Special Town Meeting

The Town of South Thomaston Select Board is calling for a Special Town meeting to seek citizen approval to purchase and finance a new municipally owned ambulance. The Special Town Meeting will start at 7:00 pm.

Location of the Special Town Meeting will be the South Thomaston Town Office Community Room.

SPECIAL TOWN MEETING WARRANT

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

To Gerald E. Grierson Sr., a resident of the Town of South Thomaston, in the County of Knox, State of Maine,

GREETINGS:

In the name of the State of Maine, you are hereby required to notify and warn the voters of the Town of South Thomaston in the County of Knox and State of Maine, qualified to vote by law in Town affairs, to meet at the South Thomaston Town Office in said Town on Wednesday, the 25th day of September 2019 A.D., at seven o’clock in the evening, then and there, to act upon the following articles to wit:

Article 1. To choose a moderator to preside at said meeting.

Article 2. To see if the town will authorize the Board of Selectmen to spend $199,864 to purchase a 2019 Ford F450- Super Duty 4×4 ambulance through the following funding sources:

• Acceptance and appropriation of a trade-in allowance and other concessions for the Town’s existing ambulance in the amount of $14,500.
• Appropriation of $199,864 from Town reserve accounts. The Board of Selectmen shall propose budgets for the ensuing four fiscal years that will ensure the reserve accounts are fully re-funded during that period of time, plus interest at an annual interest rate equal to that which is paid to the Town’s reserve accounts.
• And to authorize the Board of Selectmen or its designee to execute all documents necessary to effectuate the sale of the existing ambulance and the acquisition of the new ambulance.

MEMO FROM SELECT BOARD

To: Citizens of South Thomaston

Fr: The Selectboard

Date: August 24, 2019

Subj: Status of the Town’s Ambulance

This year our ambulance has experienced multiple failures and higher than budgeted repair costs. The repairs have been ineffective at restoring the ambulance to safe, reliable service. On Friday, August 16, the ambulance experienced a complete shutdown while en route to a call, creating a safety issue for the crew. The call was picked up by one of our Mutual Aid Partners. To date, three service organizations have failed to correctly diagnose and correct the problems with the vehicle. One thing we know is that this type and generation of Ford diesel vehicle has been discontinued by Ford, due in part to more frequent than expected repairs and lower than expected useful, effective service life. Our vehicle has been in service for nine years, and the plan has been to request Town Meeting approval for the purchase of a replacement at the 2020 or, at the latest, the 2021 Town Meeting.

At a meeting between the Selectboard and the Ambulance Director on August 21, the Board voted to hold a Special Town Meeting and seek Town approval for a replacement on an accelerated basis with a high sense of urgency.

We ask that citizens attend a Public Information Meeting in the Town Office at 6:30PM on September 9^th, 2019 to review the situation and the options before us. A Special Town Meeting will be called within a month after the Information Meeting.

You can certainly contact any Selectboard Member to discuss this high priority issue but we encourage as many residents as possible to attend the meeting on September 9.

Thanks & Regards,

Walter Reitz, Chair, Selectboard

Cheryl Waterman, Member

Jan Gaudio, Member