CABOT, Vt. (WCAX) – After summer flooding displaced the town of Cabot’s EMS building, officials are debating the future of the community’s ambulance service, even putting out a request for bids.
After nearly 60 years of serving the community, the service is in jeopardy. After last summer’s flooding, the Cabot Fire Department and EMS lost their building. The fire department is currently in the process of building a temporary location. EMS has been staging their ambulance at the Goodrich Maple Farm just outside of town, but Miner says there has been some controversy on what to do next. “We have been told by a couple of selectboard members that they do feel the discussion for us to become a municipality is still on the table, because it is in the best interest of this community to have an ambulance local,” she said.
Residents voted in a non-binding resolution on Town Meeting Day to keep Cabot EMS.
“The closest is Hardwick, East Montpelier, St. J. I mean, there ain’t really many around here. I’d like to see them stay,” said Erwin Stevens of Cabot:
Town officials say they offered to have the EMS provider work under the fire department as a municipal entity but the two sides could not come up with a beneficial partnership, leading the town to put out a request for service to another EMS provider.
“They want to do their own thing and that’s fine. But I think there is accountability when the town is giving you money, you are responsible for telling us how you spent it, okay? The selectboard — for the record — is very supportive of Cabot Ambulance, having the service in the area, but we wanted to see what was out there,” said Cabot Selectboard Chair Michael Hogan.
“My sole worry is for the community. The Cabot Fire Department is standing up a fast squad and Cabot Ambulance has gone on record in full support of working collaboratively with them. But a fast squad does not transport patients,” Miner said.
