Rescue's funding called flawed, perhaps illegal

Rosie Stadig of Lebanon stands as she explains her support for the videotaping of all town meetings. Below, town attorney Alan Shepard lays out rules of engagement; bottom, Selectboard members Karen Gerrish and Robert Frizzell. (Harrison Thorp photos)

LEBANON - It was supposed to be a public hearing of 34 ballot questions in advance of the town’s June 11 Referendum Ballot, but instead it was more of a referendum on the integrity of the Rescue Department, its claim of self-funded status and the legality of the town of Lebanon funding the Rescue Department’s insurance after residents had voted against it in 2012.

Question 8, which asks residents to pay for all town insurance, including Rescue, drew angry criticism from residents and Budget Committee members alike who said paying the department’s 2012 premium was bordering on illegal since the vote in last June’s ballot specifically excluded them.

Now, they reasoned, voters were being asked to vote to “continue” a practice they’d already voted against.

Selectmen explained that Norton Insurance, the town’s insurance carrier, said they could not isolate the Rescue Department’s individual premium, a concept that fell on deaf ears for most in the audience.

“This should’ve gone back to a vote last year,” said Ben Thompson, a candidate for selectman. “Townsfolk voted to have rescue pay for insurance. It should go back to a vote.”

While Rescue’s insurance cost is said to be impossible to pinpoint, the amount of $7,000 has been widely used as an estimate, prompting resident Chip Harlow to ask selectmen, “Why can’t 7,000 be taken out of the enterprise account?”

No selectmen stood to answer the question.

The enterprise account, begun in 2010 by referendum approval, consists of ambulance revenues, donations and grants that the department receives and can spend as it sees fit in the running of the department, with selectmen approval. The same referendum question states that “If any taxpayer money is needed, it would have to go back to referendum.”

The fact that the town is now paying for department expenses like insurance and radio dispatch irks many who feel they have been betrayed by town officials and that the Rescue Department’s self-funded status has been misrepresented.

“They should be backbilled (for insurance) from when they became an enterprise account,” said Robie Marsters, a selectman candidate.

Selectmen should just take the money, Thompson added.

Budget Committee Chairwoman Nancy Neubert told the 50 or so audience members her board had recommended to Rescue Chief Samantha Cole that her department make a goodwill donation to the town for its insurance.

Most of the criticism focused on Cole, and her husband, Assistant Rescue Chief and Selectman Jason Cole, neither of whom attended the meeting.

At the start of the public hearing town attorney and moderator Alan Shepard announced Jason Cole had had recent surgery, but that he was on his way. He never arrived.

The Budget Committee, which split 4-4 on Question 8 because the insurance premium included the Rescue Department, used the same logic to vote against the town’s funding of nearly $50,000 for emergency dispatch.

Again, we’re paying for Rescue’s dispatching fees when they claim to be self-funded, said panel members, who voted 5-4 against Question 27.

The overall integrity of the Rescue Department’s enterprise account and how it functions within the scope of disbursing money was questioned by Harlow. “It’s unlimited what they can spend, whatever they want,” he said. “They can spend all their revenue. We don’t have any vote. We’ve given up our right to govern how much they spend.”

Other questions that drew close scrutiny included the continued renovations of the Old Town Hall on Center Road and a citizen’s referendum that seeks videotaping of all town meetings.

Question 3 asks voters to approve spending another $60,000 to finish the renovations on the building, but what voters wanted most to know was the logistics of a potential lease for the basement with the Lebanon American Legion Post and how the main floor of the building would be made available to the public.

One resident, citing liability concerns, urged the town to put the building up for sale and not get into the landlord business.

Another wanted to know how selectmen would decide who to lease it to and for how much. Frizzell said it would be decided by selectmen, “in the best interest of the town.”

The Budget Committee, meanwhile, voted unanimously against continuing the project.

“We don’t know how much (funding) we’re going to lose from the state,” Neubert said. “We have the foundation done, the building’s not going to sink. We don’t think it’s time to spend that kind of money when it could wait.”

Question 1, a citizen’s petition spearheaded by selectman candidate Corinna Cole, asked voters to approve the videotaping of most town government meetings along with a $500 price tag to do so.

“I did this to have more clarity in the government. It will help more people become involved,” she said last night.

Rosie Stadig, who helped arrange a videotaping of last night’s meeting, said it lets residents, “see what’s going on.”

Voting against the question were Selectmen Cole and Frizzell, who said he opted against the measure because he didn’t think the $500 budgeted was sufficient. 

Corinna Cole and Stadig pointed out that high school students looking for credits would help and that all selectmen or board members would have to do is set up a tripod, flip a switch and give the file to the town webmaster to upload onto its website.

Selectwoman Karen Gerrish abstained from the selectmen’s vote on the initiative, saying she didn’t have enough information on the proposal and was also looking into getting Metrocast Channel 12 to videotape selectmen’s meetings.

“I felt I didn’t’ have enough info on how it was going to be implemented,” she said.

Budget Committee member Roger Varney pointed out that videotaping town meetings might thin the ranks of camera shy volunteers to serve on town boards, adding dryly, “I’m no movie star.”