[0:03] All right, it's six o'clock.

[0:05] Call this meeting of the Berry Town Select Board

[0:07] for Tuesday, September 8th, 26.

[0:10] To order. I'd like to invite all of you to rise

[0:13] and join me in saying of the Pledge of Allegiance,

[0:17] I pledge allegiance to the flag

[0:19] Of the United States of America to the Republic

[0:22] for which it stands, unleash under God, indivisible,

[0:26] liberty and justice

[0:28] For all.

[0:30] We say it every time there's a room full. Sure. Sounds good.

[0:35] To help us with that. Would look for

[0:40] discussion on the agenda.

[0:44] I would move to approve the agenda as presented.

[0:47] Second, that There was some conversation about the need

[0:52] for executive session.

[0:54] I don't believe there is a need

[0:56] for executive session at this point.

[0:59] Willing to make a friendly amendment.

[1:03] Sure. I would amend my motion

[1:05] to approve the agenda absent the executive

[1:08] session. Item 16.

[1:11] Second Is that term executive session

[1:15] Means we go into a session of discussion that is not

[1:20] public record after we make some decision to come out of it

[1:24] and announce what the Yeah.

[1:26] Often related to personnel or contracts, things like that.

[1:30] Legal things that hinder the town if it were public

[1:33] information in advance.

[1:34] Okay.

[1:37] Alright. We have a motion

[1:38] and a second as long as there's no other discussion.

[1:42] All those in favor say aye.

[1:44] Aye. Aye.

[1:51] Ock. Aye.

[1:56] You guys have it. We'll move on to

[2:03] approving the August 25th, 2026 meeting minutes.

[2:11] Yeah, I would move to approve the,

[2:18] the August 25th, 2026 meeting minutes with minor grammatical

[2:23] and spelling corrections as deemed necessary by the clerk.

[2:26] I would second that. We have a motion in a

[2:28] second there.

[2:30] Any discussion? Mr. Chair?

[2:34] You, you all set?

[2:36] I am good. I did not have anything for Tina this week.

[2:39] Thank you. Hearing no discussion.

[2:42] All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye.

[2:45] Aye. Ms. It improved.

[2:50] Someone would like to do announcements.

[2:54] Can I do that? Absolutely.

[2:56] The first of two sewer installments

[2:57] is due on September 15.

[2:59] Second installment is due March 15th, 2027.

[3:02] All payments must be received

[3:04] by the 4:30 PM on the due date.

[3:06] Otherwise they'll be considered late.

[3:08] This means any payments that arrive by mail

[3:10] or placed in the Dropbox after the due date

[3:12] and time will not be timely.

[3:14] If you have any questions, please feel free

[3:15] to contact the town clerk's office at 8 0 2 4 7 9 9 3 9 1.

[3:21] Also, the bulk, the full bulk trash collection is scheduled

[3:24] for Saturday, September 19th at the Public Works Garage.

[3:28] This service is available exclusively

[3:30] for Berry Town residence

[3:31] and provides an affordable way to dispose of large,

[3:33] bulky items that cannot be collected

[3:35] during the regular weekly trash pickup

[3:37] or placed in trash bags.

[3:39] More information on what items can

[3:40] and cannot be disposed of along with newly updated rates.

[3:43] Please check the August newsletter or visit berry town.org.

[3:47] Remember to bring an identification document

[3:49] that verifies your residency, such as a tax bill

[3:51] or utility bill, as this requirement will

[3:53] be strictly enforced.

[3:56] Thank you. Tracy, are there any other announcements?

[4:00] I have none. Okay.

[4:04] I'm guessing that we may have some guests here for something

[4:07] that is not on our agenda.

[4:10] Who would like to start? First, I would ask that you come up

[4:14] to the center table, identify yourself

[4:17] and then present us with what you'd like.

[4:23] Okay. I'm Laura Burner

[4:26] and I want to thank you for the opportunity to come

[4:29] and express my concern for the removal

[4:32] of the basketball court at the

[4:34] Upper Graniteville playground.

[4:36] I've lived next to the basketball court for my life,

[4:39] my entire life, so I'm very familiar with the activity

[4:42] and uses of the playground.

[4:46] I think, I think we have

[4:51] to be careful when making decisions that affect children.

[4:57] And I believe we should make every effort reasonable

[5:02] to find resolutions rather than

[5:07] accept a loss such as this

[5:10] that affected the children so much.

[5:13] In the last couple of weeks since the court has been gone,

[5:18] I've observed children coming up with basketballs, bikes,

[5:23] whatever, for other activities, and I met with a drawn face

[5:28] and a open mouth with their surprise that it's not there.

[5:34] That feels heavy to me

[5:36] because I, in 2000, along with all the other residents,

[5:43] you know, we raised money for our playground.

[5:46] We wanted to keep it going.

[5:47] We, we feel it's a integral part of our community

[5:52] to give the children a place to go, a place to exercise,

[5:56] a place to socialize, a place to meet friends, go

[6:00] with their families, which is so important these days.

[6:04] If you look back at the history of the playground,

[6:06] it's been there since 66 when the school was relocated from

[6:10] there to Berry Town.

[6:11] So it's been a part of the neighborhood for a long time.

[6:15] There's even people here tonight

[6:17] who participated on the basketball court.

[6:19] There was a time when there was games every night,

[6:23] either baseball or basketball or whatnot.

[6:26] Times have changed, you know, the, the court

[6:28] and the playground has different uses,

[6:29] but there still is a very important,

[6:33] it's very important piece to our community.

[6:35] And I think since our community has changed, we have a lot

[6:40] of people that live in apartments.

[6:43] It's not so much of a family community.

[6:46] Well, it is a family community,

[6:47] but it's not single family houses as much

[6:49] as it used to be before.

[6:52] There's a lot of people with apartments

[6:53] that don't have wands.

[6:55] They don't have the access that children should have,

[6:58] should have for recreation.

[7:03] So basically, I'm here tonight to kind of petition

[7:08] you, you all to work with us, the community, to get

[7:12] that back there as soon as possible

[7:14] because it's definitely a void.

[7:17] I've seen it and it's something that I don't want

[7:21] to see loss of, and I think it's reasonable.

[7:25] I think we, I think there is a resolution

[7:29] and there's other people here tonight, so I want them

[7:31] to express, you know, their without taking all the time.

[7:36] And I'll readdress if need be. Okay, great.

[7:39] Thank you.

[7:44] If I will say, if everyone is gonna speak, I will ask you

[7:48] to try to keep it under three minutes.

[7:50] Just if or if,

[7:51] and if you're all gonna say the same thing,

[7:53] then we'll just assume that you're, if you have two

[7:55] or three of you that make your presentation just to,

[7:58] otherwise we're here till 10 30 tonight. So Yes,

[8:01] I'll keep you here until 11.

[8:02] All right, mark Bernie, I'll keep this real brief.

[8:07] I Gloria's husband and, and I've lived there since 90, 94

[8:12] and we were, we, we did a lot

[8:14] of fundraising for that playground.

[8:15] The wilds helped, long champs helped, helped a lot.

[8:18] Melissa and them helped, you know, we, we, we put a lot

[8:21] of work into that playground and it's a shame what was done

[8:26] and how it was done.

[8:29] And I echo everything Lori says,

[8:31] and I just think that we need to come to resolution,

[8:34] like she said, and come with a way

[8:36] to put the playground back to the way it was

[8:39] and get a court put back in there.

[8:40] What's the, what's the shame of it? Just that it's gone or

[8:43] No, how it was done.

[8:44] How 'cause 'cause there was no reason to re remove

[8:47] that, that court.

[8:48] Okay. There was no reason for it at all.

[8:51] I've looked at all the other courts

[8:52] and they're all in about the same condition.

[8:54] It was just all of a sudden we came home one day,

[8:56] they just took it out

[8:57] and it was gone without looking into

[9:01] other options to keep it there.

[9:04] And that's, that's my concern, is

[9:06] that it wasn't looked into properly.

[9:07] And, and, and the public, we weren't informed properly.

[9:11] I know they had, you know, quick meetings here and there,

[9:13] but people don't look, look at the newspaper.

[9:18] I don't believe it's on the agenda or

[9:20] otherwise we would've been there.

[9:22] And that's, that's on us. Yeah,

[9:24] Well I was that one,

[9:25] Huh?

[9:26] Oh yeah, Laura was at the one

[9:27] and she was the one that showed up after the survey

[9:29] and then, you know, the survey they did.

[9:30] We won't even get into that tonight

[9:32] until we, we have more time.

[9:35] But I just, I just think that we need to come together and,

[9:37] and get that court put back in there.

[9:40] Thank you.

[9:46] My name's Melissa Deitz

[9:47] and I'm here at the basketball court.

[9:49] Also, just wanted to put into

[9:53] the thoughtful consideration that it is one

[9:56] of the lower income, it's the lowest income village of all

[9:59] of the villages and many times

[10:04] low income children.

[10:07] That's all they've got is their playground.

[10:10] And I grew up in Webster, bill

[10:12] and then I brought my daughter up in Graniteville

[10:15] and we have constantly used the playground

[10:18] and the basketball court for all manner of things.

[10:23] And now my grandchildren also live with me

[10:26] and they have been using it

[10:27] and they have met friends up there

[10:29] and the, the children have come

[10:33] to my house now to play

[10:35] because there's no playground, there's no basketball court

[10:40] for them to buzz around on.

[10:43] And also please consider we have no sidewalks.

[10:46] There's no other really safe place for children

[10:49] to ride their bikes.

[10:52] And also our geographic location would make it very

[10:55] difficult for children to access other playgrounds around us

[10:59] because we are on top of a hill.

[11:02] And it would be difficult for parents to

[11:05] have such a long distance

[11:07] and difficult physically distance for the kids to travel

[11:12] that are old enough to be by themselves.

[11:14] Great. So thank you for considerations. Thank you. You.

[11:21] I will. Thank you.

[11:23] Hi, my name is Kara Wild

[11:25] and I brought my grandson Cameron.

[11:28] Yep. Splits 50 50 time at our home.

[11:32] And he was unaware that the basketball court was taken out.

[11:36] He was putting his shoes on this past weekend ready to go up

[11:40] and my husband had to tell him,

[11:43] sorry Cam, you can't go up there.

[11:45] It was like, why not? What did I do wrong? Well, it's gone.

[11:49] Why? We don't really know why.

[11:55] So if you would like somebody to, a testimonial

[12:00] as to is it feasible to walk to Westerville?

[12:04] Is it feasible to walk to East Ferry?

[12:06] Is it feasible to walk to lower Graniteville

[12:11] for a 15-year-old, 11-year-old, 10-year-old, 7-year-old?

[12:15] No it's not. And these kids were using it this year

[12:20] and he went up almost every day, two or three times a day.

[12:23] Yes he did. To be with these new, to be

[12:26] with her grandchildren and the

[12:27] other kids in the neighborhood.

[12:29] And we do have a lower income,

[12:33] we do have people that are moving in, moving out.

[12:36] So the dynamic's always changing.

[12:38] So to say that there's no kids up there

[12:43] is just, it's wrong.

[12:44] It's wrong. There are kids up there,

[12:46] there are kids up there constantly.

[12:48] Whoever made that statement

[12:51] or thinks that that is such

[12:54] that they're just, they're wrong.

[12:57] We use it, we love it and we'd like it back.

[13:05] Is there anyone else?

[13:06] I'd like to make a statement from here.

[13:08] I think I'm gonna get through sentimental.

[13:13] I got girls in this, in this room that I played sports

[13:16] with back in sixties and seventies and eighties.

[13:19] The very hard girls I grew up here.

[13:21] My dad was Aquaman for 35 years.

[13:24] This is where I lived, this is where I grew up.

[13:26] My whole family has grown up here.

[13:29] It's impacted me greatly.

[13:31] Like, And

[13:36] I think this is, times have changed, this isn't the sixties,

[13:40] this is in the seventies, this is in the eighties.

[13:41] We didn't have cell phones, we didn't have cell use.

[13:44] You're seeing a lot of kids not partake.

[13:46] And I think this would help be helpful

[13:50] to keep them physically engaged

[13:53] and to have a better opportunity, a better court

[13:57] and a better, I've played a lot of sports up there.

[14:00] I've done a lot up there in those playgrounds.

[14:02] Back then we used to have 20, 25 kids come together.

[14:06] The Bennetts, the Longships, the Js, the Dunhams,

[14:09] I can go on and on.

[14:10] You're talking to somebody that's been here since 67.

[14:13] I've had five generation, four generations

[14:16] of the wilds that have lived in this.

[14:18] My dad's 35 years as a quarry worker.

[14:21] Her dad is a quarry worker. She's been married to me.

[14:24] Well thank God she stuck with for 40 years.

[14:28] And all of it has been in Graniteville.

[14:32] And it's like, I'm gonna get, I'm gonna get

[14:34] to sentimental so I'm gonna stop there.

[14:36] And bottom line guys, it's a safety thing.

[14:37] It's a safety thing. We just had a police officer stop

[14:41] and had to tell a child, you can't be in the road.

[14:44] You can't be doing this.

[14:45] The cars come flying off that hill,

[14:48] as the police will attest to.

[14:51] And it's a scary thing. It's a scary thing.

[14:55] Somebody's gonna get, get hurt.

[14:57] At least we, they could say, look,

[14:58] you need to go up to the playground.

[14:59] Go play up there. It's safe, it's surrounded by the trees.

[15:03] There's no worries there.

[15:04] But it really is bottom line,

[15:05] a safety issue for our children.

[15:09] I think I could, I don't know if you mind if I chime in.

[15:14] I think I can place some concerns

[15:17] and the fact that nobody is on this board

[15:20] or the recreation board, to my knowledge at least is

[15:23] interested in you speak up again.

[15:25] Yeah. Nobody is interested in closing down the playground.

[15:29] The, the situation that arose,

[15:32] at least from my recollection, was

[15:34] that the court itself was in native repair,

[15:38] pretty si significant repair

[15:40] because you can't have a bunch of cracks in the court.

[15:42] You can't have kids running around,

[15:43] twisting ankles, everything else.

[15:44] That repair bill came in somewhere.

[15:47] Guy, correct me if I'm wrong, I believe $50,000.

[15:52] So looking at that cost allotment

[15:55] and the town wide trend of basketball courts having

[16:01] seemingly at least anecdotal, lower usage over the years,

[16:05] it seemed a lot more prudent to, if we're gonna spend

[16:09] that kinda money, maybe a basketball

[16:12] court's not the best thing to use.

[16:13] You know, there's a lot of things that

[16:15] for that could be in place.

[16:16] You know, volleyball courts similar

[16:19] to the one that set up at the rec field.

[16:21] You know, I had thrown out tetherball

[16:22] and s other, you know, thing that could provide engagement

[16:26] for children and people in the neighborhood without it

[16:28] necessarily being the quote unquote basketball court.

[16:31] That being said, obviously there is some attachment

[16:33] to the, the court itself.

[16:35] I'd love Cameron, if, if it's okay to, for him to speak,

[16:39] I'd love to get your take on the use of the court, how,

[16:43] and maybe the use of the court outside of

[16:48] purely basketball

[16:49] because there, there might be alternatives to, you know,

[16:52] if kids are really interested in riding their bikes

[16:54] around the court, maybe we don't need the basketball court

[16:58] per se, but is there a, a mechanism

[17:01] or an alternative or, you know what I mean?

[17:03] Like if you had your cost is not a factor and you, you can,

[17:08] I don't know, maybe at least just volleyball

[17:11] and if not volleyball, then like just basketball.

[17:14] Yeah. Yeah. That's pretty much it. Yeah.

[17:16] And a lot of your friends enjoyed primarily

[17:19] basketball or Yeah. Yeah.

[17:21] Is met new friends up there. Yeah, I've been

[17:23] Japan. My guess. And

[17:25] That's another thing French established,

[17:27] What's been happening is he's been going up

[17:30] my dad, he's all by himself.

[17:33] He goes up, the ball starts bouncing.

[17:35] You guys know how loud the basketball bounces. Yeah.

[17:37] And then before you know it, there's a group of kids. Yep.

[17:42] And getting that interactive at this time of this time

[17:45] and where we live and how we live.

[17:48] It's good for these kids to get out and do something.

[17:50] I got out and played all the, a good part

[17:52] of the girls, a couple of girls here.

[17:54] And we had fun. We had fun. We were interactive.

[17:57] There was no cell phones.

[17:58] There was no com computer to get on.

[18:01] And we, we interacted with each other

[18:04] and that interactive person to person can call it

[18:09] really established good friendships down the line.

[18:11] That's, and that's not happening.

[18:13] Also a great place for kids to learn to ride a bike.

[18:15] Little ones. So I'm not talking about big kids

[18:18] going up and spinning around.

[18:19] I'm talking about little

[18:20] children learning how to ride a bike.

[18:22] Rollerblading. We've really enjoyed that.

[18:24] Skate bike, skateboarding and skateboarding.

[18:27] Learning how to skateboard. Yeah. Skateboarding. Yeah.

[18:30] May I, yeah, go ahead.

[18:32] Well, I just wanted to speak up a little bit

[18:34] for some people that aren't here that, you know,

[18:37] I see we do have teenage boys that come up

[18:40] and use the court quite often.

[18:43] I've, I I know for a fact actually the night

[18:47] of the ice cream social, there was actually some kids,

[18:50] a a couple of boys playing on the court.

[18:54] It is used, it is used for basketball and

[18:57] although there are other activities, you know, it's,

[19:00] it's again, like I said, it's an integral part

[19:03] of the playground that offers many uses.

[19:07] I also wanted to just let you know that I've

[19:10] reached out a little bit

[19:14] to find out like cost, et cetera.

[19:18] I gotta be honest, I didn't get the same cost

[19:23] as the $50,000 that I heard.

[19:29] I think there's a confusion in in what type

[19:33] of basketball court needs to be up there.

[19:35] This isn't like an NBA official basketball court.

[19:38] This is a playground basketball

[19:40] and like the one at East Berry. I, yeah, I have

[19:44] The clay court.

[19:45] The clay court would be a a a a good, I think way

[19:48] to go Clay court wouldn't be that bad either.

[19:51] Be more cost effecti more.

[19:53] I've actually reached out a little bit.

[19:55] I'm waiting for some replies on a couple of people

[19:57] for donations of materials.

[20:00] I'm hopeful. We'll see.

[20:02] I haven't heard yet with the, the holiday weekend.

[20:05] I haven't heard our, I think our community is,

[20:10] is really ready to be engaged.

[20:13] We'd like to be engaged.

[20:14] I know that, you know, this survey was put out.

[20:16] That may have been a start,

[20:18] but I, you know, that's informational.

[20:20] You get a lot of information with from

[20:22] that's gathering data, et cetera.

[20:24] But it certainly can't be the end result.

[20:28] And we're just hoping,

[20:33] I think the basketball court needs to be put back.

[20:35] Like I said, I've had people come knocking on my door.

[20:38] I live next door. And I think

[20:41] because also that, you know, I was heavily involved with,

[20:45] you know, raising the money previously.

[20:47] A lot of people remember me

[20:48] and they come knocking on the door

[20:49] and I haven't heard anybody say

[20:52] that they want it used for a different use.

[20:54] Is it used for other uses? Yes.

[20:56] But it is definitely still used for basketball

[20:58] and I think it'd be a shame to take that away.

[21:00] I think it offers a variety of ages to be able to, you know,

[21:05] get there and it's, I think we need

[21:08] to come up with a resolution.

[21:11] And I think you'll, you're hearing here tonight

[21:14] that there's definitely people in the community

[21:15] who are willing to be engaged.

[21:18] I certainly am. And so, you know, that's why I'm just here

[21:23] petitioning you guys to work with us here soon.

[21:27] I'm 65 years old. I'll volunteer to go up there and help.

[21:30] I got two things to say.

[21:33] A lot of upper greenville's getting neglected

[21:36] and we're getting put on the back seat.

[21:39] It's becoming really a bad spot.

[21:42] We're on the corner where I live. It's a joke down there.

[21:45] People raff. It's like we have transients moving in.

[21:49] We got places that are dilapidated

[21:51] and the town's letting it happen.

[21:52] And what do we do about that?

[21:54] And it seems like nobody cares.

[21:56] And it's just getting worse on

[21:57] that corner on from Cogswell onto Main Street.

[22:01] And Cameron, how did that make you feel when you

[22:03] see the, the court?

[22:04] When we I brought you up ground at me. Surprised. Surprised.

[22:07] And were you bumed, were you saddened?

[22:09] I, that's all I really wanna say. Yeah, I was. Okay,

[22:12] I'll take just a minute.

[22:14] I'll take some of their time. Short one.

[22:16] Yeah. So, so you brought up the,

[22:18] the it was in disarray couldn't be fixed

[22:21] basically, is what you're saying? No,

[22:23] I'm not saying it.

[22:24] It was the, the, the cost to fix it.

[22:26] Well no, that wasn't the cost to fix it.

[22:28] The cost that you were quoted was

[22:30] to replace the whole thing and dig everything up.

[22:32] It didn't need that. The sub base was, it didn't need that.

[22:34] Yeah, it didn't need that.

[22:38] I went around to the other pre playgrounds.

[22:41] Ours wasn't the worst playground.

[22:42] Ours wasn't the worst basketball court.

[22:44] There's other basketball courts with cracks like ours had

[22:47] with grass going at 'em with divots

[22:49] that go down the whole length of the court,

[22:51] which you could twist your ankles

[22:52] that are over an inch deep.

[22:55] They're all getting resurfaced.

[22:57] One two of 'em got resurfaced this year.

[22:59] All it had to be done in our court was fix the one dividend

[23:02] in one corner, seal the cracks, resurface it.

[23:04] You would've been all set, would've been a lot cheaper than

[23:07] to tear it down and replace it.

[23:08] That's all I have. I'm gonna

[23:09] Give the recreation director an opportunity to, to reply.

[23:14] I know you've, you've had

[23:15] conversations with some of these folks. Guys,

[23:17] You don't know me.

[23:18] I'm Guy Norwood and we did look at

[23:21] that when we put out the survey in November.

[23:23] It would've been great to have this kind of engagement

[23:25] 'cause we didn't get any

[23:27] responses when we sent out the survey.

[23:28] I didn't get a survey. Well, we sent it out to 90 residents

[23:31] and a 500 foot radius of the playground.

[23:32] So if you were outside that you didn't get one

[23:35] right off of it. So we

[23:37] 500 Foot.

[23:38] Anyway. So we, we, we sent that out.

[23:39] But when we looked at that court, it was the worst court

[23:43] as far as condition.

[23:46] We assessed all of 'em. That was the first one.

[23:48] It was on the list as a priority.

[23:50] 'cause they did, the subbase was failing.

[23:52] So we contacted Vermont Tennis Court resurfacing

[23:55] who've done a couple of our courts.

[23:57] They come up, they came up and said, we can't do this.

[23:59] It's failing too bad.

[24:00] He said it's just gonna continue to get worse

[24:02] because that depression fills with water.

[24:05] The water leaches through the cracks under the base

[24:07] and with Vermont heaves, that's what breaks the,

[24:11] the pavement, the sub-base under there was

[24:14] what was incorrect.

[24:15] And when we pulled it up, we noticed

[24:17] that it wasn't compact in material.

[24:19] So when it was put in, Lori,

[24:20] you said it was 20 years ago or so? Oh no,

[24:23] 1960.

[24:25] Okay. So, so

[24:26] whenever they did it, they just didn't compact.

[24:28] It wasn't the right material and it wasn't compacted.

[24:30] So it would've failed again with any kind

[24:32] of repair we had done on it.

[24:34] So we're looking the best use of the pound,

[24:37] you know, taxpayer dollars.

[24:38] And if we're gonna be repairing that thing every two years

[24:40] with extensive repairs, it wouldn't be worth it.

[24:43] So regardless of what we're gonna do with

[24:47] that place up there, it had to come out anyway.

[24:50] So if we're gonna be replacing the court, it would've had

[24:53] to come out anyway for a new sub base and redo it.

[24:55] So we could do it with clay,

[24:57] we could do it with another court.

[24:58] But it is gonna be in the $50,000 range.

[25:01] When you talk about pavement, the new nets, the goals.

[25:04] And if you can do, you can do

[25:06] fundraising and get a better price.

[25:07] I, I'm all for it. But out of the three quotes I got,

[25:10] that was the aggregate average. So,

[25:12] Well I, I wish we would've got that response before. Now

[25:17] I, and I agree.

[25:18] I wish I had gotten this response when we started this

[25:19] process last November.

[25:21] So that's kind of where we're at.

[25:22] And you came, you came to the rec board meeting. Yes.

[25:24] So I, and I do appreciate that

[25:25] I did the survey also.

[25:26] Sure. I have actually heard from other people

[25:29] who did return their survey and why they weren't received.

[25:32] I don't know. I know it's hard now with those little codes.

[25:36] I'm not a used a code. I'm not one of those type of people.

[25:39] I don't like using those. I hand mine in whether

[25:42] or not that was an issue.

[25:43] I don't know. I know we did have an issue with that

[25:47] when we did a survey with a committee

[25:49] that I was on the town previously, a lot

[25:52] of people complained that their, their responses were

[25:55] The last ice cream social.

[25:56] We gave out a survey last year,

[25:58] not this year, the year before.

[26:00] And we were at, we asked the same question that was on

[26:02] that survey that we sent out to everybody.

[26:03] What would you like to see? We got roller coasters

[26:06] and ice skating rinks and everything else in there.

[26:09] So that was all on the survey. All of the ideas

[26:11] that the residents had come up with.

[26:13] And then the last three questions, you know, what,

[26:15] what would you like to see the court done?

[26:17] Replace it, remove it, or do something else with it?

[26:22] I just think I did the last, I know you guys have

[26:25] to move on, but I will say I was present when the inspection

[26:28] was done with Vermont Leagues and cities, towns 2024.

[26:34] And I did follow up with the person that was there

[26:38] and he helped me understand what their, you know,

[26:43] position is and this and why they do these

[26:45] inspections and stuff.

[26:47] I did receive the report from Chris.

[26:50] I requested the report,

[26:51] although they said they could send it to me too,

[26:54] but I obviously didn't.

[26:55] It was a low risk and I, I think it was, you know, compared

[26:59] to the mulch, which was medium risk

[27:02] was other things at the court up at the playground

[27:05] that were medium risk, that were taken care of.

[27:08] I just think it is really, really too bad that

[27:11] that couldn't have stayed there for the kids

[27:13] to use at a low risk

[27:16] Until we, Until we, we could have done something.

[27:18] We, we addressed all of the issues on that

[27:21] and I agree it was a low risk,

[27:22] but we addressed all of the issues that were flagged on

[27:24] that report and had to, you know, take care of them.

[27:28] And the only way to to, to take care of that is,

[27:30] as I just mentioned, was replacing that.

[27:33] Removing it and redoing it. And sir,

[27:34] So where are you from?

[27:36] I live in East Bury. You do? I do.

[27:38] That's where me and my wife grew up

[27:40] because our parents got divorced and we had a really nice

[27:42] basketball outside of our, where I lived right outside.

[27:45] Right outside literally where I lived

[27:47] and out from Pleasant Street down there. We've

[27:49] Got, we've got six basketball courts in the town. I

[27:51] Know sentimentality is not gonna buy a brand new court

[27:54] at the price your but sentimentality and,

[27:58] and the time I've spent in Graniteville

[28:00] and all the good, good times that I've had,

[28:03] I've had numerous good times.

[28:05] But this is, this is just, I can't believe we're,

[28:08] we're getting put on the back burner.

[28:10] 'cause upper gran ball's getting neglected

[28:12] and we're getting put, I,

[28:14] I don't, I don't see it that way. I don't look at

[28:16] You wanna bring, if you have,

[28:17] you've said that a couple of times.

[28:19] It is. If you, if

[28:20] You want take a drive a Minute.

[28:22] Wait a minute. We're discussing,

[28:23] we're discussing the basketball court tonight.

[28:25] Yes. Yes. My what I was gonna say is if you wanted

[28:27] to bring a list of, of things

[28:29] that you feel are being neglected there, you bring,

[28:32] you bring them to the manager, you'll bring 'em

[28:34] before the select board

[28:35] and we'll have a conversation about it.

[28:37] But we don't have time to discuss that tonight.

[28:40] I think we understand exactly

[28:43] where all of you are coming from.

[28:45] Okay. And we will have a further conversation about it.

[28:50] I feel like the director

[28:53] and the board did their due diligence

[28:56] and I will apologize that it was a surprise to you,

[29:00] but it was warned.

[29:02] We had discussions about it at the select board level.

[29:05] So we need to talk about what to do. Moving on.

[29:10] I will tell you that we will do our best

[29:13] to get word out when it,

[29:14] we're gonna have conversations about it

[29:16] and when the, the rec board is gonna have conversations

[29:18] about what to do with that.

[29:20] And I don't think there is a plan as of yet. Guy, sir. Okay.

[29:25] So there's time. So we can start looking forward and,

[29:30] and instead of looking backwards.

[29:32] Okay. Okay. One more thing. I just

[29:33] Was curious, how many quotes did were,

[29:37] how many quotes were gotten?

[29:38] Three. I I get, I get three verbal

[29:41] Estimates from contractors to replace the court and

[29:43] They were all $50,000.

[29:44] They were between 45 and 70.

[29:47] And that was, thank you all for your passion.

[29:51] Thank you all for being residents

[29:53] and thank you for showing up tonight. Thank you.

[29:55] Truly. And I would just challenge everyone too.

[29:57] I mean if there's alternative uses that fit

[29:59] that neighborhood that benefit the children

[30:01] and benefit you personally out, you know, think outside the,

[30:04] the scope of just a basketball court.

[30:06] Maybe there's the things that the can

[30:09] You some portable basketball.

[30:11] Portable basketball.

[30:13] Buy some of those. Get 'em up to Walmart for 200.

[30:17] Oh, the the rolling ones. Yeah. Why not?

[30:21] That's about All we get.

[30:22] We'll probably get, you know,

[30:23] and that's, I think Lori made a good point about, you know,

[30:26] we don't need a full regulation spec basketball court.

[30:31] Are we looking for a a, you know, a one

[30:34] one shot basket? Sorry.

[30:36] So I'm, I'm Maggie. I grew up up, right? We always played.

[30:40] It does need to be basketball in my opinion.

[30:42] It's gotta be basketball. Like not, maybe not full court.

[30:45] 'cause there was a long time when we

[30:46] were kids, there was only one hoop.

[30:47] That was plenty fine.

[30:49] But it needs to be something that

[30:51] the older kids can do while the little ones play.

[30:53] That was always like what we did.

[30:55] It was like big kids go up,

[30:56] little kids play on the, the equipment.

[30:58] That equipment is very like low age range and it's great.

[31:02] I'm not complaining about it, but it's very low age range,

[31:04] low, you know what I mean? Thank you.

[31:07] Younger Children.

[31:08] Yeah. So it needs to be something that's more accessible

[31:11] for the older ones that safe

[31:12] and that, you know, as the comments of keeping kids

[31:15] outside and being active.

[31:16] That is crucial. Like as an educator, that is

[31:19] what we are pushing right now.

[31:20] And the safety is a huge aspect of it too.

[31:24] I don't wanna go visit my parents

[31:25] and be worried about seeing kids playing in the street on

[31:28] that busy, terrifying road

[31:30] where we've had high speed chases.

[31:31] It's, you know, it, I would hate to see something happen.

[31:35] I've got so many nieces

[31:36] and nephews that she'd go up there every single Sunday.

[31:39] So it'd be cool to see something. I agree the price,

[31:41] but it needs to be basketball, I think. Okay.

[31:43] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all.

[31:44] Lemme just point out, Chris, you've got my info.

[31:48] I certainly can be a contact person.

[31:50] I have expressed many,

[31:52] many times my vested interest in that playground.

[31:55] I mentioned it at the meeting to be contacted.

[31:59] Unfortunately I wasn't, I got over it. That's why I'm here.

[32:04] We just need to work together.

[32:05] But I, I do wanna continue this conversation

[32:08] because like I said, I have reached out already,

[32:12] so if there is some way that I can get materials or,

[32:15] or whatever, I'm gonna be right on you guys.

[32:19] Thank you Lori. All I'd be willing to do

[32:21] Fundraising.

[32:22] Anybody, if anybody did not sign in when they came,

[32:24] would you please sign in on your way out

[32:26] so we have record of everybody.

[32:29] Bob, thank you. Thank you.

[32:35] Hey Bob, this is Carol Hebert, just Chi in Carol.

[32:39] Hey, I, I wanted to thank everybody for coming.

[32:40] I thought that was terrific discussion

[32:43] and if we could get their contact info,

[32:45] the rec board is more than happy to work with them.

[32:48] Okay. Thank you very much.

[32:53] You can data mine the sign in sheet if, just

[32:57] for when we sent out, like I said, when we sent out,

[32:59] we didn't get any response from anybody.

[33:00] So it's great to see the community involvement

[33:03] and participation.

[33:04] I just would've been what?

[33:06] Nicer if it had, they had jumped in

[33:08] right prior to it and Right.

[33:09] I mean they feel slightly, but regardless of what we do

[33:13] with it now, it needed to come out.

[33:15] Right. And then, I mean it's,

[33:17] It's scary.

[33:18] It Needed,

[33:19] I didn't wanna say it was a scary

[33:20] basketball 'cause somebody was gonna get hurt.

[33:22] Yeah. And it wasn't repairable.

[33:24] It needed to come out and be replaced.

[33:26] So if it's gonna be replaced,

[33:27] what we did is the first step in doing that.

[33:30] Right.

[33:31] Thank you. A Clean slate.

[33:33] Yeah. And thank you for what you do. We appreciate it.

[33:38] Next moving on, I think is,

[33:42] is number seven just locked in for

[33:47] EMS director and forth?

[33:48] Is it just seven and eight? That's him.

[33:50] They guy I make every meeting he's here.

[33:53] I, we could probably make

[33:59] Shockingly yes.

[34:02] It only works for two hours without the power strip.

[34:07] Greetings I get

[34:12] You don't actually have power

[34:13] Over there, but it looks good right under there.

[34:15] That's why I brought my,

[34:20] I'm prepared you doing

[34:23] for me here. That made it worse.

[34:27] Make it worse. Anyway,

[34:31] how's everybody tonight? Great.

[34:34] About you. I'm fabulous.

[34:37] So it's been a while since this is my first hot seat since

[34:41] she's been on the board, so thanks. But you've been

[34:44] Here like four times since I was

[34:45] Gonna say Yeah, but not

[34:46] for my occasional up update. Just

[34:48] From the back of the room. Yeah,

[34:49] Yeah, just from off in the withers over there.

[34:52] Nice to see you up. So

[34:57] you have my, we'll probably having a chance

[34:59] to look out over too much, but we'll go over it.

[35:02] Overall, EMS department's running pretty well.

[35:07] We've leveled off our climb a little bit.

[35:11] So right now we're approximately a 4% increase in fall

[35:14] volume over last year at the same time.

[35:19] So that's good. It's not, it's a manageable increase.

[35:24] Recruitment and retention remains one

[35:26] of the significant strengths for our organization.

[35:28] We've maintained a 95% retention

[35:30] rate over the past three years.

[35:31] Our full-time staff, which is phenomenal.

[35:35] It's what training we have to do

[35:37] more institutional knowledge across the organization.

[35:42] Staff and ranks remain strong.

[35:44] Give us flexibility in hiring, give us time

[35:48] to evaluate potential, you know,

[35:50] full-time employees if they apply for positions.

[35:53] So that is all going well.

[35:57] The type two ambulance we purchased in October,

[35:59] as you'll see has proven its worth,

[36:02] we have over 40,000 miles on it currently.

[36:06] So that's going well.

[36:07] We had it for 10 months, so it's busy

[36:13] as we anticipated it would be.

[36:16] So that's the biggest benefit though, to having that truck

[36:20] is that 40,000 miles would be on our more expensive fleet

[36:23] currently if we hadn't purchased it.

[36:26] So that's, you know, in a, at the rate

[36:30] that we're using it in a three ish year cycle,

[36:34] we would've had to have replaced a full-size ambulance

[36:37] because that 150

[36:38] to 60,000 miles would be on one of those instead.

[36:41] So that's all going well.

[36:46] There's another agenda item, which is

[36:49] a little bit separate from what I'm about to talk about.

[36:51] But one of the things that we're working through

[36:57] with the Vermont Department of Health right now is we have

[36:59] received notice of intent to fund our

[37:03] global integrated health program

[37:05] through the Rural Healthcare Transformation grant

[37:07] to the tune of three quarters of a million dollars

[37:11] from November 1st through the end of July.

[37:14] So that's good news.

[37:17] The thing we're gonna consider next on the agenda is

[37:20] short-term agreement with the hospital to fund between

[37:25] now and the funding of that grant in November.

[37:28] So we can do that work.

[37:29] So my simple math puts it at

[37:34] one for, to run that for 12 months,

[37:37] It Seven 50 for seven months. Right.

[37:40] So it will be about a million for a year that

[37:45] what they did with the Rural Healthcare Transformation funds

[37:47] is they took five sites throughout Vermont.

[37:49] We all had to put in money.

[37:51] Ours was about 948,000 our request.

[37:55] And they level funded all five sites at 750,000.

[37:58] So, and then they moved the dates by a couple months

[38:02] to either offset it

[38:03] or some, you know, some people put in for 700,

[38:05] some people were put in for a couple million.

[38:06] It all depended on their model they were looking at.

[38:09] So it will, the idea is,

[38:14] you know, what can we do without amount of money?

[38:16] Not that we will under overspend.

[38:18] You know, we, it's here's what, what can you do

[38:21] with this kind, you know, with this amount of money

[38:22] and what kind of an impact can you have?

[38:26] So we'll rightsize the program for that budget

[38:28] and, you know,

[38:30] hopefully catch it all if we don't, we'll hunt.

[38:33] And, you know, they, they do anticipate funding in year two.

[38:36] So we'll see how it goes.

[38:41] Do you want to give a brief overview view of

[38:43] what that program's gonna be?

[38:44] I know I interrupted you or do you wanna do that in on the

[38:47] Next, I figured we'd do it for the,

[38:48] that's next on the agenda, so thank you.

[38:51] Yep. I would just have it in my,

[38:54] my list of things to talk about.

[39:00] Actually I can just read this section.

[39:02] We'll kind of give a quick brief over.

[39:03] So Mobile integrated health re represents an important

[39:05] expansion of traditional rural VMS.

[39:07] Instead of interacting with patients only

[39:09] after an emergency has occurred, our clinicians will be able

[39:11] to provide proactive coordinated care

[39:13] that may prevent a patient's condition from

[39:15] becoming an emergency.

[39:17] This approach can help reduce avoidable 9 1 1 calls,

[39:19] emergency department vis visits

[39:20] and hospital readmissions while improving communication

[39:23] among patients, primary care providers,

[39:25] home health agencies, and the hospitals.

[39:27] The program will not replace primary

[39:28] care or home health services.

[39:29] Rather, it'll help bridge gaps in health sy healthcare

[39:32] systems, particularly

[39:34] during the vulnerable period following discharge from the

[39:37] hospital or when other

[39:38] services are not immediately available.

[39:40] Our providers are already in the community around the clock

[39:42] and understand the challenges facing our,

[39:44] facing our rural population

[39:45] and have the clinical skills, equipment

[39:47] and mobility necessary to bring care directly to patients.

[39:49] So we'll be primarily targeting congestive heart failure,

[39:54] COPD and total joint replacements

[39:57] and working with the hospital when we do a total joint

[40:00] and elective total joint to get the patient outta the

[40:02] hospital day, you know, day of surgery.

[40:05] So making sure that they're recovering in rehab

[40:09] or at home in a safe manner.

[40:12] So can go over some more of that. On the next one.

[40:18] We continue to identify new ways

[40:20] to improve our billing collection efficiency.

[40:23] Continue to practice of reviewing every patient care report

[40:25] before it's submitted for billing,

[40:27] to make sure it's coded appropriately

[40:30] and make sure we're receiving the revenues that,

[40:32] that we're entitled to based on the service we provide.

[40:37] When I compose this, you obviously have it as our ne

[40:40] as our number nine I believe, but we've currently reviewed

[40:44] or are reviewing, finished reviewing a three year

[40:46] contract proposal from our billing company.

[40:50] So that's coming up to discuss a little later on.

[40:53] Hard to believe it's been three years.

[40:55] It's telling me. Yeah,

[41:00] it's been a, been a ride.

[41:05] The continued success of RMS department reflects the

[41:07] commitment of our employees, the unwavering support

[41:09] of the town, the manager, the board,

[41:11] and all the departments that support us.

[41:14] I do want to specifically call out the maintenance shop.

[41:19] They do a phenomenal job for us.

[41:21] So, you know, when, I will tell you in

[41:26] the three years that I've been doing this in this venture

[41:31] with you all, we have had

[41:36] very few mechanical issues.

[41:38] In fact, we've been called on, on multiple occasions by

[41:43] multiple services to go

[41:45] and help them when they have mechanical breakdowns

[41:47] and transport their patients.

[41:48] So I just have to say they do a great job for us.

[41:52] They keep our trucks, you know, in good running order.

[41:55] They're always on top of the maintenance.

[41:57] So I want to thank them

[41:59] and of course the food chief

[42:00] for doing all of our background checks.

[42:02] Yes. All right.

[42:06] That's worthwhile that

[42:08] because absolutely it's a challenge to do it outside.

[42:12] So now we'll get into some numbers.

[42:15] So we added three new full-time positions in July.

[42:18] All of those are staffed.

[42:21] We have added five new paramedics

[42:23] to our staff in the last year.

[42:25] All of them went through school in the last two years.

[42:26] They're all now licensed in,

[42:29] in various stages of the credentialing process.

[42:31] So that's been a, a rewarding

[42:36] but heavy lift for our organization to credential

[42:41] and onboard five brand new paramedics.

[42:43] But how many paramedics total for us?

[42:48] Full-time or total? I'll have to look. No, that's okay.

[42:53] I just within 30, yeah, a a few.

[42:59] And so now we're beginning

[43:01] to work on a recertification cycle.

[43:03] So you know, roughly half of our staff go

[43:05] through recertification cycle every year.

[43:07] So it's a two year cycle that will open next month

[43:10] and be completed by the end of March.

[43:13] As I said, a seven has been a great addition.

[43:17] A little over 40,000 miles on it since October, answering

[43:21] about 450 calls in that time period.

[43:24] Transports, backup calls, whatever.

[43:27] Our fleet is in good shape.

[43:28] As I mentioned, our FY 28 truck is on schedule

[43:31] for delivery next July.

[43:34] The SUV should be fully outfitted next week.

[43:36] The maintenance shop was putting the radio

[43:38] and siren in it this week.

[43:39] It's going for lettering on the 15th

[43:43] and the lights came in today.

[43:44] So we should have that all done shortly.

[43:49] Our revenues continue to be strong.

[43:52] We'll go over projection shortly.

[43:54] As I said, last update,

[43:56] and I'll reiterate this, update that QMC

[43:59] or quick me claims was acquired by digitech, which is a,

[44:02] a nationwide billing company

[44:04] and they've proposed a three year contract for you all.

[44:06] Did your consideration, when did that transition occur?

[44:10] So it's still happening.

[44:13] It happened a almost a year ago

[44:15] and it's still, you know, they're still changing the,

[44:19] our client success manager just sent me a notification

[44:23] on Friday to change her email to, so it's continuing,

[44:25] it was Quick med claims, now it's at Digitech, it's still,

[44:30] I presume it'll be through

[44:34] whatever the longest contract they have is

[44:36] and then they'll make, you know, once

[44:37] that contract is complete

[44:39] and they get a new one, then it'll

[44:40] finalize whatever that transition is

[44:41] Stitch Tech a publicly traded company?

[44:44] That's a good question. Curious

[44:47] Makes A difference whether it's private or public.

[44:51] I just dunno, Just outta curiosity.

[44:53] We'll have to, we'll find out. Thank you.

[44:59] But you haven't seen any changes? Nope.

[45:01] Other than email addresses.

[45:03] Yep. Same, same.

[45:04] Maria Maria, our clients

[45:06] and sex manager actually worked for Digitech

[45:08] before she came to Quick Me,

[45:09] now she's back working for digitech.

[45:11] So yeah, we haven't, I mean normal staff changes they have,

[45:14] you know, we even quick me had staff

[45:16] but nothing, nothing crazy.

[45:22] So if you're following along on your next page is our

[45:27] three year call average.

[45:30] So we, I did live through projected

[45:34] to be October based on our current numbers.

[45:36] So like I said, a little bit of an increase

[45:39] and we project, you know,

[45:41] about a 400 run increase over the year.

[45:44] At this point I changed it a little bit

[45:48] because now that we have five trucks on the road

[45:50] during the week, breaking it down

[45:53] by call number was very busy.

[45:55] I broke it down by percentage of call, percentage of volume

[45:58] that those stations answer.

[46:00] So our Berlin station,

[46:01] as you can see is answering about 31% of our calls.

[46:03] Our East Bay station, 28% our Williamstown station, 21%

[46:07] Southbury station, about 8% coverage, 9%

[46:11] and our, sorry transfer chart 9%

[46:14] and 6%

[46:19] our revenue projections for this year.

[46:21] This includes obviously the town per

[46:24] capita rates that are in there.

[46:26] I break 'em down, they all come usually,

[46:27] or most of 'em come in the first quarter.

[46:29] But I break it down throughout the year.

[46:32] So we are right now projecting to be

[46:35] slightly under our revenue budget by about $20,000.

[46:40] A lot of that has to do

[46:41] with last year we were a little over,

[46:43] but a lot of that has to do

[46:44] with our billing rates change July one now

[46:48] and a lot of our July

[46:50] and August revenue are coming from May and June billing.

[46:54] So once we get into September, october,

[46:57] we'll be picking up those new

[46:58] rates in the new billing cycle.

[47:00] So I expect that

[47:02] to change in the other direction

[47:04] in the next, in the coming months.

[47:09] David, your next page is our average

[47:13] per trip collection. Yeah,

[47:16] I'm sorry, can I back you up for a second?

[47:19] Sure. Your note says you're about 7% under expected

[47:22] revenues, but it's only 1.3%.

[47:25] Am I missing another piece to this?

[47:28] No, I think I, I wrote that

[47:29] before I added in the per capita rates.

[47:31] The per capita collection.

[47:33] Okay. So yeah, it's not, it it's not far under.

[47:37] Okay, thank you.

[47:44] Average per trip collection

[47:46] increases year, year over year.

[47:48] Which again, we expect Medicare rates go up,

[47:51] Medicaid rates go up, our billing rates go up,

[47:52] everything goes up, our bills go up, our fuel goes up,

[47:55] you know everything cost

[47:57] Of running business.

[47:58] Yep.

[48:02] And then the slide that Bob

[48:04] and Todd are most interested in are cost of operations.

[48:09] Presumptuous. What's that? Very presumptuous.

[48:12] Well you asked me about that.

[48:17] So this just shows what our average cost per, so

[48:23] I just wanna go over the slide with you

[48:24] 'cause it could be a little bit confusing if you glance over

[48:26] quickly the rates, the labor supplies, ambulance cost,

[48:31] that is per call not per hour.

[48:34] So, and then you look at our 1.68 hours

[48:37] as our average call length with,

[48:38] that's including our longest transfers,

[48:40] which gives you the cost per hour in the next column.

[48:43] So it's like you look at the labor of 180

[48:47] and then you're like, well why is it

[48:49] only 169 per hour if the, if the labor says underneath,

[48:52] 'cause that's per 1.68 hours.

[48:55] So the labor supplies and ambulances per call average

[48:59] and then I broke it down per hour cost.

[49:03] If that makes sense.

[49:05] Glad you explained it because it wasn't making

[49:08] Sense to me.

[49:09] You were about to tell me to sharpen my pencil.

[49:10] Yeah, so, so

[49:14] as you can see the trans, the transit,

[49:18] the type two ambulance asked us roughly

[49:23] $39 per hour, less of per hour of operation.

[49:28] So thank you David for doing this. Yeah, absolutely.

[49:34] I think it's, it's helpful.

[49:35] I think it'll be helpful for you as well. Yeah. Just to end,

[49:42] Unless you have something else on this,

[49:44] David, are you through?

[49:46] I think that's all I got for the moment. Okay.

[49:49] I know we've got more stuff Mr.

[49:51] Susie, do you have any questions

[49:53] or comments on this portion

[49:55] of David's presentation this evening?

[49:59] I don't at this time. Okay. Thank you Mr. Chair.

[50:04] Alright, thank you. The labor rate

[50:08] for the type two ambulance is less

[50:09] because that is not paramedic level coverage.

[50:13] Okay. Correct. That was all I had. Thank you

[50:20] Jason.

[50:22] It's a lot.

[50:27] I am good. Before we get into the, the rest of it,

[50:31] you talked about the

[50:36] long-term staff, lack of turnover,

[50:42] much as I hate to be

[50:48] nice about it starts at the top

[50:52] and it starts, it starts with you

[50:53] and you've got, you've got good people

[50:56] but there are a reflection of you and your management.

[51:01] So thank you. Thank you for what you do.

[51:05] Thanks for your, your care for the residents

[51:07] and your crew for the, the residents of the town.

[51:13] I'll get that out of the way now

[51:14] because I don't,

[51:16] I don't know if I'm gonna be as nice on the rest of this.

[51:19] Well as I always tell you, thank you.

[51:22] But I could not do my job without the support

[51:24] of the manager staff and all the departments

[51:27] and frankly the board, as I told you,

[51:31] I told Adam chair when she was leaving

[51:33] or previous, sorry Justin

[51:37] as I told Norma when she was leaving, been a wild ride

[51:41] and you guys have supported me

[51:42] through some well thought out.

[51:45] But you know, frankly, some people call crazy ideas.

[51:49] So we've, you know, we've put it all together

[51:52] and it's, it's worked out in our favor so far.

[51:56] So thank you all for the trust that you instill in me

[52:00] or put in me and you are in your head as well.

[52:03] So, and we, but you fall in your face then we keep going

[52:10] so far pretty well.

[52:11] Tracy's first go around with a wild ride,

[52:15] she's like buckle into.

[52:18] Alright, if that's it for the occasional report,

[52:23] we'll move on to number eight, which is to review

[52:26] and consider approving the mobile

[52:28] integrated health service agreement.

[52:31] Wow. Say that three times fast with the center,

[52:33] Vermont Medical Center to provide limited in-home follow up

[52:36] care by Berry Town EMS And that is one of the pieces

[52:41] that's tied directly to that $750,000 grant

[52:45] that you were talking about, correct.

[52:47] Mr. Nelson? Yes.

[52:50] If I may, there was,

[52:51] there was two other handouts in there aside

[52:54] from, from David's.

[52:57] I didn't know if there was a plan to

[52:59] put those on a future agenda

[53:00] or if we wanted to talk about 'em under the occasional

[53:03] Do you want me to, I was gonna

[53:04] say, do you want me to bring those up now?

[53:05] If you'd like to. Okay. Yes, that's

[53:08] what I thought you were saying that you're gonna get outta

[53:09] the way now because we're gonna be ninth.

[53:11] Alright, so we'll start

[53:13] with the cash reserve consideration first. Have that one.

[53:17] We do, We've

[53:19] Only seen this tonight, so for presentation Yeah,

[53:22] The both of these are just to talk about

[53:25] and then pleasure of what you wanna do.

[53:28] So we've kind of kicked this idea

[53:32] around unofficially I think a little bit,

[53:34] but I would like the board to consider

[53:39] at some point formally supporting the establishment

[53:41] of a dedicated cash operating reserve

[53:44] somewhere in the ballpark of 25%

[53:46] of our annual operating expenses,

[53:49] which would give us three months

[53:51] or 90 days operating capital.

[53:53] We've had my time as director, we've had

[53:57] multiple government shutdowns

[53:59] and when ha happens,

[54:01] revenues stop coming in from Med CMS, Medicare, Medicaid

[54:07] and one of 'em was fairly lengthy.

[54:10] The other thing we had was one

[54:12] of the billing clearing houses

[54:14] that billing companies use Nationwide

[54:17] had a significant cyber issue.

[54:20] And that took three or four months

[54:23] before they were back online to start getting, so we've had

[54:27] multiple 2, 3, 4 month periods

[54:29] where we didn't have revenue coming in.

[54:33] So, you know, some nonprofits

[54:36] or private services may have been taking out loans.

[54:38] Thankfully we didn't have to do that.

[54:40] But I don't, it's not a position I want to be in.

[54:44] So I would like for, you know, the board,

[54:48] we are a proprietary fund to the general fund and,

[54:52] and a, a consideration to give us that stability and,

[54:57] and put that into place as restricted

[55:02] fund balance versus unrestricted.

[55:06] So I wrote up a page there that talks about it

[55:08] and the benefits of it.

[55:09] It gives the town security, it gives security,

[55:12] it gives the staff security.

[55:14] I think it just is a, a place that if you guys

[55:17] to consider going at some point.

[55:27] Can I ask a quick question? Yeah.

[55:29] What's the downside to to establishing

[55:34] The, the only downside would be that

[55:38] it would be restricted for that purpose

[55:41] and it wouldn't be able

[55:42] to be spent on other capital projects.

[55:44] Which, but I think having a rainy day fund is,

[55:48] is is good business practice.

[55:51] We, we are responsible to a lot of families

[55:54] that we provide income and, and, and jobs to.

[55:57] We're responsible to seven towns to provide the service to

[56:00] and just having the ability to continue to operate

[56:04] in the face of, you know, financial strain, COVID, you know,

[56:07] any of those things that have happened to us over the years

[56:08] that we've continued to operate.

[56:11] But I think it would be

[56:14] stressful on all of us at the end of the day.

[56:23] I think it's a good idea. Sure.

[56:28] Do we have other questions?

[56:29] Nope, I'm with you in concept.

[56:31] I I think we will fine tune some numbers maybe,

[56:33] but yeah, I, I'm not, that's just a number that, you know,

[56:36] I did a bunch of research, asked some opinions, you know,

[56:39] around, across the nation

[56:41] and that seems to be a fairly common Number.

[56:45] More or less like, you know, I, I'm not tied

[56:48] to any of it right.

[56:51] Or I'm also not tied to that specific definition.

[56:54] If there's some someone that has more financial background

[56:58] that says, hey we can term it this way

[57:00] and we can use it, you know, as what, you know, whatever.

[57:02] So there's, there's some work we need to do

[57:04] to figure out exactly what

[57:05] that framework would look like and how we get there.

[57:08] But I think the concept of it is a good idea for sure to,

[57:13] to make sure that very tan MS is on

[57:15] footing here in the future.

[57:18] And it only makes sense to have that

[57:21] enterprise fund like this.

[57:25] I would say somewhere between 25 and 33%.

[57:28] 'cause three months is not a lot of time as we,

[57:32] we experience, we don't feel the

[57:35] the operating issues that you do.

[57:37] But when, when COVID hit, it was a, it was a major concern

[57:40] of the, of the board, the ambulance.

[57:44] The ambulance is just sitting there while we still have

[57:46] to pay people 24 hours a day to staff all of them.

[57:51] So just some, somewhere in that I would call 25% a minimum.

[57:58] I wouldn't argue that Mr. Chair,

[57:59] You know, I'm sure the auditors would also have some Yeah.

[58:02] Input on that too. You know, be getting this out there

[58:07] so we can have conversations about it.

[58:09] Figure out the best course. Good conversation.

[58:14] Mr. Susie, do you have anything?

[58:18] I think that David

[58:20] and his department has performed just

[58:25] as good as possible.

[58:26] So they, they deserve us taking a look at that

[58:30] and see if it would help run the operation

[58:34] and you know, give some comfort and security.

[58:37] So I'm all for moving forward with it.

[58:41] Okay. Thank you sir.

[58:45] Energy, you got anything else?

[58:47] Nope. Just what David

[58:49] and I have talked about it for a while

[58:51] and we're set to figure out the mechanism to do it.

[58:53] Okay.

[58:57] Next. Bob

[59:00] and Justin's favorite subject with all the

[59:04] fabulous discussion we've had about

[59:06] how well the type two ambulance is performing.

[59:08] Hmm. I would like to

[59:13] endeavor to have a conversation

[59:15] and get the, the feelings

[59:16] of the board about buying another one.

[59:19] So I'm here tonight to discuss that and get your feelings.

[59:23] But having my rationale would is having two of them,

[59:30] one as one is, you know, getting more miles put on it,

[59:34] having a second one available for off times when

[59:36] that one's out for maintenance

[59:38] or you know, as it gets all, well we had an SUV for that

[59:41] can't transport patients in it.

[59:45] And also, you know, there are more times

[59:48] seemingly than not recently that we are doing multiple

[59:52] long distance BLS transfers.

[59:54] So for example, one day last week we did three trips

[59:56] to Brattle on the same day.

[59:58] So the type two took care of one of those

[1:00:00] but the type the bigger trucks

[1:00:03] took care of the other two right.

[1:00:04] With ambulance. So,

[1:00:08] and as we continue to, you know, get busier, it would

[1:00:14] one, when we have other maintenance issues on the other

[1:00:16] trucks, these are still functional ambulances

[1:00:19] that we can operate and we are still doing a fair amount

[1:00:22] of transfers with the other ones.

[1:00:24] We're not gonna ever get away from that.

[1:00:25] But again, this having it as a backup

[1:00:28] but also having it to use if we need to do multiple

[1:00:32] of those trips in at one time, expanding our fleet

[1:00:36] but also being mindful of cost.

[1:00:39] This is the least expensive option of them

[1:00:43] not buying another type three.

[1:00:44] I don't think we need it. Six

[1:00:46] of those is plenty at this point,

[1:00:49] but having another truck would certainly benefit the

[1:00:51] department and the benefit

[1:00:57] of having to replace a one early last year leaves us

[1:01:01] with budgeted money for type three this year

[1:01:04] that we're not gonna spend.

[1:01:06] 'cause we bought it with cash last year.

[1:01:10] We bought it in March at last year's budget.

[1:01:13] We bought it early. So this year we budgeted

[1:01:16] for a type three for a hundred eighty three five, I think.

[1:01:20] But we're not getting the next one until next year.

[1:01:22] So we theoretically have budgeted money for an ambulance

[1:01:26] that not currently intended to be spent

[1:01:30] unless this conversation goes well

[1:01:34] and comes back for a, for a warned item at some point.

[1:01:37] And how much is a type two roughly? Fully outfitted?

[1:01:43] So the, the 180 3 5 for type three is just the truck,

[1:01:46] not any equipment fully outfitted.

[1:01:49] A type two would be close to 183,000.

[1:01:52] Like that's with stretcher,

[1:01:54] the load system and the equipment.

[1:01:56] Equipment. Just the truck

[1:02:01] is around 140 ish.

[1:02:03] So they're, they're 40 something thousand dollars cheaper

[1:02:06] than the type threes.

[1:02:11] How would that line up with your

[1:02:12] replacement schedules going forward?

[1:02:14] Have you done that trajectory yet?

[1:02:18] And if you haven't that's fine. So I have it from before.

[1:02:21] I wanted to get a full year with a type two

[1:02:23] because it's going to reduce the amount of times we have

[1:02:26] to replace the Type Threes

[1:02:27] because we're putting the mileage, like I said,

[1:02:30] in a three year period, we are re,

[1:02:31] we're saving one entire ambulance and mileage.

[1:02:33] It's a trajectory that type two's running right now.

[1:02:39] It's, it would only make it better on that aspect,

[1:02:44] but I haven't, I wanted to get in October, I'll next month,

[1:02:48] in the next month, I'll put all that into some documents.

[1:02:54] So you said we've got 40,000 miles on our

[1:02:57] type two right now?

[1:02:59] Right.

[1:03:01] Closer to 45 at this point, but yeah. Okay. Over 40.

[1:03:05] So you're saying that the savings in the operating,

[1:03:11] we've already

[1:03:16] saved enough money to buy the new, the new type two,

[1:03:21] If I'm reading this correctly?

[1:03:24] Operating hours. Yeah. Operating, sorry, yeah. Yeah.

[1:03:27] Operating hours. Got it. Okay.

[1:03:33] I was gonna ask if, if you can make some sort

[1:03:35] of a rough connection between operating hours and mileage.

[1:03:40] That's what I was trying, But it didn't work.

[1:03:43] Yeah, so we could try to, from, from

[1:03:48] what I'm understanding is, is one of these ambulances,

[1:03:51] basically we save a, a type of three

[1:03:56] every four years.

[1:03:57] Every three years. Every three years.

[1:04:00] Every three years-ish.

[1:04:02] We save that cost three full years.

[1:04:06] This is, this is based on the current timeline,

[1:04:08] which is about 10 months.

[1:04:09] So,

[1:04:14] So, and then, and then the replacement

[1:04:16] of these would just be the one 40

[1:04:17] because the equipment could transfer over similar to

[1:04:20] what we do with the, with the type threes.

[1:04:23] Yeah. Once we make that up investment,

[1:04:25] it would be just the cost of the unit itself,

[1:04:27] which obviously probably go up a little bit,

[1:04:29] but right now, I would say in two years now it'd be 150

[1:04:33] or less, whereas the type threes will be closer to 200.

[1:04:37] And do you expect these type twos

[1:04:38] to get roughly the same amount of mileage

[1:04:42] as far as longevity goes?

[1:04:43] As the type threes? They are still three quarter

[1:04:46] ton or one tons, I believe.

[1:04:48] I expect them to actually get more

[1:04:51] because they're, it's majority of it's highway miles.

[1:04:54] There's less hard starts and hard stops

[1:04:57] and most of the services I've talked to are running them

[1:04:59] around 200,000 before they get rid of 'em or more.

[1:05:04] Okay. That's all for me. Thank you.

[1:05:12] Long distance transports, David?

[1:05:15] Well, there's obviously a, a market and a need.

[1:05:17] There's not a requirement, right?

[1:05:20] I just wanna be, we are doing it

[1:05:22] because we have the capacity, but yeah, it's, if they call

[1:05:26] and need a transfer to Borough

[1:05:27] or Boston, then you can't do it.

[1:05:29] Someone else, they wait around

[1:05:31] until somebody else picks it up, right?

[1:05:32] Correct. So there's a few thoughts to go with that.

[1:05:36] And the first one is, a lot

[1:05:39] of 'em are, are residents, right?

[1:05:40] Of the seven towns we care for.

[1:05:43] The other one is, you know, much like the business, if

[1:05:48] I go into a hardware store

[1:05:50] and I need something, I don't have it, I go to the next one

[1:05:51] and then do I just go to the next one the next time?

[1:05:53] And, you know, it's, it's that making sure we provide the

[1:05:56] service as a package to our residents, to the entities

[1:05:59] that we serve as that, you know, relationship that we try

[1:06:02] to keep, but

[1:06:06] it's not a mandatory thing.

[1:06:08] Correct. In your future data since the scrub,

[1:06:13] I'd be, I guess I'd be more comfortable if I knew the,

[1:06:17] the actual number of conflicts, like

[1:06:19] what you're experiencing today.

[1:06:21] I mean, you, up to this point at least you said

[1:06:23] with the three transports to Rattle Barrel in one day,

[1:06:27] I like, I'm just kind of curious to get a gauge of that,

[1:06:30] the volume, the number of opportunities that are lost

[1:06:32] or potentially we, we still do 'em.

[1:06:34] It's just we, like I can tell you

[1:06:37] without any doubt in my mind every day, which,

[1:06:41] which this will not fix wholesomely,

[1:06:43] but every day type threes are going on.

[1:06:46] BLS transfers like, it, it,

[1:06:47] and we're never gonna get away from that.

[1:06:49] But we can reduce the, the number in which that's happening

[1:06:53] because three of our, well currently four

[1:06:56] of our five crews are in type threes.

[1:06:58] So it only stands to reason

[1:06:59] that they're gonna be doing some of that work.

[1:07:04] But, or cost effective in a type two. Correct.

[1:07:07] And so we could potentially shift more

[1:07:12] of that work into those type twos if

[1:07:13] we had another one available.

[1:07:15] But if, if the truck's loaded, it can only take one patient.

[1:07:17] So that one's gone and the other trucks are

[1:07:19] doing the work until it's available. Again,

[1:07:22] Transports are staffed by a EMTs and, and

[1:07:26] EMTs.

[1:07:27] EMTs, right now, the, the two full-time people

[1:07:29] that are primary assigned to that truck are both EMTs

[1:07:34] and then we backfill, they work,

[1:07:35] they each work four days a week

[1:07:36] and then we fill it with per diems might be an A MT,

[1:07:39] might be an MT, rarely.

[1:07:42] I don't EI don't think I,

[1:07:44] unless I'm on it that there's a medic on it if

[1:07:47] I go on run or something.

[1:07:51] But primarily it's EMT

[1:07:52] or a MT, then that truck is only licensed at the a MT level.

[1:07:56] If we, if they go on a nine one call

[1:07:58] and they need a medic, one of us will go

[1:08:00] and jump on it with you gear and go with them.

[1:08:03] We don't have it. The ventilators

[1:08:05] and that stuff aren't on it, so it doesn't cost much

[1:08:06] to, to up fit it.

[1:08:11] So this would, and this would involve adding two more

[1:08:14] Full-time staff?

[1:08:16] No, no.

[1:08:18] This would be one, it would act as a backup if we needed.

[1:08:22] But two, like if we, so right now we run five crews on

[1:08:25] during the day, during the week.

[1:08:27] So if the crew that was in one of the type threes,

[1:08:30] like the Southberry truck, there was multiple bra roll runs,

[1:08:32] they could jump in this vehicle

[1:08:34] and go do those ratable runs

[1:08:36] rather than take the type three.

[1:08:37] It's better on fuel mileage, cheaper

[1:08:39] to replace. It's, you know,

[1:08:41] But they're gonna be a paramedic or a critical care, but

[1:08:43] Then Be staffed by a medic.

[1:08:46] The Southberry truck.

[1:08:48] So our, our paramedic

[1:08:50] and critical care paramedics are a primary duty crews.

[1:08:52] And that's the three, that's Williamstown East Bay Berlin.

[1:08:56] And then the Southbury truck could have a paramedic on it.

[1:08:59] Minimum staffing is an E-M-T-A-M-T.

[1:09:02] And then the transport truck can have two EMTs on it.

[1:09:06] So it may sometimes have a paramedic,

[1:09:09] but more frequently it has an EMT and a MT on it.

[1:09:15] Just thinking about the labor cost on,

[1:09:16] I'm assuming that's where you were going, Mr. Chair.

[1:09:18] It, it, it was, and I'm, I'm, I'm just trying

[1:09:23] to to think through this.

[1:09:25] So if these two type two ambulances

[1:09:30] rolled at the same time for a transfer, one of them is like,

[1:09:35] unless you called in some staff, one of them is likely going

[1:09:38] to have a, a medic or, or a paramedic on it?

[1:09:44] Not frequently. Not during the day, during the week.

[1:09:46] 'cause we have two crews

[1:09:47] that are primarily not paramedic crews on

[1:09:49] during the week, during the day.

[1:09:51] Okay. We run five crews Monday

[1:09:53] through Friday during the daytime.

[1:09:56] Okay. That's the piece I was missing.

[1:09:58] Three of those are always paramedic

[1:10:00] or critical care every day of the week, all year long.

[1:10:06] The other two, one of them is maybe once

[1:10:10] or twice a year, has a paramedic

[1:10:13] and then the middle, it's, it's, it's who signs up

[1:10:17] for the shifts for the per diem staff.

[1:10:20] So, but primarily recently there's transports.

[1:10:23] They're not critical events. I mean Yeah.

[1:10:25] Or they do backup 9 1 1.

[1:10:27] They roam so that the Southbury truck is in the

[1:10:29] middle of our coverage area.

[1:10:30] So if Ling's on a call,

[1:10:32] they can go up there and cover the station.

[1:10:33] If East Spirit goes on a call,

[1:10:34] they can go cover the station.

[1:10:35] So they, to reduce our crosstown responses

[1:10:37] and keep our response times down.

[1:10:42] How soon if we discuss this?

[1:10:46] Well I can always ask you this. All

[1:10:47] we're doing is discussing right now. Again,

[1:10:50] Let's say, let's say we agree.

[1:10:54] How soon after that are you gonna ask for a fleet mechanic?

[1:10:57] You've got a date. I know you do.

[1:10:59] I I don't, I don't. He does what?

[1:11:03] Ask for a fleet Mechanic.

[1:11:04] No, I was like, they do a great job.

[1:11:06] I mean, we would just, we could certainly increase our

[1:11:09] contribution to the, to the maintenance, you know,

[1:11:12] budget based on our vehicle usage.

[1:11:15] But I don't need a mechanic on my staff.

[1:11:22] Okay. I be, if you don't have one,

[1:11:24] actually I have no need to go.

[1:11:26] I have no want to. I got enough to do.

[1:11:28] I don't need to oversee shop. That's a, that's Alan's job.

[1:11:32] He seems to be doing a great job at itself far. So

[1:11:36] I know that we talk about this every time we add another

[1:11:38] piece of equipment, but we knew do need to be sensitive

[1:11:40] to the fact that we only have two mechanics.

[1:11:46] Just, you know, food for thought.

[1:11:53] Any other questions on this item?

[1:11:55] I have a question that I'm afraid to ask,

[1:11:57] but I'm going to ask it anyway.

[1:11:58] I thought it was one he was gonna ask, but go ahead.

[1:12:00] No, I just, as we're having this discussion,

[1:12:02] I'm thinking like,

[1:12:04] and you're so good at fostering these partnerships,

[1:12:09] like, and I was thinking just of call trucking

[1:12:12] and like back hauls

[1:12:13] and like what opportunities are there for.

[1:12:18] Yeah, I mean if you're gonna Brattleboro, you know,

[1:12:20] you then you drop to Boston, you bring

[1:12:21] them back to Dartmouth or whatever.

[1:12:22] Like, I, I don't know that we don't do a lot, we do a lot

[1:12:25] of, we go to UVM

[1:12:26] and bring one back a fair amount of the time.

[1:12:29] Dartmouth not, we don't have a New Hampshire license,

[1:12:31] so we don't stay away from that.

[1:12:32] Okay. And Brattleboro, we don't generally,

[1:12:36] but a lot of times, and I'm using that figuratively.

[1:12:38] Yeah, UVM. So cam his crew up at

[1:12:43] the Comm center do a really good job.

[1:12:45] They're like, Hey, we like, they could coordinate all

[1:12:47] of our transports outta CVMC and he'll call

[1:12:50] and say, Hey, I know you got a truck on the way up.

[1:12:51] Can you grab, you know,

[1:12:52] while you're here can get cleaned up, get ready

[1:12:55] and bring one back to Woodridge

[1:12:56] or bring one back to beach or, or back to CVH.

[1:12:58] Okay. So we do, that's happening a fair amount. Yep.

[1:13:05] You guys wanna come hang out for a day

[1:13:07] and get a handle on what goes on down there?

[1:13:09] My guess correct, Jim, if I'm wrong, is

[1:13:11] that there could be a little more use to the,

[1:13:16] the mobile integrated health agreement.

[1:13:20] 'cause there could be some transporting from

[1:13:22] a hospital home too.

[1:13:23] Yeah. There may be times when we're like, you know, total

[1:13:27] elective, total joint or someone who, you know,

[1:13:29] needs assistance getting home.

[1:13:31] We may actually bring them home to get them home safely,

[1:13:34] get 'em into their home, get 'em settled

[1:13:37] and that would be a time these could also be utilized.

[1:13:39] And you know, in the wintertime they are

[1:13:41] all wheel drive, which is a bonus.

[1:13:44] I think you even said that on occasion,

[1:13:45] depending on the situation.

[1:13:47] Could be the SUV. Yep. Yeah.

[1:13:49] If they don't need a stretcher,

[1:13:50] we could certainly take 'em in an SUV.

[1:13:51] But if, if they need an ambulance,

[1:13:55] we could do it in the, in the transits.

[1:13:58] Okay. Gentlemen, online, any other questions?

[1:14:06] No, I would like to see a cost analysis of savings

[1:14:11] of both if there is some in labor,

[1:14:14] although it seems to be a variable as well as

[1:14:18] savings per hour running the type two versus the type three.

[1:14:22] And whether it is a re a return on this investment.

[1:14:27] $39 an hour savings For labor

[1:14:33] Or Operation

[1:14:34] Total.

[1:14:35] Both staffed, staffed with the,

[1:14:37] with the crew when operating.

[1:14:40] And then how about cost per operation?

[1:14:45] Gas or maintenance?

[1:14:47] Yeah, they definitely get better. Better gas mileage.

[1:14:50] It's a, with that truck getting fuel on the road,

[1:14:54] sometimes it's hard to nail down the exact, I talked

[1:14:58] with Alan and he sent me the spreadsheet and he's like,

[1:15:00] but there's a lot of gaps

[1:15:01] because if they're coming back from Brattleboro

[1:15:04] and they got another one waiting, sometimes they'll fuel up

[1:15:06] at Maple Fields rather than going to the pump

[1:15:08] so they can get the other one on the road.

[1:15:10] So it's, we're I gotta,

[1:15:12] I gotta nail that down a little bit more.

[1:15:13] I gotta go through the next, when I get the slip from

[1:15:19] Valley, I gotta sit down with Alan so we can look at a month

[1:15:22] and get that nailed down.

[1:15:25] Okay. All right, thanks David. Okay,

[1:15:30] Justin?

[1:15:33] No, I think I'm good. All set?

[1:15:38] Yeah, I mean, you're not looking

[1:15:39] for a decision on that topic tonight.

[1:15:40] You're just priming the pump,

[1:15:41] righting the seed, priming the pump. Good way to put it.

[1:15:46] Alright, number eight, which is to review

[1:15:49] and consider approving mobile integrated health service

[1:15:52] agreement with a central Vermont Medical Center

[1:15:54] to provide limited in-home follow-up care by ferry town EMS.

[1:15:59] That's the second time I've said that.

[1:16:01] We're gonna call it,

[1:16:07] it doesn't work.

[1:16:09] Sorry. Come up with something else, David.

[1:16:11] Don't think we can throw into an Akron.

[1:16:15] Alright, so this is something we've talked about extensively

[1:16:22] and it's finally been, these things take time between

[1:16:27] all the lawyer reviews on our end, their end.

[1:16:31] So that's been fleshed out

[1:16:36] by our attorney network attorneys.

[1:16:39] And so basically what this is, is this is a kind

[1:16:42] of an interim agreement, if you will, to

[1:16:46] do global integrated health.

[1:16:48] But it's just for, it's a focus group

[1:16:50] and it's more of a, let's focus on one thing

[1:16:54] before we get into the big grant.

[1:16:55] So this is just focusing on congestive heart failure

[1:16:58] discharges who

[1:17:02] otherwise don't get home health services.

[1:17:04] Either they didn't want home health services or whatever,

[1:17:08] or they're not insured and don't qualify

[1:17:10] for home health services.

[1:17:12] And it's for us to help

[1:17:17] provide care or oversight of them and support until

[1:17:20] and through that discharge window,

[1:17:23] getting 'em into their primary care visit, getting 'em

[1:17:25] to their cardiology appointment or helping facilitate that.

[1:17:29] And with a target of reducing hospital readmissions in, in

[1:17:32] that 30 day period is the CMS Gold standard.

[1:17:37] So this agreement is with the,

[1:17:41] with Central Vermont Medical Center to do that work.

[1:17:44] And it would be funded through them.

[1:17:46] I, I believe they have a grant also to fund it,

[1:17:49] but they would be paying us versus the federal government

[1:17:53] paying us to do it because it benefits them,

[1:17:56] as I've told everybody, including believe all of you.

[1:17:59] This is not necessarily a great business proposition

[1:18:02] because we get paid to transport people,

[1:18:04] but it is what's best for our community,

[1:18:06] keeping them outta the hospital, keeping them at home

[1:18:08] where they can recover and heal safely

[1:18:11] and not in the hospital.

[1:18:13] It's a goal of ours. It's a goal of the hospitals.

[1:18:15] It's a goal of all of healthcare.

[1:18:17] So this joint venture, we feel

[1:18:22] and hope will be successful to, you know, to care

[1:18:25] for the people that we care for,

[1:18:26] even in emergency situations.

[1:18:28] So that's what the contract is for.

[1:18:31] It pays us to provide that service while we,

[1:18:36] you know, tool up to the grant period,

[1:18:40] which will be a lot more extensive.

[1:18:51] This would cover all the towns we serve. Yep.

[1:18:55] And it, it's, it's the like CVMC catchment area, Washington

[1:18:59] County plus a little bit of orange, you know,

[1:19:01] like Williamstown orange, you know, the areas

[1:19:03] that we serve in, into the Orange County area.

[1:19:08] And you're comfortable with the capacity you have. Yeah.

[1:19:12] This, so this is

[1:19:15] a much smaller task with just CHF.

[1:19:17] So we're talking about, you know, a limited number

[1:19:21] of patients, 10 a week, maybe somewhere in

[1:19:23] that range versus when we get into November,

[1:19:26] it's gonna be a significant amount more.

[1:19:28] So right now, CBMC, for example, is doing

[1:19:33] the elective joints are, you know, averaging two a day.

[1:19:36] So that's 10 patients a week by itself. Right.

[1:19:40] And then CHF and COPD.

[1:19:41] So we're looking at, you know, triple,

[1:19:42] quadruple this number.

[1:19:44] So it gives us an opportunity to tool up to that level

[1:19:46] and yeah, this shouldn't be

[1:19:50] too much of a challenge to achieve.

[1:19:55] David, how does this change from this?

[1:20:01] When the grant is funding it, you still have

[1:20:04] to have an agreement with somebody.

[1:20:06] 'cause the, the term of this is I think a year. Yeah.

[1:20:10] So when we first started writing, this was a year ago,

[1:20:13] but, so this will basically, it's there, but,

[1:20:19] and it will still be in place and,

[1:20:20] and we could defer to it if we needed to.

[1:20:22] But the grant, we are the,

[1:20:25] we are the named entity in the grant for funding.

[1:20:27] So the hospital is not, so the funding will come to us

[1:20:30] and then we'll work in partnership with the hospital to

[1:20:33] 'cause the patients are the hospitals

[1:20:34] and they're gonna identify them and give them to us.

[1:20:37] But the source of funding is the Rural Healthcare

[1:20:39] Transformation grant, where this,

[1:20:40] the source of funding is the hospital.

[1:20:42] So they'll identify the patient

[1:20:43] and they'll, so will, there'll be a separate agreement

[1:20:47] because a lot of this talks about

[1:20:49] what, you know we're gonna do.

[1:20:51] They're gonna do, they're gonna, no, there's,

[1:20:53] so there's a bunch of templates we're working on right now

[1:20:55] with agency Human Services that will just, it will kind

[1:20:58] of be reversed in,

[1:21:00] but we'll, we actually will pay the hospital

[1:21:02] for some services under the grant.

[1:21:05] So it's kind of, it will pay ourselves,

[1:21:07] the grant will pay us and pay the hospital for like,

[1:21:09] you know, medical oversight, which here they will eat

[1:21:12] that charge in-house and we won't pay for it.

[1:21:15] So that, there's gotta be I think, two

[1:21:19] or three agreements that come with the grant

[1:21:24] for simplicity's purpose, it would be easiest just

[1:21:26] to look at this agreement as a CHV centric agreement.

[1:21:31] And then as the grant rolls out, we'll add addendums

[1:21:35] or additional contracts to address those things.

[1:21:38] Or is that not safe?

[1:21:39] No, this will be standalone agreement

[1:21:42] and then the grant will be a separate agreement

[1:21:43] because it's gonna be kind of flipped.

[1:21:46] We will be the payer, we will pay them for certain services,

[1:21:49] but then we'll pay ourselves, they won't be paying us

[1:21:52] for anything once the grant period hits.

[1:21:55] Right. I guess maybe I didn't ask the question correctly.

[1:22:00] I'm looking at this as almost like the pilot agreement

[1:22:04] for the congestive heart failures.

[1:22:05] But if we move into doing the joint replacements,

[1:22:09] there'll be an addendum to this agreement

[1:22:11] or Well, we right on this,

[1:22:14] it'll be completely separate agreement

[1:22:15] that will list all three of those things in it.

[1:22:17] This will be the backstop, basically, if something falls

[1:22:20] through that this is a template that Yeah, yeah,

[1:22:25] To that point it says

[1:22:30] that it's gonna provide certain in-home care services,

[1:22:33] it doesn't say just cardiac in

[1:22:38] inpatient care or emergency department.

[1:22:41] If this, if this particular agreement is just for,

[1:22:45] Yeah, it's, it's for congestive heart failure diagnosis.

[1:22:49] But that may include lab draws, EKGs, there's,

[1:22:51] there's other services that come along with that diagnosis.

[1:22:54] Okay. So it just, it's given us the width

[1:22:59] of not having to, to Todd's point, make addendums if,

[1:23:03] if there's a certain piece of care, it's more broad so

[1:23:05] that there's, if we do need to go bring somebody

[1:23:08] to a doctor's appointment for their ch HF follow up,

[1:23:11] we're not necessarily providing home care,

[1:23:12] we're transporting to their primary care office.

[1:23:13] But this would pay that happen

[1:23:21] because that's not a billable service under Medicare.

[1:23:25] I see. Any questions? No, I read it ahead of time.

[1:23:30] It would not, you know, the fact

[1:23:32] that the lawyers happy with it,

[1:23:36] It's full lawyer ask.

[1:23:38] So you're comfortable with it. So

[1:23:41] Yeah, I'm good.

[1:23:42] I I'm happy to make a motion

[1:23:45] unless our online pads. How I'm

[1:23:47] Gonna ask Mr.

[1:23:48] Sui, You got any questions or comments?

[1:23:52] Nope, I'm good. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[1:23:57] I do have a couple. I, I

[1:24:00] presume there's not any changes needed to our insurance

[1:24:03] as we're already going into people's homes.

[1:24:07] Correct. We, I've already ran our insurance through a HS

[1:24:11] for the other grant and they're good with it. So,

[1:24:13] Okay.

[1:24:14] And so if there,

[1:24:18] this is grant funded,

[1:24:20] what if there's no grant money next

[1:24:21] year, does this just cease

[1:24:26] Which part?

[1:24:27] The grant or this part?

[1:24:29] Well, when, I guess, let me rephrase that.

[1:24:31] When, when we're outta money, what happens?

[1:24:36] So if we were outta money, yes,

[1:24:38] I presumably it would cease, I feel strongly

[1:24:42] that this is gonna show a benefit.

[1:24:44] And the hospital system, even if we run outta grant money,

[1:24:47] we'll want to continue to fund it.

[1:24:49] Or the insurance industry is gonna realize

[1:24:53] that it's a cost savings

[1:24:55] and will implement ways to fund it long term.

[1:24:58] 'cause mobile integrated healthcare is the future

[1:25:02] of providing care outside of an institution.

[1:25:05] In fact, in Boston currently they do hospitalization at home

[1:25:09] where you go, if you go to the doc, if you go

[1:25:12] to the hospital and you need to be admitted for antibiotics

[1:25:16] because you have pneumonia, they'll send you home,

[1:25:19] they'll bring all the monitoring stuff, they'll come

[1:25:21] to your house, they'll set it all up, you'll,

[1:25:23] and you'll be institutionalized in your own

[1:25:25] home getting the treatment.

[1:25:27] And they follow up with you daily, you know,

[1:25:29] twice a day, three times a day.

[1:25:31] Because at your home is the, in a, in a lot of cases,

[1:25:35] the safest place for you to recover.

[1:25:39] So the, it's not, this is not something I anticipate that

[1:25:44] us as a nationwide

[1:25:47] that's moving away from this is something I

[1:25:49] anticipate broadening as we move forward.

[1:25:52] This is a step in trying

[1:25:53] to get healthcare costs under control.

[1:25:57] Okay. And then

[1:25:59] I will stay away from that one.

[1:26:02] Not under control or, or redo, I should say.

[1:26:06] I think, I mean, what was the,

[1:26:08] what was the rehospitalization disqualification number

[1:26:13] for congestive heart failure for last year or for measured?

[1:26:16] I mean, you, you may not be at liberty to say that,

[1:26:18] but yeah, every hospital ICMS rates, every hospital,

[1:26:22] they look at every hospital and their readmissions.

[1:26:24] And that's one of the, this is one of the things

[1:26:25] that they're targeting in this grant work

[1:26:27] because congestive heart failure

[1:26:29] and COPD patients are being readmitted to institutions

[1:26:33] more than they should be or more than

[1:26:34] the government feels they should be.

[1:26:35] So this is a way to try to keep them out of the hospital.

[1:26:40] Because right now if you're, if you get discharged

[1:26:43] with congestive heart failure exacerbation

[1:26:45] and they've treated and they send you home

[1:26:46] and you go back in less than 30 days for the same treatment,

[1:26:50] they, the hospitals get dinged for that.

[1:26:52] They, they can't bill for services.

[1:26:54] They goes against their records,

[1:26:55] their CMS scores and all that kind of stuff.

[1:26:57] So they, there is a big push from the hospitals,

[1:27:02] which is one

[1:27:03] of the reasons they wanna fund some of this to get it started.

[1:27:06] But hospitals across Vermont, across the nation

[1:27:08] to reduce their readmission numbers

[1:27:12] and, you know, provide good healthcare overall. And

[1:27:15] You providing the in-home care doesn't count against them.

[1:27:17] Correct. It's only if they get readmitted to,

[1:27:20] they can even go to the emergency department.

[1:27:22] 'cause the emergency department's considered an outpatient

[1:27:24] clinic, they can go there and get treatment as long

[1:27:26] as they don't get readmitted into the hospital for care.

[1:27:29] That doesn't count against 'em.

[1:27:30] So there's, you know, like people think same day surgery,

[1:27:32] outpatient clinic, like there's all these,

[1:27:34] they're in the hospital, but they're not an

[1:27:36] inpatient operation.

[1:27:41] Okay. And, and,

[1:27:46] and exhibit a bullet point e

[1:27:52] talks about, we may pick up medications

[1:27:54] and provide transportation to medical appointments.

[1:28:01] That's a little different than, than in-home care or,

[1:28:04] or checkups or whatnot.

[1:28:06] How do we plan to cover this workload?

[1:28:09] What's this, what, how are we staffing this?

[1:28:12] So as I was telling Todd,

[1:28:15] this is a pretty manageable number.

[1:28:18] And what that means is one of the, one

[1:28:20] of the readmissions we've seen in the past is

[1:28:23] patients are getting discharged from the hospital

[1:28:25] and they get taken home by us

[1:28:28] or in a wheelchair van or something like that.

[1:28:31] Our ambulances drive them to their house, they get 'em

[1:28:33] inside, they get 'em into bed on the couch in the

[1:28:35] chair, all set.

[1:28:37] Thank you. Have a nice day. Off we go.

[1:28:40] If they don't have their medications at home,

[1:28:44] they just had a knee replacement,

[1:28:46] they just had COPD exacerbation, whatever they,

[1:28:48] they realize they get home like, oh, I don't have

[1:28:52] any medication for my nebulizer.

[1:28:54] You know what we're doing at two 30 in the morning,

[1:28:57] come back, getting 'em taken back to the hospital.

[1:28:59] So in this, that's why I was saying this is a pretty broad

[1:29:03] view on this contract is if someone does need a ride home,

[1:29:06] we might take 'em home to the manager's point in the SUV,

[1:29:08] we might stop at the pharmacy

[1:29:09] and pick up their meds so

[1:29:10] that we're not there at two 30 in the morning,

[1:29:11] pick 'em up, take 'em back to the hospital.

[1:29:14] So that's, or if they can't, if they're home bound,

[1:29:18] we've done it a couple of times on special circumstances.

[1:29:20] But if they're home bound, but they really need

[1:29:22] to get into their podiatry appointment

[1:29:24] 'cause they have some foot issues or they need

[1:29:26] to get into the primary care office for an evaluation

[1:29:28] because some medications,

[1:29:29] the docs won't re-prescribe without a checkup,

[1:29:31] but the patient can't physically get there.

[1:29:33] We might go get them and

[1:29:34] bring them to their doctor's appointment.

[1:29:36] If we don't do that, we're gonna be going

[1:29:38] to get 'em and take 'em to the hospital.

[1:29:39] So a lot of this is crafted around avoiding

[1:29:42] bringing them back to the hospital and,

[1:29:44] and to keep them out of the hospital.

[1:29:46] But Justin's point ex expand a little bit.

[1:29:49] So everything's out there that,

[1:29:50] what happens when the grant kicks in as far as staffing?

[1:29:54] Yeah, so when the grant kicks in, we

[1:30:00] prior to coming up to the grant period, we will have to

[1:30:05] spool up staffing the grant period.

[1:30:10] We will either use current per diem staff, you know,

[1:30:12] add some more staff that who want to do this work

[1:30:17] because then we're gonna be looking at,

[1:30:20] I think the application I put in was somewhere I'd have,

[1:30:24] I'd have to get it out, but somewhere between a hundred

[1:30:26] and 140 hours a week concentrated on this work.

[1:30:32] So, so if that answers your question,

[1:30:35] it will be significantly more.

[1:30:36] Right now I don't anticipate it being more than 10

[1:30:40] to 15 hours a week.

[1:30:41] Maybe 20 on a busy week,

[1:30:44] but not, again,

[1:30:45] it's one single scope versus a much wider project.

[1:30:50] So when the grant kicks in, that's two and a half to three

[1:30:52] and a half

[1:30:53] full-time p positions.

[1:31:00] I don't, as I was talking with the manager,

[1:31:02] I don't anticipate we will hire three

[1:31:05] or four full-time people to do this work.

[1:31:07] Maybe one, because again, the, this grant is for

[1:31:12] through July of next year.

[1:31:15] There is, there are indications that, you know,

[1:31:17] it will be funded for another year,

[1:31:19] but that we're not there yet.

[1:31:22] So I don't wanna, you know, try to get a bunch

[1:31:25] of full-time staff and then are they outta work in the year?

[1:31:28] Like that's not how I want this to roll out.

[1:31:30] So we would probably, we did, you know,

[1:31:35] we do have some staffing that we can, you know, move

[1:31:38] around if need be to cover some of this work.

[1:31:42] Like right now, Haley for example, who is one

[1:31:46] of our float medics is covering, you know,

[1:31:49] 24 hour shift on the weekends.

[1:31:51] You know, can we massage that?

[1:31:53] And Phil, you know, there's, there's a lot

[1:31:54] of scheduling flexibility that we can do

[1:31:56] with our current operation back to the point

[1:32:00] of onboarding five new paramedics.

[1:32:02] So we have some flexibility in our operation to do this work

[1:32:05] or I wouldn't be, you know, looking to do it.

[1:32:09] Just gonna be getting to November

[1:32:13] and seeing what the workload's gonna

[1:32:15] be when the grant kicks in.

[1:32:17] I know you've thought about it without a doubt. Yeah.

[1:32:19] Oh yeah. And plenty of thoughts.

[1:32:21] I, I'll let you continue to spool up in your mind

[1:32:27] if you'd like to see if, if any of you would like,

[1:32:29] I can certainly share with you the 20 some odd page

[1:32:34] grant letter of intent for the grant,

[1:32:36] which is a grant application, has a lot of thought,

[1:32:39] which has a, a, a remarkable amount of my thoughts in it.

[1:32:46] And you're comfortable at least at the moment

[1:32:49] that you can pull this off.

[1:32:51] Significant additional new staff Yes.

[1:32:55] And complimenting with per diems, et cetera,

[1:32:56] and massaging your schedule.

[1:32:58] Yep, no doubt. Thank you.

[1:33:02] Make your word for that. We're back to that.

[1:33:06] You know, some of those ideas I have

[1:33:08] Tracy's getting to peek into it.

[1:33:11] That's deserved. And then

[1:33:14] are you, that happened?

[1:33:18] Anybody? What does, I don't know, do anything else?

[1:33:21] I'm just gonna say what's the

[1:33:23] Board?

[1:33:24] So I would make a motion to approve the

[1:33:28] mobile health services agreement

[1:33:30] between the Berry Town Ambulance

[1:33:32] and Central Vermont Medical Center

[1:33:35] and authorize the town manager to sign that.

[1:33:38] I would second that. I

[1:33:41] Have a motion in a second.

[1:33:43] Is there any other discussion? I'll call the question.

[1:33:48] All those in favor say aye.

[1:33:50] Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.

[1:33:56] Congratulations David. Thank you.

[1:33:59] I think a

[1:34:03] that has us moving on to approving,

[1:34:07] consider approving a three year billing agreement

[1:34:09] with Digi computer LLC,

[1:34:12] which formally was quick note claims.

[1:34:15] They are the billing company that Berry Town EMS uses.

[1:34:26] Three years ago the town changed the EMS billing service and

[1:34:30] after competitive bidding process, quick claim,

[1:34:32] quick med claims of Pittsburgh,

[1:34:34] PA was chosen to handle the billing.

[1:34:36] That change, which resulted in paying percentage

[1:34:38] of each dollar collected by QMC instead of a per bill model,

[1:34:42] has to some degree put Barry Town

[1:34:44] EMS on much better footing.

[1:34:46] QMC has provided quality billing services,

[1:34:48] including real-time access to billing data

[1:34:50] and support has been good as well.

[1:34:53] David supports continuing this arrangement.

[1:34:55] The one changes that, as we discussed earlier,

[1:34:58] QMC was acquired by Digit tech computer

[1:35:01] and is now integrated into its operations.

[1:35:04] So this agreement would be with tech

[1:35:06] and not MC the manager supports

[1:35:11] David's recommendation to continue the billing service.

[1:35:15] This arrangement is proven highly successful

[1:35:17] with time collection rates, far exceeding

[1:35:19] what they have been in the past and fewer transfers

[1:35:21] to collections the town attorney has reviewed.

[1:35:24] And other than minor edit edits is

[1:35:27] signed off on the agreement.

[1:35:31] We have any discussion questions?

[1:35:34] My only question is just making sure David is confident

[1:35:37] that the transition will go as smoothly

[1:35:40] as these transitions go

[1:35:42] and that he doesn't have any concerns with regard to ongoing

[1:35:46] billing, customer support service, et cetera, et cetera.

[1:35:50] To answer your question, I don't, it's been smooth so far.

[1:35:52] We've seen it's been seamless.

[1:35:54] I've seen nothing say, I think the transition

[1:35:57] for us has essentially already occurred.

[1:36:00] I think we got our first or

[1:36:01] second bill already with their name.

[1:36:03] It's already been rebranded. Yeah,

[1:36:04] so I I I don't anticipate, I don't anticipate there being

[1:36:08] much of a transition here go.

[1:36:09] Yeah, I think they've done a good job with it so far.

[1:36:13] It's been pretty like I honestly,

[1:36:16] other than Marie's email changing,

[1:36:18] I have no noticed nothing different other than the manager

[1:36:21] saying, hey, the, the new invoice has digitech on it.

[1:36:23] Like, you know, they, they've transitioned

[1:36:25] that over to further that.

[1:36:28] I will tell you, while I think we're in a much better place,

[1:36:31] they're doing a great job.

[1:36:34] The access to information I have is phenomenal,

[1:36:38] but my least favorite thing to do would be

[1:36:41] to transition billing companies again

[1:36:42] because absolutely that was project.

[1:36:45] So I'm one, I'm extremely happy that we're two.

[1:36:49] I have no interest in changing billing companies. Yeah.

[1:36:54] I mean months of, of just, they, they require

[1:36:57] so much information, which I get, but it just, yeah.

[1:37:00] So no, no one's advocating for that.

[1:37:01] I just wanna make sure they're meeting your needs.

[1:37:03] Yes, they're our needs.

[1:37:05] Our, they, they're, they're record keeping.

[1:37:08] We have to pay the ambulance tax.

[1:37:09] I send 'em an email, they send me the down like they,

[1:37:13] they've made my job much easier.

[1:37:18] Any other discussion?

[1:37:24] Is the, the fee is still the same for three more years.

[1:37:29] Yeah. Which I was surprised but I didn't complain.

[1:37:34] I would move to authorize the town manager

[1:37:36] to sign the billing services agreement

[1:37:38] with Digitech computer LLC of Chappaqua New York for a time

[1:37:43] of three years, which is a continuation of the Quick Me

[1:37:47] claims billing contract under new names.

[1:37:52] I would second that. I got that, that name right now.

[1:37:57] We have, yes. H Tech computer. LLC.

[1:38:02] You have a motion and a second.

[1:38:03] There's no further discussion. I'll call a question.

[1:38:07] All those in favor say aye.

[1:38:09] Aye. Aye. Mr. Susie, I didn't hear you.

[1:38:18] I was using my inside voice. Aye.

[1:38:21] Thank you guys have it.

[1:38:27] Congratulations again David. Thank you.

[1:38:31] We'll move on to number 10, which is

[1:38:36] considering a campaign signed placement policy

[1:38:41] discussion has been ongoing

[1:38:43] for years about creating this policy.

[1:38:46] Be a policy would provide definitive information

[1:38:48] for candidates and their supporters on where

[1:38:50] and when campaign signs can be

[1:38:51] placed and where they cannot.

[1:38:55] This issue comes up every year that there's an election.

[1:38:59] This policy makes it clear that campaign signs cannot

[1:39:03] be placed on town owned or controlled property

[1:39:05] and the signs can be placed in the right of way as long

[1:39:07] as it's within a two week window before an election.

[1:39:10] They're placed in a way that does not create a hazard.

[1:39:14] I'd like to avoid the inevitable,

[1:39:15] inevitable controversy in advance

[1:39:17] of the upcoming midterm election

[1:39:19] by putting this policy in place.

[1:39:20] Now Tina

[1:39:22] and I produced the policy, Mike Money has reviewed it

[1:39:25] and with only a few minor edits endorsed it

[1:39:28] and that that was from the

[1:39:30] manager discussion.

[1:39:36] I just have one quick question

[1:39:38] or clarification on article number eight.

[1:39:41] That there any time to go to the municipal building

[1:39:43] for a reasonable period and discard that.

[1:39:46] I'm wondering what the reasonable period is

[1:39:47] or if there's a thought on that or we should put a time

[1:39:50] It's like we do now.

[1:39:51] I mean a few weeks, a month, something like that.

[1:39:55] I don't know that I'd want to put an actual date on it.

[1:39:58] You know, give it some flexibility.

[1:40:01] Most of the time they don't come get 'em.

[1:40:06] Maybe with an actual policy and a clear direction.

[1:40:09] They would, so first time I'd probably,

[1:40:12] I mean quite frankly, they don't take up a lot of room,

[1:40:15] still have some down there.

[1:40:17] I'd be current board member signs downstairs. Oh, okay.

[1:40:24] Good. Does the policy have anything in place to contact

[1:40:28] those people who have signs? Yeah,

[1:40:30] I think we would.

[1:40:31] The policy doesn't, but I think we would try to do that.

[1:40:35] Okay. We're gonna be,

[1:40:39] we don't pull there in many of 'em,

[1:40:41] we haven't in the past 'cause we haven't had a policy.

[1:40:44] But if they're clearly on

[1:40:48] or near a town building or something like that, we

[1:40:52] or an island, you know,

[1:40:54] we have pulled them if they're in the right of way.

[1:40:57] But this'll actually give us a little more.

[1:41:01] Well, what I hope is we won't have to

[1:41:04] because we'll have a policy now

[1:41:05] and Tina will be able to distribute this to candidates

[1:41:09] as they pick out paperwork

[1:41:11] or submit their, their, their,

[1:41:15] their paperwork

[1:41:17] and so that they'll have a better idea as well as

[1:41:21] residents when they're putting signs up.

[1:41:23] They can put 'em on their land whenever they want,

[1:41:27] but they really should put them in front

[1:41:29] of their houses in the right of way.

[1:41:31] 'cause it's still the right of ways. Set 'em back 10

[1:41:33] feet or whatever.

[1:41:36] So the hope is is that as we educate people more

[1:41:40] and more, there'll be less need both signs.

[1:41:47] Mr. Nelson? Yes sir.

[1:41:50] I, I have something under Article 10.

[1:41:56] This would be, you know, the select board town manager,

[1:42:00] director of public works highway superintendent

[1:42:02] or designee may apply the policy to inquiries

[1:42:06] and sign removal.

[1:42:08] I don't believe the select board of all belongs in

[1:42:12] that group of people.

[1:42:15] It would take action from all of us by the time it went

[1:42:18] through that channel, it would've already been

[1:42:20] through your office, Mr.

[1:42:22] Manager. And the fact that we,

[1:42:26] our board elects two members every year.

[1:42:31] I, that if not problematic now could be in the future.

[1:42:37] And I'm not aware of any other policy

[1:42:39] where an individual select board member is able

[1:42:44] to act.

[1:42:49] It's normally something where

[1:42:53] the select board will discuss it and

[1:42:55] or bring it to bring it to town staff.

[1:42:59] I think this, I think it's problematic

[1:43:03] having the select board.

[1:43:05] I I would agree with you just from the optic side.

[1:43:08] So maybe we could, if we just struck the select board

[1:43:10] and just left it with town manager

[1:43:12] and Yeah, I wouldn't envision the select board going out

[1:43:14] and removing signs, but I think the select board certainly

[1:43:17] could, you know, direct that.

[1:43:20] Yeah. If we directed a designee,

[1:43:22] it could be looked upon poorly as the influencing something,

[1:43:27] which I don't think is necessary anyway.

[1:43:29] What's that? That had a direct effect

[1:43:31] on us. Yeah, I agree. Yeah,

[1:43:33] I I don't think a campaign sign is something that rises to

[1:43:36] the level of board action.

[1:43:40] I think that town staff is,

[1:43:41] is absolutely more than qualified to, to handle it.

[1:43:47] Sounds good. Yeah. And I, I, you know, the

[1:43:51] Optics of a select board member sitting,

[1:43:53] select board member saying somebody's

[1:43:55] sign needs to be removed,

[1:43:57] Even if it's agreed by the board.

[1:43:59] Even. Even if, yeah, I just,

[1:44:00] that's what you're doing. Yeah.

[1:44:01] You're already doing that though.

[1:44:03] Well that's essentially what you're doing. But yeah, no,

[1:44:06] But passing as a policy,

[1:44:09] but I think as, as far as, I don't know.

[1:44:14] I, I, I think I agree.

[1:44:16] Yeah, no, I didn't have no problem with that.

[1:44:18] It's well within your purview.

[1:44:20] Yeah. I would say the only input should be from a,

[1:44:22] maybe a select board member contacted you

[1:44:24] and said, we saw this sign here

[1:44:27] and then it would again be up to pound staff or not.

[1:44:32] With the fact that we elect two every year, it would have

[1:44:36] to be unanimous, unanimous from the other three

[1:44:38] for the board to act anyway.

[1:44:41] So I would hate to put brakes on it from that standpoint,

[1:44:46] but I'd also hate to even have to go down that road

[1:44:51] from, like Bob said, from the optics of it.

[1:44:55] Okay. Change has been made. Right.

[1:44:59] Then I would, I'm gonna go ahead

[1:45:02] and move to adopt the campaign signed policy as amended

[1:45:06] to strike article or item number 12

[1:45:09] or the select board portion

[1:45:11] of item number 1210. Sorry, article

[1:45:14] Ten second.

[1:45:18] We have a motion to second.

[1:45:20] Assuming there's no further

[1:45:21] discussion, I'll call the question.

[1:45:23] All those in favor say aye.

[1:45:25] Aye. Aye.

[1:45:31] Mr. Susie? Yes, I

[1:45:36] will recuse myself in this vote since I'm currently a

[1:45:40] political candidate.

[1:45:43] Good call. Fair enough. Thank you. Thank you. The aye.

[1:45:47] Have it with one recusal

[1:45:50] And Justin

[1:45:51] and David, can you stop in in the next few days and sign it?

[1:45:56] Yes sir. Yep.

[1:45:59] Yes, I can. I can probably stop tomorrow. I'll reach out.

[1:46:02] Okay. Next.

[1:46:07] Number 11, which is consider adopting resolution number

[1:46:10] seven dash 26 authorizing the lease purchase

[1:46:13] of a public works equipment loader and dump truck.

[1:46:19] During the select board meeting January 7th of 25,

[1:46:22] a contract was awarded for the purchase

[1:46:24] of a six wheel low pro dump truck

[1:46:26] and plow to our, our Charlie boy for the chassis

[1:46:29] and Viking thieves for the body plow

[1:46:32] and wing, the total cost

[1:46:33] of this purchase is $255,707.

[1:46:37] On June 30th, 26th, a contract was awarded a CRW corporation

[1:46:43] to purchase a 2026 Volvo L 90 H loader

[1:46:46] for $216,759

[1:46:50] and a pair of quarters.

[1:46:52] In total, we need to arrange lease financing

[1:46:54] for both purchases amount

[1:46:55] to $472,466

[1:47:00] and those orders for 50 cents.

[1:47:02] The purpose of this agenda item is

[1:47:04] to adopt resolution seven dash 26,

[1:47:07] which authorizes the execution

[1:47:08] and delivery of a master equipment lease purchase agreement.

[1:47:12] We expect delivery of both pieces

[1:47:14] of equipment within the next two months.

[1:47:16] Excellent. To arrange the lease financing,

[1:47:19] Chris contacted our longtime leasing consultant,

[1:47:21] municipal leasing consultants based in Grand Olive, Vermont.

[1:47:24] They have successful lease secured lease financing

[1:47:27] for both pieces of equipment, the loader for five years

[1:47:30] and the low pro for four in accordance

[1:47:32] with the equipment replacement plan and budget.

[1:47:34] The interest rate is 5.78%.

[1:47:38] Customers commercial finance LLC will provide the financing.

[1:47:41] The same company that financed our last

[1:47:42] few pieces of equipment.

[1:47:44] The first payment, $117,766

[1:47:49] and 87 cents will be made upon closing.

[1:47:52] Closing, utilizing money budgeted in fiscal year 27.

[1:48:02] Pleasure of the board?

[1:48:05] No question that. I'm happy to make a motion,

[1:48:06] but I don't wanna cut anyone.

[1:48:09] Same.

[1:48:15] Anybody online Wanna make a motion?

[1:48:23] I guess can the chair make a motion?

[1:48:25] I will. So I'm happy to do it.

[1:48:26] So you don't have I Yeah, I,

[1:48:31] I move to adopt resolution seven dash 26

[1:48:35] and authorize the chair

[1:48:40] to sign and authorize the town manager

[1:48:43] to sign the lease documents with regard

[1:48:45] to the municipal lease consultants financing arrangement.

[1:48:50] Second agreement.

[1:48:53] We have a motion in a second.

[1:48:55] Assuming there's no more discussion, I'll call the question.

[1:48:58] All those in favor?

[1:49:00] Aye. Aye. Aye. Thank you.

[1:49:05] I'll have that for you to sign too. Justin.

[1:49:10] We'll move on to number 12,

[1:49:12] which is a bid award for gravel crushing.

[1:49:15] The gravel. Crushing is an annual fall event.

[1:49:18] The bids for crushing were sent

[1:49:19] to four bidders on August 17th, 2026.

[1:49:23] The bids were opened on September 3rd, 2026

[1:49:25] and only one bid was received.

[1:49:27] That bid came from JA McDonald of Montpelier in the amount

[1:49:31] of $62,075.

[1:49:34] Fiscal 27 budget fiscal year 27 budget includes

[1:49:39] $65,000 to crush 5,000 cubic yards of gravel

[1:49:42] and 1500 cubic yards of asphalt.

[1:49:48] I'd happily move to award the FY 27 gravel crushing

[1:49:52] contract to J McDonald of Montpelier in the amount

[1:49:55] of $62,075.

[1:49:57] Second that motion and a second.

[1:50:02] Is there any other conversation? All the question.

[1:50:06] All those in favor say aye.

[1:50:08] Aye. Aye. Aye.

[1:50:12] Then opposed passes.

[1:50:17] Next is weekly accounts payable warrants for September 1st

[1:50:22] and September 8th.

[1:50:24] P 26.

[1:50:32] I think so. There were no,

[1:50:34] so we can take them together. I'll

[1:50:36] Move to approve the accounts payable warrant

[1:50:39] for September 1st and September 8th

[1:50:41] or September 1st, 26 for fiscal year 26

[1:50:45] and September 8th or fiscal year 27.

[1:50:52] Yeah, I got those right, right. Yeah.

[1:50:55] I think the one from the first had both

[1:50:57] fiscal years in it.

[1:51:01] Oh yes, there's, yeah, September 1st had 27 and six.

[1:51:05] I'll, I'll amend my motion

[1:51:07] to include the house payable warrant.

[1:51:11] November or September 1st 26th for fiscal year. 27.

[1:51:16] September 8th. Fiscal year 27 for

[1:51:21] September 1st for fiscal year 26.

[1:51:25] Second.

[1:51:26] I have a motion to second. Anybody have any questions on

[1:51:29] this

[1:51:36] hearing?

[1:51:37] None. I'll call the question motion is

[1:51:41] to approve the accounts payable warrants for fiscal year 26

[1:51:46] and 27 on September 1st and September 8th, 2027.

[1:51:52] All those in favor say aye.

[1:51:54] Aye. Aye. Aye.

[1:51:58] Ayes have it in the bills.

[1:52:04] We have a

[1:52:09] lenius, we have a permit.

[1:52:12] Licenses.

[1:52:13] Licenses. Sorry.

[1:52:18] No, you lost your place. That's fine.

[1:52:19] For second class license, tobacco license

[1:52:22] and tobacco substitute license

[1:52:24] for Gunner Brook Market and Deli.

[1:52:27] The company is Christian,

[1:52:30] K-R-I-S-H-N 3 3 9 Inc.

[1:52:34] Which is doing business as Gunner Market in Delhi

[1:52:37] at 3 39 Eastmont Player Road.

[1:52:39] And I would move that we approve the second class license,

[1:52:44] the tobacco license and the tobacco substitutes license.

[1:52:48] I would second that. I have a motion and a second on that.

[1:52:52] Is there any other discussion?

[1:52:57] All a question. All those in favor say aye.

[1:53:00] Aye. Aye. Aye.

[1:53:03] Ayes have it approve.

[1:53:08] Next is fireworks permit, correct? Right.

[1:53:12] Yes. Road International Speedway requesting

[1:53:16] fireworks display permit for September 24th.

[1:53:18] 2026 at 80 Fisher Road.

[1:53:22] The time of that I believe is dusk. I've gotta scroll there.

[1:53:28] I think it is dusk. Dusk, yes. No date?

[1:53:30] Yes. At dusk on September 24th,

[1:53:35] I would move to approve that fireworks permit.

[1:53:38] I would second that we have a motion to second.

[1:53:41] Is there any discussion? Hearing none?

[1:53:45] I'll call the question. All those in favor say aye.

[1:53:48] Aye. Aye. Aye.

[1:53:51] Ayes have it approved.

[1:53:59] Appears to be it. It's in our packet.

[1:54:01] Do you have anything to add?

[1:54:03] I don't have anything to add that I

[1:54:05] haven't already briefed you on.

[1:54:06] Okay. Thank, thank you.

[1:54:08] Mad clerk. Nothing. Well, thank you.

[1:54:11] Okay. Got the Vote.

[1:54:13] I know. Okay. Yes. Yes. September 15th.

[1:54:16] Two, actually two important things.

[1:54:18] Sewer is due on September 15th.

[1:54:20] Don't forget, no longer taking Postmarks.

[1:54:22] So have it in the office by 4:30 PM And also,

[1:54:26] yes, come out and vote.

[1:54:28] Hold it open. 7:00 AM

[1:54:29] to 7:00 PM at Berry Town middle and elementary school.

[1:54:33] And if you voted early, ballots have to be in the office

[1:54:36] by Monday, September 14th by 4:30 PM

[1:54:41] Thank you. I

[1:54:42] Forgot mine on my table. You and my husband.

[1:54:45] Alright. That takes us to round the table

[1:54:49] Because we heard so much from David tonight.

[1:54:52] He didn't probably get the, the farewell for the evening.

[1:54:56] So I wanted to say thank you

[1:54:57] for the information this evening.

[1:54:58] Again, I appreciate your contributions

[1:55:01] and your, more importantly, I I really appreciate your

[1:55:05] outside of the box thinking

[1:55:07] and reaching for those crazy ideas

[1:55:10] because even if they get batted down,

[1:55:12] it's better than not trying.

[1:55:14] Well, thank you. Batted down.

[1:55:15] Well they, they rarely do,

[1:55:17] but in the future if that ever happens, it's not

[1:55:20] because we don't appreciate the ambition.

[1:55:24] It just, sometimes there's constraints that's trying

[1:55:27] to think of the last time one was batted down.

[1:55:31] Nope. No,

[1:55:35] he hasn't asked for the helicopter.

[1:55:37] He delayed him many times.

[1:55:39] That probably was likely to happen.

[1:55:40] He does a good job making sure my thoughts are well fleshed

[1:55:43] out before he lets me, lets me in here turn 'em loose.

[1:55:48] Other than that it was getting dark earlier in the evening.

[1:55:50] So again, windshields, headlights, watch

[1:55:53] for kids school back session, get out

[1:55:55] and vote on Tuesday for the school budget revote.

[1:55:59] And that's all for me. Alright, Ms. Mr.

[1:56:03] Susie, do you have anything for round table?

[1:56:07] I'm good tonight, sir. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Chair.

[1:56:12] I have a couple things. Chris,

[1:56:14] did you receive the email from C-V-R-P-C

[1:56:18] regarding the Clean Water Advisory Committee?

[1:56:21] They're looking for appointees.

[1:56:24] Yep. Is that,

[1:56:26] are we thinking about doing something with that?

[1:56:33] You mean looking for to serve on another board?

[1:56:36] Well, my thought

[1:56:38] because it does allow input regarding the, the clean water

[1:56:41] and one of those things that it discusses is the three acre

[1:56:44] permits and storm water runoff and whatnot.

[1:56:47] And given the conversations

[1:56:48] and our distaste for the three acre rule, I didn't know if

[1:56:52] that would give us any direct line to

[1:56:58] voice our, our frustrations with the,

[1:57:01] with the way the law is currently structured.

[1:57:05] Josh, Josh, or Lindsay? Either one of them.

[1:57:09] I'll look at it again and see what the parameters are.

[1:57:12] I, I did, I did go through it, but I'll look at it again.

[1:57:17] Okay. I just wanted to make sure it was on, on the radar.

[1:57:20] Oh yeah. And then so what is the, the process

[1:57:25] for the town when town property is damaged in a, a

[1:57:32] vehicular accident of some kind?

[1:57:36] And I I'll have a couple follow up.

[1:57:38] Well, I guess I'll just put it all out there.

[1:57:40] So you know, my, so the round, our poor roundabout

[1:57:44] or our, our wonderful gift from the state

[1:57:47] of a roundabout at the intersection of 3 0 2

[1:57:49] and one 10 is now missing six of its granite posts.

[1:57:56] And I did the quick math to replace those posts.

[1:58:00] Not counting the chains that go in between them

[1:58:02] or the labor is $4,800 worth of posts that are missing.

[1:58:06] That's just the cost of the post with,

[1:58:08] with eyelets put in them to accept a chain.

[1:58:11] The light pole is also missing too.

[1:58:14] I'm not sure if that's our responsibility

[1:58:16] or not to replace that.

[1:58:20] And, you know, just general

[1:58:23] accidents when the guardrails get hit, like the section of

[1:58:26] a guardrail on airport road between the two cornfields

[1:58:30] and the dip that got hit by a car

[1:58:33] and it's, it's pushed back, you know,

[1:58:36] several feet from the, from the roadway.

[1:58:40] Do we, do we obtain the, the insurance information so

[1:58:44] that we can have the, the people that did the damage

[1:58:47] to replace that repay for it?

[1:58:49] At least if, obviously if we know

[1:58:54] who that person or persons may have been.

[1:58:59] Obviously people don't always stop

[1:59:00] after they've had an accident.

[1:59:03] And then where does that information go

[1:59:04] and what does that process look like

[1:59:06] after that to get that submitted?

[1:59:07] To get the town reimbursed

[1:59:08] so it doesn't cost the taxpayers money for something

[1:59:11] that could have otherwise been covered by an insurance.

[1:59:14] Yeah, well, so if we can, yes, we do.

[1:59:17] And we we're doing that right now with a guardrail out on,

[1:59:22] at the intersection of Plainfield Brook Road

[1:59:25] and Route 14 that got hit.

[1:59:27] It then does become pretty laborious.

[1:59:31] We sent the insurance company a bill for that

[1:59:34] after we have the guardrail replaced

[1:59:36] and they came back with about 10

[1:59:38] or 12 things that we need to follow up with.

[1:59:41] So if we know and,

[1:59:43] and if it's significant enough to invest the time and,

[1:59:47] and we think there's a likelihood of getting paid,

[1:59:50] which oftentimes there isn't then, then we do

[1:59:55] with regard to those granite posts.

[1:59:57] Those have happened for various reasons over the years

[2:00:00] and I don't know what happened beforehand.

[2:00:04] I don't even know if we always know when it happens,

[2:00:08] but I am working on that with the cemetery

[2:00:11] and I don't think any of the posts are actually missing.

[2:00:13] We either have them and are repairing them

[2:00:17] or we're, we're working on that though

[2:00:19] that hopefully those are gonna

[2:00:21] all be taken care of this fall.

[2:00:22] It'll be much cheaper than, won't,

[2:00:23] won't be anywhere near $4,800

[2:00:26] to fix those posts in that particular.

[2:00:30] But if we can, if there's a a, a strong enough likelihood

[2:00:35] that we might be successful, which is a question mark.

[2:00:39] We, we do, we we will put in

[2:00:42] a claim with the insurance company.

[2:00:45] Okay, that's, sorry, we're gonna add, I think

[2:00:49] that's easier when there's a clear cut, you know, car a

[2:00:52] drove through the, and smashed whatever.

[2:00:56] But it, where it gets a little bit more troubling is if you

[2:01:00] don't know who did it or when it happened

[2:01:02] or how it happened, even our own insurance.

[2:01:06] And because it's considered property in the open,

[2:01:08] unless you have it specifically scheduled

[2:01:10] and we're paying premium on it, then you can't just call

[2:01:14] and say, Hey, our guardrail on

[2:01:16] Airport Road is all smashed up and get, get that paid for.

[2:01:21] So VLCT wouldn't pay on a claim like that.

[2:01:24] However, they would certainly assist in chasing

[2:01:26] a known motor vehicle accident or,

[2:01:31] So it was a curiosity of, of mine.

[2:01:33] And then I was approached on, on Sunday

[2:01:36] by a resident asking us,

[2:01:39] us specifically asking me specifically about the roundabout.

[2:01:43] And so that just kind of brought it to the,

[2:01:45] to the surface for me.

[2:01:46] That's been on my radar for a while.

[2:01:48] But Cemetery has the, I've talked

[2:01:53] to Dwight about this quite a bit.

[2:01:54] They have the knowhow, the capability with a,

[2:01:57] with probably somebody from Public Works.

[2:01:59] The plan is to go in there this fall.

[2:02:00] They've been pretty short staffed all year, so it's kind

[2:02:04] of been pegged as a fall project anyway.

[2:02:08] But I would definitely like to get those fixed.

[2:02:12] Okay. That was all for me. Thank you. Thank

[2:02:16] You.

[2:02:19] I think that's it then. Mr. Chair.

[2:02:21] I hope you feel better quickly.

[2:02:25] Oh, I just want to get my head outta the clouds

[2:02:28] and stop sneezing and coughing

[2:02:31] and just itching in my nose is driving me bonkers.

[2:02:35] Thank you for not bringing it here. Yes, thank you.

[2:02:40] It wasn't for the coughing and the sneezing.

[2:02:41] I was gonna put a mask on so I could be there in person.

[2:02:43] And I feel really bad with the turnout that we had for,

[2:02:46] we knew that the graniteville,

[2:02:48] upper graniteville playground wasn't a popular

[2:02:50] decision when we did that.

[2:02:52] You know, even though we, we didn't say forever,

[2:02:56] but to have all those people in the room

[2:02:57] and then have me not be there, I,

[2:02:59] I didn't, that didn't feel good.

[2:03:03] I think I, I think we're not that far apart on that topic.

[2:03:07] So I think there was misunderstanding as much as

[2:03:11] intent and just reframing it.

[2:03:13] So I think we'll get there.

[2:03:17] All right. If no one else has anything else,

[2:03:20] I'll happily make the motion to adjourn.

[2:03:23] I would second that.

[2:03:25] A second. All those in favor?

[2:03:28] Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.

[2:03:31] We are adjourned. Thank you all.

[2:03:35] Good Evening everyone.

[2:03:37] You do two Justin. Take care.

Barre Town Selectboard September 8 2026

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