New Lebanon Fire Chief heaps praise on former boss

Newly appointed Interim Lebanon Fire and EMS Chief Daniel Mathews takes the oath of office from Town Clerk Dale Fisk on Thursday. (You Tube video)

LEBANON, Maine - Newly installed interim Lebanon Fire and EMS Chief Dan Mathews heaped praise on his former boss on Thursday calling him a "great fire chief who did great things for this town."

"I have nothing but great things to say about him," Mathews told The Rochester Voice referring to former chief Dan Meehan, who hastily resigned on Wednesday.

During a brief ceremony attended by close to a dozen members of the department he takes over, Mathews was officially sworn in by Town Clerk Dale Fisk on Thursday during a regularly scheduled selectmen's meeting.

When asked why Meehan resigned so abruptly, Mathews referred to a "personnel issue with selectmen" but refused further comment.

Former chief Dan Meehan (Courtesy photo)

Meehan, in brief remarks to The Rochester Voice on Thursday, also referenced selectmen in connection with his unexpected departure.

In an official resignation letter read Thursday by Selectmen Chair Chip Harlow, Meehan stated, "It has been my pleasure to be Lebanon's first full-time fire chief and to serve the citizens of Lebanon."

Meehan officially resigned on Wednesday, with selectmen then calling an emergency meeting to appoint Mathews, whom Meehan hired, as interim chief following an executive session Wednesday afternoon.

Mathews, a captain with the Natick (Mass.) Fire Department where he serves as captain and works two 24-hour shifts per week, also lives in Rochester.

He said he was asked on Wednesday morning to accept the interim chief's position.

Mathews said his first priority was to "move the department forward and improve it like Chief Meehan did."

"I will try to continue to improve how we deliver service to residents," he said, adding there is still "antiquated equipment" that needs to be modernized.

Meehan stoked controversy in the town soon after he was first hired in January 2015, first because he was not from Lebanon but Rochester; and secondly when he was allowed to use the Command Vehicle to drive back and forth from home.

In 2016 Meehan pushed through a massive budget increase, much of it created by his personal raise in chief's pay from $28,800 to around $46,800. The budget was initially overwhelmingly rejected by voters but later passed at a Special Town Meeting attended by only a couple of hundred voters days before the new fiscal year was to begin.

In return for the increase he promised to retire from his full-time Rochester firefighting job where he earned $60,000 a year to focus full time (as he put it "24/7") on Lebanon.

However, even though the process of retiring was shown to take just 30 days, according to state retirement board officials, Meehan delayed it for six months, while he still worked 10 24-hour shifts per month in Rochester.

He finally officially retired from Rochester last December.

Selectmen have offered no reason for his sudden departure.

Meehan's departure is the second high-profile Lebanon official to resign in two months. Former code enforcement officer Mike Beaulieu resigned Sept. 18 after which selectmen learned of several questionable practices by him regarding shoreland zoning protection enforcement on residential properties bordering Milton Three Ponds.