[0:00] Morning. >> Good morning. Good morning. Here for a

[0:03] couple of very quick things and I was here last month to get the prosecure

[0:21] but not commissioner. >> What date do you decide as today?

[0:30] Oh, I have a copy. >> Thank you.

[0:34] » Yeah. Yours, too.

[0:39] » Always. Always. >> We're just getting used to getting tired

[0:44] of compliment.

[0:48] » For God's sake. Percy, lay off the beautiful hair.

[0:54] September

[0:58] 1st

[1:05] the burn months are upon us like yeah >> it's hard

[1:12] I got up and like there's was an odd pink and it was really pink and I'm like

[1:19] oh but that's because the sun is so low in the sky the way it was coming

[1:22] through. But it was very >> Yes.

[1:29] » We had I had bears this morning. >> Yes.

[1:33] » And just going crazy last night when I went to sleep. The alarms went off and

[1:37] it was bears across my front lawn. >> Yeah.

[1:40] » And then this morning at 5:30 it was on the back porch.

[1:43] » Oh. >> My mother last night today I think it

[1:46] must have been the male bear today. >> First birthday bear season. Oh,

[1:53] at your house. >> Oh, shoot.

[1:58] » Did I? >> No, I didn't.

[2:00] » What about your the prickle pigs? How many of those do you have?

[2:04] » What? >> Oh, you find tons and big,

[2:14] but >> I don't either.

[2:15] » Oh, no. No, no, don't. Well,

[2:22] who's on either side of that porcupine? Like,

[2:24] » oh, >> they're eating the tree bark. Yeah.

[2:27] » Who's eating them?

[2:31] » But no, >> right. So, the other reason I'm here is

[2:35] that uh Kieran Sers who's been a victor coordinator in our office for years, uh

[2:41] she and Sabra Stevens pretty high in terms of time spent and you know skill

[2:47] set as well. Um Karen's been invited to represent New Hampshire at the uh

[2:53] National Vine Conference occurring in um Atlanta in October. Linda Rule, who was

[2:59] the attorney general's um mission victim witness advocate coordinator asked if

[3:05] Karen could go cannot. Um Equifax will pay for the trip. Um there's some

[3:13] bundies that they won't pay like personal snacks, meals, airport parking

[3:17] fees or miles to and from her home airport, but they'll pay for the

[3:21] conference line and um staying there. Uh, Vine, as you know, is victim

[3:28] informationational network uh in Kentucky

[3:32] every day. Victim's informationational notification

[3:39] every day. Um, which allows victims to know what's going on with their user uh

[3:46] at any incarcerated uh place across the country. um whether it's by email, um

[3:54] text, phone, or whatever. Um it's a great system that's come into deployed

[3:58] in the last couple years. So, Linda reached out to Karen. Karen asked me if

[4:02] she would go. I absolutely think she should go, but it was an out of state um

[4:09] uh conference. And so, that's why I'm here to ask for your permission for her

[4:14] to go as a out of state. Um then I separately I wonder if the commissioners

[4:20] would uh consider allowing us to reimburse her for the mileage to from

[4:25] the airport. Um I would say it's probably Neil's on her way and back

[4:30] because I think they cover food at the conference. I brought um a

[4:38] little bit of information about sent it to Julie

[4:42] earlier that goes with it.

[4:51] » [clears throat]

[4:53] » That would be a great opportunity. >> Yeah.

[4:57] » But not a great honor. Agree. You know, just shows what excellent work our um

[5:02] your staff does. >> Our staff.

[5:04] » Yeah. >> Um you know, Karen is really um she's a

[5:10] forward thinker and an action taker. rewrite programs so that victims can do

[5:17] text messaging that gets entered into our PPK management system. I mean is

[5:22] ahead of the curve a lot of trying to make things more efficient and easier

[5:27] for victims of domestic

[5:37] [clears throat]

[5:40] question. Any questions? No. No. Sounds like a wonderful idea.

[5:48] » We need a motion. I would make a motion to approve the out ofstate travel um for

[5:55] parent sellers and to pay um in addition to pay the mileage to and from the

[6:01] airport as well as meals during travel. That's not covered as part of the

[6:05] » airport and airport parking. >> Great. Thanks. Second. All in

[6:10] » favor. Thank you very much. That's all I have.

[6:13] And that's all. That's it. Come back soon. [laughter]

[6:21] » And I'll catch up with you on Sam. Sam Sam and I were talking earlier about a

[6:25] website, the county website that has links on it that are old.

[6:31] I've got starting tomorrow. We're getting

[6:35] on that. Have a great day. See you. All

[6:42] right, we have a few minutes.

[6:47] Um, does anyone have any comments on the minutes of

[6:57] I see that I started mine?

[7:01] Um, so I think it was page one,

[7:07] two, three or four [laughter]

[7:12] software. >> It was the issue. It was page one was

[7:16] the paragraph that I sent you. >> Thank you. Paragraph was great. Thank

[7:19] you, Sam. Um, it was the issue where uh

[7:26] See if I can pull up the

[7:30] minutes. Do you have a minute? Okay, thank you. This is a page one. Yeah. Uh

[7:35] it was under cannabis use policy.

[7:41] Uh as director Rachel say that this has

[7:44] been written for a long time. Okay. And so, um,

[7:50] so I asked

[7:54] I asked about, uh, cannabis use in our alternative

[8:01] sentence programming program in New Hampshire,

[8:05] the state where recreational cannabis is not legal. Um,

[8:11] but that was that the paragraph, Sam? Uh, yes. I'm sorry that it

[8:19] [clears throat] handy. I thought that when I sent you my comments, it saved,

[8:25] but it did res. So, I was relying on

[8:34] trying to get it up here. Yeah, it doesn't.

[8:41] Yeah, I love that. mine saved my edit things in

[8:47] » you but but it's much longer than mine so it's in there as whatever's in that

[8:55] » oh yeah okay it took my red away so look at that

[9:02] thank you so much Katie commissioner commissioner

[9:07] » you are welcome all right page one so the first paragraph The second paragraph

[9:12] under alternative alternative sentencing director

[9:16] um alternative sentencing director Mitchell

[9:21] stated that cannabis use within the alternative sentencing program will be

[9:24] evaluated on a casebycase basis and will be determined through a

[9:28] multidisciplinary team review process. She answered

[9:32] questions from the commissioners. Sam, here's me. Sam, can you add the

[9:39] question that I asked saying that it seemed counterproductive or irrelevant

[9:44] or something like that that just because a client resides in another state where

[9:49] cannabis was legal that they should be allowed to use cannabis when in our

[9:53] alternative sentencing department when re recreational cannabis use is illegal

[9:58] in the state. I think it was in the answer to this question that Nicole said

[10:02] it was tricky and that can use would be assessed on state by state. I'm sorry,

[10:06] on a case-by case basis. So, I thought it was an it was important to me like if

[10:11] if recreational cannabis is not the hub in this state, why is it um for folks

[10:20] why can folks use cannabis um when they're in our alternative

[10:26] sentencing program? And I know that I'm sluring my notes.

[10:37] Oh my god. Um, and cannabis cannabis and and Sam wrote me back and made the

[10:47] correction. She went back and reviewed and now I

[10:50] have to find that. Sam, >> I just put that in the email. Back to

[10:55] » I know. And I'm trying. And now I've got to find that my

[10:59] » You suggested it. He said, "Yeah, >> I'll help you with your computer."

[11:04] » Reason. So, here's the correction.

[11:08] Sam went back to the recording and so she changed the paragraph to put that

[11:14] sentence in to put the question that I asked in.

[11:18] » Alternative sentencing director Mitchell stated that cannabis use within the

[11:22] alternative sentencing program will be evaluated on a case-by case basis. We

[11:26] all know that that was there. Commissioner Piper stated that she can

[11:30] understand the reasoning for the medical marijuana card. See how much clear I'm

[11:33] being? Or the therapeutic program, but asked if the alternative sentencing

[11:38] program is abstinencebased. Would the fact that they reside in a

[11:42] state where recreational use is legal be a separate factor that would have

[11:46] nothing to do with their sobriety? As Director Mitchell stated that there

[11:51] are other things that they consider. She explained that if someone is

[11:54] recreationally using, they will do an assessment

[11:59] to determine if they are doing it for fun or if it is therapeutic in some way.

[12:03] If it is, they then look to see if they can get medical backup and a diagnosis

[12:09] in our program. She stated that it is an ongoing assessment of need and has been

[12:14] challenging because New Hampshire is surrounded by states where recreational

[12:18] abuse is legal. as director Mitchell explained that they are abstinencebased

[12:25] but because of harm reduction it's very important uh it may be something that

[12:31] needs to be more flexible the good conversation I started

[12:36] » um so that was the change in that one and then I'm sorry to say that there was

[12:41] one more on page uh two three or four I think it was on page two

[12:48] um and Sam just add it. Um,

[12:55] now that Katie has pointed me in the direction of help I can help myself.

[13:10] Oh yeah. Um, and I thought that it was important for

[13:15] folks online. I just added a sentence on page two. DOC superintendent Lethbridge

[13:22] arrived that paragraph that was that wonderful discussion and information

[13:27] session where he told us about the prison rape elimination act compliance

[13:32] and all the work um that his staff had done. And then I added a sentence to the

[13:38] end of that. Commissioner Piper asked Superintendent Leverage to please

[13:41] explain to the PEA so that members of the public online can

[13:46] understand what he's referencing. We didn't have that when I first started

[13:49] here. So, I'm kind of um happy to have that information going

[13:56] out. So, I added that. Right, Sam? That's all I did. Yes. And I went away.

[14:04] Motion to approve the minutes as amended. Second. Um,

[14:09] » hi.

[14:13] » Frank is not here. Do you visit? >> He had a department head meeting. He

[14:17] said he thought it would run past 9:00 because he was scheduled at night. He

[14:21] switched to so I'm sure he'll be along when he's

[14:30] preference for what we do next to school. Check registers.

[14:37] It's been five sometimes.

[14:45] » Wow.

[14:48] » They only one last week, so we're catching up.

[16:54] So I have um a certificate of authority that needs to be done for the PAS

[17:01] funding

[17:07] that Commissioner Hedber certifies. that she is the new

[17:14] of Craft County and that

[17:19] is county administrator and has the authority to enter into contract on

[17:24] behalf of the county

[17:32] that resolution

[17:36] in the minutes. Yep. I guess

[17:42] » I would Hburg certify that I am a dulyeleed county clerk county official

[17:47] of Grafton County. I hereby certify that Julie L. Libby County Administrator

[17:53] is authorized on behalf of this county to enter into the said contract of the

[17:58] state and to execute any and all documents, agreements and other

[18:02] instruments and any amendments, revisions or modifications thereto as

[18:07] she may deem necessary, desirable or appropriate. I hereby certify that this

[18:12] authority has not been amended or repealed and remains in full force in

[18:16] effect as of the day of the con of the contract contract amendment agreement to

[18:22] which the certificate is attached. This authority was valid 30 days prior to and

[18:27] remains valid for 30 days from the date of this certificate of authority. I

[18:32] further certify that it is understood that the state of New Hampshire will

[18:36] rely on this certificate as evidence that the um persons listed above

[18:40] currently occupy the positions indicated and that they have full authority to

[18:44] bind the county to the extent that there are any limits on the authority of any

[18:48] listed individual to bind the county and contracts or other agreements with the

[18:52] state of New Hampshire. All such limitations are expressly stated

[18:56] therein.

[19:00] Was that also a motion? Second. All in favor? I motion passes.

[19:11] You have an educational assistance application.

[19:14] » Yes. So, I'm not sure that Commissioner Mloud or Commissioner Heard ever been

[19:19] involved with an educational fund application. We haven't had one in

[19:23] years. Um, so we have an employee at the

[19:28] Department of Corrections who has applied uh for educational assistance.

[19:33] She is a nurse at the jail. She's uh taking the nursing program through White

[19:39] Mountains Community College and um the application is for prere prerequisites

[19:46] for the course uh from her degree um creative writing workshop. It is.

[19:54] » So the way that our educational assistance program works is we will

[19:59] provide reimbursement for 50% up to $1,000

[20:05] one course per semestered

[20:11] available which we have $5,000 this year which might have done with

[20:16] this budget but I'll have to look at that. um

[20:22] for employees to take uh courses that are relative to their field through an

[20:30] accredited educational institution.

[20:35] So she meets all the requirements um to

[20:42] to have this approved. So she has two courses on this application. Um,

[20:48] we will only do one. I talked to Tim about that and he's supposed to be

[20:52] letting me know which course, but since you won't be meeting again till 15th, I

[20:58] wanted to get the approval for the one course. Regardless of which one it is,

[21:02] they're at the same cost. And the other is a psychology class. So

[21:10] this particular one we also do promisary notes where the county will upfront pay

[21:14] it and that the employee reimbures their 50% of the county through payroll

[21:19] deductions. So we'll be setting this one up.

[21:21] » Yes. Isn't there also a requirement for length of employment?

[21:25] » There's not a requirement for length of employment, but there is a requirement

[21:29] for grades. they have to maintain certain

[21:33] grade within the class for us to um

[21:41] reimburse. >> Nice.

[21:43] So, [clears throat]

[21:49] » it's help. It's nice to be able to help people because then they bring it back

[21:54] to the county and advance themselves and serve the county residents.

[21:59] She must be an I assume that was just gonna be my

[22:05] question. I assume it's going for her already

[22:08] » psychology and creative writing. >> Yeah, I know.

[22:15] » All right. I would make a great I would make a

[22:19] motion to approve the um education assistance application for the doc

[22:26] employee for the course as per second. Okay. I

[22:36] » signatures on the lines below my name.

[22:43] » I literally can't remember the last time we did one of these. It's probably done

[22:48] at least four years. >> That's what a great

[22:51] » Yeah. Yeah.

[23:12] » Morning. >> Good morning.

[23:15] » No. No one. >> We knew you had another meeting before

[23:20] this. So, keep us busy. >> Perfect.

[23:29] » Wow.

[23:35] » What you see?

[23:39] » Yikes.

[23:44] So our census as of today is 130 residents.

[23:49] We haven't yet um we got in the tail end of August we got as 131. So 31 I think

[24:01] for a week since we so um so we're doing pretty

[24:08] good on an average daily at the moment. So I think our average daily self

[24:13] obviously will pan out to be about 128 residents a day.

[24:21] » Um so we're we're kind of on track where we're down on our

[24:26] to budget figures is you know New Hampshire Medicaid which isn't a bad

[24:30] thing and private pay is you know certainly making up for it from that.

[24:35] So, um, so yeah, we're all in toll right now. The the payer mix is doing really

[24:41] well and, uh, we've been able to maintain that pretty strong number. So,

[24:48] » and is the reason it's down because of the lag in

[24:54] application processing time or >> No. So, the the 59 doesn't the the six

[25:00] pending cases are reflected in that 59. So, um, yeah. Yeah. And, and you know, I

[25:07] can't necessarily say that that's, uh, the the because of the backlog whether,

[25:13] you know, that's a reason for it or not. I mean, the private pay number looks

[25:17] good at the moment, but we know that there isn't years worth of private paid

[25:23] resources for those in uh, those 34 residents at this point. So eventually

[25:28] they are going to transition on to uh the Medicaid program whether it be New

[25:32] Hampshire or Vermont. Um >> you know so so eventually they're going

[25:37] to u so so I do think that that you know as the private pay number goes down the

[25:43] Medicaid will you know go up at some point but we'll enjoy it for asth.

[25:49] » Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah.

[25:53] Um so since my last reported uh actually I guess we didn't report in August so uh

[25:58] but for the month of August we had uh seven admissions stresses pass away

[26:04] and two discharges

[26:13] » so with the um how I think our we can by our license

[26:21] have 130 Um, but with the patient mix and

[26:27] whatnot, the resident mix, whatnot, um, you said we got up to 131, is are there

[26:33] more beds? I know we've talked before that that often does it doesn't, you

[26:38] know, with having roommates or diagnosis or whatnot. So, are we pretty much at

[26:42] the max? >> No, I I think we can get to a point

[26:45] where 133 will be our max given our current resident composition at the

[26:50] moment. We have um just two residents that are uh in our older part of the

[26:57] building uh where the semi-private room configuration is such that it's just

[27:02] separated between a the two beds are separated with a draw curtain. It makes

[27:06] it very difficult to find uh roommates for those individuals. And so um I I

[27:12] think 133 is our capacity at this time. So um

[27:21] Uh so if there's no other questions on census, um just a few updates that I

[27:26] wanted to share. So, we've been um or I've been in conversations with a a

[27:33] company based out of uh England um and a person named Sarah Bale from the UNH

[27:41] assisted technology in New Hampshire program uh to

[27:46] conduct a trial for an ambient listening device um here in in nursing homes. So

[27:53] this product years is being utilized in nursing homes in England and so they

[28:00] want to expand and as I come into the US and so for right now um they've been

[28:06] working with Sarah uh to try to identify nursing homes in New Hampshire that she

[28:11] immediately thought of county nursing homes. And so uh we are uh along with

[28:17] Cheshire County going to be conducting that trial of this product. And

[28:21] basically what it is is a u uh maybe like the size of that speaker uh but

[28:27] it's just a cube shaped and uh it it's it's mounted to a resonant wall and all

[28:32] it does is pick up ambient noise. It doesn't record conversations

[28:37] uh or anything along those lines. It just picks up ambient noise looking for

[28:41] things such as coughing, rustling in bed, uh screaming, you know, things

[28:46] along those lines. And as it picks up that noise, uh, LNAS will have a cell

[28:52] phone on it. So, it will alert the LNA that there's a noise coming from room

[28:57] 2011. Um, and it's meant as a fall prevention with the hex tool so that the

[29:04] LNA will respond to that u that yelling that's taking place and potentially, you

[29:10] know, head off a fall or maybe a combative resident situation because on

[29:15] our dementia unit um you know there's a a resident that wandered into another

[29:21] resident's room and you know the potential for a resident altercation

[29:25] taking place, right? but it's going to be picking up noises such as that and uh

[29:30] so alerting staff. So right now the product is used um like I said in

[29:35] nursing homes in England and it has been used solely in private rooms. Um so our

[29:41] part in this trial which is going to be kind of neat is to see whether it works

[29:45] in semi-private rooms and so we're going to be working uh to have this installed

[29:51] » in our uh our meadow unit. Um and uh so because the way the rooms are configured

[29:57] with, you know, kind of a larger dividing wall separating the two sides

[30:01] of the uh the room, the theory is that this device will be able to go with an A

[30:06] bed and a B bed in the same room, but only be uh uh picking up noises from

[30:12] that particular side that it's uh that it's designed to do. So um so the device

[30:19] will be mounted. It takes about 72 hours to kind of learn the pattern of the

[30:24] resident and um and then after that um like I said it'll be picking up things

[30:31] and alerting staff and staff will be responding uh and hopefully u you know

[30:36] helping to head off any sort of falls or potential falls. They have seen uh in

[30:42] care homes in England they've seen 100% reduction in fall.

[30:46] » That's what I was going to ask those outcomes. That's one. Wow.

[30:49] » 100%. >> 100%.

[30:51] » Yeah. >> Yeah. And they're able to pick up on

[30:54] potential infections ahead of time because again, it's picking up other

[30:57] noises. So if people are um you know, sneezing or coughing, you know, like all

[31:03] that stuff is going to be picked up and alerting staff.

[31:08] » Yeah. >> Yeah. So it's pretty neat. Um so kind of

[31:12] where we're at in this phase now is that all the equipment has been uh sent from

[31:17] England. It's cleared customs and it's in um it's in Missouri of all places.

[31:22] It's in Missouri. Um and uh and so the there's a a company called Telax that is

[31:30] working with uh eaters here in the United States. And so um they are going

[31:36] to be sending somebody out to do Wi-Fi mapping of our of our meadow

[31:42] neighborhood uh to make sure that Wi-Fi coverage is good. But we believe that

[31:46] there shouldn't be any issues with that at this point. So um so then you know

[31:52] assuming all that checks out these devices will be mounted and uh we'll do

[31:56] some training with the staff and get that up and running. So it'll be

[32:00] hopefully some some uh good updates to share coming months ahead. So yeah,

[32:05] » sounds like a great program. >> Yeah. Yeah.

[32:10] » Uh the next item is just talking about Sensio systems. Um, you know, we've

[32:16] talked about them for a while now. Um, they are the uh the kind of remote uh

[32:23] monitoring program uh that uses um

[32:29] technology to help uh people stay in their homes longer. Basically, um, we've

[32:36] been, you know, as part of the rural health transformation program, we've

[32:41] kind of started having that conversation again about the potential of partnering

[32:45] with SNIO to uh, get their their program here in New Hampshire uh, to help, you

[32:51] know, those recently discharged from home or from hospital or, you know,

[32:57] helping somebody stay in their home longer and and having this, you know,

[33:01] enhanced medical monitoring to help facilate facilitate that process. Um and

[33:06] so so we we kind of re-engaged with them. Um and and so we're at the point

[33:12] now where you know Sensio has has grown a lot since our kind of last

[33:17] conversations with them. Um and that you know at this point they are uh there's

[33:23] no upfront cost to users for this program anymore. starts at 100% covered

[33:27] billable service under traditional Medicare

[33:30] » and they're starting to gain traction in the advantage plan arena as well and so

[33:35] some of their uh some advantage plans are also covering this service but

[33:41] they're working with one visiting nurse association here uh Granite VNA and

[33:46] conquered um but they've got uh statewide uh programs in place now uh in

[33:54] Florida Maine uh sections of Massachusetts and uh I think Virginia

[34:00] was the other one uh now. So they've grown a a pretty good footprint from

[34:05] based on where we were uh based on our last conversations with them. So, um, so

[34:12] talking about this today because next Friday, uh, at the association economics

[34:18] meeting, I'm going to be, uh, talking to the executive committee about, uh, this

[34:22] program and, uh, and wanting to, um, you know, basically get we don't necessarily

[34:29] feel I I shouldn't say we, I don't necessarily feel that, uh, we need to

[34:35] apply for any funding through the health transformation grant because this is all

[34:40] covered under Medicare benefit. Um I feel the bigger thing that we can do

[34:46] right at the moment is to try to get um try to get Sensio in front of the home

[34:53] care community. And so one of the things that we would like to try to propose

[34:58] next Friday at the Association of Counties meeting is to uh host a webinar

[35:04] event uh for home care providers across the state um to have them

[35:12] uh participate in it and have Sensio kind of give a demonstration about their

[35:16] program and you know hopefully have folks from the Granite BNA be able to

[35:20] kind of attest to the effectiveness of it. um you know and what it helps them

[35:25] from a staffing standpoint because having this program as the granted VNA

[35:31] noted um helps them because it's it's less staff that they have to have going

[35:37] out and checking on people because these this program's in place and there are uh

[35:44] tele monitors on the back end that are able to check in on on an individual and

[35:49] see if they're not u you know if their blood pressure is running high and kind

[35:54] of talk with them. So there's remote monitoring place and so it's helping the

[35:57] VNA better utilize their limited resources. Uh and so that's one of the

[36:02] huge benefits that other states are seeing right now with this program. And

[36:06] so um so so kind of my hope is is that if we have this wider discussion with

[36:12] the prov homeare community uh we're going to be able to get more uh uh

[36:18] dispersement of this system here in the state and uh get better coverage and you

[36:22] know kind of see what that means for helping us um you know again vested

[36:26] interest in us is if we're as counties if we're delaying nursing home admission

[36:31] it's costing us less money as a whole in the long run. So, um, so that's kind of

[36:36] just a sneak peek of what we're going to be talking about next Friday. So,

[36:41] » nice questions or comments?

[36:44] » No, just time is going so fast that the meetings next week.

[36:48] » I know you too. Oh, there goes Friday. [laughter]

[36:53] » They hit me the other day that or hit me this morning with the Kers two months

[36:57] away. >> Yeah. Yeah.

[37:00] » I got an email about another conference. So, I'm like, "Oh, that one's after

[37:06] ours." Oh my gosh. >> Wow.

[37:10] » Sounds like a great thing to be looking at.

[37:12] » This is Yeah. Exciting. >> Uh the next item is uh we I did decide

[37:20] to apply for a grant uh through the rural health transformation uh program.

[37:25] Uh so I applied I had uh participated in a a webinar with the CDFA

[37:32] um to uh to kind of talk about how they're going to be administering their

[37:37] portion of this grant program uh and you know with specific reference

[37:42] for county nursing homes um and and you know county nursing homes

[37:48] having uh upwards of $40 million aotted to them each year over the fiveyear

[37:52] period. So um so I submitted an application uh a readiness eligibility

[37:59] determination elig application uh for our nurse call system. So going

[38:05] [clears throat] back a couple of years uh we did receive funding for our c

[38:08] through our capital budget to replace our nurse call system. Uh there's just

[38:13] been kind of a you know given when Jim was here, Jim Wilks was here, a lot of

[38:18] uh competing projects for his time going on at that point and uh you know just

[38:23] kind of several starts and stops on this but we never did actually get to a point

[38:28] where we put it out to bid. Um, and so kind of that money has been, as I said,

[38:33] allocated, but it's just been sitting there. And so, um, you know, I talked

[38:37] with Holly and Julie about this and, uh, you know, given the price tag for this

[38:42] and, you know, the concerns about future funding and how we're going to fund the

[38:46] nursing home capital reserve, we decided to, uh, apply for this grant um, or see

[38:52] if it would be applicable, which I did get the notification that it is. Uh, so

[38:57] I am in the process of submitting a formal application for it. Um, so I'm

[39:02] hopeful that, you know, at some point before the end of the calendar year,

[39:05] we'll find out whether we have funding for it or not. Um, and if we do, then

[39:11] that's great. That's money that stays in the nursing homes capital reserve.

[39:15] » Yeah. >> And, uh, we can move forward. The the,

[39:19] uh, specification sheet for the nurse call system is is pretty much set at

[39:24] this point. Um, so we are able to just, you know, once we get a hopefully a

[39:29] thumbs up on this, we are able to move what we're going to put it out for bid.

[39:32] Um, so we should be hopefully get some good news there soon. Um, and and so

[39:39] kind of also looking at it from the standpoint of other big needs of the

[39:42] nursing home uh, going forward. I did put another eligibility determination

[39:48] application in uh, regarding the study for our HVAC system as well.

[39:54] » [clears throat] >> um because that funding did get removed

[39:56] from the budget. >> Um so so I figured let's give it a shot

[40:01] and see what happens. And so um so so that has been submitted. I haven't heard

[40:06] yet as to whether that would be approved or not. Um but you know there's a

[40:11] potential for having that covered as well. You know there were other things

[40:15] that you know we were talking about with needing to replace the roof eventually

[40:20] on the nursing home. Uh I would like to replace my windows. So these are all

[40:25] things that we can be applying for through the grant uh this RHD grant

[40:29] program. >> Sure.

[40:30] » So So >> great.

[40:32] » Just keep you keep you posted on that. So, I did have a note to my son to ask

[40:37] you today about I can't find where I wrote that down, but um other things

[40:44] through that. We um I know in the past we've looked at an assisted living

[40:49] facility, for example, and I know there's some planning funds through the

[40:53] CBFA. Is there any interest in looking at any of those alternatives

[41:00] doing a study feasibility or something to look at whether those would be

[41:05] » Yeah. [laughter] Um yeah, by all means. Um you know, from

[41:10] a feasibility standpoint, we did have a gentleman come when ARPA the ARPA

[41:16] program first got started. We did have a gentleman come and kind of review

[41:20] because what my feeling has been is that uh if we were to look at assisted

[41:25] living, it would be basically trans remodeling the 2003 portion of our

[41:31] nursing home and turning those into assisted living apartments and then

[41:35] building a new nursing home. Um, so given what I reviewed with that uh

[41:43] person

[41:46] quite a while ago at this point, but uh you know it it it's a sound idea I guess

[41:54] you know so so um so what we would look at from a planning standpoint you know

[42:00] sure some fine finer details for it we could certainly look at doing something

[42:04] like that. I think the bigger thing to focus on if we were to do that

[42:09] is to talk about what a new nursing home would look like for Grafton County. Um,

[42:15] you know, so so I think what we could do with the 2003 building is develop or

[42:22] turn that into about 30 assisted living apartments. Um, you know, which would be

[42:27] Medicaid uh eligible at this point, which is a huge lack in this area. even

[42:33] more active uh Medicaid beds uh for assisted living. Um and so when we when

[42:38] we look at that um the you know there is you know the potential that that would

[42:44] be very well received here in the in this area. Um but yeah, again bigger

[42:50] bigger subject I think in my mind is what a new nursing home would look like

[42:54] in you know what Sullivan County has just gone through uh with their uh

[43:01] construction and renovation of their nursing home. Um Cheshire County went

[43:06] through it a handful of years ago as well. Um Straford County is talking

[43:11] about it. I guess Kowas County is going to have funding to um remodel a building

[43:17] to move West Georgetown over. Um [clears throat] so yeah, I mean I would

[43:21] I would love to explore something like that.

[43:24] » And it it the funding is only for renovations, remodeling or whatever. So

[43:29] the building you have to find a building that's already

[43:33] » existing >> to get this huge amount of money.

[43:37] » Yeah. >> But it certainly seems like this is an

[43:40] opportunity that's not going to come around again. That's five years of

[43:45] potential funding for going through the process which I don't know I it just

[43:50] seems like I would support that. I don't know what other questions people have

[43:55] thought they have >> because what we do with it after is is

[43:58] the bigger thing is you know we apply for a grant we get funding for it to say

[44:04] that assisted living could work and this is what it would cost to rehab the or

[44:09] remodel the 2003 building. Mhm. >> and transform them into the 30

[44:14] apartments. >> What do we do with the nursing home that

[44:17] have the

[44:19] » Yeah, >> that's a big discussion I that would

[44:22] need to take place. >> Yeah. [laughter]

[44:28] » Yeah. I don't know. It just seems as though this is the funding would be

[44:33] there to do something like that after the planning process. And I think that's

[44:37] what Copus County is moving quickly on. they have a building

[44:40] » in the community. It's not um that their campus or whatever. I think it's one of

[44:45] it's a co >> or whatever that they're looking at. Um

[44:50] and I know they made big changes or whatever to what they were thinking when

[44:54] that funding came around. So it might be that you identify a somewhere in the

[45:02] area that could be used for renovations as opposed to new uh new building or

[45:09] what have you. Anyways, it just seems like this is the time

[45:14] consider that. Yeah. So any I would encourage us to put that on the list as

[45:20] well. Sure.

[45:27] Look at that.

[45:34] Um, and and finally, I just wanted to uh publicly thank Lindsay uh John from the

[45:40] Gabriel Town Clerk's Office. Um she was incredibly helpful uh with our absentee

[45:46] balloting this this time in preparation for the u

[45:51] the primaries this month. um you know, she she kind of

[45:57] uh reached out ahead of time to help make sure given the uh um requirements

[46:03] now for uh voter ID um and having uh you know anybody that couldn't um

[46:11] demonstrate ID but have the affidavit signed by the nursing home

[46:15] administrator. Uh she was great working with our uh working with myself and the

[46:20] uh social service team. So, I just wanted to give her a recognition um for

[46:24] her u you know, kind of being out front of this and uh and just kind of helping

[46:29] us through the process. >> Any resident that wanted to be able to

[46:33] vote in the primary has been able to at this point they've uh they're

[46:38] going to receive their absentee ballots and they'll they'll have their chance to

[46:43] vote. We'll be doing the same thing from the general terrific.

[46:49] That's great because that was one of the big concerns when um um Congresswoman um

[46:55] Goodlander came up to meet. That was the as a number of the residents mentioned

[47:00] that they were concerned about voting now that they're um living in the

[47:05] nursing home. So, that's great to hear. >> My mother was in a private facility down

[47:09] in Lebanon several years ago during an election season and I remember being

[47:15] surprised that there hadn't been anything either. the

[47:19] parties. There was nothing going on that would

[47:24] well this is this is quite a site

[47:32] » question.

[47:37] Yeah. Thank you. >> Thank you.

[47:49] All right, we have one more item on here. Post issuance compliance policy

[47:55] sounds technical.

[47:59] » Um, yes. So, um, I sent this to you last week, I think on Friday. This is just a

[48:05] policy that we put into place that says so when general obligation bonds are

[48:11] issued or sold um there's post issuance compliance things that we have to do um

[48:22] they're pretty basic there we have to upload our financial reports as soon as

[48:26] they're available to a website called Emma which is

[48:30] under the municipal securities rulemaking board. Um and then we also

[48:37] have um

[48:41] significant events that if they occur um we have to upload those significant

[48:46] events um to the same website. So this just says that I'm the

[48:54] county administrator is responsible for monitoring and compliance with policy

[48:58] and that the county administrator may designate employees to carry out duties

[49:02] under these policies

[49:05] and then just says what those requirements

[49:10] requirements are. So simply just putting on paper what we

[49:15] already do. >> So that there's a policy that says we do

[49:21] it. >> So we need a motion of those

[49:25] commissioners to adopt this. Uh, I make a motion uh for the commissioners to

[49:31] adopt the post issuance post issuance compliance policy

[49:38] relating to bonds issued by the county. Second, any other questions?

[49:44] » All in favor? >> I

[49:47] don't. One other thing that I wanted to just share that I did I've been I was

[49:53] working on I shared with you the um opiate abatement report that goes

[50:00] handling and while I was working through everything that we have with the opioid

[50:05] stuff and I just wanted to share with you um this is the outstanding list of

[50:10] requests that we have files for that we have had received requests for that have

[50:16] not been funded at this point and I'll just keep

[50:19] this list ongoing. Um I did have a phone call yesterday from

[50:25] the Littleton Police Department. Um

[50:31] I think his name was Scott Brown, but I could be wrong on that. He's the one

[50:34] that submitted the request for the police dog and just had read through the

[50:38] minutes and was wondering if we were going to be able to provide funding to

[50:42] them. I told him at this point I did not think that we would be that we didn't

[50:46] have anything else to be able to do that.

[50:52] I just thought you guys have this list. It's been an ongoing list that we

[50:57] maintain

[51:00] and and I wish there was some easier way for us to keep track of the state opioid

[51:07] advisory group >> um and weather planning. I did check the

[51:13] grant United Way website again yesterday and it still says the opportunity will

[51:17] be in the first quarter of the state fiscal year which is now much less

[51:22] close. Um, I don't know if they'll do something in September for that,

[51:27] » but I think with the new funds that came in to the states, you know, and of

[51:32] course much larger amount, then I'm assuming they're going to have another

[51:36] RP amount in addition to one that they already funded. They haven't even funded

[51:41] it yet because I've heard another word that email we got.

[51:45] » Yeah. >> Two months ago. takes the Department of

[51:48] Health and Human Services months to do contracts.

[51:53] It's months to do it. It's the slowest department

[51:58] contract. So, >> um and and how many they did, but that

[52:04] was all based on funds they had, whereas now they most recently. So, I mean, I'd

[52:09] love to get another one submitted first responders

[52:14] funding. But we'll keep monuring that and if an

[52:19] opportunity arises certainly because these are first responders

[52:26] right. No. Um,

[52:31] anyways, I just wanted you to know that we are keeping on top of it and that's

[52:37] we'll just keep this coming and when I do see the Granite United Way

[52:43] um opening, I will reach out to both Ambulance and

[52:48] Ambulance and suggest that they submit those requests that they have to those

[52:52] to the Grant United Way because I think they qualify under that one time $15,000

[53:02] Yeah, I was wondering when I looked I was looking at that too that the two

[53:06] year or multi-year $75,000 that they do is more like program related as opposed

[53:14] to items like like dogs and

[53:20] » they probably could work the dog into a program or something. Yeah. I mean,

[53:25] that's $30,000 obviously isn't just for the dog,

[53:29] » right? Yeah. Great.

[53:36] Excellent information. Commissioner issues

[53:46] public comments.

[53:50] So, we have two public nonpublic sessions.

[53:54] scheduled for today. We'll do them for those online to just understand

[54:00] we'll do those nonpublic sessions and then we will be adjourning the meeting.

[54:04] So we'll be coming back on

[54:11] so the first one is um

[54:16] it's [clears throat]

[54:18] a legal thing legal. Okay. And the second one is a a personnel

[54:24] issue. >> Right. Do we have a motion to go to

[54:29] nonpublic session?

[54:33] » This is non public session for RSC 91.

[54:45] Commissioner

[54:48] Commission votes yes.

September 1st, 2026 Commissioner Meeting

Transcript