The Seymour Ambulance Association has “come a long way” from its troubled financial times several years ago.
The group’s accomplishments were outlined in a semi-annual report from the town’s EMS Oversight Commission.
The document was presented to the Board of Selectmen last Tuesday.
“They have come a long way, to the credit of the town,” said Rosalie Averill, the chairman of the oversight commission. “It’s being run as a business and not as a club anymore.”
The oversight commission was appointed in 2005, after the state’s Attorney General announced an investigation into alleged funds mismanagement by the former director at Seymour Ambulance Association. The director resigned after the investigation was made public.
Without admitting fault, the director settled a lawsuit with the Attorney General in 2008, agreeing to pay $18,000 to the state and $17,000 to the Seymour Ambulance Association, according to a 2008 article in the New Haven Register.
The lawsuit claimed the former director had misappropriated more than $120,000 in association funds.
The Seymour Ambulance Association has been rebuilding and getting solid financial footing since the incident, the EMS Oversight Commission update says.
Seymour Ambulance Director Scott Andrews said when he took over the job in 2005, the association had about $400,000 in debt.
In the past five years, the group has paid off all that debt, Andrews said.
“I think we’ve come a long way and we’re really proud of ourselves,” Andrew said. “It’s a credit to the membership. The people we have here are good people. They want to do the right thing.”
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Seymour Ambulance has been able to replace three old ambulances and purchase a new first-response vehicle, Andrews said. The group has about $85,000 in loans taken out to pay for the vehicles.
Andrews said they have also put into place a vehicle replacement plan, to help keep down maintenance costs on vehicles that are getting too old.
The group has also put into place controls to better monitor cash flow. An independent auditor has reviewed the finances for the group — the most recent audit was submitted this July, the report said.
The group has also continued its community support — participating in events such as Take a Stand Day, Touch a Truck, the Pumpkin Festival and Seymour Founders Day.
“In addition to providing emergency medical services for the town, we have a lot of other events that we participate in,” Andrews said.
The Seymour Ambulance is also developing its training center, and will host EMT and MRT classes this fall for people interested in learning how to work on the ambulances.
The only criticism in the report is a note that the Seymour Ambulance Association hasn’t named two “members at large” to its board of directors — a requirement in the organization’s bylaws.
“They have come a long way from the troubled days they’ve had,” First Selectmen Paul Roy said. “Everything is going much more smoothly.”
