Ballot question puts Rescue 2 on chopping block

Lebanon Rescue Chief Jenny Sheriff ... wants to keep Rescue 2 (Lebanon Voice file photo)

LEBANON - A public meeting on Monday will give residents a chance to comment on whether they want to defund the lease agreement and surrender Rescue 2, the Rescue Department's newest ambulance.

Selectmen want a yes vote, which would turn the vehicle back over to the leasing company. Rescue Chief Jenny Sheriff wants to keep Rescue 2.

The question on the November ballot reads: "Shall the Town of Lebanon vote to prohibit the Town from performing its obligations under the Lease with Option to Purchase Agreement with All American Investment Group, LLC, dated December 6, 2010 for the 2010 Horton ambulance and from using any moneys to pay the Rental Payments due under said Agreement for the 2014-2015 budget year and all subsequent budget years thereafter?"

If the town votes yes on the question, the ambulance will be surrendered to the lessee and the town will only pay a pro-rata portion of this year's $40,504.76 lease payment, the fifth of sixth such payments scheduled on the vehicle.

Town selectmen, trying to dig the town out of a $200,000-plus Rescue deficit, want to give up Rescue 2 and make it a one-ambulance department.

Sheriff thinks that would be a bad move.

"We only have one more payment on Rescue 2," she implored selectmen on Thursday. "Why would we want to give it up when it's almost paid for?"

Selectmen Chairman Ben Thompson pointed out the fiscal realities of a Rescue Department enterprise account that is unable to cover the payment and selectmen's hopes to get the department into the black next year.

Rescue 2, a 2010 Chevrolet, needs tires and has a cracked side-view mirror, but is overall in much better shape than the 2002 Ford ambulance (Rescue 1) the department will be solely relying on if Rescue 2 is given up.

Estimates to completely rehabilitate Rescue 1 are around $10,000, though it is in adequate shape right now.

If residents vote to keep Rescue 2, the payment would come out of the town's contingency fund.

The question that was to be on the November ballot originally asked residents if they wanted to pay the lease payment from the contingency fund, but the wording was changed due to legal concerns.

The public discussion of the ambulance proposal will follow a Public Hearing Monday on the renewal of Trains Tavern's Special Amusement Permit, which was first approved by townspeople last November.

The public meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Lebanon Elementary School gymnasium.

Selectmen and Sheriff are expected to be at the meeting.