At a town meeting on Aug. 22, more details surrounding the alleged financial mismanagement by Westbrook Ambulance Association(WAA) were revealed, and residents unanimously approved spending $238,000 to pay off an outstanding mortgage as well as hire a firm to conduct a forensic audit of the association.

Earlier this month, the Harbor News reported serious allegations of financial mismanagement by former WAA chief Gregg Prevost, including years of not filing tax returns and failure to pay a mortgage for more than a year. Prevost has since resigned.

At the town meeting on Aug. 22, residents voted to appropriate an amount not to exceed $163,000 to pay off the outstanding mortgage with KeyBank on the WAA headquarters property at 1316 Boston Post Road and an amount not to exceed $75,000 to hire the firm Sansiveri, Kimball & Co., LLP. to conduct a forensic audit of the WAA.

The Issue and New Information

Westbrook town attorney Tim Herbst was on hand at the meeting to shed more light about the issue and answer questions form concerned residents.

Herbst said that he was first informed about potential issues with the WAA in 2022 when he took over as the town’s attorney. Herbst said at the time, the WAA was interested in applying for federal funds from the American Recovery Plan Act. Applying for the money meant providing certain financial information had to be provided, something Herbst said Prevost was reluctant to do.

In fact, Herbst said that he has since found correspondence from the Town dating back to 2010 requesting financial information that was supposed to be filed with the Department of Public Health that was never provided. At one point, Herbst said Prevost even hired his own lawyers to fight the requests from the Town.

“The people of Westbrook should know that upon First Selectman [John] Hall’s election in 2021 and my appointment in early 2022, we have been dealing with Mr. Prevost and his continued efforts to stonewall the Town of Westbrook in not providing us with necessary and pertinent information concerning the operations of the WAA,” Herbst told the Harbor News.

However, the Town did not realize how deep the problems at WAA were until last month.

Herbst explained that town officials were shocked when an appraiser contacted the Town in July to inquire as to what could be done with the WAA headquarters property at 1316 Boston Post Road if the bank reclaimed it.

While the ambulance association is not a town entity, the headquarters is owned by the Town and leased to the WAA. In 2008, the WAA applied for a mortgage with KeyBank, with the Town as an additional guarantor.

“Shortly thereafter, the Town was served with the foreclosure action. The mortgage was in default for more than a year, and at no time did [ Prevost] make the First Selectman or any other Town official aware of this fact.” Herbst explained last month.

Herbst told the audience that an internal review by him and other Westbrook officials showed that the WAA had not filed taxes with the Internal Revenue Service for several years and the association also appeared to have lost its 501(c)3 status. Herbst said that the Town has sent notice to the WAA that the lease agreement is terminated.

In response to a question from a resident about WAA leadership, Herbst said that it appears the WAA has not had a properly functioning board of directors for some time. Furthermore, audience members were visibly annoyed when Herbst revealed that the treasurer for the WAA had been Prevost’s wife. “That presents a host of other issues,” Herbst said.

Herbst said that new oversight will be needed for the WAA, something the Town could help with.

“The residents of Westbrook should know that we have taken every appropriate step to bring the needed reforms and accountability that is required for the WAA. His departure from the WAA will allow us to finally begin the process of obtaining the necessary information to properly conduct the forensic audit and work with the new leadership of the WAA in making the necessary changes to improve and enhance emergency medical service response in the Town of Westbrook,” Herbst said.

Herbst said that during a visit to the WAA headquarters a stack of correspondence from the IRS was found as well as a container of shredded documents. Herbst declined to elaborate on the shredded documents other than to say it had been discovered and steps are being taken to investigate the matter.

During the meeting, residents also became frustrated when Herbst explained that despite being a guarantor on the mortgage, the bank never informed the Town about the default. Herbst said he has raised that issue with lawyers for the bank.

Herbst explained the Town needed to payoff the debt since having the property be foreclosed on could affect theTown’s bond and credit rating.

“The Town has to deal with this; we don’t have a choice,” Herbst said during the meeting.

As for the audit, Herbst said that the firm would be completely independent of the Town and WAA with the mission of finding out exactly what happened and where the money went.

“ I have had the occasion to confer with counsel for the WAA to discuss the forensic audit and next steps. Our initial conversation was very productive. I believe the new leadership of the WAA is in full agreement with the Town that this audit is necessary so we can determine an appropriate corrective action plan. As the audit progresses, the WAA will continue to provide emergency medical service to the people of Westbrook, with continued mutual aid from surrounding communities on an as-needed basis,” Herbst told the Harbor News following the meeting.

Herbst said the expectation is for the audit to wrap up in a few months, but he admitted there is a chance the audit reveals information that will require a longer investigation. “This is something that we want to fix. It should have been fixed years ago, but we’re doing it now,” Herbst said at the meeting.

Herbst reiterated at the meeting that the remaining members of the association were working hard to pick up the pieces and would continue to respond to calls in the case of an emergency.

“I don’t want people who had nothing to do with this to be painted with a broad brush because of this,” Herbst said.