Three citizens took advantage of the Citizen's Participation part of the Selectboard meeting Tuesday night, adding discussions of health care, health care costs, and an invitation to a Fulflex Field meeting.
The first citizen presented the Selectboard with a copy of the Universal Health Care proposal from the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, saying that it was a tremendous opportunity for taxpayers and the Selectboard to lower the town's health care costs.
A few years back, he said, the town voted on a non-binding resolution in favor of universal health care. Other towns also voted in favor, prompting the League to look at the issue. The result was this proposal and it was approved by the League in September.
He said he had met with representatives who said they needed to hear from Selectboards to get anything done, and that they hadn't.
He hoped the Selectboard would read the proposal.
A Selectboard member asked what the citizen would like the Selectboard would do. He responded that while the proposal wasn't perfect and represented a compromise, costs for Vermont health care are going up by almost a million dollars a day, and something needs to be done. He hoped that the Selectboard would read the proposal, discuss it, and if they agreed with it, proactively write a letter of support.
The Town Manager thanked him for the heads up, adding that the Town gets legislative alerts when they are needed to testify in matters, usually reactively.
A final point was made by citizen one: the League won't go further until they hear more.
The Chair said they would consider the proposal.
The second citizen to rise also spoke asked about health care, specifically asking how many town employees opted out of the insurance in the recent offer to them.
The Assistant Town Manager said that four people had opted out, but that it hadn't closed yet. Not everyone got the offer, she said, because of union contracts.
The Chair asked if it was about nine thousand dollars of savings. She said yes, per employee. The Chair said that about thirty five thousand or so was saved.
The citizen asked a follow-up. How did it break down between singles and families? The Assistant Town Manager said that it wasn't really an issue, since single people wouldn't opt out due to the requirements.
The Town Manager said that health care costs weren't too bad this year, and increased employee participation has made a difference.
The final citizen rose to invite the public to a meeting on Friday, January 13, 2006 from 5:30-7:30 pm at Brattleboro Savings and Loan. The meeting is to discuss how to move forward with saving Fulflex Field.
With no other issues, citizen participation came to an end for this meeting.