The Woolwich Select Board asked EMS Director Brian Carlton on Tuesday night  to take monies needed to equip a second ambulance from his 2019-2020 budget. Monies from the town’s contingency account will be used to cover a budget overdraft of $699 in this year’s EMS budget.

The action followed an emergency  meeting at the town office with Carlton and Assistant Director Adam Cafro. A week ago, Carlton asked permission to use up to $10,000 from the department’s reserve account to equip a second ambulance. The board was unsure it could authorize use of the money and contacted the town’s auditor.

Because the ambulance monies are part of the town’s undesignated fund balance, the auditor said voter approval is required, explained Chairman David King Sr.

At the May 4 annual town meeting, voters raised $177,799 for expanding the department to provide 24/7 ambulance services. Another $150,000 was approved to buy a second ambulance to be financed over seven years.

Carlton told the board the new ambulance wouldn’t be delivered until December. Until then the town will have a loaner that will need to be fully equipped at the town’s expense. At the board’s request, Carlton provided an itemized list of what was needed.

“Everything we purchase will eventually be transferred into the new ambulance once it arrives,” he said. Carlton had hoped to use $18,353 the department had earned over the past year from ambulance transports to cover the expense.

In a memo to the board he stated, the department initially planned to equip the new ambulance at the “Basic” EMS level but had since decided to upgrade it to the “Advanced” level, the same as the town’s current ambulance.

Outfitting the new ambulance at the basic level would “diminish the capabilities of the second ambulance significantly, and would end up costing the town,” he wrote. 

The upgrade requires the new ambulance be equipped with a cardiac monitor; half of the department’s 22-members are certified at the advanced EMS level, added Carlton.

“The problem is none of this was discussed at the town meeting,” King commented. “The only way to use the money you want would be to have a special town meeting.”

Selectman Jason Shaw suggested Carlton make the equipment purchases part of his 2019-2020 budget. “In the future, I would expect to be better informed,” he commented.

Carlton warned holding off on the needed purchases would prevent him from having a second ambulance fully equipped by July 1 when the department becomes the full-time ambulance provider.

The list of items he presented the board initially totaled $8,176, minus the cardiac monitor. Carlton later trimmed the amount $2,664 by eliminating uniform T-shirts and jackets for ambulance members. The cost of a cardiac monitor ranged from $11,000 for a used model, to approximately $33,000 for a new unit.

Selectmen said they’d know better how much money they had left in the town’s contingency line after next week. The board will meet Wednesday, June 26 at 5 p.m. to close out its 2018-2019 budget.

Carlton noted he’d completed the ambulance department’s July staffing schedule as the board requested.

The next regular meeting of the board will be at 6 p.m. Monday, June 17 in the 1837 Town House on the corner of Old Stage and Dana Mills roads.