Selectman says on ethics policy: 'We could wipe it out with just one meeting'

Paul Nadeau

Editor's Note: This is another in an occasional series of stories on Lebanon's recently enacted Ethics Policy and the potential for conflicts of interest within Lebanon's town government, it's employees and town services contracts.

LEBANON - A Right to Know request from The Lebanon Voice reveals that two of the selectmen who approved the town's recently enacted ethics policy have failed to sign documentation required by the policy indicating whether or not they have potential conflicts of interest within town government and that they, in fact, received a copy of the policy.

To further cloud the issue, Selectmen Royce Heath and Paul Nadeau, who voted unanimously with former Selectmen Chairman Ben Thompson to enact the policy last spring, provided little clarity as to why they had not signed the policy during a selectmen's meeting on Monday.

Nadeau scoffed at the need for signing it, saying he'd already approved it by voting for it earlier this year, while sounding an ominous note alluding to selectmen's ability to rescind the policy if they saw fit to do it.

'Why do you go through all this?" he quipped, singling out The Lebanon Voice. "Cause we could wipe it out with just one meeting."

Heath, who is up for re-election next spring, added only a brusque "no comment" when pressed repeatedly on his reluctance to sign the policy he, himself, had voted for.

The policy, itself, calls for all town elected officials and employees to abide by the policy, sign an acknowledgement of receipt of the policy and sign off on whether they may encounter any conflicts of interest or potential conflicts of interest within the scope of their service to the town.

The policy has been signed by most other town officials, including Select Chair Christine Torno, who unequivocally stated earlier this month that while family members may have occasion to do business with the town, they don't get preferential treatment."

"I don't care if the're family or not, they get treated the same in here," she said.

Beside Heath and Nadeau, others who have not signed the documentation required by the policy include all transfer station employees, including recently retired transfer station manager Ronal Patch and his wife, Lorraine, who also recently retired; and all road department employees, including road commissioner Tom Torno.

For the record, all those who signed the required documents said they had no conflicts or potential conflicts of interest within the scope of their duties.