William E. Kraham

Now we are paying the price for ill-advised EMS decision


The writer is a Town Meeting member representing District 8.


BRATTLEBORO-As part of Brattleboro's FY26 budget redevelopment process, the town manager issued a memorandum to the Selectboard on April 18. On page eight of that public document, the town manager claimed that the cost to the town, if Rescue Inc. were our EMS provider for FY26, would be $477,143.

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A squandered opportunity

The Brattleboro Selectboard has failed to grasp that the fire department is primarily a public safety organization, while Rescue is primarily a healthcare organization. Its vote to embrace the fire-EMS model was disheartening but did not come as a surprise.

I have a landline and a rotary phone on my kitchen counter, underneath a kitchen cabinet with an orange sticker on the inside of the door - it's from the 1980s. It has the telephone number for Rescue Inc. I yearn to be able to call Rescue for our...

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Why in God’s name do we not want Rescue?

It would be fiscally irresponsible, and a grave disservice to the citizens of our town, for the Selectboard to choose a municipal fire-EMS system

The resolution that we passed at Representative Town Meeting this year directed the Selectboard to "set up a process to determine the future of emergency medical services in Brattleboro that is transparent and takes into account the opinions of town residents." The process should be fair and unbiased. The...

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With Rescue vote, our elected officers have failed us

The town has a duty under our charter to “establish and maintain a rescue service, including quarters, vehicles, and equipment, and to provide for an ambulance service and the appointed emergency medical technicians.” The town's precipitous decision to throw Rescue under the bus does not serve “the common good of all its citizens,” and disrespects “the will of the people.” The town refused to communicate with Rescue, our award-winning, nonprofit EMS provider for over half a century, after the Feb.

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