The analysis

I will not reproduce the full seven paragraphs here; the text is available in our records. I will instead summarize the carrier's loss-driver narrative:

1. The Glockenspiel remains, per the carrier's actuarial review, a "well-maintained 1977-vintage Seth Thomas tower-clock assembly in satisfactory mechanical condition." No observed increase in mechanical-failure loss frequency is cited.

2. The Chamber's 2025 claim history is, per the narrative, "clean" (zero submitted claims against the rider in the 2025 policy year).

3. The narrative notes, at the top of paragraph four, that the rider's 2026 increase is being driven by "increased intangible reputational and liability exposure arising from external-governance uncertainty in the public operating environment of the covered instrument."

4. Paragraph five expands on this: "The carrier's regional underwriting review of calendar year 2025 identified no fewer than three separate formal White County Board of Commissioners resolutions (Resolution 2025-11 of October 2025, and the subsequent 2026-41, 2026-42, and pending 2026-43 submissions) in which the operating schedule or electrical consumption of the covered instrument was the subject of direct governmental regulatory action. The cumulative effect of such ongoing regulatory uncertainty is, per the carrier's reserve methodology, a modest upward adjustment in the rider's expected-loss cost."

5. Paragraph six identifies the specific source of the regulatory uncertainty: "the pattern of resolutions is substantially attributable to a single commissioner."

6. Paragraph seven concludes with the rate determination.

The hand-written margin note — in blue ballpoint pen, in the right- hand margin beside paragraph six — reads, in full: "Commissioner Henneman."

The handwriting is that of Liberty Mutual Commercial Southeast Regional Underwriting Director Mr. Clifford Renwick, per a handwriting sample I obtained from the carrier's corporate communications office for comparison.

The carrier's response

Liberty Mutual Commercial's media-relations office, reached by email Thursday afternoon, declined to comment on individual policy-holder rate determinations. I submitted a follow-up asking whether Mr. Renwick's hand-written margin note was intended to be included in the Chamber's delivered document. The corporate communications office responded at 4:47 p.m. Friday, in full:

"Mr. Renwick's internal annotation on the renewal quote was not intended for release to the policy holder. The annotation was the product of the carrier's internal underwriting workflow. Its inclusion in the delivered document was an administrative oversight. We have no further comment."

Chamber response

Helen Chamber Executive Director Willa Mackey, reached by telephone Thursday evening, declined to comment on the rider's 2026 premium or on the hand-written margin note. She indicated that the Chamber's board would "review the renewal in due course."

Commissioner Dale Henneman, reached separately Friday morning and offered the opportunity to comment on the carrier's assessment of his resolutions' contribution to the Chamber's insurance costs, said: "The work continues."