NEW PORTLAND – At the annual town meeting held Saturday, New Portland residents voted not to enter into a contract with an ambulance service for the time being. Instead, they chose to investigate other options before voting at a special town meeting.
More than 60 were in attendance for the meeting, which lasted nearly three hours. According to Town Manager Andrea Reichert, there was plenty of discussion about the town’s decision to enter into a contract with an ambulance service.
“There were a lot of questions regarding the subsidy change, as well as the kind of service and response time,” said Reichert.
The town’s current ambulance service is Sugarloaf Ambulance Rescue, which is owned by Franklin Memorial Hospital. After town officers learned that the hospital’s new service, NorthStar EMS, would mean an increase of almost $15,000 a year, an article was drafted to explore other options.
“Our subsidy would’ve gone up from $20,400 to $36,100 a year, which is a 72 percent increase,” she said.
Town members amended the article to give the town more time to gather information before a special town meeting will be held.
Lorie Agren went uncontested for the selectman position while Eugene Hutchins was victorious as a write-in candidate for the School Board. Judy Wills was also voted onto the Municipal Advisory Committee. All positions are for three-year terms.
The moderator for the event was Paul Mills of Farmington.
Comments are no longer available on this story