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When does chief quit 2nd job? 'It doesn't matter,' says one selectman

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Image of May minutes in which Lebanon Fire and Rescue Chief Daniel Meehan pledges full-time commitment to Lebanon with full-time job.

LEBANON - A Lebanon selectman said on Monday that "it doesn't matter" if Lebanon's Fire and Rescue chief retires from his full-time Rochester firefighter's job, despite the fact that his Rochester job obligations could compromise his ability to cover Lebanon in an emergency.
Last month during a regularly scheduled selectmen's meeting The Lebanon Voice asked selectmen why Lebanon Fire and Rescue Chief Daniel Meehan hadn't quit his full-time Rochester firefighter position as he had promised to do at a May meeting.
"I don't know, we'll be asking him," Selectmen Chair Christine Torno replied, noting that Meehan was schedule to meet with selectmen later that day.
The Lebanon Voice then asked if that meeting would be in public session, to which Torno replied yes, however, minutes of that Sept. 26 meeting revealed on Tuesday there was no mention of Meehan's retirement, according to the selectmen's secretary who records the minutes.
When asked on Monday if he knew why Meehan still hadn't retired as he said he would, Selectman Royce Heath said, "I don't know and it doesn't matter."
Heath, who is up for re-election next year, then added that was all he wanted to say and hung up.
Meehan, meanwhile, continues to collect two full-time salaries, from Rochester, where he works as a regular full-time firefighter; and from Lebanon where he is the full-time Fire and EMS chief.
In a May 19 Board of Selectmen meeting minutes, it states, "(Meehan) said if he is full time, he wil be dedicated to Lebanon and not work anywhere else." He also told selectmen during that meeting that as a full-time chief working for Lebanon 24/7 he would be available to work day or night shifts when needed in case other personnel called in sick.
Meehan currently gets $913 a week from Lebanon and about $1,154 a week from Rochester for his full-time pay in both towns. It should be noted that for four months now Meehan is also collecting both towns' employee benefits packages as well.
Last month, Rochester Fire Chief Norm Sanborn noted that if Meehan were working one of his nine or 10 24-hour shifts a month in Rochester, he couldn't just up and leave if an emergency occurred in Lebanon. Sanborn said that before leaving he would have to arrange for a replacement to cover his shift and that if he couldn't find one, he wouldn't be able to leave.
Meehan also told selectmen in May that it can take several months to retire from Rochester, a notion that has been proved a false narrative, as Marty Konlon, spokesperson for the New Hampshire Retirement Board, has said on several occasions it only takes 30 days.
In fact, Konlon said that Meehan could have filled out retirement paperwork as early as April 1 to enable him to begin his retirement pension with Rochester on July 1, adding that if the June Lebanon vote had rejected his full-time Lebanon chief's job, he could have simply pulled back the paperwork on June 30.
Konlon said recently that Meehan hadn't resigned as of Oct. 1, meaning that the next window to retire isn't till Tuesday, Nov. 1, which would begin his state retirement on Dec. 1.

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