Lisbon's Talentless Town Council meeting last night

LISBON’S COMEDY SHOW

Last night was extremely entertaining. The Town Council (Bowie’s Puppets) was better than usual. The evening started off with a meeting with the Water Department. The meeting produced some interesting facts and projects the town needs to be concerned about in the future. It also brought out the fact the Wellhead Protection Ordnance was still in the hands of the Town Attorney. In fact, this critical document has been in the hands of the Town Attorney between two (2) and three (3) years.

The Town of Lisbon is paying for a Chief Administrative Officer (Stephen Eldridge) and part of his duties is to ensure documents are suspense/tracked to make sure such documents are presented to the Town Council in a timely manner. A timely manner is NOT two or three years. The Wellhead Protection Ordnance is extremely critical to for the protection of the Town water supply. This ordnance MUST be in place prior to any changes to the Lisbon Comprehensive Plan because it has a direct impact on future projects. The Town Attorney works for the Town of Lisbon and is hired by the Town Manager so why can the Town Manager not require the Town Attorney to provide his reading on a document in a timely manner. It’s because the Chief Administrative Officer for the Town of Lisbon is incompetent.

Instead of concentrating on important issues such as the Wellhead Protection Ordnance, the Town Manager asked the Town Council, last night for Disposition on two pieces of property. The first piece supposedly is owned by the Town of Lisbon but a review by the Lisbon Assessing office revealed the property was owned by a couple according to the Town of Lisbon computer system (TRIO). I asked the question; “What date did the town obtain the property?” and the Town Manager could not provide this information. I explained to the Council I had gone to the town office and researched the property and what the computer results were. I further explained to the Town Council I had requested and received on the 28^th of April 2011 a total listing of all property owned by the town and these two pieces of property were not on the listing. This request was under the Maine Freedom of Information Access Act (FOAA). This means the Town of Lisbon provided me false information. Councilor Bowie tried to defend the findings but there is no justification for incompetence. The taxpayer’s have a right to receive accurate information from the town. This is the overall responsibility of the Chief Administrative Officer, Stephen Eldridge.

The second piece of property, the Town Manager admitted was NOT owned by the town, at this time, so why even bring it up except to cover-up his incompetence. Why add additional items to the agenda? I believe the Town of Lisbon has more critical issues than to bring up issues which may occur in the near future. What about the Wellhead Protection Ordnance? Come on Town Manager, concentrate on monitoring and addressing actions necessary to move this town forward.

Mr. Eldridge, start addressing issues such as why the Town of Lisbon took down the assessing information on the town web site. Was it because Mrs. Fitzgerald showed the council where the valuation was not being applied equally? There was nothing wrong with the software program, in fact, it works perfectly. I believe the reason it was taken down was because it revealed too much information to the residents. Leaving the program up would have assisted the Assessing Department in finding other discrepancies. This program needs to be IMMEDIATELY put back on the web site.

The Town Council needs to stop making excuses for the Town Manager and hold him accountable. Residents of this town deserve to have a responsible leader as the Town Manager and not one who violates the Town Charter, provide inaccurate information to the residents and most of all can NOT concentrate on issues critical to the town.

Larry A. Fillmore

Concerned Citizen