After quietly reading the Lisbon Reporter for over four years now, I can no longer be quiet.

Dear Editor,

After quietly reading the Lisbon Reporter for over four years now, I can no longer be quiet.

It saddens me greatly to see the direction the Town of Lisbon government has taken.  When I worked as an Economic Developer, the most important and fun part of my job was interacting with the dedicated citizens of Lisbon.  It didn't matter if they were from Lisbon or Lisbon Falls, the people that I got to interact were truly inspiring because they love their town.  I had it made working for the Town of Lisbon because of the citizens.  I was looking forward to pulling together the human capital in Lisbon because it was so easy.  The citizens of Lisbon are talented, have multiple skills, and want what's best for their community.  To learn that Faye Brown, an amazing woman, who gave and gave and gave to the Lisbon community in the form of aesthetics and character, is not going to be volunteering her time any longer breaks my heart.  To learn that the Moxie Festival that was beautifully run by hardworking, dedicated volunteers is now the number one responsibility of the new Economic Developer is even sadder.  But what makes my blood boil is the fact that the Town of Lisbon's current and past "non-citizen involvement" way of doing business is blowing up in their face, just like I told them it would. 

The straw that broke the camel's back when I worked as the Economic Developer was when I was disciplined for having a discussion with another staff member about a future economic development transaction.  Not only did my boss at the time, Chief David Brooks have a chit chat with me but Mike Bowie also did.  I was told that I was not allowed to talk about any economic development transactions with anyone because they wanted to keep it all confidential.  I told them that it was not possible because in order to do my job effectively, I needed to work with the citizens and keep them as informed as I could while respecting the potential business' need for confidentiality.  In the case of keeping information from the other staff member, they were basically asking me to work a deal and pull the rug out from underneath this person.  I'm talking about the teen center.  I had a business come to me interested in the teen center building.  I started with the person who was running the place at the time, Mark Stevens.  I told him about the interest the business owner had in the building not only out of respect but I wasn't about to do a business deal behind someone's back.  I spoke with Mark and learned that the building was donated and may have strings attached from the person who gave it to the town.  Of course this was important because we had a obligation to ensure that however we used that building, it was considered acceptable use not only by law but by the citizens of Lisbon.  You owned that property and therefore it was my duty to keep you in the loop.  Instead, Bowie and Brookes wanted me to keep the information from the public under the guise of economic development.  In most cases I would have kept the potential business identification confidential.  But in this case, the business owner also wanted the public or anyone else that had a stake to know that he was interested in purchasing the building.  He wanted to be upfront with the public.  And I understood why.  It's called good business, especially since the business owner recognized that the building was owned by the citizens of Lisbon, not Mike Bowie, not David Brooks.  

In order to do my job effectively, I needed the citizens of Lisbon.  I was not about to go behind your back when it involved a public building and then stretch the executive session clause that protects economic development endeavor's confidentiality.  I was not about to steal a building out from underneath a co-worker.  I had the conversation with the business owner about getting the okay from the Lisbon citizens first.  The business owner had no problems with that.  Why would Brookes and Bowie then pull me aside to scold me for not keeping the teen center building proposal confidential?  I'll tell you why.  Like most loans made by the Town of Lisbon, they were given to those businesses who would guarantee a return.  It was a revolving loan fund all right.  It revolved a bunch of times because the loans were given to businesses who would be able to pay them back and they could make money off the interest.  It was a slush fund with no rules attached, no checks and balances, and no oversight.  If they gave a loan to the business who wanted to purchase the Teen Center, they were guaranteeing a return.  They sold a building to the business, the business used economic development funds to purchase the building, therefore the money went from one Lisbon Account to another.  This same account was where the $32,500 was stolen from. 

What I find the most interesting is that Dan Feeney gave a loan to Davis Landscaping so that he could purchase a building next to his property.  Davis Landscaping also held the landscaping contract with the Town of Lisbon.  I learned that Mr. Davis purchased the property with economic development funds.  There was no business, no mention of business, no nothing just a request from Mr. Davis that I help him sell the lot.  In essence, he was asking me to be his real estate agent so that he would not have to pay a commission when he did sell the building.  He was never my priority.  Although, Mike Bowie went out of his way to express to me that he was impressed that I contacted Mr. Davis.  I only contacted him because the dude owed the town money and I wanted to make sure he paid since he never should have got the money to begin with.  I was very disappointed that he was tying up over $150,000 of funds that could have been utilized in other ways, ie a loan to a business (what a novel concept), an investment in our infrastructure, a matching fund, anything but in his hands.  It was another loan that turned my stomach because of its unfairness to the citizens of Lisbon and to me as the Economic Development Director.  I could have used that money in many, many wonderful ways that would have directly impacted the community, not just one man.  That is what those funds are there for.  These are federal funds for the community.  Stealing federal funds does not have a statute of limitation on them.  And that is exactly what has been going on in the Town of Lisbon.  

It is so disheartening to see the citizens of Lisbon work so hard to do what is right by their town but for all the wrong reasons.  If the Town of Lisbon would quit jerking the public around and put the effort into building alliances for the betterment of all in the community, you would see amazing results.  Instead you have a town council and others in positions of power ensuring that you don't know what is going on while they make all the decisions for you.  Having a town council who represents and one that thinks they know what is best for you is not what is going on.  The current town council is working hard to protect their freedom because if you knew what was really going on, people would be going to jail.  Unfortunately in the State of Maine, we have the Home Rule law which protects these "under the dome" towns via the Maine Constitution.  There is no oversight of a municipal government or checks and balances so unless the citizens step forward nothing will get done.  

Lisbon has the potential to be an amazing community.  I was planning on staying for years to see it all through.  I was looking forward to awarding contracts to bidders from Lisbon.  I was looking forward to helping our businesses.  I was looking forward to developing the business park at Longchamps.  And, I was looking forward to helping you make Lisbon beautiful.  It sucks to have to dump your energy into dealing with ignorance but its gotta be done.  To those Lisbon citizens who don't know what to do but want it to stop so that you can make your town a home start with writing a letter to the Androscoggin DAs office and the Maine Attorney General's office.  Put the pressure on them and tell them that you mean business.  Tell them that you want something done about the stealing of federal funds.  I am your witness.  They do have a case.  You cannot get rid of the bank records or any financial transactions.  That is all recorded and will tell the story of dirty dealings in the past and present.  This is your money.  And I give you my word that I will stand behind all of my statements regardless of the venue.  I would not put myself out here if I did not know as a professional what is considered legal and illegal when it comes to federal funds.  

Its not unethical, its not unprofessional, its illegal!

Sincerely,

Jennifer Norris