A lawyer is recommending seeking voters’ OK on Woolwich EMS’s proposed charge for repeat ambulance calls that don’t result in patient transports to a healthcare facility. Selectmen had sought legal opinions on whether or not a bylaw voters approved for ambulance billing two years ago could be amended with the fee for non-transports.

Town Attorney Kristen Collins recommended having voters approve the change.

EMS Director Brian Carlton is recommending charging $150 for on-scene ambulance care when there’s no patient transport to a hospital. The proposal allows for three ambulance calls to the same patient in any six-month period before the charge is applied.

Also Monday night, selectmen continued discussing the town’s contract with Bath for supplemental ambulance services. Carlton and Fire Chief Mike Demers said they’d been left out when the agreement was negotiated requiring Woolwich EMS to pay Bath $395 per call for backup ambulance assistance. Demers noted Woolwich doesn’t charge Bath for mutual aid calls for fire assistance.

Carlton said he voiced concerns with the contract when it was first presented to the select board last June. He said the final contract with Bath was signed before he or the fire chief could review it. “Mike and I would have never agreed to that contract when we provide mutual aid to them and don’t charge,” added Carlton.

Chairman David King Sr. said Bath officials had been up front from the outset about what the service would cost the town. “You’ve got $5,000 budgeted for this and haven’t spent a penny of it,” he added. The agreement King signed June 25 expires June 30, 2022. It allows for an annual increase in the ambulance fee based on the Consumer Price Index. The contract states it “may be cancelled and terminated by either party by giving 30 days written notice.” Selectmen expressed no sign of wanting to renegotiate.

In other business, the board finalized an agreement with Maine Department of Transportation for the town’s $8,000 purchase of a half-acre lot on Route 1 abutting the pedestrian tunnel. Special town meeting voters last September approved buying it. The town had leased the lot, which will be used for parking for pedestrian tunnel use and for the Tanner Memorial.

Selectman and Maine District 53 Rep. Allison Hepler said Central Maine Power Co. officials will facilitate a 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29 informational meeting in the municipal building hearing room to discuss transmission tower lighting in the Chops Point area. Last summer, Woolwich and Bath residents complained of the new, brighter strobe lighting on the towers.

The board re-elected King chairman and Dale Chadbourne vice chair for 2020 and appointed Clark and Rosemarie Granger to the Recycling Committee. Residents David and Martha Reifschneider recently donated $1,000 to the town’s heating fuel assistance account that helps households ineligible for general assistance, but struggling financially, to afford heating fuel.