Cole faces reprimand on two fronts

Selectman and Assistant Rescue Chief Jason Cole

LEBANON - Selectman and Assistant Rescue Chief Jason Cole faces a double dose of possible reprimand and censure in the continuing flap over social media comments he made regarding the town’s cemetery association and a local business it contracts with to mow the Forest Grove Cemetery off Baker’s Grant Road.

Selectmen Chair Karen Gerrish explained on Monday it comprises two distinct actions.

First, she said, Cole will likely have to “retract” comments he made about the Cemetery Association and the company that mows the cemetery, Gilpatrick Property Services.

Cole had said earlier in a Facebook post that the company was “fleecing” the town with its mowing contract. One post also pointed fingers at the cemetery association in charge of the cemetery’s upkeep.

Selectmen have since said that they are happy with the services of the cemetery association and Gilpatrick Property Services.

Gerrish said a meeting with Cole to determine how that alleged offense would be resolved had not occurred.

Cole was not present at the start of the board’s scheduled Monday afternoon meeting.

The other portion of the controversy stems from what appears to have been Cole’s use of social media that is prohibited by Lebanon Rescue’s member handbook, namely defamation of individuals.

That separate meeting would also have to involve Rescue Department Chief Samantha Cole, Jason Cole’s wife, to determine what punitive measures, if any, would be leveled against the assistant chief.

That meeting, also, had not been scheduled as of Monday.