Recap of Tuesday's Town Council Meeting & Workshop Review

RECAP TOWN COUNCIL MEETING/WORKSHOP – APRIL 17^TH

At Tuesday’s Town Council meeting/workshop it was business as usual. The meeting portion of the evening was very uneventful and was completed in about a half an hour. There was nothing earth shattering on the agenda.

The most interesting information released by the council was in response to the question I had asked in the previous meeting. The question was: “In what computer system has Mr. Van Tuenin stored or uploaded the reevaluation information for the first year? Mr. Van Tuenin has told me personally that he will not utilize TRIO software.” The response was the reevaluation information is stored in a computer other than TRIO. This was totally insignificant to the council but I am extremely concerned for two reasons (1) there is no redundancy for this computer. If this computer dies, and if you have ever owned a computer you know this is a frequent occurrence, the town would have to rely on the backups provided if there are backups being performed regularly. Backups need to be checked to ensure that the integrity of the information can be restored and (2) if the town cannot pay for next years’ reevaluation what will happen to the data already collected?

 Does Van Tuenin own the computer and the data or does the town own the data? This could turn into a legal battle. The data needs to be retained by the town at all times with a method of redundancy established to protect the data already paid for by the taxpayers.

The other questions I had asked pertained to the budget. Chairman LaRochelle explained the budget is being worked every day and could not provide concrete information on them. I completely understand the municipal budget is being worked and he was not prepared to provide concrete answers.

Now, let’s move on to the workshop portion of the town council meeting. The council asked the Police Chief, Public Works Director and the Fire Chief to explain their portions of the budget. 

 Lisbon Police Chief David T. Brooks

Brooks did a wonderful job of double talking the council and the council sucked it all in. Items such as $30,600.00 for furniture in the communications department were simply dismissed as a required item. There is one Dispatcher working on one console (even though there are two consoles in the communications department) in one room.

 

Brooks made sure I knew there were two consoles in there but how many consoles can one person use?

The town has a grant for $97,000 to upgrade the communications equipment (both consoles). Even so $30,600.00 is excessive for two consoles and two chairs unless you are going to turn the communications department into a lounge.

There was another significant event in the Police budget that is extremely disturbing. Brooks explained the description under wages. I quote; “Includes a 2% wage adj. and a reclas to the Communication line for half of one salary for management coverage.” When asked who this person was, Councilor Bowie said it was not appropriate to identify the person.  I believe the officially unidentified person is none other the Bowie's wife, Denise Bowie.

 Mike Bowie & Roger Bickford

Councilor Lunt then asked how much the salary was and Brooks stated $28,985.00 for half which means Denise Bowie must have received more than a 1.75% raise last year because her salary as an Administrative Assistant was $44,905.65 according to the Finance Director. 

This also means Mrs. Bowie’s salary was $57,970.00 which is a difference of $13,064.35. According to my calculator 1.75% increase of $44,905.65 is $785.84 which is a far cry from $13,064.35.  

How is it possible for Mrs. Bowie to be receiving such a pay increase without the town council voting on this increase? What is Brooks doing and why so much?

According to the investigation completed by the Ethics Panel and testimony by Brooks and Councilor Bowie, Mrs. Bowie was not involved or did not work in the Communications Department even though it was in her job description. Had she been more involved with the communications department there would have been a conflict of interest with Councilor Bowie. What gives; were you lying then or are you lying now Brooks because you cannot keep changing your mind to suit the situation?

The most incredible aspect of this whole scenario is the town is taking an Administrative Assistant and converting this position to a management position. Once, this is completed the town will have another department head with an inflated salary (cronyism) and Brooks will need another female administrative assistant to fill the void. What is wrong with this picture?

This council has no intentions of trying to cut spending. The proposed budget is a disgrace and an injustice to the taxpayers. This council is looking to increase spending at least 1 mil if not 2 mil this year. They have no understanding of how to manage taxpayers hard earned money. 

 This year the state revenue was increased approximately $65,000 dollars and if we could cut spending the town would have a great opportunity to reduce taxes but instead this council is increasing the wages of the department heads. Our department heads already receive approximately $166,000 plus more than their counterparts in Skowhegan, so instead we are adding another 2% to these inflated salaries. 

 Do you get the feeling the taxpayers of Lisbon are being screwed?

                             Vote them out in November!

Larry Fillmore

Concerned Citizen