NEW HAMPSHIRE’S FASTEST GROWING ONLINE NEWSPAPER

Patch says he saw no conflict in signing personnel policy change

Comment Print
Related Articles
Transfer Station manager Ronal Patch (Lebanon Voice file photo)

LEBANON - Former selectman and current Transfer Station manager Ronal Patch told The Lebanon Voice recently that in 2010 when he asked the Board of Selectmen - of which he was a member - if he could reduce the hours he worked at the Transfer Station and continue to get town benefits, the board said sure, no problem.

"I wrote to selectmen and wanted them to cut it down and they said OK," he said last week.

As a result he said selectmen reduced the threshold at which town workers could receive a benefits package from 32 hours a week to 25 hours a week.

Patch, along with former selectmen Robert Frizzell and Jason Cole, signed the document, which became effective on May 4, 2010.

Patch doesn't put in for health or dental benefits from the town, but does get annual leave, or vacation pay. He is also entitled to 12 paid holidays yearly.

In fiscal year 2013-14 he pocketed roughly 167 hours of vacation pay for almost $2,700.

Patch defended his request to reduce the full-time benefits hourly threshold, and declared he didn't see it as any conflict of interest.

"I asked them to do and they said OK," he said, meaning presumably Frizzell and Cole. Patch said last week he couldn't remember whether he was on the Board of Selectmen at the time or not.

"I can't remember hardly anything from five years ago," he said.

Selectmen began researching just who got such benefits in the wake of the death of former road commissioner Larry Torno, who died last month from an untreatable form of cancer.

Current Selectmen Chairman Ben Thompson said there were no minutes that indicated selectmen had discussed and voted on the change, just a personnel policy file that indicated the change and was signed by all three.

Patch, who as transfer station manager oversees a handful of employees, including his wife, a brother and a grandson, gets $16 an hour. The other workers get $13.28

Read more from:
Top Stories
Tags:
None
Share:
Comment Print
Powered by Bondware
News Publishing Software

The browser you are using is outdated!

You may not be getting all you can out of your browsing experience
and may be open to security risks!

Consider upgrading to the latest version of your browser or choose on below: