Better late than never? Meehan began as (real) full time chief in Lebanon Jan. 1

Lebanon Fire and EMS Chief Dan Meehan (Courtesy photo)

The spokesman for the New Hampshire State Retirement board confirmed this week that Lebanon Fire and Rescue Chief Dan Meehan finally enrolled in the state's retirement system, exactly seven months after he could've after accepting a full-time position and salary in Lebanon last June.

Marty Konlon, spokesman for the retirement board, said Meehan filed paperwork in December that didn't become active till Jan. 1, paving the way for his first monthly retirement check - about $2,500 - late last month to go along with his $913 weekly salary from Lebanon as chief.

Meehan promised last May to stop double dipping and quit his Rochester firefighter job if his full-time Lebanon salaried budget passed in June, but didn't, casting doubt among some as to whose interests he were most concerned with: the town of Lebanon or his own.

In May in pressing for his $49,000 a year full-time salary he pledged to selectmen he would be there for Lebanon 24/7, covering shifts if per diem personnel were unavailable and on hand to command firefighters and rescue personnel hands-on in emergency situations.

In fact, in May 19 Board of Selectmen meeting minutes, it states, "(Meehan) said if he is full time (in Lebanon), he will be dedicated to Lebanon and not work anywhere else."

Yet when asked during that meeting would he retire immediately if he got his full-time salary in Lebanon, he explained that "retiring" onto the state system was a process and "took some time," a notion that has been refuted by Konlon of the state retirement board, who said it only takes 30 days, certainly not six months.
In fact, Konlon said that Meehan could have filled out retirement paperwork as early as April 1 of 2016 to enable him to begin his retirement pension with Rochester on July 1 of that year, adding that if the June Lebanon special town meeting vote had rejected the full-time Lebanon chief's job, Meehan could have simply pulled back the paperwork on June 30.
The chief's apparent lack of candor and suspicion among residents that he was simply using his Lebanon job as a retirement nest has cast a pall over the department even as it looks to increase morale, call firefighter numbers and performance using that that basically doubled in three years.

Also riling some town residents was the fact that during the six months that he worked for both Rochester and Lebanon, Meehan was working nine or 10 24-hour shifts each month in Rochester at Lebanon's expense as during these times he couldn't respond to an emergency in Lebanon unless he could arrange for a replacement to cover his shift in Gonic, and that if he couldn't find one, he wouldn't be able to leave.

Selectmen have stayed mostly mum on the subject, Royce Heath saying in October when asked when Meehan would quit Rochester, "I don't know and it doesn't matter."

In November Selectmen Chair Christine Torno said Meehan in an Executive Session gave his reasoning to the board as to why he had to work both jobs and said, "we were acceptive of his reasoning not to retire (from Rochester) at this time."

However, Meehan, who officially retired from the Rochester Fire Department on Dec. 31, has never publicly given residents a reason as to why he worked full time for six months in Rochester at the expense of Lebanon coverage.