RTK request further ratchets up tension between officials in Keene, Cheshire County

Federal complaint alleges county misused $3.5 million in federal pandemic-relief funds in creating Cheshire EMS.

Saying Cheshire County Administrator Chris Coates had put him in a “most difficult position,” Keene Fire Chief Donald Farquhar has provided the city council and Cheshire County with copies of a federal complaint he signed alleging the county misused $3.5 million in federal pandemic-relief funds in creating Cheshire EMS.

In a letter Monday to Keene Mayor George Hansel and city councilors, Farquhar insists he signed the 83-page complaint as a private citizen.

But Coates said this was unknown to him and other county officials, prompting an attorney for the county to file a right-to-know request with Keene on Nov. 30 for the document. The city denied the request the next day.

According to the city’s response, which Coates provided to The Sentinel, Keene Records Manager William Dow said the county’s request was being denied since the complaint was not generated by the city or on its behalf.

This latest spat fueled by tension over Cheshire EMS comes as the city and county continue to negotiate a contract for Cheshire EMS to provide the Keene Fire Department with backup ambulance services. The Keene City Council authorized City Manager Elizabeth Dragon to execute such an agreement on Nov. 16.

At the meeting, Dragon told councilors there was “no trust” between Keene and Cheshire County.

Since launching in November 2022, the Swanzey-based county service has drawn concern from other public safety agencies, including the Keene Fire Department, over its use of American Rescue Plan Act funds in offering towns significantly less expensive ambulance contracts. Tension ratcheted up in Keene after Westmoreland, which previously had an agreement for primary ambulance service with Keene Fire, signed a one-year contract with Cheshire EMS in February.

In June, the International Association of Firefighters declared Cheshire EMS “a rival to the IAFF,” according to a Facebook post by Keene’s local union chapter.

The federal complaint, which Tyler Boucher — a former employee of the Keene-based DiLuzio Ambulance Service — lodged with the U.S. Department of the Treasury, alleges the ARPA funds the county used to start Cheshire EMS were contingent on it buying DiLuzio. That never happened, and DiLuzio shuttered on May 3.

A Treasury Department website lists “supporting the health of communities” as a permitted use for ARPA money.

The county denies the complaint’s allegations. Coates has said that EMS service in the county was in crisis, and Cheshire EMS was created to provide a secure emergency response to citizens after an attempt to purchase DiLuzio failed.

The complaint lists two filing dates this year, Aug. 18 and Oct. 31.

Within a week of InDepthNH and then The Sentinel reporting on the complaint last month, Davis Bernstein, the county’s communications director, sent an email on Coates’ behalf to an unknown number of recipients who were blind carbon copied, responding to “the baseless complaint to the Department of the Treasury signed by Keene Fire Chief Farquhar.”

Farquhar’s letter Monday to the mayor and city council references that email, noting that it misrepresents him as having signed the complaint under his official title as fire chief, which he did not.

“[Administrator] Coates’s reckless disregard for the truth, that the complaint was authorized, under control of and being pursued by the City, has placed me in a most difficult position,” he wrote. “After due consideration, I feel that it is best to allow council access to the document.”

Coates, who called the complaint “accusatory and damning,” said Tuesday that Farquhar should have given the document to county officials earlier than he did on Monday morning.

“It just raises a level of concern for us at a time when we’re trying to move forward and work out the last details of our agreement with the city of Keene, while Chief Farquhar signed a letter and we didn’t know anything about it,” he said.

Boucher, who now works as an operations and education consultant for Rescue Inc. in Brattleboro, said Wednesday that he wanted to ensure the Treasury Department had acknowledged the complaint before speaking to reporters about it.

He added that he didn’t think it was necessary to share it directly with Cheshire County officials, because he said he’s already shared his concerns with them over Cheshire EMS.

“Every element of that complaint has been brought to the county’s attention previously,” Boucher said. “I have engaged them in lengthy, protracted conversation about their goings on and the ethical concerns we have regarding Cheshire EMS’s operation. There should be no surprises in that document for Chris Coates.”

On Tuesday, Coates said he hopes Keene and the county can put aside their differences, even amid the friction.

“I hope we can get to a point where we’re moving forward and supporting each other, because I don’t think this serves anyone,” he said.

Farquhar declined to comment to a reporter.

Hunter Oberst can be reached at 355-8546, or hoberst@keenesentinel.com.

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