Lebanon's third safety agency probe in seven years will come in first in cost

From left, former town assistant rescue chief Jason Cole (TRV file), former Lebanon Fire and EMS chief Dan Meehan (TRV file) and current chief Steve Merrill (Courtesy)

LEBANON, Maine - While the last two town safety department probes cost the town of Lebanon next to nothing, the one going on now will likely cost taxpayers around $25,000, The Rochester Voice has learned.

The decision to conduct the expected two-month investigation came on Feb. 13 when the two top leaders of Lebanon Fire and EMS were put on administrative leave during a probe into department readiness and the integrity and safety of their headquarters on Carl Broggi Highway in South Lebanon.

While on leave Chief Steve Merrill and Deputy Chief JT Harmon will continue to be paid their weekly salaries of $1,131.67 and $618.63, respectively.

In addition, following their probes, the engineering firm of John Turner Consulting, Inc., will send taxpayers a bill for $5,000-$5,500, while an air quality firm - Environmental Safety & Hygiene - will charge around $3,800 to check the department's Route 202 headquarters for air contaminants like mold.

The engineering firm will study the structural integrity of the building.

The financials of the probe were released by town Treasurer, human resources coordinator and Right to Know administrator Stacie Gillespie in response to a Rochester Voice Right to Know request.

The two most recent rescue probes included one in 2013, in which then selectmen and former assistant rescue chief Jason Cole and his wife and former rescue chief, Samantha Cole, were accused of improprieties in their official capacities. The accusations were brought forward by several members of Lebanon Rescue.

After a three-hour sitdown with the complainants at the town attorney's office, former selectmen chair Bob Frizzell, assisted by former town counsel Alan Shepard, made the decision there was no wrongdoing. The third selectperson at the time was former state rep Karen Gerrish who was advised by Shepard not to participate because of her bitter campaign with Jason Cole to win her selectmen's seat. Jason Cole returned to the board the following year.

Interestingly, after Frizzell's singlehanded acquittal of admitted friend Jason Cole, Gerrish said she thought she had relinquished her role in the probative portion of the case but not her voice in the ultimate verdict, which she was locked out of, too.

For more on that probe scroll down after clicking here.

The most recent probe, conducted in 2016, a year after Lebanon Rescue and Lebanon Fire merged to become Lebanon Fire and EMS, came after a whistleblower who identified himself as a department member warned that the department was using expired medications to treat patients.

A letter sent to state officials and the then Lebanon Voice, purported to contain an interoffice memo in which a member of the department apparently notes, "Yes we are very low on supplies at this time, so please be patient," later urging staff to go ahead and use expired supplies. For more info on that probe click here.

That monthlong probe was carried out by the Maine Emergency Medical Services office. Director Shaun St. Germain said his investigators found no merit to the complaint, he said on Sept. 8, 2016. For more info on that probe click here.