Town Board Meeting 5/13/08

You will see a link to an mp3 file of the meeting below. If you click on the link, you can listen from within your browser, but there is usually a way to move this mp3 file to your desktop. In Firefox, you wait for the whole file to move to the browser, (a minute or two) then you go - File - Save Page As..... and you can put it anywhere you want. The advantage is that you can then listen with other programs (Real Player, Itunes etc.) which allow you to adjust equalizer settings and they give you a time counter. With the time counter and my notes below, you can jump to the part that interests you. You can also put the file on an Ipod, and listen while taking a walk, or driving or doing the dishes! When you're done with the dishes, pull the plug and watch the dirty water going down the drain, as you listen to our democracy going down the drain. Great fun!

present at the meeting
Liz Thomas
Dave Kerness
Rod Ferintino
Doug Austic
Marsha Georgia
Jim Meeker
Bill Chaisson
Roxanne Marino
Peter Meskill
and who else? I wasn't there


Here's the audio link

Disappointing news - Chris Thomas reports that NYCOM has said they can not, by law, have a referendum on privatization of the ambulance/ems.

0 hrs 0 mins 0 sec - pledge of allegiance and approval of minutes

0-05-20 budget adjustment

0-7-15 Jim Dennis - report from County Legislature and discussion of the DOT truck traffic rules

0-14-15 Chris Thomas speaks about the Telephone Company building. Then he states that although the Village passed a resolution yesterday in favor of holding a referendum on his ambulance privatization scheme, He discovered today that NYCOM has very specific rules for what you can and can not have a referendum on, and this is not one of them. He said that they will go forward with disseminating information and hold a public hearing late in June or early in July. It will then be up to a vote of the Village Board.

Dave Kerness questions Chris about the Telephone Company building

Liz brings it back to the ambulance issue. She askes about the Length of Service Award Program. (LOSAP - retirement benefits for fire fighters and ambulance personel) Chris points out that this would have to be decided by referendum. This is strange. The question of whether or not to initiate LOSAP is important but certainly not as important as whether or not we privatize our ambulance system. So, if the board votes to privatize, then we would have a referendum where we are asked to weigh in on the less important of the two isssues? It's absurd. I would assume that the spirit of the NYCOM rules is to encourage officials to make day to day decisions without resorting to the expense and the bother of frequent referendums. This privatization issue rises above the level of day to day decisions. If NYCOM insists that we have a referendum for LOSAP, then lets vote on two proposals on the same ballot.
A.) shall we privatize the ambulance/ems?
B.) if we privatize, shall we also start LOSAP?
This wouldn't cost any extra.

Check out Michelle Paollilo's comments on LOSAP from yesterday's Village Board meeting below.

For some reason, Chris seems to think that the LOSAP referendum would be Trumansburg only. Why exclude the rest of the district? They are partners in funding the Fire Dept. and the ambulance service. Can't we somehow include them in the LOSAP decision making and funding? Doug points out that Ulysses funds 65% of the Fire/EMS. presumably they would have to shoulder 65% of contributions to LOSAP. But Ulysses can't vote? Dave asks this question, and Chris answers that the Village of Trumansburg, being the owner of the Fire Department, would bear the legal responsibility to honor the LOSAP obligations to retirees, in the event of the program going bust. Hmmm. Aren't there lots of pension programs going bust nationally, and aren't the losers the retirees as opposed to the employers? Couldn't the Village attorney somehow ensure that the village would not be on the hook if the company that handled LOSAP went belly up? Personally, I prefer to invest in canned tunafish. Our economic outlook is bleak. Maybe that would be a good way to encourage volunteers - safe investments like gold.

Liz Thomas points out that younger potential volunteers are not apt to be inticed by retirement benefits.

Doug says "I don't think we have any problem being in support of third party billing, do we?"
Liz says "I don't"

Damn.

0-37-10 Planning Board update -

0-38-12 Comprehensive Plan - Roxanne Marino - reports on the public meetings. Goal is to have a draft plan sometime in June. Ag Protection Plan progress.

0-45-40 Camping on the side of the road during Grassroots - various tactics are discussed to stop it.

1-12-09 Roxanne about wind power ordinances, and states her support for developing the Telephone Company building into a community center

1-14-10 Jim Meeker highway report.

1-26-02 Marsha Georgia treasury

1-27-04 Liz reports on the Village meeting.

1-29-34 Dick Coogan - Purchase of Development Rights? The battery in my recorder dies here. sorry.



Dave Kerness

Rod Ferrentino

Doug Austic

Liz Thomas

Marsha Georgia

Village Board Meeting 5/12/08

You will see a link to an mp3 file of the meeting below. If you click on the link, you can listen from within your browser, but there is usually a way to move this mp3 file to your desktop. In Firefox, you wait for the whole file to move to the browser, (a minute or two) then you go - File - Save Page As..... and you can put it anywhere you want. The advantage is that you can then listen with other programs (Real Player, Itunes etc.) which allow you to adjust equalizer settings and they give you a time counter. With the time counter and my notes below, you can jump to the part that interests you. You can also put the file on an Ipod, and listen while taking a walk, or driving or doing the dishes! When you're done with the dishes, pull the plug and watch the dirty water going down the drain, as you listen to our democracy going down the drain. Great fun!

AUDIO

At the meeting - all officials and,
Geoffrey Hart, Tom Ferritti, Bruce Vann, Susan Robertson, Ed Hetherington, Bob Brown, Richard Nowogrodski, Liz Thomas, Maryanne Archangeli, Michele Paollilo, David and Susan Means, Bill Chaisson, and Allen Carstensen (me)

0 hrs - 0 mins - o sec I got there a few minutes after 7pm and Liz Thomas was reporting on Ulysses news.

0-1-44 EMS news from Susan Robertson - Ice Cream Social 6:30 - 8:30 Monday the 19th

0-3-19 Ed Hetherington gives the Building Inspector report

0-5-20 Police report from Tom Ferritti

0-7-20 DPW, Water, and Sewer - Bruce Vann

0-11-45 Tammy Morse - Clerk's report - The Village got two community celebration grants

0-23-06 Treasury report - discussion of Village use of credit cards

0-40-28 Mayor's report - Marty went to Skaneatles to see Gov. Paterson, and Sen. Schumer speak. Paterson said he was ordering the DOT to enact rules which will limit the use of rural routes by truck traffic. Marty encourages Tom Ferritti to enforce these rules.
Marty says he wants to get together with the town, and the Community Science Water Quality Monitoring program to discuss their sampling protocol.

0-45-50 Chris Thomas presents his Task Force report which recommends hiring Professional Ambulance Billing LLC (PAB) http://www.4pab.com/ to send a bill to every recipient of ambulatory care from our Trumansburg Ambulance Company. This would be a radical departure from the way we have operated since the 1970's when we first began offering this to the community. Currently, the service is supported by donations and by taxes from Trumansburg, Ulysses, and parts of Covert and Hector. We democratically decided to form this service and fund it through our taxes. In 2008 the cost was $300,535.00. Spread over the population of the district, about 10,000 people, the cost per person is about $30/year. This is a reasonable tax to pay, for an excellent service, largely staffed by dedicated volunteers. It is incumbent upon us to continue to pay this tax, and not try to shift the tax burden onto society at large. This is the essence of this scheme. By entering into relationships with private for profit corporations (PAB, and insurance companies) we could shift our taxes onto the already very expensive national health care system. This is perfectly legal, but completely wrongheaded.

Chris Thomas - "Some patients would choose not to accept necessary medical attention or transport due to the fact that they might receive a bill. While this is a concern, it's important to point out that the village is the employer of the third party billing company, if we choose to go that route, and what that means is that as a village we have the right to dictate the terms of collections. So, since we are trying to mitigate costs, and not create a for profit company, the idea is that we would move toward a system of getting the majority of our dollars from Medicaid, Medicare, and private carriers. If somebody does not have insurance (which we've determined to be about 15% of the population), if those people were to receive a bill and not pay it, the village would not pursue collection......." He goes on to point out that the cost of the ambulance ride would not be the overriding factor in comparison to other bills potentially coming from the hospital. He's missing the point. If someone loses a family member, for fear of the cost, then it's too late to discuss whether the village is going to pursue collection or not, and it's too late to discuss the costs of the ambulance vs other costs. The only way to avoid this scenario is a thorough public information campaign to ensure the public is completely aware, that the village will not pursue collection. When I've questioned Chris about this, he seems very much against such a campaign. He feels that anyone who can pay, should pay, therefore such a campaign would work against his plan.

Chris admits that this privatization scheme might change the way volunteers feel about their work. To offset this hazard (if volunteers leave, the costs go way up) he proposes to introduce the Length of Service Award Program (LOSAP) This would be a relatively expensive program of retirement benefits offered to the volunteers. (more on this below) Chris says that a referendum would be required to initiate this program.

Marty raised the issue of co-pays. It's not clear how that would work

Debbie points out that some insurance companies won't pay for some services. What happens if we send a bill and the insurance company doesn't pay it? I think Chris gets the answer wrong. I think the insurance company would, at that point send a notice to all parties, PAB, the village, and the care recipient, or family. At that point, most people would get out a credit card and pay PAB. Is this what the village wants?

1-14-33 Rordan says that this year's $300,00 will likely double in 10-12 years, if the 6% increases of the last two years hold. 6% is only slightly above the real inflation rate. Everything is going up, let's not base our decision on this. If we and other municipalities privatize, then profit enters the picture and has to come from somewhere. Pushing our costs off onto the already world record breaking costs of our national health care system is wrong. If we push it off, we should realize that it becomes larger when it lands on our national health care system, because it will include the overhead and profit of the private corporations.

1-27-0 passed resolution calling for a referendum and a public hearing. Marty says it's been a touchy issue for many years. I'd like some history here. Anybody know how this debate went last time, and who took what positions?

1-28-08 Main Street Project - lights are ordered.

1-31-30 Youth and Community - Debbie discusses movie nights

1-34-50 correspondence - bricks

1-41-08 cell phones for the village

1-44-30 Phone Company building potential purchase - meeting on the 27th - cost of asbestos removal is higher than thought

1-47-30 David Means - bike racks

1-53-12 Zoning - Tammy sent documents to Tompkins Country Planning

1-55-35 Bills

2-00-16 Second public comment period. I express my concern that people will not be aware that the village will not pursue unpaid bills (thereby risking some not accessing necessary care) and Chris responds "it's not something that we're going to advertise"

Chris says "I guess what Marty is suggesting is that in terms of the idea of advertising that you don't have to pay, that a fund is created, I don't personally support that. I mean the idea that a country where capitalism exists, and when people can pay they should pay, if people can't pay and they don't pay, then what we're saying is that we're not going to pursue you, but you know, I think the idea of advertising to people, you know, because at that point you're telling somebody that even though they don't have insurance but they have a good job and they have plenty of money, that they don't have to pay. I think that is an inappropriate way to approach it. (would Chris please provide some examples of people that don't have insurance, but have good jobs and plenty of money?) Um, if somebody can't pay they won't, if somebody can pay they might, you know what I mean? If you really can't pay, you won't and you won't be pursued or collected beyond that"
John - " the other problem with advertising that you won't be pursued at all is that there's potential for abuse"
Chris - " That's my point in not advertising"
John - "not only for those that can't but for those that can, they will then say - well this is mighty convenient. And I think the company experiences a little bit of that now. Some people will say - well this is a free ride."

It seems to me that Chris and John do not hold the people in high esteem.

2-08-20 Richard Nowogrodski - about the referendum. Then he points out that nationwide and statewide - volunteer ambulance companies are having a hard time keeping and recruiting volunteers, but Trumansburg is bucking that trend. We are doing well in that respect. He suggests that it would be wise to ask why. I think he's inferring that the fact that it is free might have something to do with the good morale.

2-12-50 Chris talks about the LOSAP program

2-16-30 Michelle Paollilo speaks about the LOSAP program. She asks how much it's going to cost. Chris says the first year would be about 120,000 which could be capitalized over 5 years. Then a guaranteed cost of about $30,000/year. Michelle says that as a tax payer it is unsettling that we would initiate this expensive program at the same time as we find ourselves compelled to look at billing for EMS services in order to save money. She said that she would not be compelled to stay on as a volunteer by being offered LOSAP.

2-23-50 Motion to adjourn.