Selectman/Asst. Chief Cole faces another pay flap

Selectman and Assistant Rescue Chief Jason Cole

Rescue Chief Samantha Cole

LEBANON - For the second time this year Selectman and Assistant Rescue Chief Jason Cole has found himself embroiled in controversy regarding his various salaries paid by the town.

The latest flap arose after Selectmen Chair Karen Gerrish and Selectman Ben Thompson denied Assistant Rescue Chief Cole’s $100-$200 a month increase in pay approved by his wife, Lebanon Rescue Chief Samantha Cole, prior to an Aug. 29 selectmen’s meeting at Town Offices.

According to the Aug. 29 meeting minutes, “Selectman Cole then informed the other selectmen that he has contacted the labor board and his own attorney and was told that he had a good case (for the raise).”

The exchange between Gerrish and Cole became heated, according to meeting minutes recorded by Gerrish, who indicated she had a verbal opinion from Town Attorney Alan Shepard that the Board of Selectmen oversees who gets increases in pay.

However at this week’s regularly scheduled evening selectmen’s meeting, Gerrish said she had received a written opinion from Shepard that was at odds with his earlier verbal opinion, saying department heads determine who gets raises.

Gerrish said she could not recall an individual stipend increase for Cole in this year’s budget, however, did remember an overall increase of about $3,000 for aggregate stipend expenditures with the department.

“I would recollect if it were specific to Mr. Cole,” she said on Tuesday.

She said she contacted former Selectmen Chair Robert Frizzell, who also recalled the overall increase but not one specific to Cole.

Cole’s pay increase was ultimately approved, with Gerrish indicating at one point during the Aug. 29 meeting that she would, “never sue the town for a $100 a month in pay,” according to meeting minutes posted online on the town’s website.

Budget Committee members at Tuesday’s meeting who asked not to be identified said they also did not recall a raise specific to Jason Cole in this fiscal year’s Rescue budget.

Both Selectman Cole and his wife, Rescue Department Chief Samantha Cole, ignored repeated requests from The Lebanon Voice for their comments on the matter.

Earlier this year Cole came under fire for withholding time slips for several months for his work as selectman and not specifying in writing what he was doing during hours submitted for pay.

Since that time, the Board of Selectmen has changed the timeslip policy to require submission every two weeks and detailed accounting for services rendered.

To view the Aug. 29 minutes, click here.

Cole’s taxpayer-funded salary has made headlines in New Hampshire as well. Cole recently returned to his $60,000 a year job as Dispatch Center boss for the Rochester Police Department, from which he was terminated earlier this year. Cole received full back pay and benefits for the six months he was unemployed, he said upon his reinstatement.

Neither Rochester City Manager Dan Fitzpatrick nor Rochester Mayor T.J. Jean has returned repeated phone calls to comment on Cole’s reinstatement.