Thoughts from a Concerned Citizen‏

Dear Readers;

I have been trying faithfully to attend all Town Council meetings. Now, I am
not the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but something is bothering me
about the way the town revaluation is going. 

I know we need a revaluation. 

The last one was in 1988, give or take a year or two. Mr. Dow our new
Assessor gave a power point presentation at the January 19, 2010 Town
Council meeting. He said that at present the Town of Lisbon valuation is at
56% of actual value and the State of Maine requires towns and cities to be
at a minimum of 70% of value and a maximum of 110%. He said that a price for
a revaluation by a licensed/certified firm would be $320,000, and an
in-house, (Mr. Dow?), revaluation would cost $85,000. 

A Town of Lisbon revaluation was put out to bid and 3 bids came in. One was $110,000, +/-,
one for $85,000 and the third was $8,000. Now that is a big difference.

 Mr. Dow and Town Manager Eldridge were, it appeared, ready to accept the low
bid. Evidently they both know the owner of the firm. (One can interpret that
anyway one would like.) The Council said they would like more information on
how the land revaluation was to be done.  

So TM Eldridge had William Van Tuinen of that firm give a presentation at the February 2, 2010 Town Council
meeting. And only that firm! Why were both firms not invited to give
presentations? This question was asked, but not answered. 

 In Mr. Van Tuinen's presentation, he gave his qualifications and explained
how he planned to go about his land only revaluation. He said he is familiar
with the town's computer system, spoke a lot, and in my estimation, said not
much, about how it would be done. He used technical terms the public would
not be familiar with. I've been a Realtor for over 30 years, have done many
opinions of value and seen a good many appraisals, and I did not come close
to understanding his approach and method. Not once did he say that he would
be spending time in town, driving around and becoming familiar with the
town, the different areas and sections of town. 

Am I wrong, but I for one would have liked to have heard presentations from
Mr. Van Tuinen's Land Appraisal firm and the one that gave the $35,000 bid. 

In this day and age one needs to get the most bang for their buck. The
highest price is probably not be the most acceptable, nor the lowest. Maybe
not even the middle one. But the lowest and middle should, at least have
been presented to the public.
 
It was almost comic, but very disturbing to me, to watch TM Eldridge and Mr.
Dow exchange smiles, winks and nods of the head during Mr. Van Tuinen's
presentation and the questions and answers after. As though "we sure are
putting this one over on the public".

 Talk about transparency in government.

This was very transparent. I felt as though we, the Town of Lisbon, like or
not, were having this crammed down our proverbial throats. It was very
apparent the 3 all know each other very well, and qualified or not, the
William Van Tuinen Land Appraisal firm was awarded the job, on a 5 for and
one against vote. Guess who was the dissenting vote? The voice and vote of
reason, Mr. Roger Cote.
 
When someone in the audience asked if the public would be kept informed with
the ongoing revaluation, TC Chairman Mike Bowie spoke up and explained at
length that we certainly would be kept informed, every step of the way. I
felt that should have been the Town Managers responsibility to reassure us,
as he is the one in the Town Office, and supposedly, the one in charge.
Makes one wonder just who is running our town?

A plea to the public, please watch all Town Council meetings. This is your
town. You do not even have to leave the comfort of your home. All it takes
is a few hours of your time, twice a month, at 7 p.m. the first and third
Thursdays of the month. I watch on Channel 7.

Tune in, Sit back and be entertained and informed.

My thoughts, and mine alone.

Dot Fitzgerald

A Very Concerned Citizen
 
Need I say more? Mr. Cote needs help on the Town Council. It is not too
early to think about November 2010 elections.