Like A Sponge, Lisbon Councilors Soak Up Eldridge's Lies

TOWN COUNCIL LIKE A SPONGE

At Tuesday night’s Town Council meeting was extremely enlightening.  I finally realized that our Town Council is like a sponge.   The council depends solely on the town manager to ensure the council is in compliance at all times with State laws and town ordinances.  However, our current town manager does not always provide proper guidance to the council as was indicated Tuesday night.

On the agenda was the Renewal Sludge Disposal Contract with New England Organics, now Casella Organics.  The original contract was approved in 2008 for five years at a cost of approximately $80,000 tax dollars according to Mr. Ryan Leighton.  Mr. Leighton stated that in 2008 New England Organics was the only business to submit a bid.  However, Chapter 86 – Financial Matters, Article II - Purchasing Policy clearly states in Section 86-34 – Formal bidding, paragraph (a) “Purchases and contracts in excess of $5,000 shall require the use of the bid process in this section.”  This action should have gone out for bid since it has been 5 years from the last bid and certainly is over $5,000 tax dollars.  There may be other businesses now who would like to bid on this contract and provide a cost savings but the town will never know because this did not go to bid in accordance with our Purchasing Policy.  The town will never justify waiving this requirement because it is in the best interest of the town because they do not know if it is or not because they did not follow our Purchasing Policy. 

This was an illegal act which should have been caught by the town manager, if we had one.  The fact is everything Mr. Eldridge says is taken as law by the council.   No member of the council asked Mr. Leighton what business other towns around Lisbon are using to dispose of their sludge.  I find it hard to believe this is the only company removing sludge in this area. 

According to Mr. Eldridge during the town manager’s report, the School received approximately $137,000 plus more from the state than anticipated which reduces the shortage by about $113,000.   But on the Municipal side the town lost approximately $246,951 in Revenue Sharing from the state.  Chairman LaRochelle can no longer blame the School Department for the tax increase especially after the Town Council voted to increase wages for both Union and Non-Union by 1.5%.  This is especially alarming since we are in the new fiscal year and a wage increase did not appear in the approved budget for this year.

The wage increases were never brought out during the Public Hearing on the budget and was never discussed in any council meeting or workshop.  However, this was all done behind closed doors in Executive Sessions and voted on Tuesday night.  How are the taxpayers going to pay for this?  According to Mr. Eldridge, this year’s tax increase will be approximate $75.00 per $100,000 value.  What is more interesting is where was the funding to cover this increase in wages hidden in the approved budget?

Please let me know when you people have had enough of this crap!

Larry Fillmore