Councilors to offer appreciation for Christmas Village at Monday meeting

LACONIA — City councilors will proudly declare their appreciation for Christmas Village at their regular meeting at 7 p.m. Monday night at City Hall downtown. 

City Hall will close at 2 p.m. on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24. 

Councilors will acknowledge that Christmas Village, an event held at the community center on Union Avenue which creates a Christmas-themed town with activities for children and families each year, was founded in Laconia in 1975. 

Inspired by Bristol’s Santa’s Village and initially a means to tell the story of Noah’s Ark, this year marked the 49th rendition of the tradition in the city. The proclamation notes the event is run entirely by volunteers, many of whom have been involved with organizing it for many years.

Christmas Village is free for families to attend and children are able to meet Santa and Mrs. Claus, receive a gift, visit with elves, play games, get their faces painted and make crafts. 

Around 25 adults and 70 children volunteered at the event, which drew around 1,400 people to Christmas Village over four days.

Councilors will also discuss the potential acceptance of a $10,680 award from the Department of Safety Homeland Security Grant Program for the purchase of SWAT and Special Operations Unit equipment for the Laconia Police Department.

The entire cost of the equipment is covered by the grant and there is no requirement for a local match on funds. 

And councilors will consider an amendment to the city’s wage and compensation scale in order to add a salary for a new community paramedic.

The new position will be set at grade 22 of the wage and compensation plan, and the fiscal impact to the city is projected to be between $158,658 and $193,858.

Councilors accepted grant funding for the program at their last meeting on Dec. 9. The fire department was awarded up to $450,000 from a Health Resources and Services Administration Northern Borders grant to fund the entire three years of the pilot program. 

The first year is expected to cost $190,000, and the second and third years $130,000 each.

Modeled loosely after the tradition fulfilled by rural town doctors, a paramedic working for the Laconia Fire Department will deliver care to patients, sometimes in their own homes. The program could reduce costs for patients who are in need of medical attention but not necessarily ambulance transport, easing the burden on the city’s emergency medical services system and area hospitals.

The first three years of the program includes a focused effort to develop data on its efficacy, and to determine if EMS will be able to bill insurance companies. Administrators may develop a plan to expand the program further than three years if it is deemed a success.

The city is advertising a job opening for the community paramedic position with a salary range of $92,620 to $120,297.

According to a job description, the Mobile Integrated Health Community Paramedic will work for the fire department to support their innovative new program, recently adopted by the city in collaboration with the Partnership for Public Health. 

The program’s focus will be on non-emergency care and will work closely with staff at Concord Hospital-Laconia to improve patient outcomes. It’s a 40-hour per week, full-time job without nights or weekends required. The person hired will be responsible for managing all aspects of the program and report directly to a deputy fire chief. 

An individual hired to the position would be required to have a New Hampshire paramedic license, current CPR, advanced cardiac life support and pediatric life support certifications and a community paramedic endorsement is required within six months of hiring. They’ve also got to have a valid New Hampshire driver’s license and a high school diploma or GED.