Selectmen to mull Torno insurance cut

Larry Torno (Lebanon Voice file photo)

"I would like to thank everyone that has donated. It has truly renewed my faith in people."

- Larry Torno

LEBANON - Supporters of Larry Torno can be buoyed by two things today.

First, more than $5,000 has been raised in one day to help pay his $1,800 a month insurance premium and other medical bills.

Secondly, town selectmen on Monday went into executive session to discuss amending their decision to cut the town's contributory 70 percent portion of the premium, which they had previously decided to cease paying.

Torno, 62, the town's elected road commissioner, was stricken with an untreatable form of cancer in December and has been in and out of the hospital and unable to perform his duties since early last month.

Since he is an elected official, the town stopped paying his monthly salary, but also discontinued paying its share of his medical insurance premium, which has infuriated many townspeople.

Selectmen on Monday didn't say why they were reconsidering their decision.

"We are going to discuss this further tonight, so I'm not going to discuss it with you now," Selectmen Chairman Ben Thompson told The Lebanon Voice shortly before selectmen's 4 p.m. meeting was scheduled to start.

Since it is a personnel issue, Thompson added that there would be no announcement or press release pursuant to any change.

Thompson said selectmen consulted the Maine Municipal Association, town counsel and federal and state law before the decision to cease the town's contributory portion of Torno's medical insurance was made.

Torno is currently halfway through his second three-year term as road commissioner.

He has already spent two weeks at Maine Medical Center in Portland as well as shorter stints in other area hospitals, and the bills are beginning to pile up.

"They're getting bills that insurance won't pay," Christine Torno, a sister-in-law, said on Sunday.

Christine Torno said she's certain that stress over the upcoming insurance payment put Larry Torno back in the hospital last week.

"This insurance stuff did not help him out physically," she said.

Meanwhile, Torno, heartened by the donations fast piling up, said in a message posted on his gofundme page today, "I would like to thank everyone that has donated. It has truly renewed my faith in people."

To visit the page and make a contribution, click here.