Meeting Minutes 4-13-2022
Guests
Drew Hazleton (KJ)
Colin Grube (Staci)
Stan from noontime club
Phil from noontime club
Stan and Phil presented the golf trophy to KJ’s team. Golf event benefits hospital, youth scholarships and youth programs. Has raised $200K since inception.
Scribes
This week: Staci
Next week: Staci for Turner
Sargent at Arms
This week: KJ
Next Week: It will be a surprise
Speaker Hosts
This week: KJ
Next week: TBD
Student Rotarians
None
Birthdays & Anniversaries
None
Announcements
Mona: Deb is looking for help with the rotary gardens this Saturday
- April 29th is the shared bowling event with the noon club. Free pizza. Buy your own drinks. E-mail Mona to let her know who is coming
-May 7th is green-up day. We are meeting at the outlet center will be cleaning up Exit 1 area. Meeting from 9-12.
-June 18th Saturday at Welcome Center. Need people to provide snacks and volunteer time.
Nick: Suggested that we compile a poster board with photos of Rotarians to advertise what we do at the Welcome Center
Diane: Biggest trivia night ever – Almost $1300 for the Rotary District 7870 Foundation - Ukraine
Cards
No winners
Brags
Justin: Trivia night was huge! Gave a brag for wife and dad who came in for emergency reserves
-Did first bartending gig! Even better with wife Jess as bar back
Will: KJ for doing a great job at trivia with little sleep and a LOT of people
Josh: Going to CA to visit family so excited about that.
-Spent time with Josh Goldberg this week – he’s doing well
-Shout out for trivia night
KJ: Thursday through Monday in Newfane campground. Did 5 days of intense water rescue training. Received 3 calls while they were training – actually received a call for a hiker and a dog that had fallen down a cliff. Was able to rescue both owner and dog (dog was transported to vets!)
Phil from noon club:
Brag for our club and hopes to see us at the bowling event on the 29th.
Kevin: Paying for not attending next Wed because he has finally been summoned for jury duty after living in VT 30+ years and FINALLY was selected.
Katja: Trivia night
-Staci for assembling basket for Bethany
-Drew for coming to speak today
-Noon club for attending – has fond memories of her time there
Speaker
Drew Hazleton from Rescue Inc.
Background: Rescue Inc. is a community non-profit organization that has serviced 15 local towns for 56 years. Has a board of directors to oversee operation. Meets with reps from member towns each year to get feedback on concerns or expectations. Makes adjustments based on their feedback.
-The largest adjustments requested by these boards are to expand Rescue Inc.’s services in their communities.
-Rescue Inc. has a great team of staff and volunteers who provides 100% coverage for local emergencies.
-80 people are involved with the process including call management.
-Average “out the door” time is one minute 30 seconds. Has hit this metric 100% of the time. This metric means that Rescue Inc. trucks answer the emergency calls. Mutual aid means that a crew from another district helps with emergency calls. No mutual aid has been needed BUT – Rescue Inc. has supplied mutual aid to areas in VT, NH and MA.
-Drew says the municipal assessment rate has only increased by 1%/year (or less) over the last 10 years because they have managed to hold down the cost of the operating budget despite the increased cost of virtually everything.
-Many people are uninsured so local towns must provide subsidies to provide emergency services for all.
History of current events reported by the Brattleboro Reformer:
-In Sept the Brattleboro town manager commented on how well Rescue Inc. was doing
-The Rescue Inc. board sets the rate of service and presents to towns so they can incorporate into their budgets. The budget proposed to the Brattleboro Select Board was a 0% increase this year with a 1% increase next year and the following years.
-Rescue Inc. received no questions during this meeting and the Select Board budgeted for the Rescue Inc. funds in Sept.
-In Feb the new town manager told Drew that Brattleboro was no longer willing to pay its share of the subsidy. Brattleboro wants the other 14 towns to subsidize AND retain the same services from Rescue Inc. which is obviously not fair to the other 14 communities.
-Rescue Inc. can’t operate without Brattleboro’s share of the subsidy. The 15 towns have always been considered one community.
-Rescue Inc. had previously sent a letter to the Select Board with details of problems they’ve had with the Fire Department. One main complaint is that the Fire Department has actively blocked female members of Rescue Inc. from helping patients during calls. Several women from Rescue Inc. have experience this discrimination.
-Recue Inc. found out that the Select Board was discontinuing Recue Inc.’s services on Facebook! Drew says there were no negotiations or discussions before the FB announcement was made.
-According to the Reformer, the new Brattleboro town manager thinks money can be made.
-Drew’s past experience with Rescue Inc. indicates there is not money to be made on emergency services.
Members of Rotary asked: What can we do?
-We can reach out to the elected officials in town to let them know we would like public discussions of this decision.
-Each of us can reach out to a member of the Select Board to let them know that we think a discussion needs to be had before continuing down this path.
-Drew thinks this change will result in a reduction in emergency services. Rescue Inc. wants to continue service to the other 14 towns but it will be challenging without Brattleboro’s subsidies.
-Recue Inc.’s service rates have actually decreased despite today’s crazy inflation.
-Rescue Inc.’s coverage ends June 30th 2022
-Drew believes the fire department will not be ready by July 1st. They will most likely need the help from Golden Cross - a for-profit ambulance service to cover gaps.
Ended Meeting with the 4 Way Test