LOSING YOUR INTEGRITY

The Town Council, during the budget season was looking for ways to reduce the tax burden on the people.  The Town Council asked the Town Manager to look into the Consolidation of the Communication Center with the County as a method of saving money.  The Town Manager requested and received estimates from the County as to the cost of this merger.  The following is the estimated cost savings:

Diane Barnes   Chairman Pesce/Councilor Garrison  Larry Fillmore

$165,784.00                                $190,000.00                   $365,784.00

As you can see, regardless of which one you use, is a significant saving of tax dollars for the people.

The Sheriff asked the town if they would like to pursue this course of action to justify the $225,000 the Sheriff included in the County budget.  No one was asking for a legal commitment or asking to sign any contract.  The Sheriff needed to justify the money in his budget. 

At the meeting on October 6^th, Chief Brooks filled the chambers with his people to ask the Town Council to leave things the way they were.  This was after months of work being done alongside the Sheriff.  Chief Brooks misspoke several times and made it sound like this is a big change for the people.  This is a false statement.  The joining for the two communication centers will save lives because there will not be a need to relay emergency situation through the Lisbon Communication center.  Instead, the emergency information will be received by the Androscoggin County Dispatch and they will dispatch Lisbon’s First Responders.  The people will not see any change at all in their service they are receiving. 

This consolidation will eliminate the middle man so that the county dispatcher will dispatch our personnel.  Eliminating the middle man will speed up the response time of First Responders.  In an emergency situation, time is of the essence.  Saving lives should always be the number one priority over money.  However, The Town Council voted NOT to go any further on this project.

Chairman Pesce has stated repeatedly that he is not afraid to take on the special interest groups if it is in the best interest of the community.  Well, we all witnessed this is not true.  Chairman Pesce killed a project that would save lives and reduce the operating cost of the town which would have reduced taxes just to appease Chief Brooks. 

Chairman Pesce had no problems screwing with the School Department to get his way and yet he bowed down to the Police Department after so much work had been done.  There is no integrity here.  Chairman Pesce is now a full fledge politician.  It is my opinion, he talks out of both sides of his mouth and says nothing.

Larry Fillmore