Conway residents to vote on funding new ambulance, health insurance spike

CONWAY — Residents will vote on the purchase of a new ambulance, a hike in health insurance rates and a new roof for the public safety building garage at special Town Meeting on Saturday.

The meeting will kick off at 10 a.m. at Conway Grammar School.

Article 1 of the warrant asks voters to consider transferring $537,857 to the general fund for the purchase of a new, customized ambulance and Stryker Power-LOAD System for lifting stretchers into the ambulance.

To cover the cost, the article details transferring $451,641 from the Ambulance Stabilization Fund, $40,000 from the Ambulance Reserve for Receipts Fund and $46,216 from free cash. During a joint Selectboard and Finance Committee meeting on Nov. 17, ambulance director Gemma Vanderheld said the $537,857 includes a $30,000 cushion for “any unforeseen price increase.” She expects the ambulance to arrive in early 2027, and a 10-year-old ambulance, according to the voter guide.

Article 2 covers the 20% hike in health insurance costs, which came after the town had already budgeted for an initial 18% increase heading into fiscal year 2026.

Hampshire County Group Insurance Trust member towns and schools, including the town of Conway, must address the 20% bump, which took effect Oct. 1, following the trust’s July 30 vote to increase rates. Members of the trust reached this decision after being informed that the organization was at risk of going bankrupt due to increased pharmaceutical and medical claims, and the growing popularity of weight-loss drugs.

After discussion at several Selectboard meetings, the Selectboard decided to stick with the Hampshire County Group Insurance Trust for the rest of the fiscal year. To pay for the increase, the town will vote on whether to transfer $125,000 from free cash to fund coverage for town employees.

Article 5 refers to an error town administrator Véronique Blanchard recently caught when reviewing the town’s budget. According to Blanchard, the town had been underpaying a town employee’s stipend for 10 years while still budgeting the expense of the full stipend. She refused to state the employee’s name.

Voters will consider transferring $23,636, the money owed to the employee, from free cash to the general fund to pay the employee.

“The easiest way for us to deal with this I believe, having spoken to town counsel, is to pay the amount that’s due,” Blanchard told the Selectboard and Finance Committee. “We’d like to get them compensated as soon as possible.”

Several projects aiming to repair town properties also are on the docket.

Article 9 asks voters to consider reallocating $50,565 from the Highway Facility fund, $46,236 from the Highway Storage Building Fund and the $8,000 leftover from purchase of a boom lift to the general fund to replace the roof of the public safety building garage. According to Blanchard, the metal and asphalt roof must be replaced due to several significant leaks.

Residents will turn their attention to the Howland Cemetery later on in the meeting, voting on whether to appropriate or reserve for later appropriation $69,000 from the Community Preservation Fund to remove “overgrown trees that are threatening ancient grave stones in the oldest part of historic Howland Cemetery,” Article 12 of the warrant reads.

Voters will consider using $7,211 from free cash to cover the remainder of the $15,000 cost to replace the fence surrounding the ballfield on Whately Road and $3,500 from free cash to purchase public streetlights in order to replace them with lower wattage LED bulbs, a change projected to save the town around $5,000 per year, the voter guide reads.

“It’ll cut our bill in half” with a “fast payback,” Selectboard Vice Chair Christopher Waldo claimed during the Nov. 17 meeting.

To prepare for upgrades on the horizon, Article 3 asks residents to vote on transferring about $38,000 from free cash to pay Sourcepass, Inc., a technology services provider. If passed, the transfer will fund the installation of two firewalls and upgrades to computers in the town offices, a necessary change for the computers to use the Microsoft cloud, Blanchard and Selectboard Chair Erica Goleman explained during the Nov. 17 meeting.

Although Sourcepass initially gave Blanchard and Goleman a lower cost estimate for the upgrades, the bill rose after company employees checked out the town computers in person, Goleman said.

“Get them to make concessions here,” Finance Commitee member Roy Cohen responded. “They can make you feel like you have no choice about anything.”

“It’s not that untypical honestly when a company comes in and actually gets into the weeds of your system that they’re going to find things they didn’t know, and there’s going to be a bigger cost, it’s not that unusual,” Selectboard member Elaine Campbell said. She emphasized the necessity to act quickly, considering that the upgrades were initially planned for September, according to Blanchard.

Also with the goal of preparing for future town projects, Article 10 calls for using $24,321 from free cash to fund an assessment of town properties’ compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, a report that will open up grant opportunities for the town, Blanchard explained.

“We need to get modernized and be accessible,” Blanchard said.

Other articles propose reallocating $9,388 for improvements to the Conway Mall and $3,000 for purchasing Right to Farm signs and using $7,000 from free cash to hire an accounting firm to work February through June as town accountant Mike Koceila plans to resign. Article 13 asks voters to consider allowing the grant match and administration account to include a broader scope of expenses and Article 14 proposes amending the town bylaw for town reports. Instead of the town mailing reports to every household, the amendment suggests making town reports only available on the town website with print copies at several town buildings and mailed if requested, cutting the $3,000 annual cost of mailing the reports, according to the voter guide.