mad hatter or mad hater? What are they trying to do-call names? Democraps do that when they don't have an argument.

Quoted Text

Embrace REMS, don’t seek to dismantle it

Your Dec. 3 editorial cartoon clearly demonstrated the lack of leadership from the Rotterdam town supervisor regarding Rotterdam Emergency Medical Service (REMS). This lack of leadership has allowed a critical emergency medical service delivery issue to degenerate into a discussion of trains and tea parties, complete with a just-say-no Mad Hatter.

His unspoken message is this is only getting rid of a fancy taxicab service for a cheaper one. Nothing can be further from the truth.

REMS is a significant component of the excellent Rotterdam EMS system. Multiple levels of responders within the town provide our citizens with an excellent EMS delivery system. A haphazard dismantling of this excellent system does not benefit our residents. It positions our citizens another bad decision away from eliminating the Rotterdam paramedic service.

The central tenet of this issue is public control of the EMS system. Growing, progressive communities across the United States believe publicly controlled emergency medical service enhances the quality of life of their residents. Delivery of police, fire, rescue and EMS are basic services to property owners and citizens. Creating a publicly elected body to oversee REMS allows our citizens to have a direct say in the overall cost of this service.

As a Rotterdam property owner and individual with 40-plus years of emergency service education and experience, I will vote yes on Dec. 14 to create a publicly elected ambulance district to support REMS and maintain this critical quality of life component within our community.

William Van Hoesen
Rotterdam
The writer is fire commissioner for District 6, South Schenectady.

http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2010/dec/10/1210_print/

You can go around in all kinds of circles  .. but the bottom line is this  ... many property owners and residents  in Rotterdam VALUE having a IN TOWN  emergency medical services provider.    They helped to support
REMS in its formative years and STILL support REMS today and are willing to pay $15 to $25 a year in
an ambulance district tax to keep REMS going for years to come.
Some property owners and residents do NOT like the alternative - my biggest beef with Mohawk is that they
have a track record of making promises and then not following through  -- example the incident in Albany
where they promised to have an ambulance in the the City of Albany at ALL times but when the kid was laying
on the ground dying after being hit by a car ... the nearest ambulance was on I-787 near Troy.   I am NOT
willing to risk a single life in Rotterdam by  expecting Mohawk to be better at fulfilling its promises to us as
it did to Albany.
Furthermore, if REMS goes away .. there will be NO competition ... Mohawk would have a monopoly on providing
ambulance service.    If that happens, the town would be in a poor negotiating position.

REMS claims they are here to stay with or without the tax...so let them stay without it.

Quoted from gadfly

REMS claims they are here to stay with or without the tax...so let them stay without it.

          Good point!  Apparently their conceptual business model shows fiscal solvency without taxpayer bailout, so implement the plan without the tax district and everyone should be happy!

DVOR you forgot to mention the many calls that REMS failed to answer and MAS had to answer the call. You should mention that just for the sake of fairness.

The last rotterdam administration tried to ram it through under the radar.
This rotterdam administration has failed miserably communicating it's intent to the rotterdam residents.

The vote is simple.........
YES = HIGHER TAXES
NO = NO NEW TAXES

Mohonasen tax increase vote on Monday and another tax increase vote (ambulance taxing district) the very next day and two weeks before christmas and in a recession and what ID will be accepted to vote and one polling place and no absentee ballots and a resolution states that rems will be the service provider if the vote passes but the letter sent out to all property owners say it will go out to bid!!!

Ya just can't make this stuff up!
Rotterdamians almost have no choice but to vote NO! A YES vote would carry too many uncertainties and inconsistencies. And rotterdamians know that in either case they won't be falling over dead in the streets cause they have the best EMT'S (first responders)in the county.

And REMS has answered calls for Mohawk IN the city

Quoted from bumblethru

The last rotterdam administration tried to ram it through under the radar.
This rotterdam administration has failed miserably communicating it's intent to the rotterdam residents.

The vote is simple.........
YES = HIGHER TAXES
NO = NO NEW TAXES

Mohonasen tax increase vote on Monday and another tax increase vote (ambulance taxing district) the very next day and two weeks before christmas and in a recession and what ID will be accepted to vote and one polling place and no absentee ballots and a resolution states that rems will be the service provider if the vote passes but the letter sent out to all property owners say it will go out to bid!!!

Ya just can't make this stuff up!
Rotterdamians almost have no choice but to vote NO! A YES vote would carry too many uncertainties and inconsistencies. And rotterdamians know that in either case they won't be falling over dead in the streets cause they have the best EMT'S (first responders)in the county.

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            Sorry, I don't mean to cover anyone's post, but I would also add the following:
1.  How does the hypothetical "out of district" service figure into the finances?  This would be for the Townships of Princetown and Duanesburg.  How do they get billed, and how does that service impact the taxing district rates?  Is it a flat fee per municipality, or pay as you use?
2.  The Town Board promised to send an informational flyer addressing all the issues.  This should have been a Pros vs. Cons letter identifying the possible outcomes of the vote and the ramifications to the taxpayers.  The letter sent was specific just to the ambulance tax district, however a prior Resolution pre-awards the service to REMS.
3.  Who/How was it determined that this should go to a referendum?  Was their a Town petition, did six men in a room determine this?  How did we get here?
4.  The Town had an "A" team list of poll workers.  In the 11th hour they strike that list and go with "certified" poll workers.  Isn't this a no brainer, how did it take up to 6 days before the vote to figure that out?

         I guess we will figure all this out after the vote . . . . . . . if we need to!

        Here is a nice publication put out by the NYS Comptroller regarding special tax districts:

http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/pubs/research/townspecialdistricts.pdf

Quoted from AVON

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4.  The Town had an "A" team list of poll workers.  In the 11th hour they strike that list and go with "certified" poll workers.  Isn't this a no brainer, how did it take up to 6 days before the vote to figure that out?

         I guess we will figure all this out after the vote . . . . . . . if we need to!

The explanation for this is simple...FDG and BG selected their own cronies without notifying the rest of the Board...and they withheld
their choices from the Board until the night of the Town meeting...it was never mentioned in the agenda meeting just two days
earlier...and then they called it a "mistake"...a convenient oversight. Fortunately ND caught them in time.

Quoted from gadfly

The explanation for this is simple...FDG and BG selected their own cronies without notifying the rest of the Board...and they withheld
their choices from the Board until the night of the Town meeting...it was never mentioned in the agenda meeting just two days
earlier...and then they called it a "mistake"...a convenient oversight. Fortunately ND caught them in time.

Are you suggesting that the list FDG and BG selected where there to intentionally scam the voters? I find that hard to believe. Was FDG's and BG's list, from a list of certified polling folks?

This just suggests that ND and GP can select their own cronies.

Quoted from gadfly

The explanation for this is simple...FDG and BG selected their own cronies without notifying the rest of the Board...and they withheld
their choices from the Board until the night of the Town meeting...it was never mentioned in the agenda meeting just two days
earlier...and then they called it a "mistake"...a convenient oversight. Fortunately ND caught them in time.

Got it!  My point though was this was going to a vote by property owners since when?  At least 6 mos. ago, and they didn't address poll workers or qualifications until 6 days before the vote.  This should have been taken care of months ago.  Sorry, forgot where I live . . . . .

7 of the 20 names on the list submitted by the Supervisor were also on the BoE trained list.

Quoted from bumblethru

Are you suggesting that the list FDG and BG selected where there to intentionally scam the voters? I find that hard to believe. Was FDG's and BG's list, from a list of certified polling folks?

This just suggests that ND and GP can select their own cronies.

Only seven of the twenty poll inspectors were from the list of those certified. ND amended the resolution to choose them ALL from
the list of those certified...a list, btw, FDG had before he and BG went off the board and selected their own.