qualify for the cyber crime coverage plan the county had in 2023.
The letter, dated Oct. 2, was sent to Dubuque County Board of Supervisors and Dubuque County Attorney Scott Nelson and was intended to be shared publicly by Supervisor Wayne Kenniker at the Board of Supervisors meeting today .
"I think the people have requested and the people deserve the information that we have been provided by our insurance company, regarding the claims that we have filed," Kenniker said during today's meeting. "That is public information. There is no reason for it not to be public information."
But Supervisors Harley Pothoff and Ann McDonough insisted that ICAP had asked county officials not to share the information. Both maintained that stance when speaking to the Telegraph Herald this afternoon.
"I was advised by our insurance carrier to wait a couple of weeks until the issue was finalized," Pothoff said in an interview. "I was told (ICAP) are working through another avenue (to cover the county). My job is to protect Dubuque County from lawsuits ... Obviously some people don’t think they need to do that."
Kenniker shared the letter from ICAP after the meeting, per the TH's request.
Members of the public, including local Republicans, again blamed County Auditor Kevin Dragotto — a Democrat running for re-election against a Republican challenger this November — for the missing funds. Dragotto has regularly provided communications, including those among a member of his office, Dubuque County Budget Director Stella Runde, Dyersville staff and the third-party interceptors, which resulted in the money being intercepted since the loss of the funds was made public.
