Quoted from 215

That meeting already happened.  I told ya it passed 3-1 with Mertz speaking against it and he got a couple of others to tag along and echo his comments.  You remember.... "fiscal irresponsibility".  He has the utmost respect for our volunteers... firemen, bla bla bla but we must consider all of our options.... We owe it to our constituents, blah , blah, blah.  

It passed 3-1, really.  Tomorrow night is just a re-run.  

I just don't remember if Mertz got Mohawk to show and do a dog and pony show.  I might have left before that part happened.

Gee papa, if one didn't know any better, it appeared that you were trying to 'keep' people from going to the meeting tonight.(thurs 2-5-2009 7pm), by telling them the meeting already took place.

The media (TV, radio, newspapers) has been alerted about the meeting.  Looking forward to the Supervisor's and the Town Board members' responses to the questions that they will be asked by the public and the reporters.

See you tonight folks!

This morning early I had some coffee with some people who are very much in the know over here in Rotterdam. And guess what my people? Stevie T is trying to hsaft the taxpayers again. He is paying out for the ambulance and then wants to have the go under instead of immediatley forming the ambulance protection district so that it will sink the ambulance and leav us all unprotected from a major disasters. You see if he and the repubs really really cared about the people he would form the district NOW AND SHUT UP WITH THE LIES and STOP making the taxpayers pay for something like he is trying to do with the 14000 $ he wants the TAXPAYERS TO FORK OVER!  So now instead of something that should be free to the people he is forcing down the throats of the taxpayers and guess what is even a  bigger scam? HE IS NOW AGAINST LETTING THEM DRIVERS HAVE THE PROTECTION OF THE UNIONS

Does anyone know when/where the meeting is tonight?

Quoted from 210

Does anyone know when/where the meeting is tonight?

Meeting is tonight, 7:00pm, in Council Chamber at Town Hall.

Thanks!

Quoted from 191

This morning early I had some coffee with some people who are very much in the know over here in Rotterdam. And guess what my people? Stevie T is trying to hsaft the taxpayers again. He is paying out for the ambulance and then wants to have the go under instead of immediatley forming the ambulance protection district so that it will sink the ambulance and leav us all unprotected from a major disasters. You see if he and the repubs really really cared about the people he would form the district NOW AND SHUT UP WITH THE LIES and STOP making the taxpayers pay for something like he is trying to do with the 14000 $ he wants the TAXPAYERS TO FORK OVER!  So now instead of something that should be free to the people he is forcing down the throats of the taxpayers and guess what is even a  bigger scam? HE IS NOW AGAINST LETTING THEM DRIVERS HAVE THE PROTECTION OF THE UNIONS

Sal----whether you like it or not.....we are ALL unprotected from major disasters......you have to be able to pull up your boot straps and
get on......you see Sal,,,,it is survival of the fittest(in any form not just physical but, in mind/spirit too)......

hear the music Sal??? or are you just listening??......no one cares for us but those we allow.....and I certainly wont allow a 'system'
to care for me,,,it's a freakin' system.....people are what matters and people will ALWAYS move on.......and so does time.....

hear it ticking??? the government system is moving closer and closer with or without Rotterdam EMS.....

dont worry,,,,the union will be....look at your state/fed unions.....do you think it wont happen with national healthcare.....

be careful what you 'worry' about Sal....

The Town Board agreed to a contract with REMS effective immediately, to run through the end of this year, at a cost of $10,000 per
month. There are no requirements for financial reports. There are no required response rates and times. In other words, the contract
does not force REMS to remedy the same woes that have kept them in the position they are, which should be the least required. They
are only required to have basic certificates and insurance.    
Steve Tommasone has yet figured out where the money is coming from...he has so far only managed to pluck $65K from different
parts of the budget, and has basically assured us that he will find the rest!
Naturally, all the  EMTs and firemen, etc. were there, along with  Mohawk Ambulance reps, and even Bob Godlewski!
I'm not sure which one it was, but one of the news stations were there...they interviewed Steve before the meeting.

Hmmmm.....so tommasone will pay out approx. $100,000 by the end of the year. Now lets see...oh ya, that takes us through the election! So tommasone, in a round about way, just spent $100 grand of taxpayers money for his campaign, yes?

I guess this is the mentality of Rotterdam. And it don't matter if they are dems or reps. Mohawk must just be shaking their heads in disbelief. We are going to pay out $100 grand of our money (that we don't have)where as Mohawk was going to do the same job, with absolutely NO cost to the taxpayers PLUS give the town $80 grand a year! I'm speechless!!!  IMHO

What was the vote count?

I was in the meeting tonight and have to tell you that it was interesting, if any of you folks did not make it. There was an excellent member of the audience a Mr Allerice I think who gave an excellent overview of his experience with the EMS over the years and I have to say that he fully swayed me. The next thing I found was that the service cost 3 cents per day for each household, which pretty much won me over considering the cost of the county government ($1,000 on my tax bill last month which is $2.74 per day for me) so in the end: I support them doing this. I have a caveat- if there were 3 compnies handling EMS in the region and we needed to fire one, I would like to know there is a back-up. If there were more than one, I would seriously want to see who could do the job and put it out to bid, and I would also feel comfortable knowing there is someone to come in within a split second to fill a void should one go out of business. As it stands now, Mohawk IS our backup, which is fortunate FOR US in Rotterdam.

On another note, I saw some interesting characters, including who I think is Sal, and he was accompanied by an older lady with a wig, plus former candidate Ron Severson who ran a few years ago in a dismal showing. I think they were there to cause trouble but were apparently not too popular with some of the volunteer firemen, or at least not as popular as they thought they may be.

On the tailend, I would like to say that from what I saw in Mr. Allerice, I would hope he runs for office someday, he has great command when he speaks and is poised, sharp and convincing. I don't know what his politics are, but I liked what I saw.

Oh, one more point. there have been proposals from politicians before who suggested cutting their own salaries. tonight Steve Tommasone actually DID that and used $2,000 of his salary as part of that $65,000 that he cobbled together to fund this the remainder of the year. This funding deal only goes through the end of the year.

OK, I have a few things which I was about to post before I got kicked out of IE due to my computer just being old.  Anyway, the one speaker who both Channels 6 and 13 stated was "emotional" tonight was my sister, Caryn March.  She was a volunteer for the ambulance squad for 10 years.  That's right, volunteer, no paycheck and she did it anyway.  She was in favor of this.  She was on both channels tonight.

I applaud Mr. Tommasone for looking very carefully into the budget to see where the money could come from.  He is showing his concern for the town and it's residents, even if I disagree with his point of view on this.  After the committee met and discussed raises through the town, which may or may not have been a good idea, he decided that although it sounded good, the finances couldn't be worked out now, so he did not include these in this year's budget.

$30 a year is not much...especially considering the 14.7% increase that I saw again this year in taxes.  Maybe my sister who was in favor of this will decide to pay the $30 for me.  

My sister did tell me in a separate conversation that Rotterdam EMS has been missing out on a bit of money that they could have had coming in due to the way that they were billing.  Essentially, they have only been billing for the ambulance rides, when they could have, in fact, also been billing insurance companies and patients for the times when the paramedics show up.  They have only been charging BLS rates to the insurance companies, where the paramedics would be an ALS rate.  Once they turn around and do this, it could be a significant amount of money coming in to the corps.

I am a bit upset about this entire thing going down tonight, though.  I do remember that I knew that I wasn't going to be at this meeting prior to it happening.  The thing is that I expected tonight to be a meeting about what they planned on doing, possibly setting up a public hearing at the next official town board hearing at the normally scheduled time, Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m.  I do know that there were robo-calls going out regarding this meeting tonight, however, I don't know where they were coming from.

Pg, for your information, and papa, so you can take your crystal ball in and tell them that it's malfunctioning, the vote was actually unanimous, 4-0 tonight.

Quoted Text

TOWN OF ROTTERDAM DECIDES TO ENTER INTO CONTRACT WITH ROTTERDAM EMS

Posted on: 02/05/09
Written by: Jackie Sher,
email: news@spotlightnews.com

At a Rotterdam Town Board Meeting tonight, the board voted unanimously to enter into a contract with Rotterdam EMS.  They dismissed a proposal from Mohawk Ambulance.

The agreement will be effective until Thursday, Dec. 31.  The town will compensate the REMS with a monthly payment of $10,000.  

There was concern that the Town of Rotterdam would have to create a new taxing district to fund REMS, but Town of Rotterdam Supervisor Steve Tommasone said that this is not the case.

"Tonight we’re not here to commission a taxing district, we’re here to commission service and we’re making sure we have money in our budget to do that," said Tommasone.

He confirmed during the meeting that there are funds from the 2009 budget that will be able to cover the cost of REMS................http://www.spotlightnews.com/247/article.php?article_id=tQ1233889625t498ba959a1022

Quoted Text

ROTTERDAM
Contract with REMS OK’d, includes $10,000 per month
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

    Town officials ratified a contract with the Rotterdam Emergency Medical Services Thursday, giving $10,000 per month to the embattled company over the next year.
    All four Town Board members voted in favor of the proposal, which will effectively keep the private not-for-profit ambulance service operating in Rotterdam through December. The contract takes into account a future agreement with REMS that will return some of the funds the organization now receives when the town’s paramedics provide advance life support services aboard their ambulances.
    “It’s going to be a worked-out agreement,” said REMS board President Joe VanDerwerker.
    To create funding for the service, Supervisor Steve Tommasone trimmed several items from the 2009 budget, including a $2,000 reduction in his own salary. In total, he trimmed $65,000 from the budget with the remainder of the funding to come through the pending agreement with REMS.
    The contract is the second REMS has secured. Last month, officials in neighboring Princetown agreed to pay the ambulance company $2,680 per month over the course of the year.
    Rotterdam’s decision came after officials from the for-profit Mohawk Ambulance made a last-minute push to win the contract. The company funded automated phone calls throughout the town, urging residents to attend the board’s agenda meeting Thursday.
    “This is a complete disservice to the people of the community,” said Tommasone, who was angered by the calls.
    As a result, more than 50 residents turned out at the meeting. Prior to the board’s decision, several made impassioned pleas for the board to fund REMS, which is on the brink of financial insolvency.
    Some argued that a switch to a private ambulance company would be irreversible. Others said the town would eventually come to regret switching to the for-profi t model that is more focused on the business aspect.
    “There’s no easy route back from that if we find out the choice we make isn’t right for the people that use it the most,” said Jim Alderdice, a REMS supporter. “We have nothing to lose by [funding REMS] and everything to gain.”
    Caryn March, who once volunteered with REMS, became emotional when she spoke about her former company. She feared the business model of Mohawk might mean a more impersonal service.
    “They want to get a patient onto an ambulance and be done,” she said, her voice quivering. “And I don’t want that for my child.”
    Officials from Mohawk —including Vice President of Operations Richard Brandt and two ambulance crews —also attended the meeting to urge the town to consider other options.
    Resident Kelly Rhinesmith sided with the Mohawk proposal. She said town residents would be better served by getting a revenue source with Mohawk, rather than expending tax dollars for REMS........................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01100