After fingerpointing, flip-flops, some consensus

Budget committee members in attendance on Tuesday, from left, Nancy Neubert, Judy Churchard, Chris Gilpatrick, Richard Harlow and Betty Harris-Howard (Lebanon Voice/Harrison Thorp photo)

LEBANON - Town residents packing the Lebanon Elementary School on Tuesday overwhelmingly supported keeping Rescue 2, but many openly questioned why selectmen and the budget committee had flip-flopped to support keeping the ambulance after recommending not to keep it on the November ballot.

The public hearing in advance of the Jan. 24 revote was feisty in contrast with more sedate such affairs in the recent past, with its share of shouting matches and trash talking, so much so that one middle aged female resident remarked to those in attendance halfway through the proceeding, "I've never seen a town meeting like this ever in my life."

Some history

The hearing was to air concerns over four ballot questions that will be put to a vote Jan. 24. The major question is No. 1, which asks residents if they want to keep Rescue 2, the town's most modern ambulance. Voters at the November ballot overwhelmingly approved getting rid of Rescue 2, but a grassroots Save our Ambulance group led by Harrison Thorp drafted a petition that urged a revote. The group asserted that the November ballot question was confusingly worded and full of legalese verbiage. It maintained many residents complained of not understanding the question and voting against their own wishes.

After submitting some 250 legal petition signatures calling for a revote, selectmen agreed and signed the warrant earlier this week. The vote will be Jan. 24, a Saturday.

Selectmen added three more questions to the ballot, two on ambulance payment options, and one on whether or not to dissolve the Rescue Department's much maligned Enterprise Account, seen as one of the chief culprits in the town's racking up almost $200,000 in debt under former chief Samantha Cole and her husband, former assistant chief and selectman Jason Cole.

Opening Remarks

Selectmen Chairman Ben Thompson opened the meeting by explaining that selectmen had voted against keeping the ambulance in November because legally only Rescue Department Enterprise Account funds are supposed to be expended to run the department and the $40,500 money for the payment wasn't there, so there was no way to fund the payment.

Budget Committee members, however, blamed selectmen for not giving them enough information to make an informed decision while pressing them to quickly make a recommendation before they had all the facts.

"I didn't know there was going to be an extra $20,000 to pay till after the (November) vote," committee member Chris Gilpatrick complained.

Moreover, many budget committee members who voted on the November ballot question did not vote on the Jan. 24 ballot question and visa-versa, which also may have skewed the numbers.

Despite all the finger pointing and recriminations, however, it became clear throughout the evening that the vast majority of residents want to keep the ambulance, want a viable, healthy Rescue Department and are by in large willing to make some sacrifice to that end.

A recently enacted $2,000 surcharge to be levied by surrounding communities in the event they respond to a Lebanon incident in which Lebanon Rescue cannot field a response has raised the stakes for townspeople who would rather invest in a town department rather than turn surcharge money over to other towns.

Much of the discussion last night went far afield of the ballot questions as residents wanted to know how the town was going to fix the larger problem of a shrinking pool of volunteers at the same time as the town is looking to ratchet up its rescue coverage ability.

The town has for many years been a call department in which volunteers who often work full-time jobs respond when an emergency occurs. They are paid a small stipend for responding, but with many people struggling to get by, many volunteers are leaving the ranks.

"It's a problem everywhere, not just Lebanon," Thompson said.

Some of the options to beef up coverage include hiring per diem EMTs, hiring a full-time chief and combining the town's fire and rescue departments.

Upcoming meeting

A discussion of those topics will be held on Saturday back at the Lebanon Elementary School at 2 p.m. Subjects will range from combining the departments to hiring full-time chiefs to full-time staff to facing some of the equipment issues at both departments.