In my
opinion Templeton does not offer services for your tax dollars. It’s all big
business now. Read the blog carefully, emt and fire dept. 939 calls for their
services, then the police 8138 call for services, that’s a total of 9077 calls
in 1 year ( 365 days ) That a lot of calls. That’s over 248 calls a day.
Allowing 1am to 5am as slack time. That’s 12 calls per hour – roughly based on
a 20 hr day. And I am not knocking
anyone. I said that’s a lot of calls per
hour for just the police does that number include “stupid “ calls like for
instance, wrong numbers or what time is it or what time does the sun rise? Then
this is roughly 1 call every 5 minutes. Now Mike C – how much money does the
police dept bring into town dollar wise?? Then how much does the highway bring
into town dollar wise? Sooo if these other entities bring in so much money, why
do they keep asking us Taxpayers for more money? Especially in this economy.
Ask for a little at a time and you might win. Of course that is my opinion. Why
was that ENT wagon overheating? I hope you didn't bring it to the highway barn
for the mechanic on duty last year, other words-maybe the thermostat, with
loose belts, they don't always squeak, sometimes they slip only when idling. I
always carry Two or three cans of belt
dressing for testing belt slippage. I had one automatic tensioner to freeze up
and cause the engine to overheat while idling. Just a thought. By the Way, Mike
C, who does the maintenance on these vehicles and do they will keep a log on
maintenance inspections? I keep logs on the back of our driver's-side sun visor
after every service-time, date and mileage and hours if they have an hour
meter. And another point about Bennett, he is not just negative, he is saying
it like it is. How often would Templeton need 100 foot ladder truck? Gardner
has one and it is only 3 miles away from Templeton. Let's pay Gardner 500 bucks
per hour if we ever need 100 foot ladder truck. Or even 1000 bucks an hour. How
many times has Templeton needed 100 foot ladder truck? Mutual aid is a good
thing so take it vantage of it, but don't abuse it, what is wrong in layman's
terms with that fire truck at the town barn? You Mike should know being a
fireman? The best insurance the fire department need on the hose issue is three
or four rolls of guerrilla duct tape him, if everything else fails there is
always duct tape, hee hee-hee I am serious, I even used it on a radiator hose in
emergency an it worked until I got home at 3 AM and I got a new hose the next
day, pretty good huh? After all is said and done-beating on Bennett, watch the
economy you probably are not going to be
too happy with the future predictions and it's not because of the elections
it’s the whole country, get it and Templeton is not exempt. Thanks for reading
my opinions.Pauly.
well i hope this town does a better job supporting a new fire chief than the did tom smith ...you get a great chief you need to pay him a decent wage and give him the tools to do his job!!!
ReplyDeletei said my peace on this subject im done!!!!
Gardner City Council voted tonight to accept the animal control agreement with Templeton & Hubbardston so a good first step was taken which should benefit taxpayers all around. Thank you to the council and the Mayor and to all selectmen involved.
ReplyDeletePauly, you hit the nail on the head. "Its the economy, stupid!" Wasn't that was a popular saying awhile ago? It is more true now than it was then. I had a very interesting conversation with John{my xhusband} today. We were talking about Reitta Ranch. He said the economy is starting to affect what is going on there. Jake is charging thirty dollars for a car, to set up for a day. The people that are cleaning out a house, or selling grammys things, are having a hard time makeing the thirty dollars just to pay for the table, so alot of them are not going on Sunday. If you bring a big truck like Barts, it takes the space of two tables, so it is going to cost you sixty dollars. You need to sell alot of stuff to make the sixty dollars back, before you start making a profit. You have to think twice if you think you can make enough to make a trip worth while. Maybe Jake will have to think about how much he charges people to set up. I had to laugh, a long time ago I bought a good size bell, to put out by the register incase a customer needed help. Last week, we were selling some of the things we did not need. this lady said, "I'll give you five bucks for the bell." I said" no I'm keeping it." Nice try, that bell cost me fourty dollars a long time ago. This is the economy, I think the fuel costs last winter tipped the scale. It's pretty bad when you can't afford to get rid of your things, that is what happens when people don't have anymoney. It is going to be rough sledding for a good ten years, as far as I can see. Reality is that it does not matter who is in as a selectman, they have no magic ball. The positive thing about Julie, Jeff and Chris is that they will not work to make the hole we are in deeper, and create more debt to add to what we have already.For that we can be greatfull. My opinion, Bev.
ReplyDeletePauly, I hate to burst your bubble, but your math is off. 9077 calls per 365 days equals 24.8 calls per day, 1.24 calls per hour for your 20 hour day, 0.10 calss every 5 minutes.
ReplyDeleteGreat advice on the overheating issue.
I gess it come down on what the cost of safety for everyone in town.
ReplyDeleteI think Bev is correct. It is the economy. The BOS also needs to establish trust within the community BEFORE we can ask more of the taxpayers. I think we have turned the corner and stemmed the tide of taxpayer money spent foolishly. Building trust will take time and it will be difficult when one of your elected BOS members is an alleged thief. I, personally, have a difficult time trusting people who steal.(See Pauly's blog entry "It Takes a Thief..."July 18th and Settlement vs. Separation agreement July 19th)
ReplyDeleteThat said, I think it is imperative to focus on "essential/core services". The fire department and EMS certainly fall into essential/core services. I have supported the ambulance fund in the past and will continue to support it in the future. If we dedicate those funds to the EMS/Fire department, in a few years we will have enough to evaluate the need to add daytime firefighters. It will take a few years to build up the necessary reserves to fund this service FOR the taxpayers.
As a community, we ask an awful lot of our volunteers. Our volunteer firefighters and EMTs as well as our CERT crews volunteer a huge amount of their personal time. It really takes a toll on your family and your life to stay prepared to help your community in an emergency and/or civic event. I think the CERT team did an excellent job at the road race and block party. There were a lot of other town employees donating their time to make those events safe and enjoyable for everyone. We are fast approaching a time, when as a community, people will not be able to donate their time to volunteer...to be a firefighter...to be an EMT...to be a CERT member.
We need to take steps to ensure our town is still provided these essential/core services. I believe one way to accomplish that goal is to make sure the ambulance account is funded properly and used for its intended purpose.
Outsourcing and regionalization of certain departments can help us provide the same or better services to taxpayers. I also believe in order for mutual aid to work, we, Templeton, need to provide our EMS/Fire dept the support they need to protect the community. The first step is to select a qualified fire chief.
See you on Thursday!
My opinions...supported by FACTS!
It is about time to appoint a new fire chief. In reading the town report, we had just one house fire and over three hundred ambulance calls. Does this tell you what the priority in choosing a chief should be? I support the ambulance account being used for its intended purpose. We also need to get on the ball and hire a town accountant. If it is a money probem, work with it and get ur done.
ReplyDeleteJulie - Does the BOS have a good handle on whatever issues cause Templeton and Wood's to respond to ambulance calls? I think there are some problems if two ambulances bill the insurance company for the same transport & service. Why does this happen? Is there some level of injury or condition whereby Wood's is called? This seems to be more of an issue today, not only in Templeton. Years ago, many fire departments did not provide ambulance service. Now we have an overlap between public and private companies. It makes sense for Templeton to bill for services provided, but we have an issue with insurance paying for multiple ambulances.
ReplyDeletethe transporting ambulance does the billing ..if Templeton transports with als on board i do belive we split the bill!!
DeletePart of it may be that I believe Templton is only licensed for Basic Life Support and Woods has Advanced Life Support capability as in Paramedics and such. There is also the possibillity of Woods monitoring scanners because who ever transport the patient, gets paid from the insurance co, who ever wheels up first gets the doe as in green backs. I may be wrong but I am pretty sure that is how it goes. Woods also contract with some cities & towns. Gardner & Royalston are 2 such contracts I believe.Sometimes if you are out n about, you will see a woods ambulance just parked in Templeton, sitting there like they are waiting for business. There is or was also legislative hearings trying to decide if ambulances bill the insurance co or the patient as some insurance companies trying to get away from the high cost of ambulance service refusing to pay if ambulance co is not in "their network" Just like if you have blue cross blue shield for example, they have a network of doctors that blue cross deals with and agree to pay their price and if you go outside there for no real reason such as to see a specialist, the insurance will either not pay or only pay a certain price and you are left with the remainder, ambulance service is no different, all things medical keeps going up and up and everyone is looking for ways to deal with it, including cities & towns because we (people who make the decisions) are spending other people's money (taxpayers) You simply cannot go into the ambulance business without considering the costs (at least I can't) and looking at all the optionsA balancing act to help people and pay for it and the people you are trying to help are the ones also paying for it, so someone needs to look into the mirror and it may not be the selectmen.
ReplyDeletejeff,
Deletecan you tell me why in the past 6 years why most of the area fire deparments went to the Parmedic level ambulance and stop useing woods for there primary ALS service.also woods sit in East Templeton to cover all of Gardner and Royalston at the same time when there gardner als truck is on a call or gone out on town.
jeff you are right on templeton is only licensed for Basic Life Support and Woods has Advanced Life Support.some calls requrie a parmedic.woods is only primary amblance for Gardner and Royalston, yes woods get the insurance money and they will go after you for your copay also,and Gardner and Royalston send thr firedeparment to the medical calls as it is requrie to that is a add cost to the taxpayer thats pay roll you cant get back ,so templeton has had a anblance for a long time so they dont have to call the whole fire deparment out for a medical call.woods sits in empleton so that 1 amblance can cover Gardner,Royalston and ther als contractas.to me thats not safe eather who get amblance first if 3 towns call at oncefor a amblance
ReplyDeletejeff
ReplyDeletethis is how it works so you don't mislead the public again
i will talk about a ALS call only when it gets toned woods is also called for als unit even if woods is off first and we have 2 emts we will transport and split the bill .if we do not have 2 emts woods transports and gets the whole ball of wax!!
Gee Mike, can't you see Jeff is doing his best? What do you want, blood? I think all this small stuff needs to be taken care of because it is not small at all. Once the fire department gets a new chief, I think your working conditions will improve. Mike,I know you are very frustrated, and you probably are not alone. If there is a bright spot on the horizon, it is that Jeff and Julie won't take the ambulance money, and give it to another program. Just dealing with insurance companies alone needs a full time person, I would think. There is so much that needs to be fixed in this town, it is going to take time to do it right. So what I am saying is there is no way around the fact that what you want is not going to come tomorrow or the next day. Think of the positives, we are going forward. After the past year or so, that is a huge improvment. My opinion, Bev.
DeleteSo mike, is Templeton licensed for Basic life support or what, because that is how they are listed on the state site. And the part about the legislatur and the insurance companies along with private insurance companies is on the statehouse news about those billing issues
DeleteJeff, you are right regarding TFD being licensed for Basic Life Support and Woods has Advanced Life Support; some calls do require a parmedic, however, the insurance money from those calls is split between Templeton and the ALS provider. Additionaly, if Templeton transports, they do the billing for the call and pay the ASL company. Woods only has contracts with Gardner & Royalston but the fire deparment in those towns still have to respond to medical calls. Templeton will have to still go to medical calls regardless of whether or not the abulance is from the fire department or a private service. If theres no ambulance in the fire deparment you will lose the insurance money and have to pay people to respond to the call. The reason Woods sits in East Templeton is because they are covering Gardner, Royalston, and ALS corvage for both Templeton and Phillipston; all of this coverage is provided by that one truck sitting there.
ReplyDeleteWell mike, you may think or say I am misleading the public, but on the Massachusetts Office of Emergency Medical Services website, it has Templeton as only being licensed for Basic Life Support service, Woods is a private company that is listed as Advances Life Support Service and more. You stated as I did that who transports get the billing which = the money. Article in Gloucester Times, August 6, 2012 talks about the governor is now weighing a bill that would require insurers to pay private ambulance co. directly for transporting a patient. The bill is H 3917 One of the things this bill does is possibly add 80 million to ambulatory costs. It staes that in 2011, Blue cross Blue shield began reimbursing subscribers directly for the cost of a ride, shifting responsibility for paying the ambulance company to the patient. It also states that with that shift, municipalities have been so far exempted from that practice, blue cross blue shield have refused to include that exemption in any statute, meaning bluecross blue shield could do the same when it comes to municipal run ambulance service, which in my opinion is something to watch and think about. The article also includes concerns raised by emergency departments that are trying to keep town owned ambulance service revenues current. One concern raised by Gloucester city fire department is that the moves by the insurance companies are not driving the cost down on health care. These actions are actually shifting increased cost onto municipal ambulance services, the communities as in taxpayers. H 3917 includes prohibiting the direct payment of patients for ambulance service, cap on rates at 300% of the medicaid rate reimbursement or the usual rate of an ambulance provider, whichever is lower and it would ban balance billing or sending a bill to a patient for the balance of transport cost not covered by the insurance co. Geoffrey Beckwith of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, of which Templeton taxpayers pay 1000 dollars a year to belong to, states the the threat of pay the patient and under-funded ambulance reimbursements undermine the ability of cities & towns to fund & operate responsive ambulance service. Insurance companise like all other companies look to make a profit and are always looking for ways to cut cost like any other companies. Mike may think I am misleading taxpayers but as always I am trying to keep people aware of things, happenings and to be thinking of questions as we head into the hiring of a new fire chief, who may have his own ideas on things and when he brings those ideas & business practices forward to the people, I want taxpayers thinking on not just listening. I think of that as trying to be a good representative of them, you may have other thoughts.
ReplyDeleteJeff., we would have to go many country miles, and cross many streams, to find a person that does half the work that you do. After all of that effort, a person better than you, may not exist. I think frustration fuels alot of angry remarks aimed at you. Take them with a grain of salt. Keep doing your research, someone needs to know what is going on in the world out side of Templeton. Your friend, Bev.
DeleteOn another subject, the town's lates ISO rating is in, which affects homeowners insurance rates and I will provide that information later this week.
ReplyDeletewas it a full blown audit where they go out and test water flow thru hydrants ,check calls for fire in houses and fire alarm calls and what engines responded if any.(hose testing)fire truck repairs,etc iso would of been here for days if it was an audit
ReplyDeleteGood points from you both mikec and Jeff, problem is Jeff cares about every section of templeton, you mikec are only interested in the fire dept. and appears you think the fire dept. is the only dept. that should be given a golden ticket, we ALL know that that will just invite wasted money and ego trips in what is NOW and has always been a volunteer dept. keep it as it is and we will continue to have people that WANT to serve their town and are not there for the money only.
ReplyDeleteWE DO appreciate all you guys do, you just have to remember you volunteered to work for this volunteer fire dept. Suck it up. Anonymous TFD
Some thing need change. I bet you don't have as many people on the fire department as you did 10 years ago. What happens in the next 10 years. Jeff only shows 1/2 of the story maybe he should find all fax out before he prints them.
DeleteTo all the people here that thinks the fure dept should stay as it is... Head down to the chiefs office and sign up and get involved. I will bet not one of you will do it !!!!!!! Mike c
DeleteMike c
DeleteYour right... But maybe Jeff will take the EMT class in PFD and he can join and get up in middle of the night to help the town people out.