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Date: 11/22/2021
SOUTHAMPTON – Southampton voters will have the opportunity to weigh in on a measure proposed by the town’s fire chief to improve ambulance staffing and response levels through better compensation.
The Select Board on Nov. 16 voted to include Fire Chief John Workman’s request to transfer $30,000 from ambulance receipts to the EMS wage account on the warrant for the Special Town Meeting scheduled for Dec. 14. The motion passed with Jon Lumbra voicing a dissenting vote.
The vote was one of many made by the Select Board as it worked to finalize the warrant. Applications for warrant articles were accepted until Nov. 4. Discussion and votes at the Nov. 16 meeting were strictly to allow inclusion of requested warrants and additional work on particulars remained.
“What we will end up doing is going through each of them and it is my understanding that we would simply need to be in agreement to vote to put it on the warrant for the Special Town Meeting,” Select Board Chair Christine Fowles said. We’re not looking at the precise language – there’s still language that needs to be tinkered with I believe and needs to be run by the general counsel before it’s finalized. That probably wouldn’t happen until our next meeting next week.”
The next Select Board meeting took place on Nov. 23, after press time. Reminder Publishing will have more coverage of this issue in a future edition.
Regarding the $30,000 transfer request, Workman confirmed to the board that the intent of the article would be to offer its per diem paramedics a more competitive wage.
“Basically, we’ve had some staffing shortfalls,” he said, explaining that while revenue from ambulance receipts is up, the department is missing about 20 percent of its calls due to lack of staffing, which is costing the department money. “It’s not just Southampton, it’s really regional based. There’s less people signing up for EMS. Nobody wants to get into the back of an ambulance anymore. Pandemic is part of it, I think, and low wages is extensive across the industry.”
For example, July 1 to the time of the meeting, Southampton had received mutual aid assistance on 47 of 208 calls, and 26 times transports were provided by outside departments representing a potential loss of $63,000, according to Workman. Twenty-one times, Southampton Fire Department received a transport call with no medic available, costing the department an estimated $5,700 to $7,800 in intercept call fees. There were four calls where no staff was available at all.
“We’re not serving the community the way we need to, which I believe is close to 100 percent of the calls as we can,” Workman said. “The other is the revenue aspect. If we’re missing 20 percent of the calls, we’re missing that potential revenue.”
Some on the board had concerns with the proposal, including member Maureen Groden, who said mid-year raises “always come back to bite us” and noted the Department of Revenue does not support the practice. She also suggested the department add dedicated personnel instead of relying on those who primarily work outside the community, an idea Workman said he planned to propose in the next budget cycle. Groden ultimately said she supported the article because it was a public safety issue, although she added it was “against my best revenue judgement.”
Lumbra said in opposition, “I understand what the chief is trying to do and increase wages. As an individual, I’m not 100 percent at where he wants to go with the wages, so my hesitance is to approve $30,000 to allow it to just happen without further scrutiny or discussion.”
Fowles and Town Administrator Ed Gibson noted any wage increase would have to be approved not only by the chief but also the Select Board.
Board member Joy Piper asked Workman if he could guarantee empty shifts would be filled should the $30,000 be transferred, he said he could not. She also asked if additional compensation had been discussed with current personnel. Workman said he had and opined it would be “a challenge for morale” if the transfer did not take place.
Among the other items approved was a request from the Edwards Public Library to transfer $9,897 from the retirement contributory account, moving $6,726 to the library wage account, $1,591 to the library maintenance account and 1,580 to the library utilities account. This would bring the library into compliance with state funding requirements.
Groden asked if the move would allow the library to be open on Monday, to which Fowles replied the transfer would allow them to be accredited but did not know if it would allow the library to return to its regular schedule. Groden also noted it would be important to know if the wage account transfer would be “a recovery or an addition.” Gibson said he believed it was a recovery from this year’s budget, not last year’s cuts.
The board also approved inclusion of two Police Department requests to transfer funds from its wage account – $15,000 for the police overtime budget “due to unexpected staffing shortages” and $13,000 to the police expense account for “unexpected costs.” Requests to transfer $3,000 from communications expense account to police building expense account for “expenses incurred to maintain the building generator maintenance contract, trash removal and light replacement,” and a police equipment transfer of $4,650 from the regional lockup assessment for electronic radar signs and messaging boards will also be on the warrant. Fowles noted that these would be internal fund transfers and not requests for additional money. She also pointed out the regional lockup funds were no longer needed for that purpose because the state had taken over those costs.
Gibson confirmed he intends to combine the police transfer requests into one article on the warrant.
Voters will also have the opportunity to weigh in on the proposed borrowing of $294,000 to purchase a new dump truck with plow for the Highway Department. The truck in question was initially budgeted as part of the override that was defeated by residents at a previous Special Town Meeting.
The Select Board, prior to their vote, examined the town’s current debt to determine if anything was coming off the debt schedule that this new borrowing could replace, and decided there was not. Member Francine Tishman noted there was a substantial debt – the new ambulance – coming off the books in 2023, however, Gibson reminded the board that is normally paid through ambulance receipts. Fowles also noted borrowing for the East Street bridge repair project had not been added, to which Gibson replied that that would be a debt exclusion which would not impact the operating budget.
Fowles asked Gibson about the risk in putting the article forward now, wondering if prices would drop when supply chain issues are resolved or if the town would run the risk of prices continuing to climb. Gibson called it a risk either way.
Groden suggested there was the possibility of switching previously approved debt exclusion of $270,000 for land acquisition for the Columbia Greenway rail trail expansion to a CPA expenditure, as another article on the warrant will request. Gibson explained that if that occurred, there would be an article at the 2022 Annual Town Meeting to rescind the $270,000 debt exclusion for the acquisition of the right of way. That, he said, could open up the opportunity for a debt exclusion for the needed dump truck. At this point Gibson said he did not recommend a debt exclusion, noting on top of everything else, there would not be enough time to legally have a vote on it at the Special Town Meeting and at an election. He suggested holding off until the Annual Town Meeting.
Groden made a motion to push that issue off to the Annual Town Meeting in May 2022. While the majority of the board was initially in favor of removing the article, Lumbra opposed that action, stating the issue should be acted upon and put before the voters. Tishman asked if anything prevented the board from putting the article on the Annual Town Meeting warrant if it remained on the Special Town Meeting warrant and failed. Gibson said there was not. He and Groden reiterated that if approved, however, the funding for the dump truck would be borrowed and could not come from a debt exclusion. Gibson also told the board there would not be any immediate impact as the town likely would not receive the truck until 2023.
The board ultimately defeated Groden’s motion and voted to approve the inclusion of the truck question.
One of two proposed election-related articles will appear on the warrant as the board allowed a request for $5,700 for a new voting machine needed to accommodate the new precinct resulting from redistricting. The second request for $2,200 for 10 new voting booths was not supported as members noted the town already has additional booths in storage and the possibility of assistance from the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Office.
In addition to the article requesting $270,000 in Community Preservation Act funds for right of way acquisition for the Columbia Greenway project, the Select Board voted to include two other CPA-related articles – an $86,000 PARC grant for Conant Park improvements and $20,000 from the historical preservation account for the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission’s New Haven to Northampden Canal Project for Southampton’s share of identifying and recording the path of the canal.