Do not let Mr. Bowie and his puppets silence the residents of Lisbon.

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF DEMOCRACY

On the 24^th of May 2011, two Town Councilors, Mrs. Lori Pomelow and Mr. Fern LaRochelle spoke out in favor of changing the Town Council Meeting Rules in order to eliminate any resident from speaking on agenda items. These two councilors want the Audience Participation moved to first on the agenda. Audience Participation is normally used to bring up NEW business and comes after Council, Orders, Resolutions & Ordinances which in the past the residents of Lisbon were allowed to voice their concerns on each item. By moving the Audience Participation to the top of the agenda, no resident of Lisbon will be able to take part in a discussion for the rest of the meeting.

I believe Abraham Lincoln described democratic government as “government of the people, by the people and for the people”. The residents of Lisbon are the people and should have every right to enter into discussions on items on the agenda affecting them. We have elected these councilors to represent the people but it is our right to voice our opinions prior to the council voting on any issues. How are our representatives going to know how we feel if we are not allowed to speak out on agenda items?

According to Mrs. Pomelow and Mr. LaRochelle, these actions are necessary in order to shorten the meetings and to allow the council to process items more quickly. This is a far cry from the truth. The real reason is because Councilor Bowie and Town Manager Eldridge do not want the residents of Lisbon to know what they are doing. You can see this at every council meeting because the Town Manager only provides the information he wants each councilor to know in order to reach the decision he wants them to arrive at. If the Town Manager presented ALL the facts to the councilors, there would be no need for lengthy discussions by both the councilors and the residents. This is the real reason meetings are so long and very little gets accomplished. We waste so much time trying to get all the facts on the table when the Town Manager should have all ready provided this information. Once the Town Manager gets into the habit of presenting all the facts to both the council and the public; there will less need for any discussion because the FACTS speak for themselves. Again, Mr. Eldridge’s lack of professionalism has created this problem.

Now is the time for all residents to put a stop to this clear violation of our rights. I would say it is time for you to call your councilors and let them know how you feel but that is not going to help. You only need to call only two councilors, Mr. Michael Bowie, 353-2607 (who controls the council) and Mr. Mark Lunt, 353-9903 (Council Chairman). If you review the voting on items, you will see Mr. Roger Cote and Mr. Mark Lunt always vote with the best interest of the town at heart. The rest of the councilors always vote with Mr. Bowie. In fact, Mr. Bowie conducts a meeting before the meeting to ensure the puppets know what he expects from them.

Now is the time for all residents to show up at the next Town Council meeting (7 June 2011 7:00PM) and voice your opinions in order to keep our right to be heard. Do not let Mr. Bowie and his puppets silence the residents of Lisbon.

Larry A. Fillmore

Concerned Citizen