Town, Ambulance
Still at Odds
By M. D. Drysdale

Randolph representatives to the White River Valley Ambulance have been made so uncomfortable that they may stop attending board meetings, Randolph Town Manager Peter Butterfield told the selectboard Monday.

Randolph’s official representative, Barbara Springer, gave a report which was followed by comments by Butterfield. He has been attending as an unofficial representative, trying to improve communications between the Ambulance and its largest municipal member.

That hasn’t worked out, he told the selex.

"I’ve become a distraction by showing up," he said. Under the leadership of Chair Jocelyn Stohl, he said, the ambulance board spends most of its time talking about its frustration with Randolph, Gifford Hospital, and its former administrator.

The board even considered excluding Butterfield and Bethel Selectman Neal Fox from its meeting at one point, Butterfield said. They are not board members and the board has been told it’s not bound by the open meetings law, he explained.

In her presentation, Barbara Springer echoed Butterfield’s frustration about the amount of time "talking about Randolph."

Randolph’s last budget, as passed by the voters, does not include the full amount that the Ambulance Service would like to assess its municipal members.

Who Has the Power?

A lawyer sought by the Ambulance, Springer said, has offered the opinion that whatever assessment the Ambulance comes up with, the towns must pay.

That idea was ridiculed by Butterfield and Selectboard Chair Jim Hutchinson.

"No way can a non-profit exercise any control over the voters of a town," he said. That position was confirmed for him by the League of Cities and Towns, he said.

"It doesn’t work that way," Hutchinson chimed in.

"This is an issue that needs to be resolved," Springer urged.

Hutchinson responded that the Ambulance should then send a written legal opinion to the town so that it may respond.

There was one bright spot of agreement at Monday’s meeting. Public Works Supt. Joe Voci said there was indeed one payment that Randolph was supposed to make in January but was skipped by mistake.

Otherwise, however, the selectboard reacted with frustration to a list of questions that Springer brought with her from the Amublance service, regarding Randolph’s payments.

"We could give them some new answers if they would ask us some new questions," Hutchinson said. The town’s position is unchanged, he said.

The Randolph payment to the ambulance is already a "significant increase" of about $450,000 over last year, reminded Selectman Stephen Springer (husband of Barbara Springer).

He spoke for the Budget Committee, which he chairs. It was his committee that refused to go along with the entire assessment. That was because, he said, the committee "felt that the Ambulance was asking for too much money, and was not able to provide documentation."

"Randolph," he said "bent over backwards" in its funding of the Ambulance.

"This is the last time I’m going to do this," concluded Barbara Springer, referring to her representation of Randolph in a hostile environment.