[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.