WHAT IS GOING ON?

Over the weekend, I had the misfortune to review the Town Council meeting of October 16, 2018.  The meeting lasted two hours and twelve minutes.  It should have taken an hour.  Instead we have two Councilors trying to outdo each other in stupidity. 

 

Councilors LaRochelle and Albert continued to make comments that we already explained.  This is my personal opinion:  (1) LaRochelle just likes to hear himself talk because it makes his ego get bigger and (2) Albert talks to make people believe that he is as smart as All Ward, which will never happen.

 

There was a lengthy discussion between these two on what the towns’ marijuana policy is going to be.  This discussion should have been held during the workshop but apparently was not.  The Council should be united on each item before it is added to the agenda so that the Public can express their concerns.

 

This marijuana policy is being pushed through so very fast.  I believe that Councilor Brunelle is the one doing the pushing.  This is because Brunelle want to corner the market when he opens his marijuana retail store in Lisbon Center.  He is pushing this so he can open before Christmas.  As it is going, I believe, that Lisbon will be the pot capital of Maine.

 

Also, during the meeting it was brought out there will be an environment inspection of the Worumbo Mill property.  The Town Manager acknowledged that the last environmental inspection was done by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) several years ago was on file.  If I remember correctly the report found coal ash and other toxics underground on the property.   Councilor LaRochelle was quick to point out this is a different kind of environmental inspection.  I hope this is performed prior to the town purchasing the property for $30,000.00 as agreed by the Council.

 

If you remember a few years past when LaRochelle was last time on the Council, he pushed for the town to purchase the Worumbo Mill from the Millers.  This is when the EPA did their inspection and the people turned it down.  I believe that LaRochelle is back on the Council to purchase the property now.

 

It was also brought out that the Lisbon Communication Center will no longer be dispatching for Durham effective January 1, 2019.  Durham, like everyone else, is having Androscoggin Country Dispatch perform this task.  If Lisbon chose to take advantage of Androscoggin Country Dispatch, it would save the taxpayers over $200,000.00 yearly.  This will never happen because the Town Council is not interested in saving taxpayers money instead spend, spend, spend and raise taxes.  Lisbon has the second highest tax rate in Androscoggin Country.  We passed Auburn this year and will be pushing to pass Lewiston in the years to come.

 

Also, it came out that the town has now loaded the Accounts Payable module of MUNIS.  This has taken close to three years to accomplish load the first module.  I predict that at the current rate, MUNIS will not be fully functional by the end of the seven year contract.  I personally believe this was major blunder, that the Town Manager and Ryan Leighton, forced the Town Council to do.  Now it will cost the people a large amount of tax dollars to correct this mistake but putting this task on the Finance Director is insane.  I have performed several conversion and they are extremely hard for a team of professionals to do but impossible for someone to perform alone.

 

Larry Fillmore