Woolwich selectmen have signed a new contract with the city of Bath for backup ambulance services. The agreement means Bath Fire & Rescue will provide ambulance service on an on-call basis at a rate of $450 per call. When a Bath ambulance is dispatched to Woolwich and no services are rendered, the rate charged will be $225. Woolwich has its own, 24/7 ambulance service and isn’t paid for responding to mutual aid emergency calls to Bath.

The select board signed the agreement over the objections of Emergency Medical Services Director Brian Carlton. Carlton was not able to attend the Tuesday night, July 5 meeting but provided a written report to Town Administrator Kim Dalton and the select board. Within it, Carlton questioned the fairness of the agreement. “We have responded to Bath, or a town covered by Bath, five times in the last three years. Bath has responded to five calls in Woolwich during the same time, one of which was for a mass casualty incident,” he wrote.

“Woolwich has proven itself over the last three years,” continued Carlton. “We are a mutual aid resource. Bath provides mutual aid coverage to many other towns with ambulances (Brunswick, Phippsburg, Topsham, Wiscasset) with no contract, nor any cost … It’s my recommendation that this contract not be signed and it be returned to Bath with a copy of a contract outlining the same for Bath to pay Woolwich, or for us to be treated as mutual aid.”

After summarizing Carlton’s letter, Select Board Chair David King opened the floor to comments. Glen Kirkpatrick, an assistant Woolwich fire chief, also questioned the fairness of the agreement. “As a taxpayer I don’t agree with signing the contract,” he said.

King didn’t argue the point and likened the town’s situation to being stuck between a rock and a hard place. He said when Woolwich decided to provide its own 24/7 ambulance coverage, it was understood by residents that Bath Fire & Rescue would serve as a backup ambulance service. “That was how we sold this to the community,” he explained.

Selectman Jason Shaw stressed signing off on the contract obligating Bath Fire & Rescue to respond if Woolwich EMS found itself in an emergency situation where another ambulance was needed. “They have to come if we sign the contract. To me it’s simple, if you need them, you call.” Shaw pointed out Woolwich hadn’t needed Bath Fire & Rescue’s help very often but it was good to know the service was there.

Fire Chief Shaun Merrill went along with the select board. He said just recently Woolwich emergency services called for a Bath ambulance to assist at the scene of a motor vehicle accident. The vote approving the contract was 4-0; Selectman Allen Green was absent. The contract is for three years but states the agreement can be terminated by either party by giving 30 days’ written notice, “with the understanding that alternative arrangements for providing acceptable emergency medical service is to be studied and developed.”

Wiscasset Newspaper has sought comment from Bath on the points Carlton and Kirkpatrick raised.

In his bi-weekly report, Carlton stated the ambulance department responded to 11 calls; seven involved transports and four were non-transports. They used MC1 once, and Bath Fire & Rescue once. “Our total revenue for the past fiscal year is approximately $78,300 with the final report pending,” wrote Carlton.                                                     

Kirkpatrick said the fire department carried out a water rescue on Nequasset Lake Tuesday afternoon, July 5. The emergency call came in at 12:29 involving an injured kayaker who had slipped and fallen on the shoreline injuring her leg. Kirkpatrick said the fire department used its rescue boat to reach the woman who had been kayaking with her husband. The WFD rescue boat was launched from the  landing at Nequasset Park. Merrill assisted on the call along with Fire Captain Branden Bailey and two EMTs. Kirkpatrick said the woman was transported by Woolwich ambulance to Midcoast Hospital in Brunswick. The fire department was clear of the call at 1:40 p.m.

Road Commissioner Jack Shaw told the board most paving had been completed on the Old Stage and Dana Mills roads. He said he was very pleased with the paving contractor’s work, although he noted the price of asphalt had increased $9 a ton since last year. Fuel costs for paving equipment had also gone up dramatically. “We’ve pretty much spent all the paving money we had budgeted,” Shaw added.

Code Enforcement Officer Bruce Engert said he issued five building permits and three plumbing permits over the last two weeks.

The board reappointed all of its town officers: Dalton as town administrator, treasurer and general assistance administrator; Candance Conrad, tax collector, deputy town clerk and deputy general assistance administrator; Opal Keith, town clerk, registrar of voters and deputy tax collector; Engert, CEO, plumbing inspector, Paul Dumdey, health officer and Alexia Alexander, animal control officer.