Toy ambulance run might go off despite board denial

Lebanon Rescue Department Chief Samantha Cole seen leaving the selectmen's meeting on Thursday night. (Videotape image courtesy Becky Batchelder)

LEBANON - Lebanon Rescue Chief Samantha Cole, already under intense scrutiny regarding her department’s dire financial straits, found herself on the defensive again on Thursday over ALS (Advance Life Support) charges billed the town for support ambulance service out of Sanford.

Selectmen noted they had received a bill recently for about $4,000, but Cole said she had been told the account had a credit.

Cole told selectmen some of the bills had been paid and some had been written off.

It was decided that next week, the week of Dec. 16, Cole would sit down with the town treasurer and seek to reconcile the account. Some of the bills date back to 2008.

Just a week ago, the department was found owing the town some $200,000, including about $100,000 in receivables that were never pursued for collection.

Also during Thursday’s meeting, Cole signed a letter drafted by Selectboard members Karen Gerrish and Ben Thompson that spelled out Cole’s responsibilities to the town as her tenure as Rescue Chief winds down with her effective resignation date at the end of the month.

The stipulations are far-ranging, including the first, which notes, “Lebanon Rescue will not respond to any nonemergency events such as parades, athletic games, Operation Santa, etc., until further notice,” which prompted a response from the Lebanon Rescue Corporation later Thursday night.

Soon after the meeting its Facebook page noted that Sugarloaf Ambulance of Wilton, Maine, had offered to loan the group an ambulance free of charge to deliver toys.

No mention was made as to payment of fuel, which could run several hundred dollars during several hours of operation. The town has placed the Rescue Department on a strict purchasing leash, but money for gasoline and medical supplies are among those still allowed.

At one point on Thursday night Cole noted the Christmas toy ambulance run was a corporation function, but in refusing her request, Thompson countered that the gasoline and wear and tear on the ambulance is the town’s responsibility. He also suggested having the children’s parents come and get the toys at the Rescue Department’s headquarters and that if the parents didn’t have the ability to drive there, he knew of volunteers who would deliver the presents in their own vehicles.

Other stipulations laid out for Cole to fulfill include returning all Rescue Department equipment kept at the Cole residence by Dec. 30, and vehicle titles to Town Hall by Monday at 5 p.m.

After going over in close detail each of the dozen stipulations under which the Rescue Department would function till the end of the year, Cole was asked if she had any questions or concerns. She mentioned none, but quietly stated if she did think of any, she’d let selectmen know.

Just hours later, however, her husband, assistant rescue chief and selectman Jason Cole who didn’t make the meeting, fired off what amounted to a long-winded rant on the corporation’s Facebook page, condemning Gerrish and Thompson for a variety of reasons and threatening a recall effort against them both if a recall ordinance is passed in June as others in town have been pursuing, ostensibly, with Jason Cole seen as the first target.

Earlier in the meeting Gerrish, Thompson and Town Clerk Laura Bragg discussed the options regarding a possible special election to fill the selectman’s post being left vacant by Jason Cole’s resignation.

With a timetable for nominations and allowances for absentee ballots it appears it would be February before a special election could be held.

The remaining selectmen could also opt to have no replacement election and wait until June when two slots would then be open: Gerrish’s, whose three-year term ends this year; and the vacancy left by Jason Cole’s sudden departure. That selectmen’s post runs till June 2015.

“We’ve already been doing it (alone) several months,” Gerrish said, alluding to Jason Cole’s absence at all but a handful of meetings in the past several months.

There is no statutory requirement to elect an interim selectman.

To view a video of the meeting provided by Budget Committee member Becky Batchelder, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSV_QmRpLOE.