Special Village Board Meeting - EMS Budget 8/24/09

The privatizers are back.

The Village Board met tonight to discuss the "crisis" with the EMS budget. Chris Thomas explained that because of decreasing volunteerism, the EMS budget would have to see an increase of 25% next year. The likely figure for next year will be $425,000. I'm guessing there are about 8000 people served by the ambulance. (Ulysses, Trumansburg, and parts of Hector and Covert) $425,000 / 8000 = $53/person/year. Please, let me pay it. Don't start billing. Don't get into bed with the damn private for profit insurance companies. I've been telling them for a year, and they still don't get it. If we cost shift part of our $53 tax burden, onto the insurance companies, they will shift it back onto us in the form of higher premiums. The cost to the average family of four for health insurance is currently $13000. It is estimated to double in the next 7 to 8 years. $26,000 is nearly half of the average income of a Ulysses worker. That's a real crisis. 18,ooo people a year die, in the US, because they didn't have health insurance. That's a real crisis. Some of those 18,000 died because they didn't call an ambulance because they couldn't afford it. That's a shame.

There is no crisis in paying for our wonderful single payer ambulance. It's the best value I get for my tax dollar. $53 and we get quick response from trained emt's and nobody gets a bill. My neighbor that doesn't have health insurance doesn't need to fear a big bill when her kid has an asthma attack. If we go to billing, the insurance companies will raise premiums to cover the cost - plus profit! Then not only will the uninsured not call when they need an ambulance, but those of us that do have insurance will become part of the system that allows the insurance industry to make obscene profits.

The Village held a public forum last year to get feedback from the community on wether or not to go to billing. The overwhelming majority said NO! What part of "no" don't they understand?

We have to tell them again and again.

here's a link to the audio

Ulysses Democratic Committee Meeting 8/20/09

The Ulysses Democratic Committee met on Thursday 8/20. As I have reported here before, the committee unanimously opposes my recording these events. I understand some of the reasons, such as it allows a more frank and open discussion, and if anything untoward is said about someone in the community, it need not become public. But, I can't think of anything that was said on Thursday, that would hurt anyone's feelings if it were made available. And I don't understand why we shouldn't take our cue from the Democratic National Committee, who's meetings are often covered on Cspan.

The committee heard from Kevin Romer and Roxanne Marino who are both interested in a spot on the Town Board. That makes three Democratic candidates (including incumbent Lucia Tyler) vying for 2 Town Board spots, at the Democratic Caucus, on August 31st at 7pm at the Fire Hall. (please come)

The presentations by the candidates at the last two UDC meetings, if they were made available to the public, would be the only time before the caucus, that the public would hear from the folks that might make important decisions for the town for the next 4 years. Since this is not allowed, the public won't know that real differences exist, and are therefore less likely to attend the caucus, and without them, democracy suffers.

Allen Carstensen (that's me) and Chris Thomas, will both ask for the Democratic nomination for Ulysses Town Supervisor, at the Caucus. Lucia Tyler and I had already addressed the committee and explained why we wanted to serve, so we didn't speak on Thursday. Roxanne Marino spoke for a few minutes and it's a shame I wasn't allowed to record it. Her knowledge of all the issues in front of the Town Board is voluminous, and she talks so fast, I'd have to listen to it 3 times for it to sink in. Her energy and knowledge would be a real asset on the Board.

Chris Thomas spoke, and took questions. He was asked if billing for ambulance services was still an issue. He said yes, that it was. He pointed out that the budget for the EMS for next year would have to be increased by 25% because of falling volunteerism, and the resultant increase in paid staff hours. I remain completely opposed to billing. There will be a meeting about the EMS budget at the Village Hall at 7pm tomorrow, Monday 8/24 (I think that's what he said - it's not on the online calendar, and I'm not allowed to record these meetings) I'll be there, and I'll be writing more about this soon.

Chris was asked if he was in favor of efforts to bring broadband internet service to more of rural Ulysses. He said that he didn't feel that highspeed internet was really necessary for most people. I disagree. I believe that access to information is critical if we are to have a well informed electorate. If everyone streamed Youtube clips of Jon Stewart every night.....

Chris was asked what he felt should be done regarding water infrastructure. He said that he favors laying pipe into the rural areas of Ulysses in a manner similar to WD5. He said that there was a palpable lack of cooperation during the WD5 years, and that, had there been better cooperation, that a project could have been completed. Some would call it palpable lack of cooperation. I would call it Don Ellis, Roxanne Marrino, and Lucia Tyler, standing on principle, and not allowing Doug Austic and Rod Ferintino to push through a project that was unfair to many, and would have enriched some while putting the Town at risk of unwanted development (possibly including concentrated animal feeding operations) A committee recently completed a survey of the water needs of the town. I look forward to working with members of that committee and the board, to determine the best way to improve access to clean safe water, to as many people as possible, with as few unwanted consequences as possible.

Chris was asked for his thoughts on gas drilling. He said "I'm not inherently opposed to energy exploration but what I am absolutely opposed to, is the use of undisclosed chemicals in the hydrofracturing solutions" Well, it seems that the exploration phase has been completed. The next step is to extract the gas, and I am inherently opposed to the hydrofracturing and horizontal drilling process if it involves large quantities of poisons and carcinogens wether they are disclosed or not. I have brought two resolutions to the Board, which, if passed into law, would deter these corporations from harming the health of our residents and decimating our environment. I believe we have to use every tool available to protect our Town, and if elected that is what I will urge the Board to do.

I have been nominated by the Tompkins County Green Party as their candidate for Ulysses Town Supervisor. I have collected signatures that the Board of Elections requires, so I will be on the ballot on the Green Party line, on Nov. 3rd. I registered as a Democrat in 1970 when I turned 18. I voted for George McGovern in 1972. What a different world it would be! I have always been a Democrat, because I believe that within our current electoral system, the Democratic Party is our best hope, for progressive reform. I have been a registered Democrat for 39 years. Chris Thomas has been a registered Democrat for 3 years ( He was a registered Libertarian prior to running on the Democratic Party line for Village Trustee) The Caucus on 8/31 will be important in determining the future of the Democratic Party in Ulysses. Please come.

Town Board Meeting 8/11/09

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.


Here's the link to the mp3 file

0 hrs - 0 minutes - 0 seconds - I arrived and started my recorder a few minutes late while they were going over the budget.

0-4-33 Planning Board Report - Ken Zeserson, and Dick Coogan talk about Grass Roots parking

0-14-00 Ken brings an Ithaca Journal article to our attention. Governor Patterson has apparently been bought by the oil and gas industry. He thinks that hydrofacking the Marcellus Shale is a great idea, and will solve all of our problems.

Here's a link to the pdf

Check out the comments by "thruthsquadtwo"

0-16-45 Leslie Spurgin reports on the results of an audit recently performed. She reports on some minor problems, but closes by complementing Doug and Dick and Marsha and Jim on a fairly good job of keeping the books.

0-52-20 Chris Thomas reports on Village goings on. They are considering several different options for a second source of water.

Also, there will be a meeting on 8/24 at 7pm to go over the Fire Dept./EMS budget. He said the budget is in two parts - Fire and EMS. Fire budget has remained flat for several years. EMS will go up 25% from 09 to 2010 due primarily to declining volunteerism and having to hire more paid staff. They will discuss how to pay for it at this meeting.

''The question is going to be how do we move forward in terms of paying for it"

This, of course, worries me. I know how Chris would like to pay for it and I remain opposed. See my blog at http://trumansburgambulance.blogspot.com/

We should continue paying for it with our taxes, as we always have. I have some ideas about increasing volunteerism, which I will be speaking about soon.

I think I'll go to that meeting.

0-56-00 I get a chance to talk about hydrofracking. I wrote a new short and sweet ordinance, hoping to entice the board into taking action. Here it is,

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Conservation recently published a "Summary of Hydraulic Fracture Solutions" used by vendors that provide the chemical solutions that are added to the water used in Hydraulic Fracturing.

http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/minres/oilgas/FractListing.pdf

Some of these ingredients are very dangerous, and very likely to enter the ground water around drilling sites, and inevitably will be in the large quantities of waste water that is a byproduct of the drilling and fracking process.

Ethylene glycol, and Methanol are common ingredients in these solutions.

Ethylene glycol is toxic and due to its sweet taste, children and animals will sometimes consume large quantities of ethylene glycol if given access to it. It and its toxic byproducts first affect the central nervous system, then the heart, and finally the kidneys.

Methanol is toxic. If ingested, as little as 10ml can cause permanent blindness by destruction of the optic nerve.

Whereas, we the Ulysses Town Board, object to the use of large quantities of these poisons in our town, we do hereby prohibit their use within the Town of Ulysses, in quantities greater than one gallon per year per natural person, or per corporation doing business within Ulysses.

Enforcement: any natural person or corporation found to be in violation of this ordinance shall be fined $750 for the first offense, and $1500 for second offense, and the fine shall continue to double with every subsequent offense. The Ulysses code enforcement officer shall be responsible for enforcing this ordinance, and issuing these fines, which shall be payable to the Town of Ulysses.

If you listen to the audio, you'll here me say that Alex Rachun, our code enforcement officer, is supportive of this kind of ordinance. Then you'll hear Dave Kerness, (board member) say that he spoke with Alex, and I am wrong about Alex's support. So.......... I checked again with Alex the next morning, and indeed, he is in support.

Doug Austic pointed out that every big truck that goes through Ulysses would be in violation, because they would have more than one gallon of ethylene glycol in their radiators. Good point. I will be happy to increase the allowable limit. I have written to the Environmental Management Council, and I hope to get some expert help in setting the limit low enough to catch hydrofrackers and high enough to allow continued normal use.

Doug says that Chris Thomas might have had greater than my allowable limits in his drums full of materials for his insulation business. Chris agrees and says that he didn't have sheets describing the contents of those drums.

this is interesting - from wikipedia,

In the U.S., the Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires that MSDS be available to employees for potentially harmful substances handled in the workplace under the Hazard Communication regulation. The MSDS is also required to be made available to local fire departments and local and state emergency planning officials under Section 311 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act. The American Chemical Society defines Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Numbers (CAS numbers) which provide a unique number for each chemical and are also used internationally in MSDSs.

1-2-10 Dave Kerness says if my ordinance could actually be effective, someone would have already done it. hmm..... not the greatest philosophy for inovating solutions to our problems. I point out that perhaps the reason it isn't being done is because it would violate Article 23 of NYS Conservation Law. This section preempts municipalities from attempting to protect the health of their residents and their environments from giant, hugely profitable, oil and gas corporations. How could such a gross violation of our constitutional right to self government be passed into law? Simple. Corporations own our government in Albany and Washington, but they do not yet own Ulysses, so, we need to stand up on our hind legs and do something.

1-05-42 Karen Brower, from Jacksonville, talks about her difficulties caused by the burning of garbage by a neighbor. She has sought relief from the Sheriff, and the Troopers, and the Tompkins County Health Department, but the burning continues. The board offered no help. I think if I were the Ulysses Supervisor I would have asked for her address and phone number, and arranged a visit to see if I could negotiate a solution.

1-15-40 Jim Meeker- highway report

1-19-00 Marsha Georgia Clerk report

1-22-40 Liz reports from TCOG - Tompkins County Council of Governments

1-26-35 Dick Coogan and Town Attorney discuss the best ways to handle future Grassroots parking (zoning changes, permits, development zone, whatever)

Dick also says that Ulysses has been left holding the bag for a water improvement flyover. The town has paid and the state was supposed to reimburse us and hasn't

This flyover was supposed to identify faulty septic systems. The results were inconclusive. I think we should have a watershed inspector who's job it is to check the systems every two or three years. This is what they have on the southern end of Kueka Lake where I built a house on the lake.

1-44-00 Town Barn Project. Doug discusses the various bids from 3 contractors. Finger Lakes Construction won the bid and the Town resolved to accept their bid of 396,000

2-01-00 Some discussion of progress on the Comp Plan.

2-04-30 Lucia Tyler has written a letter for the Board to Michael Arcuri etc about our concerns re: hydrofracking urging them to support legislation which might disallow the exemptions from the Safe Drinking Water Act. All of the members sign.

2-15-00 Adjourn



I'll post more notes later.

Bernie Sanders lectures McCain on Health Care

After listening to Bernie here, I realized that our Ambulance Service is actually socialized medicine, not just single payer. It's like our socialized Fire Department, and Socialized Police Department. All good. All as they should be now and forever.

Sixth Annual Women Swimmin' for Hospicare

I don't know why I've never been to one of these before, but this morning I went to the sixth annual Women Swimmin' for Hospicare. Awesome. 300 women swam across Cayuga Lake and back from the Ithaca Yacht Club, to raise money for Hospicare. Beautiful morning, hundreds of people, great music, great food, and all for a good cause. http://www.hospicare.org/

The saxophone solo is by Ken Zeserson, Chair of the Ulysses Planning Board.

If you're reading this on Saturday morning, there is still time to go on down. http://www.womenswimmin.org/

If not, don't miss it next year.