Chief drawing full-time pay in both Rochester, Lebanon

Lebanon Fire-EMS Chief Daniel Meehan (Courtesy photo)

LEBANON - More than 10 weeks after he told selectmen he'd retire from his Rochester firefighting job if his full-time salaried chief's position in Lebanon passed and almost six weeks after it did, Lebanon Fire and EMS Chief Daniel Meehan continues to work full time in both towns.

Marty Konlon, a spokesman for the New Hampshire state retirement board, which administers retirement benefits for state firefighters, said on Tuesday Meehan had not begun receiving retirement benefits as of Aug. 1, meaning he is still employed with the city of Rochester where he works as a full-time firefighter at the Gonic station.

On May 19 Meehan told the Lebanon Board of Selectmen that if the revised Fire-EMS budget - including his weekly $913 salary - passed he would begin the process of retiring from the Rochester Fire Department where he has worked for more than 20 years.

At that meeting he also told selectmen it may take several months during which time he'd be making full-time pay in both Rochester and Lebanon.

"You just don't say you're going to retire (from Rochester Fire), it takes some time," he said, regarding the overlap.

Konlon, however, last month refuted Meehan's assertion, saying it doesn't take several months but as little as 30 days.

Konlon also said that Meehan - anticipating a possible yes vote on his budget at the June 25 town meeting - could have filed paperwork back in April to take his retirement on July 1 and then pulled it back prior to June 30 if the budget had been rejected as it was overwhelmingly during a townwide vote in May.

Meehan at the May 19 meeting also promised selectmen if his almost $48,000 annual salary plus benefits package in the budget passed, he'd be there for the town 24/7.

He told selectmen he presently regularly works 60 hours a week for Lebanon Fire and EMS, going to meetings, answering medical and fire calls, writing emails, taking phone calls and covering regular Lebanon Fire and EMS shifts when someone is sick or can't make it.

The department has two per diem personnel at the Central Station from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. during the day and two personnel covering from home as on-call staff overnight from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.

In a response to a question asking when he was going to retire from Rochester a few minutes after his full-time salary passed at Lebanon Town Meeting on June 25, he quipped, "When I retire is my business."

Phone calls seeking comment on this story left on his personal phone and with staff at Central Station on Upper Cross Road were not returned on Thursday.