KEENE, NH – Cheshire County officials are refuting claims made in a complaint filed with the US Department of Treasury over the county’s use of American Rescue Plan funding in establishing Cheshire EMS.

Initially, the County had planned on purchasing DiLuzio Ambulance Service after it announced plans to close, but those plans never came to fruition because an agreement couldn’t be reached.

Tyler Boucher, a former employee of DiLuzio filed the federal complaint, saying the County acted improperly when they used ARPA funding to establish Cheshire EMS and compete with other ambulance providers. Boucher claims the use of the funds does not meet legally eligible uses of federal money.

Keene Fire Chief Donald Farquhar signed onto the complaint as well. Keene City Manager Elizabeth Dragon said he did so in his capacity as a private citizen, but the County takes issue with his actions as the timing of the alleged complaint coincided with the negotiation process between the City and the County which Farquhar attended.

In a news release Friday morning County Administrator Chris Coates addressed the allegations, saying the information in the complaint is incorrect.

Coates says uses for ARPA funding falls within broad categories, and the founding of Cheshire EMS met two of the four categories of permitted use; responding to the public health and negative impacts of the pandemic, and providing government services to the extent of revenue loss due to the pandemic.

Every policy decision the County made regarding the use of ARPA funding was made on the record in public sessions, based on advice from the County’s legal counsel, according to the release.

“If Cheshire EMS had not been created, upwards of 17 towns, and the city of
Keene would be without some form of service, whether that be 9-1-1 ambulance service, without paramedic intercept and back-up ambulance services, and there would be no local ambulance service that would provide ambulance transfers to and from hospitals and skilled care facilities within the community,” the release says. “The already fragile and stressed regional EMS system would have truly been on the brink of collapse.”

Dragon voiced her concerns over the county’s financial model as well but said it’s outside of the city’s scope to determine if there was any wrongdoing.

Even with herself and Farquhar’s concerns, she urged the Keene City Council Thursday evening to authorize her to sign a contract with Cheshire EMS to provide back-up ambulance service for the city. She said it may not be a perfect solution, but options are limited, and a plan needs to be in place to avoid a lapse in service. More information on that is available here. Dragon also joined WKBK Friday morning to provide further detail, the full discussion is available here.

Coates and County Commissioner Jack Wozmack joined WKBK Monday morning to elaborate on the matter. The full discussion is available here.