LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Board of Selectmen are once again looking to privatize the ambulance service.

 

The town had sought to help the service by hiring an emergency medical technicians to work in the Highway Department, giving the town coverage during the day because the workers could leave to take ambulance calls. The town hired two and, for a while, it was working out well.

 

But, one of those — Nico Amuso — just took a job elsewhere and left the town's employment. There need to be two EMTs per call, so the one on staff hasn't been able to take any calls. The squad also lost another volunteer in recent months.

 

The Board of Selectmen have been seeking another EMT to join the department but Town Manager Kelli Robbins said, "we haven't had anybody actually apply for the job." So the Selectmen are going to again look for a private company to handle the town's calls, at least during the daytime.

 

"The Fire Department is doing the best they can and they are losing help," said Selectman Henry "Hank" Sayers.

 

The Board of Selectmen is now asking Robbins to call around to the private companies about service. At one point, County Ambulance had put in an offer to field the town's emergency and medical calls and Chairman John Goerlach mentioned that somebody from Action Ambulance had asked about it as well. 

 

The future of the volunteer ambulance squad has been in peril since last January. For the last few years, the service has had to dip into its reserves to account for growing operational costs, patients not paying bills, and a lack of revenue from calls being fielded.

 

A major concern is that the service will be needing a new ambulance and the squad doesn't have enough money set aside for that purpose. The Board of Selectmen doesn't want to make that capital purchase either.

 

Sayers last January reached out to County Ambulance and brought the idea of having that private company field the town's calls. That, however, outraged the Fire Department, which runs the ambulance squad and protested the closure. 

 

The particular issue with the department is a lack of volunteers able to answer calls. The cost and hours to keep up with certifications and the time it takes for a call becomes a fairly thankless task for the volunteers. The Fire Department has found very few individuals interested in being EMTs. The state requires two EMTs per run — though there is a bill in the Legislature looking to change that — so if two volunteers aren't available when the call comes in, another squad has to respond.

 

The lack of volunteer EMTs isn't just a Lanesborough issue. Small towns through Western Massachusetts have been urging the passage of the bill allowing first responders who are not EMTs be able to drive an ambulance while an EMT works on the patient in the back. That is hoped to allow small services to respond to more calls and thus bring in more revenue.

 

The measure has faced opposition from the state Department of Public Health and even if it does pass, it may be too late for the town of Lanesborough.

 

In other business, Town Hall's roof is leaking, particularly around the cupola. Robbins said the cupola has been repaired a couple times but now is too rotten. The Board of Selectmen will have to decide whether to pay extra to keep it — or just repair the roof without it.

 

"We have someone giving a price on both things," Robbins said.

 

Goerlach said the cupola was taken off the roof, repaired, and resealed in the late 1980s or early 1990s. He would like to see what the difference in price is between the two options before taking a stance. Selectman Robert Ericson agreed.

 

"It would be good if we had a whole set of pricing on it," Ericson said.

 

Sayers is leaning toward kicking in the extra cash on the 100-year-old Town Hall building.

 

"It is an important part of the building if you ask me. I wouldn't want to see it removed. I'd rather see it repaired," Sayers said.

 

Also, in a joint statement read by Goerlach, the Board of Selectmen condemned a recent incident in which a racist word was written on a resident's garage. 

 

"The town of Lanesborough is appalled that any resident of our town was targeted in such a hateful and ignorant manner," Goerlach read as part of the statement.