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Fire-EMS chief's 24/7 pledge more like 8/4 when you crunch the numbers

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Lebanon Fire and Rescue Chief Dan Meehan's mythical pledge to be there for Lebanon "24/7" if his full-time $913 a week salary passed was never ever really grounded in reality - at least not by the adults in the room - but the fact that he takes 240 hours of the top every month working for Rochester Fire takes it from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Before we do anything else, let's crunch some numbers.

There are about 720 hours in a month. Seems like there should be more, but nope.

Now take away the 240 hours a month he works for Rochester Fire (sometimes it's 216) and you're left with 480 hours.

Now if he claims to be working for Lebanon every day, let's divide the remaining 480 hours by the days in a month (say 30). That leaves him with 16 hours a day, eight hours to sleep and eight hours to work.

So instead of him leading the ship 24/7, it's more like 8/4. Keep in mind when he's leading the ship, he could be mowing the lawn, frying up eggs or rolling hose, because, he says, it's important for firefighters to exercise.

We think it's time that selectmen reasserted their authority over Mr. Meehan and instructed him to retire officially from Rochester Fire immediately, so he can perform his duties in Lebanon as he promised the town and its residents he would.

We understand that Rochester Fire bears no culpability in what has become a bit of a sticky wicket. Meehan, as long as he shows up for his required shifts, and complies with all on-call shift requirements, is fulfilling the conditions for continued employment at the Gonic firehouse.

However, he is not fulfilling his obligations to Lebanon as he, himself, set forth.

Meehan said in May it could take several months to retire, but the state retirement board spokesman, Marty Konlon, said it takes just a couple of forms and 30 days notice to make it happen. He even said Meehan could've signed up to retire in April and opted out of his Rochester retirement if his full-time chief's salary didn't pass at Town Meeting in June.

Oct. 1 is Meehan's next option day on which he can retire. If he misses that window, his next chance will be Nov. 1. I suggest selectmen hold him accountable to his own words and broach the subject Monday when he's scheduled to speak with them.

That is unless he's got a shift somewhere else.

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