The Sun Journal made for some interesting reading today, both in the story and the comments. Some comments were well thought out and some were…well, anyway. Probably the best post was from Jeff R who said
“….I Support Our Town And agree That Med-Care is an excellant service but thinkI don’t know Jeff R but I think he summed things up pretty well. We have a problem when an entity that relies on town tax money can spend whatever they want and not allow the town more say. Granted towns do have some say through our town representatives on the board. This situation has made it painfully obvious that isn’t enough when it comes to big ticket items.
the "building" should be brought in front of the voters. I also believe strongly
that Amendments need to be made to inter local that caps spending. Med-Cares
board of Directors ignored a Member town who has stated over and over they
disapprove of the building. Thats a slap in the face Without the assualt charge.
I want to thank The Ambulance commitee for there time again and all of you who
are attending these meetings its great to see the involvment in your Town.”
I want to give some credit to Steve Brown who spoke to the Sun Journal in an article on Tuesday. He took a little heat off Dean but he still missed the boat when he didn’t talk about why the need for the building was so critical. Instead he talked about the number of jobs potentially lost and deadlines. For those of you who want to throw Dean under the proverbial ambulance, give the guy a break. He’s just doing his job. EVERYONE at Med-Care seems to be missing the big picture here. If you want the towns to spend 2 million dollars, you better tell us why and keep telling us. In fairness to Med-Care, they did have some information about the building on their website but when I looked for it today it was gone.
I would encourage our selectmen to hasten to find the best way to correct the Inter-Local Agreement without jeopardizing the quality ambulance service Med-Care provides and scaring our citizens half to death along the way. That seems to be the most responsible way out of this mess.
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25 comments:
http://www.med-careambulance.com/facility/
it's still there.
and it still needs to be fixed
As I stated last night at the meeting in Andover, it’s amazing to me that the management at Med-care is willing to risk having the company fold (and are willing to throw away years of good will built up by providing years of great service) just to get a new building. It’s obvious that the “management” and the “representatives” on the board have forgotten that the 11 towns who are a part of the inter-local agreement actually OWN the company. If the representatives won’t vote as those they “represent” desire then they need to be replaced If management can’t come to grips with the fact that they don’t own the company, then they need to go. The rank and file Med-care people, and those of us who depend on them, are caught in the middle. Let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater. The problem is, now that Med-care and its management has gone this far there seems no way out. I suggest an emergency meeting of the Med-care board and a vote to put a stop to the building before it’s too late and we all lose. If that fails, then I urge all 11 towns to sign the inter-local and replace their representatives with someone who will act to stop the building, replace the management if necessary, and revise the inter-local agreement. BTW; Andover selectmen sent Med-care a letter in September telling them we didn’t support the building. Rumford has made no secret of the fact that they don’t support the building. Mexico obviously has problems, and I’m willing to bet that even the other towns that already voted for the agreement wish they had a chance to vote on the building. If Med-care folds, we can rebuild the system again, with new management, because we already own it.
I submitted this comment to The Rumford Reporter on the 13th of May. It has not been posted. It seems that all the comments of The Rumford Reporter not posting comments that are not in line with their thinking are true. I am submitting it here because I think The Rumford Frees Press has stood up to it's claim of posting both sides as long as there are no personal attacks. This is my unposted comment: The more I see and read, the more I think we should renew the contract with Med-Care. The comment in this article about and eight-bay garage for five hundred thousand and a four-bedroom ranch for two hundred thousand is interesting. Isn't the actual building that Med-Care is proposing 1.2 million dollars? Not including the land, architecture fees, closing, and landscaping? That is a difference of only four hundred thousand dollars. When you figur that a public building has to be handicapped accessible, have a sprinkler system, fire doors, and I guess they are required to have some sort of exhaust removal system in the garage where the trucks are. That seems like it would bring the cost up another four hundred thousand dollars. I was in their current building this past week. What a run-down place that is. The floor is uneven. I thought I was going to fall through in a couple spots. If the building ever caught fire, there are some places in that buyilding that you could not get out of. The vehicle repair stuff is jammed into an old walk-in cooler. Two of the ambulances, which are very expensive, are parked outside in temporary shelters. Just looking around the building, I would have to guess that the building is nowhere near being up to code. I'm not an expert by any means, but it just looks that way to me. I wonder how much it would cost to make the necessary renovations to make it a safe, livable, and up-to-code building.
Ron Theriault is pushing to have the Med-Care contract not be renewed. He is planning on preventing debate of it at town meeting, and forcing it to the election. If this happens, we will automatically be out of Med-Care. The deadline for renewal is June 7th, our election is June 10th.
Can you still get a Dairy Queen cone there? :)
I didn't see any ice cream in the cooler, t.:(
If we vote down the Med-Care agreement, we lose our voice in the organization. Some believe that they will come crawling back to us, but I am not willing to take that chance. If you support the aggressive "blow them out of the water" tactic, then vote against the agreement. But if you believe in working it out maturely, vote in favor of the contract. Ron is pushing hard to get this voted down. It will be a testament to his influence if it is indeed defeated. Please remember, it is likely that a motion will be made not to remew the agreement. If that happens a YES vote will turn down the agreement. Please be careful.
And what don't you get about "if you vote it down they will have to sit down with all the towns and re-do the inter-local agreement"? They don't want to fold and we don't want to lose them, so it can only be good for all if we have a new contract that everyone can live with. They aren't going to just fold up and disappear. Med-Care needs to work with the people to make this all work. They haven't wanted to, but if voted down you can bet they will sing another tune.
Med-Care doesn't need Rumford. They can survive without us. With the arrogance they have shown, it is obvious that they will re-negotiate the agreement first, then allow Rumford, Mexico and Andover back in under their terms. If we vote in favor of the contract, we have more power to make changes without bringing this to court. If we vote it down, we will likely be paying for some lawyer's new vacation home before the mess is all said and done. There are ways to achieve what we want within the agreement. You must have realised that when you read it.
Kevin is making a lot of sense here. Keep Med-Care and then fix the Inter-local agreement.
It sounds as if Med-Care will have to dissolve within 30 days if we don’t keep it. They won’t have to provide us notice they are dissolving and folllow all the waiting period stuff because we opted out, not them. We’ll be providing them notice.
Did everyone see in the Sun Journal article that it was unanimous among the selectmen and Town Manager that they should send this back to the voters? They clearly think voting to keep the service is the right thing to do. Let’s be smart here and stay in the game.
People need to read the inter-local agreement a little closer and one section in particular that rfp pointed out which is section 7.6. Med-Care can't just dissolve.
They are using that as a scare tactic and it's just not true. If people vote down the agreement as it is now then Med-Care, who is going to do what they have to do to stay in business,is going to have to sit down with all the towns and listen to us for a change instead of trying to bully us or scare us. We can totally turn the tables around by voteing them down and then coming up with an agreement that we all can live with and have some say about.
You are missing the point. They are willing to re-negotiate the agreement ONLY with those who saty on board. If we vote out, we will not be a part of the new agreement, and we will lose our equity in the organization. At 40%, that is a large stake. We complain that we have to fund services to other towns, then we vote to give them our share of the assets. It just doesn't make sense.
The smaller towns can not carry the load that is left from the bigger towns as far as Med-Cares lost revenues. They are going to re-negotiate with all towns to keep the towns fees where they are now. Do you really think the small towns out there are going to be able to carry the load by themselves. I bet not.
I spent some time today re-reading the agreement. I also spoke with a number of people who informed me that Rumford had asked for an ammendment back last fall, but was denied. Rumford owns 40% of Med-Care, but as I read the agreement, we will not lose our share if we vote this down. We will also not be responsible for the building, since the financing has not been secured. After careful consideration of these facts, in addition to the uncooperative attitude of the Med-Care board, I have changed my opinion of the situation. I support not renewing the agreement. I just wish the town had consulted with the town attorney on this issue sooner. My sources indicate that they still have not. How can we as a town go into such a big decision without legal consultation? I can read and interpret the agreement, but it would be good to have a person with more legal training chime in on the topic.
My feelings on this is that the only responsible choice is to re-sign with Med Care for another 10 year contract. During the next 10 years though we need to get our Fire Department the proper training and equipment to break away from Med Care at the next inter local agreement, now I am sure there are going to be some big up front costs associated with this, but I have also heard that in the long run it will more than pay for itself. Yes I also now that we will probably be locked into paying for a building that we as the Town of Rumford have nothing to do with, but I feel this would be the best plan for the citizens of Rumford.
I think that somebody needs to make sure people understand section 7.6 tonight before this thing goes to vote. Don't let their scare tactics win out. We need to revise this inter-local agreement and we can as voters of the town make this happen by voting down the old one and making Med-Care sit down with and work with the towns. They are not going to give up that company. We need to be able to have a say in big expenditures and by voteing down the currewnt contract and working towards a new one that everyone can live with is the only answer and it is with-in our grasp!
By doing this you really are not getting rid of Med-Care, you are only opening the door to re-negotiate a new contract.There aren't any of them over there that are foolish to dissolve the company because they have to finally listen to the people instead of telling us what we HAVE to do, which has not been so truthful. That in it's self needs some consideration!
Then who, does med care provide services to the town you live in?
Would someone please post the results of the Rumford vote here tonight. I can't make it to the meeting.
Thanks
Hanover approved Med-Care's contract.
I believe Rumford did not. They are still argueing about what to do now but it was voted down. Don't know where they will end up tonight.
I heard it was voted down.
It was placed in the hands of the selectmen. If they can work out a deal with Med-Care, they can sign the agreement and it will be as if the people voted "yes". If they don't work out a deal, they can vote it down and it will be as if the people voted it down. Either way, you will have ambulance coverage.
I think Maddigan said he didn't think they can do that. (Selectmen)
Madigan is wrong.
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