Greenwood Won't Facilitate Individual Ambulance Requests

GREENWOOD- The Greenwood Board of Selectmen met March 2 to discuss ambulance services, rising health insurance costs, a tax abatement, and an ongoing grievance related to a town-owned property.
     
     Town Manager Kim Sparks reported that she’d received a request from citizen Wayne Hakala that the town help him to switch his ambulance service from Tri-Town to Pace in the event of an emergency. Sparks reported that Hakala had declared his intent to encourage others in the town to switch as well.
     
     Sparks said that a form does exist for the town to make that request, but it was unclear whether there was any way for the request to actually be honored without a license update for Pace.
     
     “I think it’s foolish,” said Selectman Fred Henderson, noting that the issue of the town’s use of Tri-Town was going to be reviewed soon. He expressed a concern that honoring the request could open a floodgate of similar requests.
     
     “Let it be,” agreed board Chair Arnold Jordan. The board declined to take action on the item.
     
     The board then heard a report from Sparks about a rate increase for the town employee health insurance plan.
     
     If the town stays with the current provider, the cost of insuring the town’s seven employees will rise from approximately $6,000 to approximately $8,000 per month. Sparks noted that the town employees each have to pay a $1,000 deductible under the plan.
     
     “That’s not a very good plan,” said Jordan. “Health care’s getting to be a serious problem.”
     
     “What hurts is that we’re such a small group,” said Sparks. She said that, even if the town tries to get insurance through the Maine Municipal Association, they still count as a group of seven employees.
     
     The board asked Sparks to present options for them to review in the future.
     
     “Call Congress. Tell ‘em to get this health care plan passed,” joked Henderson.
     
     The board approved a tax abatement for a residential property on Bell Lane owned by Charles McDonald and Julie Berry. The original assessment was based on the building’s exterior, but an assessment of the interior had caused the value to be lowered. Sparks said that a previous tenant had “trashed the place,” that the septic system had backed up into the house, and that there were mold issues.
     
     “We’ve got to go with the assessors,” said Jordan as they approved the abatement.
     
     Near the end of the meeting, there was a sometimes-tense exchange between board members and citizen Don Lawrence, whose high bid for a town-owned property had been rejected.
     
     Lawrence argued that the town had rejected his bid due to a personality conflict, and that the rejection went against the town’s best interests.
     
     Board members Henderson and Jordan maintained that the town’s interests would be better served in the event of a sale to a business that would generate a larger tax base.
     
     The board took no action on the issue.