Probe process, funding questions dog Rescue

Assistant Rescue Chief and Selectman Jason Cole and Selectwoman Karen Gerrish listen to Rescue Department concerns raised by Budget Committee member Chris Gilpatrick at Tuesday night's selectmen's meeting at Town Hall. (Harrison Thorp photo)

LEBANON - The furor over Selectmen Chairman Robert Frizzell’s single-handed decision to absolve the Rescue Department of all charges after a five-month probe showed no signs of abating on Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, new accusations dogged the so-called self-funded department, including the town’s payment for department insurance after residents voted against the policy last June.

Chris Gilpatrick, who brought documents showing townspeople voted in 2010 and 2011 to pay for the department’s insurance said Rescue has no right to call itself self-funded while using taxpayer money.

Recognizing the frustration many felt over taxpayer funding of such payments, selectmen last year drafted a ballot question that excluded Rescue’s insurance, only to find out the insurance premiums couldn’t be separated.

Consequently, the town has paid for Rescue Department insurance this year contrary to the voters’ wishes.

For his part, Assistant Rescue Chief and Selectman Jason Cole said once the town is able to segregate the Rescue insurance cost – estimated to be about $7,000 - the Rescue Department Corporation will reimburse the town.

Beside insurance, the town has also paid for Rescue Department radios and Dispatch services over the past several years, Gilpatrick noted. “It’s still taxpayer money,” he said.

“I see validity in these concerns,” Selectwoman Karen Gerrish answered.

While questions over the Rescue Department’s claims of being self-funded drew sharp criticism from Budget Committee members Becky Batchelder, Gilpatrick and others, it was Frizzell’s unilateral decision in the Rescue probe that most infuriated the dozen or so who gathered for the meeting.

Frizzell on April 2 announced he had completed a nearly five-month investigation into allegations of unsafe SOPs (standard operating procedures) and misuse of funds within the Rescue Department. The grievances were brought forward by five former Rescue volunteers who met with Frizzell and Town Attorney Alan Shepherd at his Kennebunk office in mid-October.  

Frizzell, with advisory help from Shepard, handled the probe by himself after Shepard advised Gerrish not to participate in light of her bitter selectman’s campaign against Cole in 2011.

Betty Harris-Howard, a candidate for Frizzell’s seat this year, called the vote illegal.

“If it takes two selectmen to make a decision, how can this happen? The people of Lebanon, this doesn’t work for them,” she said.

Cole, who along with his wife, Rescue Chief Samantha Cole, were the focus of the grievances, answered, “That’s why we took it to the town attorney.”

”The fact that one selectman made the decision is not right,” Harris-Howard replied.

Gilpatrick then demanded, “How can one selectman do it?”

Cole then divulged that it was Attorney Shepard, in fact, who had led the investigation, not Frizzell.

In his final decision on the probe dated March 29, however, Frizzell wrote that he led the investigation with the “assistance” of Shepard.

Harris-Howard also questioned how Frizzell, who was not in attendance at last night’s meeting, was able to deduce there had been no misappropriation of funds.

“Is Frizzell an accountant, a CPA?” she grilled selectmen. “Why not get a professional?”

Several at the meeting urged selectmen to reopen the probe to satisfy public outrage over the process.

“The investigation has been done,” Cole said. “It’s been clarified. There’s nothing wrong with the investigation.”

He added that the investigation had already cost taxpayer money, and there was no need to spend more money on another investigation.

“But why wouldn’t you want a transparent investigation?” Gilpatrick asked.

“It was transparent,” Cole replied.