And The Saga In Lisbon Keeps Growing, Concealment and Deceitfulness

CONCEAL AND DECEIT

If you were looking for Tuesday night’s town council meeting on Channel 7 this evening, you were shocked to see there was no video of the meeting due to technical difficulties. This is not the first time they have had technical difficulties but it would seem this only happens when the information put out is detrimental to the management/council. I personally believe management did not want the citizens of Lisbon to see this particular meeting. There were several votes taken by the council which could have a detrimental impact to the town of Lisbon.

The first one is on the Gartley Street rezoning proposal. The council approved the rezoning even after it was brought out there was a case in Old Town which was along the same lines as the Gartley Street proposal. I recommended the council review the court case prior to voting on the proposal but the council ignored the warning. This could possibly come back on them for “Spot Zoning”.

Lawless Lisbon Home of Illegal Spot Zoning

 Lisbon Police Chief David T. Brooks on the right.

Left photo: Lisbon Town Manager Stephen G. Eldridge

               Photo at right, Mike Bowie

The above photos represent Lisbon's Command & Control Flow Chart

During Audience Participation, I addressed the Communications Center and Brooks’ proposal to consolidate the communications center with the Androscoggin County dispatch. The County Commissioners are still debating how to consolidate dispatch for the county but one thing is for certain the County will remain responsible for dispatching because it is a County function. Brooks is asking the taxpayers to foot the bill allowing him to control Lisbon dispatch. This is a feeble attempt to expand his empire. This is not in the best interest of the taxpayers of Lisbon. The taxpayers could save approximately $500,000.00 a year by turning the Lisbon Dispatch over to the County. Keep in mind, the taxpayers of Lisbon currently are paying a County tax bill of $574,198.00 and receiving absolutely no benefits or service from the County.

I also addressed a shortage of $466,851.00 in the town's Undesignated Fund. I utilized the town’s own figures in determining this shortage. I also explained to everyone that it is hard to verify anything with the town because every time I ask for a figure I get a different number every time. So I utilized the figures published to the citizens in documents the town provided. When Eldridge came here there was over 3 million dollars in the undesignated fund and now it is at $1,184,499.00 according to Eldridge. Where are our tax dollars going?

Brooks gave his rendition of why he wanted the Dispatch to come to Lisbon. He repeated himself for roughly an hour. However, it was a pure waste of time because this bought and paid for council would approve anything Brooks asks for because everyone of the member's owes Brooks. 

This council does not and never has had the best interest of Lisbon at heart. You can see this by the mess the town of Lisbon is in right now. Councilor Cote was the only member of the council who cared about the town and the people. Everything he stated has come true.

If you had a video of the meeting to see, you would see how very phony this council is because Brooks made two motions to the council and the Chairman read the motions word for word but there was no mention of this in the agenda documents for the meeting. The Council voted to stay with the communications center in Lisbon instead of going with the decision of the County Commissioners which in my opinion is a huge mistake. It will cost the taxpayers much more to operate the communications center than to pay for ONLY the services it utilizes. At least, the taxpayers would be receiving a service for their money ($574,198.00) is being paid to the County in tax.

The meeting lasted longer than anticipated so there was no workshop on the budget after the meeting. The Chairman tried to schedule a workshop on Thursday but Bowie (the puppet master) could not make it so there was no workshop scheduled. At the Last workshop, the Chairman LaRochelle and Councilor Ward were not there but a workshop was held. This demonstrates the power Bowie has over the rest of the councilors. The Chairman and another councilor can miss a budget workshop but not Bowie. Do not ever try and tell me Bowie does not control this council.

I will provide you with another great example of the power of Bowie. During a workshop, Mrs. Fitzgerald asked the question “Who is the individual being reclassified to a management position and receiving half a salary ($28,985.00) in both the Police Department and the Communications Center?” Bowie immediately replied “You do not need to know that information or words to that effect.” 

You may not know this but Bowie’s wife is the only individual who has communication duties in her job description. Just for the record, Denise Bowie received a $13,000.00 increase in pay last year as an Administrative Assistance in the Police Department. I do not believe this raise was ever voted on by the council but you never know what goes on behind closed doors (Executive Sessions) or the pre-meeting held in Eldridge’s office prior to each Town Council meeting. I have a record of all but two weeks of the agendas and there is not a record of it on any of them. AND, of course there is no “conflict of interest” when Bowie speaks about the Communications Center or the Police Department's budget.

Can you guess why there was a technical problem with the video? They just do not want the people to know how phony they really are!!!!!

 Councilor Gina Mason

Councilor Co-Chair Lori Pomelow

 Councilor Roger Bickford

 Councilor Lisa Ward

 Council Chairman Fern Larochelle

Councilor Mark Lunt

And there you have ALL the Puppets!!!

Larry Fillmore

Concerned Citizen