Meeting will scrutinize Rescue deficit dilemma

Selectman and Assistant Rescue Chief Jason Cole

LEBANON - Some two weeks after a six-figure deficit was revealed in Lebanon Rescue accounts and less than a week after Selectboard members Karen Gerrish and Ben Thompson feuded publicly with fellow board member Jason Cole over his use of residents emails, the town will hold a public meeting on Thursday during which Rescue’s fiscal shortcomings will be discussed.

Cole is also the town Rescue Department’s assistant chief. His wife, Samantha Cole, is the chief.

The town’s treasurer, along with its attorneys, accountants and selectmen will discuss what is best for the town regarding the deficit during the meeting, but Thompson pointed out on Tuesday that there will be no public input allowed.

“This is a working meeting,” Thompson said. “It is a public meeting, but there will be no time allotted for public input.”

The meeting begins at 4:30 p.m. in the Professional Development Room on the second floor of the Hanson School instead of at Town Offices to accommodate any larger crowd that might attend.

It was back at selectmen’s last evening meeting on Nov. 19 that Selectmen Chair Gerrish noted the Rescue budget was underfunded in the amount of $150,000.

Minutes of that meeting filed recently indicate the department owes the town’s general fund $166,631.79, according to treasurer Jeannette Lemay’s figures. The deficit includes an approximately $40,000 ambulance payment due before year’s end.

In response to the concerns raised at that meeting by Budget Committee members and others in the audience, Cole posted a 1,700-word message rebuffing the findings and comments, reportedly using Lebanon’s “Friends and Neighbors” email addresses administered by the town as well as Facebook pages he personally administers like Lebanon, Maine Community News.

In the message he denigrates and defames the budget committee members, others who spoke at the meeting and the other selectmen, and attempts to libel The Lebanon Voice.

Cole’s use of the “Friends and Neighbors” email list drew a response from Gerrish and Thompson in an official “Town of Lebanon Bulletin” sent to subscribers of the service at 6:54 a.m. on Friday.

The message, crafted by Thompson and Gerrish, condemned Cole for using the town email list and questioned how he obtained so many residents’ home and work emails. It also said they had received many complaints about the email and lamented there “are no policies or consequences which can control what a Selectman does,” referring to Cole.

Remarkably, at 10:10 a.m., a little over three hours later, another official “Town of Lebanon Bulletin” went out, this one authored by Cole, again rebuffing Gerrish’s and Thompson’s findings and raising the specter of nepotism by other board members regarding a recent hiring.

Interestingly, the first bulletin, from Gerrish and Thompson, is titled, “Public Notices Important! Letter from your selectmen.”

The second, from Cole, is titled: “Public Notices Important!! Letter from your selectman.”

Anyone considering attending the meeting is asked to park along the Dumpster area near the Hanson School Gym. The only school door that will be open is by the front driveway circle.

It is unclear if Cole, who has been a no-show at all but a handful of meetings in the past several months, will attend. 

Several months ago, Thursday meeting times were adopted at Cole’s request so he could attend meetings scheduled on that day of the week.

Whether Rescue Chief Samantha Cole will attend is also uncertain.