Lisbon Ethics Panel Convenes

The Lisbon Ethics Panel, Chairman David Bowie, Sandy Craig, and Michelle Swatsworth-Turmelle discussed the allegations made by Town Councilor Roger Cote regarding Police Chief David Brooks and his department. We have all heard what they were and it will be left at that. Much discussion was made as to what to do, what was said, and when did it occur.

L to R: Sandy Craig, David Bowie, Michelle Swatsworth-Turmelle

With about 20 people in attendance including several Police Officers, one in uniform standing guard by the closed doors to the Town Council meeting room, some audience members asked several questions pertaining to the issue at hand. Chairman David Bowie did a great job of holding attention to the matter at hand and did not get side tracked with audience comments.



After conversations with counsel at MMA and town lawyer Roger Theriault, they concurred that Mr. Cote was not a member of the Town Council when the allegations were made, therefore they have no legal grounds to do anything. David Bowie indicated that there were some possible actions that could be taken but were recommendations only. 1. Removal 2. Suspend 3. no action at all. But this would not be within the legal guidelines.

So he offered up these 5 actions that could be taken, however, they are recommendations only.

1. Assume no action to be taken, this may lead to division amongst the Town Councilors and could warrant the hiring of an outside facilitator to build a better working relationship.

2. Make the budget process more transparent, have it readily available to public access.
Record the meetings for record purposes only not for broadcast.

3. Existing language in Town Charter section 12-4 paragraph F allows the council to make any
changes, basically police themselves. But advise that the town needs to proceed extremely
judiciously and with good cause. Use the resources available.

4. Narrow the Code regarding Conflict of Interest and Ethics. Citing a place to start improving
what we have now. A good place to start would be www.cityethics.org

5. Structure public meetings so there are no surprises or ambush attacks made to unsuspecting
people. What happened at the February 17, 2009 Town Council meeting should never have been
allowed to happen. It is not good for the town. And it gives the perception of hiding something.

After about a 20 minute recess so that newspaper articles could be acquired and reviewed by the panel, they found nothing in the articles to warrant any postponement of the meeting as might have happened had they not obtained the information. After a brief discussion as to the merits of the articles it was then motioned, seconded and stated that there are no grounds to suspend or remove Mr. Cote from his position on the Lisbon Town Council.

Mr. Cote was offered a chance to comment on these happenings and said, "In time these accusations will come out but the legal system works very slowly and I plan to address these accusations more in the future."