Too Close To The Truth For Comfort In Lisbon's Management Circle!

ARE WE GETTING TOO CLOSE?

In a desperate attempt to keep the truth from the residents of Lisbon, the town council has restricted what the people can bring out during Audience Participation.  The people can no longer raise issues of concern if it is not on the agenda.  Since, the agenda has no section for New Business section, the ONLY way to bring this out is to contact a councilor who decides whether to put it on the next agenda or not.

Common sense will tell you that under no circumstance will a councilor ever put any issue on the agenda that will embarrass or expose corruption by the council.  So the people will never hear about the misappropriation of town funds and the mismanagement going on in the town.  This is a direct form of censorship and a violation of the people’s right to be heard by the 1^st Amendment the United States Constitution.  Free speech is guaranteed under the 1^st Amendment everywhere in this country but in Lisbon.

The people have already asked several questions this council never answered.  Questions like:

1.        Why did we have a tax increase last year and then a carry forward of over a million dollars?

2.       Why are purchases not charged to the department the purchases are for?

3.       Why did it take six years to file a law suit to recover the misappropriated $32,500?

4.       Why did the town find it necessary to transfer funds right after the beginning of the new fiscal year?

5.       Why does the Chairman of the council NOT have to pay interest and penalties on back taxes owed like ALL of residents?

6.       Why are the people not informed of the “precise nature of the business” being discussed in Executive Sessions in accordance with Maine law?

7.       Why was the old high school sold to Brunswick Housing Authority for $1.00?

8.       Why has there been no work done on the people voting on the municipal budget by departments?

Asking any councilor to put these items on the agenda so the people can discuss these issues will never happen. 

It should be the concern of every resident of Lisbon that their 1^st Amendment right has been taken away by this council. 

Instead of identifying problems areas and correcting them, this council has chosen to silence the people and conduct business as usual.  The people of Lisbon should be outraged by this inexcusable behavior.  It is time to force this council to take action to eliminate misappropriation of town funds and the mismanagement going on in Lisbon. 

Larry Fillmore

We the People