Earth to Meehan: Build efficiencies, not a bloated budget

When President Obama enacted higher minimum annual wages to exempt worker overtime earlier this week, businesses began the tough task of deciding whether to swallow the staggering increase in their cost of doing business or cut worker pay, shorten hours or make certain jobs part time.

In the past businesses could hire a salaried midlevel manager or executive, pay them over $23,660 and expect them to work overtime with no extra pay as part of their position.

Now with President Obama's ruling on Wednesday, the government is saying you have to pay them more than twice that, at $47,456.

Of course if businesses do swallow the staggering increase in employee pay, consumers will pay the price with increases in the products and services they buy.

Interestingly, Lebanon Fire and EMS Chief Dan Meehan used the president's recent edict to double down in his scheme to double up on his pay and benefits in this year's budget.

About 60 percent of Lebanon voters who went to the polls earlier this month rejected the department's $450,000 budget, of which more than 10 percent would go toward paying the chief's $47,476 in salary alone, excluding some $15,000 in benefits.

Meehan told selectmen on Thursday that if he were to be paid less than the threshold mandated by the president, Lebanon residents would be paying a lot more for his services due to overtime costs as he works 60 hours a week going to meetings, going on fire and rescue calls, answering phone calls, taking and sending emails and covering shifts when workers aren't available.

But no one at that selectmen's meeting suggested that he build some efficiencies into his department so that he wouldn't have to work all those hours.

And certainly, he failed to offer any efficiencies.

Here's a few for him, the department and selectmen to mull over.

First, former Lebanon Fire Chief Skip Wood had a public information officer, assistant chief Dan Roy, who very competently and efficiently handled press releases. We would suggest that Mr. Meehan, who has designated himself media liaison, appoint someone immediately. (We've actually never seen a single Lebanon Fire and EMS press release, on either a fire or rescue call since Mr. Meehan took over.) It would make sense to designate one of those working the day shift to be in charge.

Secondly, we would prefer that Mr. Meehan not "cover shifts" on a chief's pay. Rather, we think it makes much more sense to schedule personnel appropriately and build redundancies in the system so replacements who can work on short notice can be secured.

Thirdly, as a leader of the department, we think it much more important that Mr. Meehan be a leader, an innovator, rather than spending a lot of time in the trenches where he's been as a firefighter so many years.

So what this taxpayer would like Mr. Meehan to do is go back to the drawing board and figure out how you can lead your department on 20 hours a week instead of 60.

If you are truly an innovator you'll figure out a way.

Or else, Lebanon taxpayers, like consumers, will be paying the price.

- Martha T. Soto-Galicia

president, The Lebanon Voice