Executive session held to hear Rescue complaints

Rescue volunteer Michael Sabine says Rescue heads, Samantha and Jason Cole, pictured below, suspended him from the department for the same things Jason Cole is accused of.

LEBANON - A Lebanon Rescue Department volunteer who told selectmen several weeks ago he had been unfairly suspended by the department finally got his day in court on Tuesday night.

Sabine has at several selectmen’s meetings requested the board meet with him and Rescue Department heads Chief Samantha Cole and her husband, Assistant Rescue Chief Jason Cole, to discuss why Sabine was suspended for what he believes Jason Cole is also guilty of doing: namely improper use of social media.

Sabine was immediately suspended in May after making negative remarks on Facebook about the department’s response to an incident on Upper Cross Road.

Jason Cole in May, meanwhile, made derogatory remarks on a Facebook post about Gilpatrick Property Services, saying the company was “fleecing” Lebanon in its work at North Lebanon Cemetery off Baker’s Grant Road yet continues to work Rescue calls.

Soon after what appeared a double standard surfaced, Sabine has been persistently seeking a resolution of the case in a meeting with selectmen and the Coles, one of whom, Jason, is also a selectman for the town.

Several appointments convenient for all the parties involved were scheduled but never came of fruition, so last night the board, minus Cole, decided it was unfair to keep putting Sabine off and went behind closed doors to address the incident and possible inconsistencies in Rescue Department rules enforcement.

It was also noted prior to executive session that a Lebanon Rescue EMT was unable to get into the Rescue Department building to get an ambulance to assist at the fire scene on Champion Street last month, because the entry code didn’t work.

“We are aware of issues and complaints and it’s not being overlooked,” a frustrated Selectman Chair Karen Gerrish said after other complaints over the Rescue Department were aired.

Reached today by email Jason Cole responded that the EMT in question hadn’t been on a call in 18 months and, “Since he hasn’t been at the station in over a year to open the door, he was unaware and hence we were unaware, that after the box failed, his number hadn't been reprogrammed.”

The assistant rescue chief also said the EMT “made no attempt to contact a rescue officer during the time he was at the station trying to get in that night that we are aware of, or we could have given him a generic one to get in.”

Gerrish said today that while she and Selectman Ben Thompson did discuss several issues with Sabine on Tuesday night, no decisions or votes were taken and the board continues to seek a conversation with the Coles regarding his case.

That next scheduled appointment is now likely to occur next week, Gerrish said Tuesday night.

The board also listened to two different approaches for videotaping town meetings, first from a Berwick resident who helps with their broadcasts, and from a Maine man who runs a service that helps towns upload meetings onto his website where residents can view them when they want.

In Berwick, Comcast has supplied the town with a live feed into their main meetingroom at no cost to the town. The funds come from a user fee all residents pay Comcast each bill.

The town, however, has spent thousands on cameras and microphones and other equipment, but has the luxury of providing a live broadcast of meetings held in their main meetingroom and streaming options for all other meetings.

The program is very time intensive, it was explained, and requires some expertise.

The other proposal included uploading of all meetings onto a server where residents could stream the video at their leisure. The cost of that service would be about $100 a month, but again, all videotaping equipment would be bought by the town.

The latter service would include a single camera monitoring most meetings and include very little maintenance or knowhow.