More Insight for Lisbon's residents to ponder over

FRAUD, WASTE & ABUSE

The town of Lisbon and the “Good Old Boys” refuse to correct an injustice done to the residents of the Town of Lisbon. The Town Council and the Town Manager were both informed by me at a town council meeting; the Town Engineer was NOT a Licensed Professional Engineer but receiving a salary ($69,310) equivalent to a License Professional Engineer in the State of Maine.

At the Town Council meeting, the Town Manager informed the audience the Town Engineer did not have to be a License Professional Engineer and the Town Manager was very satisfied with the Town Engineer’s performance. As usual, the Town Manager did not understand the point I was trying to make. The critical point is the salary for an unlicensed individual was excessive for this town. I was not questioning his performance.

It is true the Town Engineer does not have to be a Licensed Professional Engineer to hold the position as Town Engineer. However, the Town Engineer can ONLY work on projects under $100,000. Once there is a project over $100,000, the Town of Lisbon has to hire a Licensed Professional Engineer to perform the duties. This has occurred several times in the past ten years. This means the Town of Lisbon is paying an additional engineer. Why should the residents support two engineers when we have been paying the Town Engineer the salary equivalent to the Licensed Professional Engineer? This is extremely expensive and a total waste of taxpayer funds.

At the time the current Town Engineer was hired, a stipulation of his employment was he becomes a Licensed Professional Engineer. The Town Engineer has not become a Licensed Professional Engineer and therefore should not be receiving the salary equivalent to a Licensed Professional Engineer. Why hasn’t the Town Council or Town Manager written a letter to the Town Engineer stating if he does not become a Licensed Professional Engineer in twelve (12) months his salary will be reduced by 50%? After ten years, twelve months is a gift. This should have been done years ago but the “Good Old Boys” protect one of their own; in fact instead of addressing the situation, the Town Manager is proposing to give the Town Engineer an 8% increase in pay for additional duties.

Paying an individual a salary equivalent to a Licensed Profession Engineer for which he is not capable of performing the duties of a Licensed Professional Engineer is fraud. The fact the town has to hire an additional Licensed Professional Engineer for projects over $100,000 is a waste of taxpayer’s dollars. And finally, the Town Council and Town Manager, once aware of the situation and not taking any steps to correct this situation, is abuse of their responsibility.

I urge all residents of the Town of Lisbon to contact their Town Councilor and the Town Manager to correct this fraud, waste and abuse immediately.

Larry A. Fillmore

Concerned Citizen