Who's Trying To Fool Whom In Lisbon Town Government?

“IMPROVE COMMUNICATIONS” – WHAT A JOKE!!!!!

 Lisbon Town Councilor Gina Mason

Councilor Gina Mason came up with the idea of meeting with the people 30 minutes prior to each town council meeting.  Chairman LaRochelle thought this was a great idea and as of January 8, 2013 this plan goes into effect.  However, look at the Agenda for the town council meeting for January 8, 2013. (click on to view)

When former Vice-Chair  Councilor Lori Pomelow rewrote the Council Working Rules, taking away the Public's right to speak on an item as it is presented before the council.  Instead, the Public can ONLY speak during Audience Participation.  In order to educate the people, Agenda Documents were added to the town web site.  These documents would provide the Public with the information on what is going to be discussed before the council in order for the Public to speak intelligently during Audience Participation.  However, if you review the Agenda Documents on the town web site, you will find there are no documents pertaining to Town Manager’s Review; Lisbon/Lewiston Rail Line and Town Manager’s Report.  Please do not try and tell me the town manager has no idea what he is going to discuss with the council.

The current system only works if the Public is provided the Agenda Documentations prior to the town council meeting or the Chairman is going to open the discussion to the Public at the time it is presented to the council.  How can the Public participate any other way?

The final point, I want to make is under the Executive Session.  If you look after each of the line items there is a brief description of what is going to be discussed such as Sergeant Arbitration and Finance Committee Application Review.  However, under the Economic Development there is no subject matter.  This is because Scott Benson only can handle his business behind closed doors.  No one can tell if this is legal or illegal because no one can discuss what is going in Executive Session. 

So how can Councilor Mason and Chairman LaRochelle make such a stupid statement?  This council has no intention of improving communications or keeping the people of Lisbon informed as to what is really going on in this town.  If the council was sincere, the people would not have to fight the town for information.

The council needs to clean up its act before they reach out to the people.  I have provided many simple ways to improve communications without costing the taxpayers a dime. For Example Utilize the Lisbon Reporter and Lisbonmaine.net for two examples and clean up the town website.  Simply Costs the town absolutely nothing yet keeps people informed on a wide variety of topics.

Larry Fillmore

Concern Citizen