HARDYSTON, N.J. — A volunteer ambulance squad that has been in operation since 1967 will close this week due to low membership, and a theft that led to the convictions of both the former treasurer and president.
The Hardyston First Aid Squad, was down to three active members, and the board voted Dec. 8 to end operations after a four-hour open house to draw interest was unsuccessful, the New Jersey Herald reports.
In November, the squad responded to nine calls. The shutdown will not affect Hardyston residents, which are covered by services from nearby towns.
“We’re certainly saddened,” Deputy Mayor Carl Miller told the New Jersey Herald.
The service had been “struggling to come back,” he said, after the third-degree theft convictions where former treasurer Wayne Ross, also a councilman, agreed to repay $15,000 in personal expenses charged to the squad’s credit card between 2008 and 2013. Former treasurer Eva Boswell agreed to repay more than $10,000.
Prior to their arrests, 10 squad members were either suspended or expelled after raising concerns about the operation’s finances.
The township is considering placing the squad in a “dormant state’ to make it easier to revive the service in the future.