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Lisbon Maine Town Council Meetings
The Lisbon Council Meetings of today are
very different from the ones held only six months ago. Today's meetings
are very short and unfriendly to the public.
The Last Council Meeting was no exception.With the exclusion of a handful of people accepting awards there were only three townspeople attending this meeting. None of the attending taxpayers were allowed to speak their mind. The entire meeting lasted only 23 minutes from the pledge of allegiance to adjournment.
This meeting was a very tightly scripted event designed to eliminate both substantive and embarrassing remarks from attending taxpayers. No one talked about Councilor indiscretions, no one spoke at all.
The podium was moved to the center of the room and yes the uniformed armed police officer was gone. He was replaced by a plain clothes officer with his firearm concealed from view but the message was still clear. Even Council Chair Larochelle seemed intimidated and on several occasions apologized profusely to him for having to asking legitimate Police Budget questions.
When Councilor Mason asked Chief Brooks if we could revert back to one officer patrols similar to the ones County and State Police use, she was quickly shut down by a glance from the chief that made it clear she had stepped over the line and would be dealt with later. I applaud her courage and invite other Councilors to follow her lead and ask these hard questions.
I am not involved in town government nor am not privy to the decisions made by” the powers that be” in Lisbon, but, even I could tell there was something very wrong with this Council Meeting. This Meeting was more representative of some third world country rubber stamping their own wishes than a friendly town meeting in the freest country on earth. Freedom of speech was but a fleeting memory from past meetings that was replaced with an air of intimidation and arrogance usually reserved for country's run by third world dictators.
Lisbon has the third highest tax rate in our County. Our tax rate is much higher than Brunswick’s tax rate when adjusted to 100% valuation. If we want to lower our taxes and not just hold the line we will need Councilors that aren’t afraid to make tough decisions. We need Councilors that aren’t afraid to cut the fat from bloated department budgets.
Over a year ago Lisbon Residents spoke loud and clear telling Councilors they wanted a department by department vote on the town budget. There was no ambiguity in their message they made it very clear they wanted a voice in the budget process. Our councilors have failed to give us that vote and instead have moved the budget further from our control by eliminating the elected budget board and installing their own hand picked finance committee.
This November we have to make our own tough choices and replace those Councilors that ignored our demand. Lets make a positive change in Lisbon this November and vote out those Councilors that refuse to give us what we want.
Respectfully
LisbonMaine.net
Joe Hill
The Last Council Meeting was no exception.With the exclusion of a handful of people accepting awards there were only three townspeople attending this meeting. None of the attending taxpayers were allowed to speak their mind. The entire meeting lasted only 23 minutes from the pledge of allegiance to adjournment.
This meeting was a very tightly scripted event designed to eliminate both substantive and embarrassing remarks from attending taxpayers. No one talked about Councilor indiscretions, no one spoke at all.
The podium was moved to the center of the room and yes the uniformed armed police officer was gone. He was replaced by a plain clothes officer with his firearm concealed from view but the message was still clear. Even Council Chair Larochelle seemed intimidated and on several occasions apologized profusely to him for having to asking legitimate Police Budget questions.
When Councilor Mason asked Chief Brooks if we could revert back to one officer patrols similar to the ones County and State Police use, she was quickly shut down by a glance from the chief that made it clear she had stepped over the line and would be dealt with later. I applaud her courage and invite other Councilors to follow her lead and ask these hard questions.
I am not involved in town government nor am not privy to the decisions made by” the powers that be” in Lisbon, but, even I could tell there was something very wrong with this Council Meeting. This Meeting was more representative of some third world country rubber stamping their own wishes than a friendly town meeting in the freest country on earth. Freedom of speech was but a fleeting memory from past meetings that was replaced with an air of intimidation and arrogance usually reserved for country's run by third world dictators.
Lisbon has the third highest tax rate in our County. Our tax rate is much higher than Brunswick’s tax rate when adjusted to 100% valuation. If we want to lower our taxes and not just hold the line we will need Councilors that aren’t afraid to make tough decisions. We need Councilors that aren’t afraid to cut the fat from bloated department budgets.
Over a year ago Lisbon Residents spoke loud and clear telling Councilors they wanted a department by department vote on the town budget. There was no ambiguity in their message they made it very clear they wanted a voice in the budget process. Our councilors have failed to give us that vote and instead have moved the budget further from our control by eliminating the elected budget board and installing their own hand picked finance committee.
This November we have to make our own tough choices and replace those Councilors that ignored our demand. Lets make a positive change in Lisbon this November and vote out those Councilors that refuse to give us what we want.
Respectfully
LisbonMaine.net
Joe Hill
3 comments:
It's most likely due to the fact of the people that go there to cause problems. If there is problems financially, start a petition to have a forensic audit performed. If there is anything else. Petition that too. Reading the posts here (mostly) sounds like a bunch of kids who aren't part of the "cool" club, and are upset about it. Don't get me wrong, some of the info is useful. Most is just a bunch of BS. Obviously, your current way of doing things is backfiring.
Anonymous - It is apparent you are not familiar with Lisbon’s Charter. You keep referring to petitions as the solutions. All petitions have to be run through the council and the town attorney prior to being placed on the ballot. Our Charter requires that at least 30% of the total number of qualified voters who cast votes for Governor in the most recent gubernatorial election vote must vote on the petition. This means that no matter how many voters vote to approve the petition if the total number of voters both for and against does not equals 30% of the total number who voted in the last gubernatorial election the petition is defeated. A prime example is the latest recall where the majority of voters voted to recall the councilor but the petition was defeated because the total number of voters did not reach the 30% requirement. In other words it would take two Priests, a Nun, a Rabbi and the Pope to reach the 30% requirement during an off year or special election. The Charter makes this option impossible to obtain and therefore useless for the people. I, personally, have shown time and time again the creative accounting utilized to cover-up for Chief Brooks. I provided the town’s documents as proof so where is the BS?
I think that the charter rule is a good rule that prevents groups like yours- with an axe to grind or someone who doesn't kiss your group's collective butt- from trying to remove a council member. Your group, and especially 3 of the members -is the major embarrassment to the town. Anyone thinking to move here would think twice when they considered some of the stuff on this website-
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