TOWN MANAGER'S MESSAGE:

Now that we have had snow, I can say it feels like winter in Coventry.  Our Public Works crews have been busy preparing roads and keeping our streets cleared from snow and ice over the last few weeks.  February is here and your Town management team is still working through our budget expenses to see where we can save money and to see how we can keep up our current levels of service that everyone has come to expect.   Last month I shared that the Town is in “Budget Season” and that Coventry, and most every town in Connecticut, has a challenge in handling the disposal of solid waste.  This challenge began with the closure of the waste-to energy plant in Hartford last year. We continue to work on this issue and to seek workable alternatives. Unfortunately, every community in our State is spending more to dispose of our solid waste by shipping it off to other states.

This month I wish to discuss another community service and major budget challenge we are facing in Coventry: the loss of new volunteers willing to step up and serve their Town as a volunteer Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and/or a volunteer firefighter.  We have been well served by the volunteer ambulance and the volunteer fire departments (North and South) for many decades.  They are still active today in the now combined Coventry Fire /EMS Department, but the numbers of those that serve is in decline. They are working selflessly in serving their fellow citizens.    If you are interested in serving, please visit www.firefighterapp.com and look for Town of Coventry Fire & EMS. 

This challenge I have seen before in my career in Florida and now more recently in Pennsylvania.   Volunteerism is something that is in decline nationwide.  With the change in the interest of new generations and American society in general, we have seen a change in volunteerism.  This applies to all types of volunteerism.   Even service clubs have lost their membership, and many have unfortunately closed down.   I know in Coventry, the Rotary Club was once a great a strong service organization that is fondly remembered, but that is now gone.  

In Florida, I saw volunteerism die off in the late 1990s.  That State has had for decades a transient population with many new people that come from somewhere else.  Volunteerism has since declined in many states.  States like Pennsylvania, Indiana and Connecticut have continued to have strong levels of community spirit and volunteerism until recent years.  If we look back many years ago, you volunteered for the ambulance or as a firefighter because your dad was one, and he took you by the firehouse, and it was exciting.  He became a volunteer because his dad or uncle was one too. In recent decades sons and daughters became volunteer EMTs and firefighters. We have had many women volunteers compared to other towns. In many communities it became a family tradition.   Your training was on the job, and there was little State regulation.  When the bell rang, your boss understood you needed to go, and it was possible they too were volunteers.  They closed the store or office if they needed to. Everyone understood because they were serving our neighbors or perhaps the people we knew from the Lions Club or perhaps our church.   Today, many people work elsewhere than where they live.  If you work in Manchester at Walmart, it is not easy to walk off the job and come back to Coventry to respond to a call.  If you did, would your boss really support this constant interruption?  How well could you really respond timely to an emergency?  Think about our own circumstances, as many people don’t work where they live anymore.  Additionally, it is often that younger generations move away to other communities where they do not have the same sense of community attachment that they and their parents had in their “hometown.”

Times have changed, and there is new technology and new opportunities that compete for the spare time of our younger residents.  The decline in the numbers of volunteer EMTs or firefighters is not a result of just the lack of interest, it is the addition of State laws and regulations requiring hundreds of hours of training.  This increases the competence and professionalism of the volunteer EMT and/or firefighter but reduces interest and the ability (time) for those that may have served.  It is very time-consuming.   The few that complete extensive training love the work, they love the challenge, but more and more they want to be paid.  They often will leave volunteerism almost immediately for a full-time job, once they gain certification.  They have proved their competence with their State certification, and it is their professional gain and the loss of the small town that counts on their volunteerism.

Today in Coventry we have nearly half the volunteers we did 15 years ago. Average ages of volunteers are in the mid-50s-60s.  Our Fire Department is in better shape with the number of volunteer firefighters  than our volunteer EMTs in the Ambulance service (EMS), but their numbers are still heavily declining as well.  

This isn’t new for Coventry.   Our budget challenge began nearly ten years ago, when our Town started supplementing ambulance volunteers with paid EMTs from an outside private firm.  This paid service filled in the gaps on the calendar.  Slowly our costs went up as more volunteers retired.  Expenses grew more than the revenue we brought in through Medicare, Medicaid and insurance payments. During COVID-19 we saw more losses in volunteers, the cost of service grew further beyond our revenue, but the Town supplemented the volunteer ambulance with paid EMTs using American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to get us through.  Companies contracted by the Town to supplement our volunteers have faced staffing issues as well and they have sharply raised their rates, sometimes by more than 20% annually.  This is not sustainable over time.   In our budget it is now a challenge to fund these uncontrollable rates from private firms and we are looking at other ways to provide the service.  People want to keep the professional level of service we have.  Some might say, “Let’s go back to the way it was in the 1970s, it worked for us then.”  Even if we wanted to,  it’s not like we have the choice to go back to the 1900s and to provide services with uncertified firefighters and ambulance drivers.   Today, ARPA funds have all been expended and we will need to explore the cost of a combination volunteer-paid EMS service.  Cost comparisons show it is less than privatization. With staff on-board that are trained we can control our costs better. We will continue to supplement their work with the volunteers that remain.  Further, we can work to cross-train some of these paid staff members to be firefighters as well as EMTs.  When the bell rings, staff members could be able to answer either emergency.  If we can do this, we can get ahead of the continuing decline in volunteer firefighters.   In Florida and in Pennsylvania, I worked with my Fire/EMS management team, my elected leaders, and my communities to develop a combination volunteer-paid Fire /EMS Department.   There was a cost to be paid, as the all-volunteer model of the 1970s was no longer viable to serve the needs of the community today and to meet growing State regulations.  The paid-volunteer combination department also continues to recognize that there are still volunteers that are trained and still willing to serve on an on-call capacity.  This issue is not exclusive to Coventry and some towns have already crossed over to a combination volunteer-paid Fire/EMS Department.  Unfortunately, it is not a self-funding service.  There will be a need for additional taxes to maintain our level of service.  Unfortunately, we cannot stick with the all-volunteer model, as that means we need more of you all to step up and serve.   Again, if you wish to serve, visit www.firefighterapp.com and look for Town of Coventry Fire & EMS.  We continue to work on alternative solutions and to look to the State to assist in providing funding solutions to provide EMS services that operate under state guidelines, but with limited income.  

It is never my goal to reduce our level of service or to increase costs if we do not have to. I will share more budget challenges and possible solutions in the months ahead.  We welcome you to our Budget Hearing on March 7^th at Coventry High School to learn more about our budget challenges and how we plan to move forward.

As you are out shopping for Valentines Day or just for everyday home goods, remember to support our local businesses as they help support our community.  I hope to see you at the Winter Farmer’s Market and out around Town this month.  Should you wish to contact me, please email JDrumm@coventry-ct.gov or call the office at 860-742-6324. Frequent updates are also posted to the Town Manager’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CoventryCTTownManager.

Sincerely,

James Drumm

REFLECTIVE HOUSE NUMBER SIGNS AVAILABLE:

The Town of Coventry Fire-EMS Department encourages all households to install reflective house numbers, so that your location will be visible more quickly during times of emergency. The cost is $15. An order form is available at this link.