Massachusetts delivery.

Good evening.

And welcome to our special meeting for Monday, September 30th.

And we're going to call this meeting to order.

I believe all counselors except Councillor Smith.

I know he's going to be joining us momentarily, are accounted for.

And so we'll move right into public comment.

If anyone from the public would like to address the council, you will be given three minutes to speak.

Please state your name and address.

And I will turn this over to our moderator, Frank and Jillot, for further instructions.

Please state your name and address.

When you are unmuted, um excuse me.

When you are called on, you'll be prompted with you are now unmuted.

For those dialing by phone, once prompted, press star six to unmute for clear communication.

We ask that you do not place the call on speaker phone.

We currently do not have anyone with their hands hand raised online.

If we do have a police officer with us this evening, um feel free to use the address of the station, and we will go right into our public comments.

There was plenty of opposition to the raised House Bill 5279 from insurance companies, COS, which is Connecticut Council of Small Towns, and CCM, which is the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities.

But unions and a fire chief from North Haven support it with the discussion of workers' compensation on the table during the raise bill phase.

All written testimony is online for you to fact check me.

The discussion and testimony behind the scenes speculates saving money and minimizing liability.

However, this language was presented and signed by the governor.

Such collect declaration by a chief shall not be used as evidence for a workers' compensation claim under Chapter 568.

With that being said, I would like to believe that this is not all about liability.

However, if so, the alternate option is more expensive on several fronts.

I stand boldly on behalf of those that I command, and I thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you.

Christopher Wilkie, 171 Carriageway.

Council members, I've been a volunteer firefighter in town in Windsor for 15 years.

I've served in many committees, organized countless trainings, citizen outreach projects, worked as a firefighter, engineer, and lieutenant within the department.

As an estimate, I have given this organization more than 4,000 hours.

Multiply this by all who have served the Windsor Volunteer Fire Department in the past and all that served by me now.

To the best of our ability and our family's abilities, when the fire department calls, we answer.

I found great satisfaction in this service.

I made lifelong friends, unbelievable memories, and have gotten to help people on what be the very worst days of their lives.

This satisfaction is a salary we volunteers earn as firemen for the town.

This satisfaction is paid for with the time we sacrifice to the organization.

None of us do this for the occasional t-shirt, tax break, or stipend check.

While most of these responses are minor, every time we respond, we are taking a risk.

These risks and stressors can be cumulative.

In 2023, 54% of the line of duty deaths in the U.S.

were attributed to over exertion and strain.

These 48 deaths all occurred within 24 hours of their last duty or training.

If I die in a line of duty, it will not be me who is left to deal with the repercussions.

My wife and my two sons will be left to fill the emotional and financial hole of my passing.

There are some mechanisms in place to help lessen this impact, some of which are financial.

Most of these benefits are contingent on the death being ruled a line of duty death.

It is my opinion that the town should not adopt the ordinance.

I do not wish for an uninvolved third party to make a decision that will affect my family's future.

I hope that it would be on my family's darkest day.

The fire department would answer their call.

Thank you.

Good evening, Town Council members.

My name is William Lewis, 95 Longview Drive.

I come to you tonight as a past chief of the Town of Windsor Fire Department.

I was chief for 23 years and was chief when the entire department sustained the line of duty death in 2011.

Firefighter Robert Watts responded to a fire alarm on April 19th, 2011, and suffered a fatal heart attack and perished.

The entire department felt the pain of losing a firefighter, but with their tremendous assistance, I declared this a line of duty death.

I conferred with the town manager, the risk manager, the mayor, OSHA, medical examiner's office, and many knowledgeable fire personnel in the state of Connecticut.

I was not worried about money, a budget, or will workman's comp cover him.