Frizzell rapped on selectmen's pay

Lebanon Budget Committee Chair Nancy Neubert and board member Tony Bragg said selectmen's pay slips should be both timely and detailed. (Harrison Thorp photo)

Budget Committee members blasted Selectmen Chairman Bob Frizzell on Wednesday over payroll slips submitted by Selectman Jason Cole that lacked details of hours logged in service to the town as selectman.

While Frizzell and Selectwoman Karen Gerrish wrote brief notes beside their selectmen’s hours describing their duties on a specific day, Cole, after noting hours in a similar fashion in July 2012, began in August to simply write the number of hours worked on a weekly basis with no explanation of duties performed. Furthermore, no time slips have been submitted by Cole since November, noted Budget Committee member Tony Bragg.

“Nothing since November,” fumed Bragg. “I thought we were going to do away with this type of stuff when Mr. (former Selectman Ronal) Patch did it.”

Frizzell, for his part, said he did his time slips every three months.

Well, if one of your workers came and  told you they worked 40 hours three months ago and could they please have their money now, would you pay them?, Bragg asked, to which Frizzell replied, “Selectmen’s wages are what they are.”

“I think it’s unacceptable,” Bragg said, a sentiment echoed by most committee members.

“It needs to be fixed,” echoed Budget Chair Nancy Neubert, who along with Bragg said it was Frizzell’s responsibility as chairman to enforce appropriate and timey pay slip submissions by fellow selectmen.

The exchanges over pay punctuated what was mostly a civil meeting between the board and Frizzell over a proposed $293,262 General Government budget up about 2 percent from last year’s. Neither Gerrish nor Cole attended the meeting, which was designed to vet all General Government expenditures in advance of the committee’s voting whether or not to recommend the budget to voters at the June ballot.

Cole has not submitted any time slips since November of last year. Gerrish is the most compliant, submitting detailed time slips every couple of weeks.

Board members were also concerned that the Rescue Department still has not brought them a budget to discuss. Even though the department claims to be “self-funded” they do use town money and should be held accountable like any other department, members agreed.