By Alex Portal
The Post-Star
LAKE LUZERNE, N.Y. — In December 2025, the Lake Luzerne Town Board voted to renew its contract with the Rockwall Falls Ambulance Service, with the caveat that a new contract be reviewed before the end of the year. Six months in, and the board is still waiting.
“I did not want to sign that contract at all,” asserted Councilmember Annie McMahon during the board’s June 16 meeting. “[ Then-Rockwell Falls Ambulance Service President Barry Petteys ] was here saying, ‘Well, if you don’t sign that contract, you know New Year’s Eve is right around the corner and… we will not be rolling.’”
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The discrepancy began during contract discussions in December. The Rockwell Falls Ambulance Service is an independent company that contracts with the towns of Lake Luzerne and Hadley for its funding. Each town agrees to make two annual payments to the company in exchange for services: one in January and the second in May.
Lake Luzerne town attorney Mary Kissane expressed concerns over how service fees were collected and what entity would be held liable for uncollected money.
“Section five [of the contract] is all about revenue recovery. It says that ‘Rockwell Falls’ will bill the patients and their insurers, which sounds to me like that’s not what’s happening,” Kissane said in December. “What I’m hearing [Petteys] saying is that you are providing information to EMR, which is then billing.”
Kissane was concerned that ambiguous language in the contract might leave the towns liable for uncollected fees, among other issues.
With such questions lingering, Kissane was uncomfortable advising the board to renew the contract as written. However, there was not enough time to negotiate any alterations to the contract between the three entities before the Dec. 31, 2025, deadline.
“I’m willing to vote for this agreement and essentially take the town of Hadley’s word, and the ambulance service’s word, that we’re all going to work together right at the start of the new year to update that contract,” Councilmember Dane Morton said during the board’s Dec. 29, 2025, meeting.
Shortly after reluctantly renewing its current contract, Kissane sent a revised contract to the ambulance company and the Hadley town attorney for review.
Little has been said about the revised contract until the Lake Luzerne board’s June 16 meeting, where it discussed a request from the EMS for additional funds due to an increase in its insurance caused by switching providers. The ambulance company’s previous insurance provider discontinued its service in December, after its budget proposal was submitted to the towns.
“Their insurance doesn’t come due until towards the end of December, so that’s why you didn’t get anything on the budget for how much the insurance was going to be,” explained Councilmember Pam Petteys, whose husband, Barry Petteys, is now treasurer of the Rockwell Falls Ambulance Service.
The request for additional funds came with a set of “accountant’s notes,” which laid out the company’s financials for the first half of the year.
“For an unaudited report, they just rely on the information that is supplied to them by the client,” Lake Luzerne Town Supervisor Jim Niles explained. “It’s not audited; it’s not a report where the accountant checks the information they got from the EMS team.”
Again, Kissane interjected with concerns that the ambulance service was not following the terms of the contract in place.
“Before they get the second payment, they’re supposed to have an audited financial statement sent to you,” she said. “They’re the ones who insisted on that contract and wouldn’t change it; why are we not holding them to what they insisted on?”
In addition to a fully audited financial report, the contract also states that the company is to provide a report on the number of calls generating bills, the amounts that have been billed, revenue received, and accounts deemed noncollectable to the town. Niles suggested that at least some of that information had been submitted with the notes.
“I kind of feel like we’re getting strung along here,” Morton said. “It’s written right out what their obligations are, they’re not fulfilling their obligations, and I don’t know why we continue to put up with it.”
He suggested that the board withhold any further payment to the company until it receives the documentation outlined in the contract.
Councilmember Petteys questioned why the submitted documents were accepted in the past but now were not. She reminded the board that if the ambulance company runs out of funds, it would have to close.
“We’ve given them nine months to figure it out,” Morton said. “I’m sorry, at some point, we have to rip the band-aid off.
“We’re just asking to abide by the contract that we weren’t even comfortable signing,” he added.
The board agreed to table the discussion until its next monthly meeting in July, hopefully, with a representative from the ambulance service in attendance to speak on their behalf.
In the meantime, the Lake Luzerne board expressed disappointment at the lack of progress made on the revised contract.
“EMS is not the holdup; the holdup is Hadley,” Petteys said. “EMS will do whatever you want them to do, [the contract] will go to their attorney once the towns say it’s fine. Luzerne said it’s fine, Hadley has not.”
Hadley Town Supervisor Arthur “Mo” Wright said that the Hadley Town Board is aware of the concerns brought up by Kissane, but has not yet reviewed the revised contract.
“My board has decided that they’ll consider changes for the contract in 27,” Wright said in an interview with The Post-Star Wednesday. “It has to be passed in December, so if there’s going to be changes, then my board’s going to want to see them long before December.”
He said the contract is still being reviewed by the Hadley town attorney, Raeann Johnson.
Hadley approved the additional insurance payment requested by the ambulance service during its June 11 meeting. Wright said the board had received the same documentation as the Lake Luzerne board from the EMS, but found it sufficient to grant the request.
“If we see something that doesn’t look right, I’m sure we would call for a full audit, but I haven’t seen anything at this point; everything seems to be going fine,” he said.
The Rockwell Falls Ambulance Service could not be reached for comment.
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