Hiring of former selectman's grandson may fuel conflict fears

The Lebanon Board of Selectmen has rejected a Lebanon Voice Right to Know request asking for resumes of all those who applied for the town treasurer's position recently filled by the grandson of former selectman and longtime transfer station manager Ronal Patch, the former boss of two selectmen currently on the board.

The Lebanon Voice, which was only forwarded the hired applicant's resume, has also learned that nine applied for the full-time $22-an-hour job and that three were called back for interviews, of which only two showed.

Selectmen's meeting minutes indicate that the board on June 1 had "much discussion about the candidates" for about an hour, but the nature of the discussion is not reflected in the minutes.

Then on June 6 after emerging from a 15-minute executive session, Selectboard Chairperson Christine Torno made a motion to hire Jordan Miles, seconded by Selectman Royce Heath, with Selectman Paul Nadeau agreeing to make it unanimous.

The Lebanon Voice sought resumes of all applicants to ensure that the most qualified candidate for the treasurer position had been hired, especially in the face of possible conflict of interest issues arising out of Heath's and Nadeau's former employment at the transfer station, issues that have arisen before.

It was little more than a year ago that Heath and Nadeau - in questionable if not illegal fashion - voted to give their boss full-time town benefits for his 25-hour-a-week job, benefits that the former board had eliminated less than a month before.

Since there was a clear conflict of interest, those votes were voided and in a second vote, both Heath and Nadeau properly recused themselves while former selectmen chair Ben Thompson voted against it. That vote put the threshold for benefits back to 35 hours.

After the June 2, 2015, vote, Nadeau, asked if he thought it was appropriate for him to have voted for something that financially benefited his boss to the tune of more than $3,000 annually, said, "It might not be fair, but I done it."

Heath, meanwhile, said he thought they were voting on acknowledging a letter brought in by Patch during the meeting asking to have his benefits "grandfathered" at the 25-hour threshold instead of voting to approve it.

Both Heath and Nadeau resigned from their transfer station jobs soon thereafter.

Meanwhile, Miles' resume shows a bachelor's degree in political science and some undergraduate coursework in economics and accounting but no work experience in either field.

Rather, since 2012, he has worked part time as a laborer for the Lebanon road department and transfer station while also working part time at Bootleggers and Staples as a sales person. He also wrote a regular Lebanon community news column for Foster's Daily Democrat.

It should be noted that the Right to Know request from The Lebanon Voice also urged redacting of names on resumes if selectmen were sensitive to privacy concerns.