LITTLE VALLEY — Cattaraugus County was presented with the 2025 Risk Management Award by New York Municipal Insurance Reciprocal (NYMIR) at the 2025 New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC) Centennial Fall Seminar in Niagara Falls.

The NYMIR Risk Management Award is an honor given annually in recognition of a member county that has displayed a high level of commitment to sound risk management, safety and training efforts.

The award was presented to Ashley Smith, county attorney, and the risk management team, including Katherine Lombardo, senior investigator; Stephanie Gruber, investigator; Thomas Ruper, safety engineer; and Kelsey Barber, personnel and safety trainer.

“I want to commend Ashley and her team for the great job they do every day for the taxpayers of the county,” said M. Andrew Burr, chairman of the legislature. “Your efforts are greatly appreciated, and the results speak volumes of the quality of your work and oversight over the department and the staff.”

The Cattaraugus County Legislature, pursuant to Local Law 5 of 2021, established risk management functions within the office of the county attorney and is comprised of a senior investigator, an investigator, a safety engineer and a personnel safety trainer.

“These risk management employees have been invaluable and have worked diligently to investigate claims, develop mediation plans to reduce risk and offer trainings to all county employees to ensure overall safety,” a commendation from the legislature stated.

Meanwhile, the county has enacted safety committees in several departments, including the county-owned nursing homes. Since 2022, the county has utilized the NYMIR Online University for staff development, which has given employees access to over 400 safety topics. And since 2020, there has been a reduction in legal action against the county nursing homes, resulting in tremendous savings to the taxpayers of Cattaraugus County.

“We’ve had a multitude of issues that we as a legislature have had to discuss and to tackle as a legislature,” Burr said. “The risk management is always first on the job, and often in very unpleasant situations, having to do unpleasant investigations and work in a lot of tough, hostile environments.”

Smith thanked the legislature for trusting her office with the important task of risk management in the county. She said they’ve all worked hard to get where they’re at, commending the risk management staff for the effort they’ve put in over the years.

“From developing risk management to helping me with the vision I had for it, I feel so thankful that I’ve been able to work with them and see the work that they do,” she said.

Smith also acknowledged the work done with the county administrator’s office and human resources in the area of risk management, saying the collaboration has been a team effort to develop processes for the county.

“And also, to all the department heads who have cooperated and listened to me tell them, ‘You need to get ahold of us immediately’ and use us, and they’ve done an amazing,” she added. “Thank you to everyone, but mostly thank you to the team that I work with.”