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Truro Fire Department

    TOWN MEETING

    On Truro’s Warrant: Firefighters, Planning Board, and Child Care

    Overrides, petitions, and bylaws will keep voters busy on April 30

    By

    TRURO — The annual town meeting will kick off at 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 30 at the Truro Central School ballfield, where voters will be asked to approve a grand total of 54 articles. This year, the fire department’s staffing crisis hit fever pitch, and the town is asking for a Proposition 2½ override to hire four more firefighter-paramedics.

    Another issue will be the planning board’s proposed zoning bylaw changes, which were strongly opposed by the select board. And voters will consider expanding the town’s child-care voucher program to all children through the age of four.

    Hiring Firefighter-Paramedics

    Town meeting voters will be asked to expand Truro’s fire department by approving a Proposition 2½ override to fund four full-time firefighter-paramedics and to help the department pay for equipment and capital expenditures. The exact breakdown of how these override funds will be used depends on whether Truro receives a Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant by Oct. 1.

    Truro’s department is running on “bare bones,” Town Manager Darrin Tangeman told the Independent last fall. At that time, the town was facing a cluster of resignations that left the department with only three full-time firefighters. The select board responded by raising salaries, which made Truro more competitive with neighboring towns, and the department was able to make some hires.

    Since then, Truro has been scraping by, staffing the station with two firefighters 24 hours per day — in other words, just barely meeting state-required minimum staffing levels to operate an ambulance. This leaves the department with “no margin of error,” Chief Tim Collins told the select board on Jan. 25. “Anytime there’s a position that is vacant, it must be filled with overtime. So, any absence creates a burden on the existing staff and can lead to mandated overtime.”

    These demands ramp up firefighter fatigue, decrease effectiveness, and strain the department’s ability to train new firefighters, Collins said. He urged the board to think beyond two-person crews and work towards establishing three-person crews, which, according to a study, can complete 22 fireground tasks, on average, 25 percent faster.

    If the override is approved, the four additional personnel will allow the department to run three-person shifts — and also help the staff “meet community demand if contracted EMS service providers are no longer able to operate,” states the warrant explanation.

    Truro’s contracted EMS service provider — the Lower Cape Ambulance Association (LCAA) — has an uncertain future. Provincetown and Truro each have contracts with the nonprofit, but in recent years Provincetown has been moving toward ending its contract. Without cost sharing, Truro would be unable to shoulder the full-time cost, and would have to follow suit. On Apr. 12, the select board heard the findings of a regional EMS study by Capital Strategic Solutions, which recommended the towns eventually phase out LCAA altogether and establish their own services. (See story on front page.)

    The override would permanently raise the town’s levy limit by $355,765. For the average assessed-value home in Truro (currently $699,961), this article would increase residential property taxes by $100.72 per year.

    If the town does not receive the SAFER grant, $327,965 of the override would go towards the four firefighter-paramedics’ salaries, wages, and health insurance plans, with the remainder for supplies and services. If the town does secure the grant, SAFER would fund the four positions for three years, and the extra money could be used to buy an ambulance.

    The Zoning Bylaw

    The select board and the planning board have been at loggerheads when it comes to the planning board’s proposed zoning bylaw changes. None of the planning board’s four articles received an affirmative vote from any of the select board members.

    Article 43 amends the “purpose” of the zoning bylaw, adding four more goals including “protecting native soils” and “maintaining the scenic rural character, ambiance, and aesthetics of Truro.”

    Article 44 tweaks the definition of “street.” Article 45 expands the town’s rules on lot coverage, and Article 46 eases some rules around converting homes to duplexes.

    The Independent reported on the back-and-forth over these articles on March 17 and March 31. Anne Greenbaum, chair of the planning board, admitted to the select board on March 8 that she and her colleagues had drafted these bylaws in a “silo.” The planning board did not consult the town staff members who would enforce these bylaw changes, such as the health agent, building inspector, and dept. of public works personnel.

    The select board deemed the articles not ready for town meeting. Chair Bob Weinstein called them examples of “regulatory overreach.”

    The planning board attempted to revise the articles on March 9, but their revisions were rejected by the select board. The original versions appear on the warrant as Articles 43 to 46.

    Meanwhile, the planning board itself is on the town warrant as Article 50. Truro resident Raphael Richter reintroduced his citizen-petitioned article calling for the planning board’s members to be appointed by the select board rather than elected by town voters. The Independent published a detailed look at Article 50 on April 14.

    Child-Care Vouchers

    At last year’s town meeting voters approved a different petitioned article from Richter, which created a voucher program for child care. The $7,500 vouchers are available for parents who enroll their two-year-old children in state-licensed child-care programs. This year, town meeting voters will be asked to make this program available to all children through age four.

    Article 51 originated from two separate proposals, one to expand the voucher program to children younger than two and another to provide vouchers to any three- and four-year-olds who could not be accommodated at Truro Central School’s all-day preschool.

    At their March 22 meeting, select board members Stephanie Rein and Kristen Reed suggested that Richter merge the two measures into one.

    If approved, the voucher system will be funded by $300,000 from the town’s free cash account. Each child will receive a maximum of $7,500, as was the case last year.

    AMBULANCE CALL

    EMS Study: It’s Time to Phase Out Lower Cape Ambulance

    Consultants recommend municipal EMS systems instead of shared services

    By

    TRURO — A regional study of emergency medical services in Truro, Wellfleet, and Provincetown, presented to the select board and finance committee on April 12, points to a phasing out of the Lower Cape Ambulance Association (LCAA).

    The report recommends that Truro and Provincetown each establish their own municipal fire-EMS systems similar to Wellfleet’s current model.

    For years, Provincetown’s fire dept. has been poised to end its contract with LCAA and build its own self-sufficient ambulance service — a move that would land Truro in a tough spot.

    The two towns currently share the expenses of contracting the service, but if Provincetown pulls out, Truro would be hard-pressed to absorb the entire cost and would be forced to part ways with Lower Cape as well. While this may make fiscal sense, Truro has been wary of what losing the additional ambulance staffing might mean for its own personnel, given that the town’s fire dept. is already short-staffed.

    Truro Fire Chief Tim Collins at the firehouse. (Photos by Jasmine Lu)

    Last fall, Truro Fire Chief Tim Collins told the Independent that “in an ideal world, Lower Cape would still be here — and we’d have additional firefighters.”

    But since then, the town has warmed to the idea of letting go of LCAA. In bracing for Provincetown’s possible withdrawal from the contract, Truro solicited the regional study by Capital Strategic Solutions, a Marlborough-based consulting firm that specializes in municipal project management and oversight.

    LCAA has been a “godsend to you for the last 80 years,” acknowledged Tom Impey, a consultant from Capital Strategic Solutions. But he questioned whether it could be a “viable entity without a significant increase in the cost to the town of Truro.

    “This is certainly not an indictment of LCAA for doing a poor job,” Impey continued. “But your towns are growing. And they’re growing at such a rate that LCAA is not going to keep up unless they see a huge influx of cash from both the communities to buy more ambulances and hire more people.”

    Currently, LCAA has been relying on equipment and personnel supplied by Provincetown’s and Truro’s municipal fire departments, much to the frustration of fire chiefs from both towns.

    “There have been numerous times where your ambulance has been out of service for months at a time, and you’ve taken ours,” Collins said at the select board meeting, addressing his comments to the LCAA representatives. “You have experienced staffing issues where you’re not running at full staff, and it’s expected that Truro will supplement that.”

    “Nothing against Lower Cape Ambulance,” Provincetown Chief Mike Trovato told the Independent, “but we’re paying them a million bucks a year, and they’re collecting all the ambulance revenues, while they’re using our trucks.”

    Neither town is compensated when LCAA uses municipal ambulances, but Truro and Provincetown are on the hook to cover repairs and maintenance.

    Dan King and Lt. Jeff Souza are a two-person crew in Truro on April 15.

    Impey had one disclaimer about LCAA’s finances, however. “This isn’t a money-making thing,” he pointed out. “Lower Cape Ambulance, remember, is a nonprofit. Everything they make goes back into the business, so it’s not like, ‘Oh, my goodness — this is a cash grab.’ No, Lower Cape, at the end of the day, operates on zero revenue.”

    Already equipped with two town-owned ambulances, Truro is well positioned to switch over to a municipal EMS system, said Impey. The final stretch would involve hiring eight additional firefighter-paramedics, which would cost the town $800,000. But if Truro severs its contract with LCAA, which costs $430,000 annually, and then scoops up the $253,000 in revenue that LCAA has been collecting, what’s left is a net additional annual cost of $117,000, the study estimates.

    Switching to crews of firefighter-paramedics could be a “force-multiplier,” Collins told the Independent. While LCAA crews are limited to EMS-only calls, the eight new firefighter-paramedics would be dual-trained in both fire suppression and EMS.

    “You also have more control over that operation because they report directly to the board, the town manager, and the fire chief,” Collins added. “And you’ll not only increase your fire suppression capability in Truro but also to our neighboring towns, if we need to send people over for mutual aid.”

    At the select board meeting, Impey added that this model could improve the town’s fire protection classification, which in turn could help lower residents’ insurance rates. “While there’s an increase in cost,” he said, “there’s an increase in benefit as well.”

    Chief Collins drives a municipal ambulance in town.

    For Provincetown, the regional study recommended hiring 16 full-time firefighter-paramedics, using the $1 million spent annually on the LCAA contract and the $600,000 in revenue that has been going to LCAA.

    Trovato, however, is opposed to jumping quickly into this change. As long as he’s around, he said, he intends to keep the Provincetown Fire Dept. operating with 50-odd volunteers.

    As for the EMS side, Trovato plans to hire LCAA employees after Provincetown ends its contract with the organization. “That way, no one would be out of a job,” he told the Independent. “They would be getting a better job with benefits. There’s a lot of people who work with Lower Cape who are fantastic. You don’t want to let them get away.”

    Then, with a new “Provincetown EMS” in place, Trovato plans on hiring firefighter-paramedics, slowly building up a force of dual-trained personnel to take over “after we’ve gotten too old,” he said.

    EMERGENCY RESPONSE

    Truro Fire Department Survives a ‘Staffing Crisis’

    But the town braces for the possible loss of Lower Cape Ambulance

    By

    TRURO — The fire and rescue dept. has weathered what town officials called a “severe staffing shortage” last month when, according to an Oct. 12 press release, the department was down to three full-time firefighters because of a cluster of resignations. Fire and rescue is currently budgeted at nine full-time staff.

    The select board responded by negotiating pay increases averaging more than 11 percent with the local firefighters union, bringing the Truro department’s salaries more in line with other nearby towns. With a new contract in place, the department was able to fill several positions and is now back up to a roster of eight, just one short of what’s called for in the town budget.

    “We weren’t competitive before,” said Town Manager Darrin Tangeman, “but now we are.”

    Nevertheless, Tangeman and Fire Chief Tim Collins are worried about what happens in the next staffing crunch if the town is unable to call on the Lower Cape Ambulance Association (LCAA) for backup support.

    LCAA provides transport of patients to Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis for Truro and Provincetown, which share the cost of the service. But Provincetown Fire Chief Michael Trovato believes that his department should withdraw from LCAA and have its own self-sufficient ambulance service.

    If Provincetown withdraws, “the burden of the cost of working with LCAA would shift solely to Truro,” Tangeman said. “And we wouldn’t be able to afford that.”

    Anticipating the possible collapse of LCAA, Chief Collins asked to hire four new firefighter-paramedics at the June 2020 annual town election. This would have increased the overall roster from 9 to 13 and allowed the department to deploy three personnel per shift instead of two. But voters turned down the request.

    The same increase was on the table for the Sept. 26, 2020 town meeting, but it was deferred. Now Tangeman and Collins are raising the issue again.

    “It is likely that a similar article could be presented to town meeting voters at the April 2022 Annual Town Meeting for consideration, especially in light of the recent staffing situation,” the Oct. 12 press release stated.

    “Ideally, we should go from two people on the floor to four,” Collins said. That would reduce the need for mutual aid from neighboring departments when Truro firefighters are held up on calls; in effect, more Truro staff could free up resources regionally.

    “Otherwise, if we’re out, Wellfleet is covering us, which may pull Eastham into Wellfleet,” he said. “Then, Orleans into Eastham. Then Brewster into Orleans — and so on.”

    Tangeman said he thinks the town should be braced for possible future resignations. “If you have four firefighters dropping, you need to have enough buffer to mitigate that shift in the workforce,” he said. “Right now, we’re really bare bones.”

    The situation came to a head in a two-week period in September, when four Truro firefighters resigned, giving two weeks notice. Two left for fire dept. jobs in Wellfleet; two got jobs in Hyannis. The department managed with per-diem staff, overtime, and help from LCAA. One of the four staff members who resigned later returned.

    The firefighter compensation increases shake out as follows, according to figures obtained by the Independent from the town: The starting hourly wage for a firefighter-EMT is now $26.07, up 5.08 percent. The firefighter-EMT lieutenant’s starting pay is now $32.18 per hour, up 23.53 percent. Firefighter-paramedics received an increase in starting pay of only 0.21 percent, to $27.98. The paramedic lieutenant’s starting pay is now $33.56, up 14.50 percent.

    Tangeman cautioned that these higher wages do not yet reflect a “100-percent match” with the pay scales of neighboring towns. The town is awaiting a formal compensation analysis of the job market before finalizing the adjustments to compensation, he said.

    Provincetown, Truro, and Wellfleet are gearing up for a joint emergency services analysis, said Tangeman and Collins. Collins is opposed to the idea of abandoning LCAA.

    “In an ideal world,” he said, “Lower Cape would still be here — and we’d have additional firefighters. LCAA is a vital asset to the community.”

    TOWN MEETING PREVIEW

    Truro Pulls Firefighter Override off Warrant

    Provincetown fire chief says he’ll stick with Lower Cape Ambulance

    By

    TRURO — Town meeting may feel more like recess this year, as voters gather outdoors at the Truro Central School ballfield at noon on Saturday, Sept. 26.

    Even the warrant has been child-sized, now that the planning board has withdrawn 11 articles that would have gone before voters in April had the coronavirus not delayed spring town meetings and pushed them outdoors. The planning board held back on articles it had worked hard on in order “to minimize the amount of time we’re exposed to each other and the elements,” said Town Manager Rae Ann Palmer.

    The select board also agreed on Tuesday to withdraw from the warrant an article on the hiring of four new firefighter-paramedics, which would have increased the size of the fire dept. by 50 percent, from 8 to 12 members. This would have cost taxpayers $351,904, adding $75.89 to the first-year tax bill on a home valued at $500,000, said Fire Chief Timothy Collins.

    The same request, which involved a Proposition 2½ override, failed to get a majority at the town election in the spring by a vote of 209 to 257. But officials wanted it to go before voters again. If the proposal had been approved at town meeting, they would have scheduled yet another town election for the next hurdle.

    Palmer said more paramedics are important, due to the domino effect that will result if Provincetown Fire Chief Mike Trovato is successful in parting ways with the Lower Cape Ambulance Association (LCA). That nonprofit provides ambulance services to both Provincetown and Truro, and the combined support of both towns is necessary to keep LCA afloat. If Provincetown withdraws, Truro would need to take on much more of the cost of the ambulance service.

    Trovato, who has refused for months to talk about his reasons for wishing to break away from LCA after 83 years, on Monday told the Independent he has “given up on trying to create a Provincetown emergency medical service” and will stick with LCA. Trovato said he still thinks his idea is the right move, but he realizes he does not have support from town hall.

    After hearing this news, the Truro Select Board Tuesday agreed to remove the firefighter article from the warrant.

    “I think it would be best to not put it on the override and wait until the dust settles in Provincetown,” said board member Jan Worthington. “We just need to be clear with the public, because it’s been such a screwed-up process.”

    Chair Robert Weinstein agreed.

    “I think it’s important for people to understand why we are removing this and the difficulties we have in dealing with — hopefully, it’s not impolite to say — erratic behavior coming from Provincetown,” Weinstein said.

    Articles that will likely still generate interest include a petition to make the planning board an appointed rather than elected body.

    Only six of 15 Cape Cod towns have elected planning boards, said Robert Panessiti, chair of the Truro Charter Review Committee. Many argue that planning board positions are rarely contested, so whoever signs up, even as a write-in, gets on the board without any real oversight, which the select board would have if it appointed the members. But the charter committee, which was reviewing this change, did not make a recommendation on this article. And the select board voted 2 to 3 against it, with Weinstein and Kristen Reed in favor.

    NCO club
    The Payomet Performing Arts Center wants to renovate “T-5,” known as the “NCO Club,” the old clubhouse at the North Truro Air Force Base. (Photo Kevin Rice)

    Among the community preservation articles is a proposed $168,000 grant to the Payomet Performing Arts Center to help the nonprofit enter into a lease with the Cape Cod National Seashore to renovate the old clubhouse at the abandoned North Truro Air Force Base and use it as a performance space.

    If successful, it would be the first time since the Air Force abandoned the base that anyone had been able to renovate and lease one of the existing buildings, said Kevin Rice, artistic director of Payomet.

    Payomet has a tent there, and the Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill built a kiln on the base. But there are dozens of abandoned buildings that are slowly falling apart.

    The clubhouse is a 3,000-square-foot building used from 1951 to 1984 by enlisted officers and the community as a bar and gathering spot.

    “It was really the hub of a lot of socializing, and a lot of marriages resulted from it,” Rice said. “We are working on an agreement with the park service — a philanthropic partnership.”

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