Expectations For September 10th, 2013 Public Hearing On the Worumbo Mill Million Dollar Bond

                                        WHAT TO EXPECT SEPTEMBER 10th

September 10th is the date for the next Public Hearing on floating a bond to purchase the Worumbo Mill property and the demolition of the mill.  This bond does NOT cover making the property presentable for sale.   Now, what can you expect at this Public Hearing.

It is more than likely the town will put on a dog and pony show.  What this means is the town will have a presentation of their vision of what the town will look like in 30 years.  This vision starts with the Route 196 Master Plan.  If it is the same presentation I saw at the joint meeting, it is an excellent proposal.  However, it should not be our number one priority.

Town Manager, Stephen Eldridge is going to try and use a scare tactic by telling you that it is imperative that the town purchase the Worumbo Mill property in order to protect how the property will be used in the future.  This is about as far from the truth as you can get because the town has Zoning Ordinances along with Land Use ordinances to protect this from happening. 

Chairman LaRochelle should be able to speak on this point from first-hand experience.  Chairman LaRochelle is currently working on constructing a commercial building at 2 Canal Street.  The Planning Board spent one hour and fifteen minutes quizzing Chairman LaRochelle on this project and he is not done yet. 

Between the presentation and the scare tactics, it will be important for you to wear your boots.

At the joint meeting where the Town Council, Planning Board and the School Department and Facilities Committee outlined their priorities for the future.  At this workshop, it became very clear that the taxpayers are going to have to make an investment in this community or let it die.  It also came out that the school is on probation, NOT for academics but for facilities.  The majority cause of the probation is the gym.  

The cost to replace the gym is approximately $6.2 million dollars.  Planning Board Chairman Don Fellows told about a conversation he had with someone thinking about moving to Lisbon until he found out the school was on probation.  Who wants to move to a town where the school is on probation?
I love this community and after two years of having my taxes raised, I blame the management of our town for this.  I personally believe there has been no reason to raise our taxes these last two years except to protect the Communications Center and the Police Department.  The majority of our tax dollars goes into the Police Department.

I am not in favor of raising our taxes any more but if we do not invest in our community it will be lost.  I cannot see how anyone can be in favor of purchasing the mill which has no guarantee of a return on investment over doing everything we can to get our school off probation.  If the school comes off probation it will draw more families to our community.  This will increase the tax base and will eventually lower our taxes. 

It is a silly notion of having the town get involved in the real estate business OVER getting our school off probation.  You do realize that if the town floats a million dollar bond for the Worumbo Mill it will be impossible to get the school off probation for many many years and you can forget the track for a long long time. 

The Town Council has the authority to forget about putting the questions on the November ballot to float a million dollar bond for the Worumbo Mill purchase and demolition.   Let’s forget about purchasing the Worumbo Mill and concentrate on getting our school off probation. 

Getting our school off probation is a true investment in our future.

Larry Fillmore