Recap Town Council Meeting - January 7th, 2014

          RECAP TOWN COUNCIL MEETING – JANUARY 7TH


 

A Warm Welcome to Lisbon's Interim Town Manager, Michael Huston

 

Last night’s meeting of the Town Council was inspiring.  The atmosphere in the Council Chamber was oozing with energy.  There were approximately fifteen (15) residents in attendance.  This is more people than I have seen at a Town Council meeting in a long time.  It was very refreshing to see more citizens becoming involved.  

This Council has started 2014 off on a very positive note.  The Town Council approved the appointment of Mr. Michael Huston as the Interim Town Manager.  I personally believe this is an excellent choice.  Mr. Huston is a longtime resident who has been involved with the town for many many years.  He is honest and his integrity is beyond reproach.  Mr. Huston will move this town in the right direction very quickly.

The Council also appointed Ms. Jessica Maloy as the Interim Treasurer and Tax Collector.  Ms. Maloy has served as the Town Finance Director.

These choices by the Town Council are a perfect start to 2014 and I am so happy to finally be able to report outstanding news.  The new Council Working Rules allow residents to speak on items not on the agenda (New Business).  This is a great step forward to returning citizens with the right to free speech.  I commend the Town Council for doing this and I hope it continues to work for the council. 

All in all, this Town Council has made sufficient improvements to restore this community to the best town in Maine.  I hope and pray this trend will continue.   It will be critical that citizens of our community become more involved now that we have a Council that is listening to us and taking appropriate action.

Each and every one of the Councilors needs to be commended for making excellent decisions.

Larry Fillmore

Lisbon's Lease to Purchase Program, Figures Lie and Liars Figure!!!!!

                 LEASE TO PURCHASE AGREEMENT

I know that I have written about this before but I think this issue is so important that I need to stress how very wrong this is for the taxpayers.  I am going to use the latest acquisition of two police vehicles as an example to help show how this works.

When the 2013-2014 municipal budget was approved it included the purchase of two police vehicles.  Chief Brooks then put out a request for bid for the purchase of these two vehicles.  Chief Brooks received the bids and presented the purchase of these vehicles to the Town Council.  The Town Council approved the purchase of these two vehicles for $48,816.00 of our tax dollars.

Now, here is where it gets tricky.  Chief Brooks takes this $48,816.00 of our tax dollars for the purchase of these two vehicles and converts this into a Lease to Purchase Agreement.  So instead of spending the $48,816.00, the town spent ONLY $15, 331.21 for the first installation of the Lease to Purchase Agreement.  So where did the remaining money ($33,484.79) go to? 

The first question, I have is why did Chief Brooks go out for bid to PURCHASE these vehicles if he knew he was going to Lease to Purchase them?  Next, why did the Town Council approve $48,816.00 tax dollars if they knew these vehicles were going to be Leased instead of Purchased instead of the $15,331.21?

So let’s take a look at this business decision and see if it is really cost effective.  Remember the Town Council approved, in the 2013-2014 Municipal Budget, the cost to purchase these two vehicles.  This means there were sufficient tax dollars available to cover the cost of these two vehicles. 

The Lease to Purchase Agreement means that the payment for these vehicles would be spread out over several years.  It also means that there is an additional fee for this service.  Then you have to add in the Administrative cost of making the yearly payments.  This would include all the paperwork to generate a Purchase Order and issue a check by the town staff.  It also involves the Town Manager, Finance Director and the Accounts Payable individual.  All of these costs need to be added into the total cost of these vehicles.

Just, the additional fee of the lease program being added to the cost of the original bid price makes these vehicles cost the taxpayers $63,848.79 instead of the $48,816.00.  This means these two vehicles cost the taxpayers an additional cost of $15,032.79 plus the Administrative cost that I am unable to compute.   Why is this necessary if we had the money to PURCHASE these vehicles in the first place?

Public Works has mechanical personnel on staff to keep the town’s vehicles operational.  The town also has the ability to contract out service to local garages in case of an emergency.  So this cannot be justification for lease to purchase.

So, is the Lease to Purchase the best business decision for the Town of Lisbon and their taxpayers?

Larry Fillmore

"Stonewalling" Lisbon Taxpayers For The Truth To Simple Questions, Business As Usual !

                                        I APOLOGIZE!!!!

I apologize to the residents of Lisbon because there is no way I can keep my word pertaining to the “Unfavorable Expenditure”.  I asked the Town Council at the last council meeting and did not receive an answer as to what this “Unfavorable Expenditure” was used for. 

So, on November 22, 2013, I submitted the following Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) “Respectfully request a copy of the Purchase Order for the “Unfavorable Expenditure” identified in the yearly Auditor’s report.”  

Next, I received an email from the Town Clerk reference FOAA # 152 stating and I quote “The Finance Director indicated that she does not have enough information to determine what you are referencing?  Therefore, she is unable to provide any further information.”  On November 22, 2013, I responded “Page 4 of the Town of Lisbon Financial Overview, prepared by Runyon Kersteen Ouellette and briefed during the Town Council meeting on November 5, 2013 the second item under Observations.  It states “The Town’s Unassigned fund balance changed from 2012-2013 as a result of an unfavorable expenditure budget variance.  I am looking for all the Purchase Orders which make up this unfavorable expenditure budget variance.  I hope this is specific enough.”

These are our tax dollars and the people have a right to know how our tax dollars are being spent.  Below is the page taken from the yearly Auditor’s report and as you can see that between 2012 and 2013 the Undesignated Fund Balance dropped $223,514.00.  This unfavorable expenditure reduces the Undesignated Fund to below the recommended balance stated in our Charter.  These funds are to sustain the town in case of emergency from going bankrupt.  

As you can see from the response to FOAA 152, the town is stonewalling.  Apparently, the town does not want the people to know where this $223,514.00 of our tax dollars went to and for what?  I am quite sure it was not used for our roads.  When the Town Council cannot provide an answer to a citizen’s question pertaining to how our tax dollars were spent and the Finance Director either has no clue or does not want to reveal for what this money was spent on then we can be pretty sure it was spent unethically.  Why is it impossible for citizens to know where their tax dollars are being spent especially if the town continues to raise taxes?

As you can see, I have tried all available means to find out about this unfavorable expenditure.  It was important to the Auditors to point this out in their report but it seems to be insignificant to management.  The Town Council, Town Manager and the Finance Director feel the taxpayers have no right to know how their tax dollars are being spent.  It is also clear, that the recommended Undesignated Fund Balance has no meaning to the Town Council, Town Manager or the Finance Director. 

If the taxpayers want someone to explain what this $223, 514.00 of our tax dollars was used for they will have to contact the Town Manager, Stephen Eldridge at seldridge@lisbonme.org or the Finance Director at jmaloy@lisbonme.org .  Taxpayers can call the Town Manager by dialing 353-3000 Ext 102 or the Finance Director by dialing 353-3000 Ext 115.

If anyone finds out what this money was spent on and why, please contact me at this blog site.

Again, I apologize for not being able to provide an answer as to what this money (Unfavorable Expenditure) was spent on!

Larry Fillmore

________________________________________________________

stone·wall·ing

[stohn-waw-ling] 

noun the act of stalling, evading, or filibustering, especially to avoid revealing politically embarrassing information

Double Talking Lisbon Officials or Is It Just Plain Lieing?

DOUBLE TALK OR JUST PLAIN A LIE?

At Tuesday night’s Town Council meeting, Mrs. Jessica Maloy, the Finance Director, made a feeble attempt to justify the method the town uses to acquire Police Vehicles.  Mrs. Maloy tried to explain that I put out erroneous information, and if I did, I received this information from the town.   Mrs. Maloy tried to explain how the town utilizes a Lease to Purchase to acquire these vehicles.

 Lisbon Finance Director Jessica Maloy

However, she left off the part about how the Lease to Purchase option costs the taxpayers more tax dollars in the long run. 

Leasing allows the payments to be strung over years and eliminates having to pay for the vehicle all at once.  This is just what this town needs is to spend more tax dollars than necessary.  If we do not have sufficient funds to purchase the vehicle outright when, why do it?

Mrs. Maloy tried to justify budgeting both the cost of the vehicle and all the lease payments in the same budget.  Now according to a councilor I talk to explained it to me as the council approves the total cost of the vehicle for purchase and then Lease to Purchase in order to pay for the additional lease payments for the other vehicles already on lease.  This process makes absolutely no sense to me because they have several line items in the budget doing the very same thing.   

HOW MANY TIMES ARE THE TAXPAYERS GOING TO PAY FOR THESE VEHICLES? 

 Lisbon Police Chief David T. Brooks

At budget time, I  asked how many vehicles are leased and how many have been purchased outright.  Chief Brooks, Mr. Eldridge and Mrs. Maloy have provided partial information and adverted coming right out and explaining the process.  All the vehicles were acquired under the Lease to Purchase program.

Now I am going to provide you documents, I received from Mrs. Maloy through the Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) program.  If I do not have the right information, it is because I receive conflicting information from the town.  Below you will find an Invoice (Bill of Sale) for a 2013 Police Interceptor for $23,504.00 and a Purchase Order number 1992 paying this Invoice and then you will see the Schedule A for the Lease to Purchase on the same vehicle.  Check out the VIN number on the Invoice and the Lease to Purchase Schedule A.  Isn’t that funny, the VIN number is the same.  I know that there is no VIN number on the Purchase Order but the Police Department only has one 2013 Vehicle in the fleet and the amount is consistent with the Invoice.

(click on each document to enlarge or print)

Mrs. Maloy, please explain to the taxpayers how many times they have to pay for the same Police vehicle in this town?   

Larry Fillmore

Joe's interpretation of Police vehicle purchase.

  If I read the following post correctly on 9/10/12 Lisbon’s Purchase.Order said we paid  $ 23,504 cash, check nr.114609, for a Ford int.

Then on 10/17/12 we borrowed 23,504 dollars from Androscoggin Bank against this vehicle that we paid cash for on 9/10/12.  We then paid  Androscoggin Bank back $6.077.04 of the 23,504 for the first years loan payment.

This means we are paying over 800 dollars interest on a vehicle we already owned.  And Lisbon Residents going to Council Meetings think we already spent the  $23,504 for a new PD vehicle when in reality we actually only paid  $6,077.04 for the first years payment. Then the next three years the Council asks the public for another $6,077.04 more in the budget each year for yearly payments. Where did the $17,427 (23,504 minus first years 6,077.04) go?

This may or may not be ethical but at the very least it tricks Lisbon Residents into budgeting more for the Pd than is spent on this vehicle.


Purchase Order and Androscoggin documents are located on the following post by Larry Fillmore.

LisbonMaine.Net
  Joe Hill

Recap Town Council Meeting 11/19/13

RECAP TOWN COUNCIL MEETING – NOVEMBER 19^TH

At last night’s Town Council meeting, it was business as usual.  It was a short meeting and therefore there is little to report.

During Audience Participation there was a questions asked.  “What was the “Unfavorable Expenditure” and how much did it cost the town as mentioned by the Auditors in the annual audit?  But as usual the council did not provide an answer to the question.  As a matter of fact, Chairman LaRochelle NEVER answers any of my questions under Audience Participation Response.

All of the items under COUNCIL ORDERS, RESOLUTIONS & ORDINANCES were voted 7-0 on each. 

2013-173          E911 Road Name Change

2013-174          Route 196 Master Plan

2013-175          Finance Committee Ordinances (1^st Reading)

2013-176          Supplemental Appropriation (2^nd Reading)

The Finance Director, Mrs. Maloy, gave the monthly finance report.  Once she completed her report she moved to the situation on acquiring the Police Vehicles.  Mrs. Maloy tried to justify how the town is requiring taxpayers to pay more money by doing Lease to Purchase instead of paying outright for the vehicles.  Chief Brooks budgets for the current lease payment and the acquisition of new cars in the same budget.

Councilor Mason gave her farewell to the town after  7 years of service.  She has been a great asset to the Moxie Festival.

Council Chairman LaRochelle gave his farewell to the town.  His speech was filled with accusations of slander, and accusing me, Dottie Fitzgerald and Joe Hill of being bad influences on the town.  The three members mentioned have challenged the action of the Town Council and Town Manager on numerous occasions.  I thought that in a democracy, citizens had a right to their opinion. 

Larry Fillmore

Lisbon Town Council Agenda For Tuesday November 19, 2013

AGENDA
TOWN COUNCIL MEETING
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2013
LISBON TOWN OFFICE
7:00 P.M.

1. CALL TO ORDER & PLEDGE TO FLAG
2. ROLL CALL
___Councilor Bickford
___ Councilor Garrison
___ Councilor Larochelle
___ Councilor Lunt
___Councilor Mason
___ Councilor Pesce
___ Councilor Ward
Town Clerk reading of meeting rules

3. PUBLIC HEARING

A. Supplemental Appropriation

4. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

5. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION RESPONSE

6. CONSENT AGENDA

2013-172 ORDER −
A. Renewal Victualer's License   ???

7. COUNCIL ORDERS, RESOLUTIONS, & ORDINANCES

2013-173 ORDER −
Route 196 Master Plan

2013-174 ORDINANCE −
Finance Committee Ordinance (1st Reading)

2013-175 ORDINANCE −
Supplemental Appropriation (2nd Reading)

8. OTHER BUSINESS
A. Finance Director's Report
B. Town Manager's Report

9. APPOINTMENTS

10. COUNCILOR COMMUNICATIONS

11. EXECUTIVE SESSION

2013-176 ORDER −
1 M.R.S.A.§ 405 (6)(E) Consultations with legal counsel regarding Sewer Department
fines from DEP

12. ADJOURNMENT

2013-177 ORDER −
To Adjourn

Help, Who's In Charge In Lisbon?

WHO’S IN CHARGE????

While I was investigating the Police Department vehicle situation, I uncovered something very strange.  All this time, I believed Lisbon was under a Town Council form of government.  Now, I am not sure whom is in charge or whom is protecting our tax dollars.  Since, I discovered the scam to allocate funds to purchase vehicles and then lease to purchase the same vehicles it is extremely hard to determine what type of government we have in Lisbon.

Lisbon Police Chief David T. Brooks

I will explain.  Chief Brooks asked the Town Council for $48,816 tax dollars to purchase two police vehicles. (click here to read Town Council recorded minutes)  These vehicles were to replace vehicles already in the fleet that needed to be replaced.  The Town Council approved the $48,816 tax dollars for the purchase of these vehicles.  The Town Council is not naive enough to believe that $48,816.00 is a lease to purchase payment.   

 Lisbon Town Manager Stephen G. Eldridge

Then Chief Brooks, Town Manager Eldridge, and Finance Director Maloy changed what the Council directed and instead of purchasing these vehicles turned around and leased to purchase these vehicles at an additional cost to the people of over $15,000 tax dollars.  Requiring the taxpayers to pay an additional fee is certainly NOT in the best interest of the people of Lisbon.  But the bigger question is what gives Brooks, Eldridge and Maloy the right to change the decision of the Town Council? Who is really in charge?

Lisbon Finance Director Jessica Maloy

There had to be a plan in place by Chief Brooks when he requested $48,816.00 tax dollars from the Town Council knowing fully well he was only going to use approximately $15,331.72 for the 1^st years lease to purchase payment.  So, what was his plan for the remaining $33,484.79 and where is it now?  Once, the Town Council approved the purchase of these vehicles for $48,816.00; the spending of this money for any other purpose has to be “misappropriation of funds”.     So exactly where is this $33,484.79?

As everyone in Lisbon knows, I ask questions at almost every Town Council meeting during Audience Participation and never get an answer from Chairman LaRochelle.  My chance of getting any answers to these questions are slim and none. 

 I need your help.   

Please email any of the following and see if you can get an answer because it is your tax dollars too!

Chief Brooks – dbrooks@lisbonpd.com

Stephen Eldridge – Seldridge@lisbonme.org

Jessica Maloy – Jmaloy@lisbonme.org

You’re Town Councilor address and phones listed at top of page on the right. Call them, email them, ask them, they work for you.

If you get a response, which I doubt, please send the response to me as a comment to my articles on your favorite web site.

Larry Fillmore

To Purchase or Not To Purchase, How Best To 'Hoodwink' the Taxpayers!

WHY SHOULD THE TAXPAYERS HAVE TO PAY FOR  TOWN INCOMPETENCY????

 

 Lisbon Town Manager Stephen G. Eldridge

Several years ago, I started a crusade to find out why our taxes continue to go up.  I did this because the Town Manager, Stephen Eldridge, looked me right in the eye and lied to me.  From that day forward, I have been in search of the truth.  So far I have had to take the town to court twice and both times the judge ruled in my favor both times.  I also have submitted over 100 Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) requests seeking information at my own personal expense.  I did all this in search of the truth.

 

 Lisbon Police Chief David T. Brooks and Fire Chief Sean Galipeau

The latest go around has been over the Police Department’s vehicles.  During several meetings, the subject of the vehicles being both to purchase and lease to purchase came up.  Upon further investigation, I discovered Chief Brooks goes to the Town Council and requests sufficient funds to replace vehicles by purchasing them.  This is what he did this year and the Town Council approved the purchase of two vehicles at $48,816 on July 16, 2013.   

Chief Brooks then took these funds and made an agreement to lease to purchase these two vehicles.  The Town Manager, Stephen Eldridge, then approved the first year’s lease payment of $15,331.21.  By leasing these vehicles, the taxpayers will have to make lease payments for three years on one vehicle and six years on the other totaling $63,849.70.  This means the taxpayers will end up paying an additional $15,033.79.  

Please review the document below from the Finance Director.  Anybody wonder why our taxes continually go up?  What a scam!!!!!!

The Town Council believes these vehicles were purchased when in fact they are leased.  The Town Council and the Finance Committee have approved the municipal budget with line of accounting items in the Police Department Budget for 5430 Motor Vehicles and 5500 Lease Agreements for years after approving the Purchase of vehicles.  If the Town Council appropriated these funds for the Purchase of these vehicles; how can you have lease agreements on these vehicles?  Also, where did the remaining funds appropriated for these vehicles go if only $15,331.21 of the $48,816 was approved for this purchase?

Now for my bill below!  I requested additional documents under the FOAA program about additional vehicles currently in the Police Department fleet.  Please pay close attention to my bill for these documents.  Apparently, it took three hours to locate and compile these documents.  Can you image having to spend three hours looking for active files?  

This is the type of harassment I am faced with in search of the truth.  Also, some of the documents requested were not received but yet I still have to pay for missing documents.  Some of these FOAA’s were a second or third request for the same documents.  It is truly amazing as to how far Chief Brooks and Eldridge will go to cover-up the excess spending which causes our taxes to go up annually.

Does anyone still wonder why our taxes continue to go up?

Larry Fillmore

All We Ask For Is Honest Straight Answers To Straight Forward Questions

  

       WHY CAN’T WE GET STRAIGHT ANSWERS FROM THE TOWN?


Wouldn’t it be nice if everything done by the town on our behalf was made available to Public?  I have been trying to find out how many vehicles in the Police Department are leased.  Now, one would think this would be an easy request to answer.  In Lisbon it takes two Priests, a Nun, a Rabbi and the Pope to get this information.  Apparently, this information is classified as a matter of National Security.

 

On July 5, 2013, I submitted my first Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) to the town.  It was worded as follows:  “Respectfully request a complete listing of all vehicles assigned to the Police Department with the following information: Year; Make; Model; Owned or Leased; what the vehicles is used for; mileage and when the vehicle is scheduled to be replaced.”  As you can see, I was very specific about whether the vehicles were owned or leased.  Apparently, neither Chief Brooks nor Finance Director, Jessica Maloy can read because below is the result of this request.

Please note the statement above the line.  It reads “The vehicles listed above were obtained via a lease/purchase.”  Well, which is it!   Can you tell from this document which vehicles are leased? 
   
Since, they did not comply with the Freedom of Access Act (FOAA), I submitted yet another Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) on July 17, 2013 which read “Respectfully request a “L” be placed to the left of the year on the attach listing of Police Department vehicles to indicate which vehicles are leased.”  I attached the listing they had previously provided to me to make it as easy as possible.  I feel this was idiot proof but once again the town proved me wrong.

On August 27, 2013, I received an email from the Town Clerk which reads and I quote “The Finance Director indicated the list you received of all vehicles, in the current fleet, that were leased as noted by the Chief’s statement "  The vehicles listed above were obtained via lease/purchase” is the only document I can locate.  At this point, I believe FOAA #115 will be marked as done.  Another list as requested with “L’s” does not exist.”  So, what started out as a simple request has now elevated to matters of National Security.  Why else would the town of Lisbon NOT provide this information? 

I cannot understand why Chief Brooks and Finance Director Maloy do not want this information released.  Are they doing something illegal?  What are they trying to keep me from knowing?  Wouldn’t you like to know how they are spending our tax dollars?

There is absolutely no transparency in Lisbon.

Larry Fillmore

Recap Town Council Meeting - September 3rd, 2013

             RECAP TOWN COUNCIL MEETING – SEPTEMBER 3

Tuesday night’s meeting of the Town Council was business as usual.  The Town Manager Eldridge hides as much information as he can from the council and the people.  It does not matter that this is a violation of the Council Working Rules or not because he knows that he will be able to talk his way out of it with this council.

In accordance with (IAW) paragraph C (2) Council Working Rules all items shall be provided to the manager’s office by close of business on Thursday.  The Finance Director failed, once again, to provide the documentation in accordance with the Council Working Rules.  The purpose of this requirement is to give the councilors and the Public adequate time to review all necessary information.  However, there is no enforcement of any rules or ordinances unless it is against selected individuals.  There were no documentation presented for 2013-136 Carry Forward Adjustment and 2013-137 Revenue Sharing Adjustment. 

The following items were passed by a vote of 6-0 for the following items:  Androscoggin County Budget Committee Official Ballot (Mike Bowie was elected); Set Rate of Interest for Delinquent Taxes (You can be sure LaRochelle Properties, LLC will never pay the Interest and Penalties on their back taxes); Carry Forward Adjustment (Finance Director found $17,000 in Fire Department for Radio); Revenue Sharing Adjustment (This was $570,000);  Repeal Section 70-731 Timber Harvesting (This was done to follow state rules).

The Town Assessor, William Van Tuinen provided an update on the town’s revaluation.  It is scheduled to be completed in 2015.  Mr. Van Tuinen also set the tax rate at $23.00 which is up from $22.26 per thousand.  The town is planning on releasing our tax bills no later than Friday.  This is just in time for the weekend and the Public Hearing September 10, 2013 on the bonds facing the people.  

The Town has a million dollar bond to purchase and demolition the Worumbo Mill; the School would like to raise money to get them off probation and finally the Water Department want to present two bonds (1 for 1.75 million for a water tank and 2 $650,000 for the replacement of 4300 feet of water main on Frost Hill Avenue and Old Lisbon Road).

The Town Manager talked about the upcoming Public Hearing on September 10th.

The Water Department Director provided an overview of the two bonds they want to talk about at the Public Hearing on the 10th.  It was very informative and a more detailed briefing will be given at the Public Hearing. 

Please come to the Public Hearing.

Larry Fillmore

1st or 2nd Quarterly Reports Available

Town of Lisbon 2nd Quarter Managerial Report

Greetings! Please click on the link provided below for the 1st Quarter reports:    2nd Quarterly Report    If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Respectfully, Stephen Eldridge Town Manager TLR Note: We Report You Decide

Town Council Agenda August 20, 2013

AGENDA

TOWN COUNCIL MEETING

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013 LISBON TOWN OFFICE

7:00 P.M. 

1. CALL TO ORDER & PLEDGE TO FLAG 

2. ROLL CALL 

___Councilor Bickford ___ Councilor Garrison ___ Councilor Larochelle ___ Councilor Lunt

___Councilor Mason ___ Councilor Pesce ___ Councilor Ward

Town Clerk reading of meeting rules 

3. PUBLIC HEARING 

A. Consideration of up to a $1,000000 Bond Order for acquiring, demolishing and/or renovating the Worumbo Mill 

4. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

5. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION RESPONSE

6. CONSENT AGENDA 

2013-123  A. Minutes of August 6, 2013-ORDER  

7. COUNCIL ORDERS, RESOLUTIONS, & ORDINANCES 

2013-124 ORDER -   Carries  & Transfers 

2013-125 ORDER -   Bond Order $1,000,000 for Worumbo Mill Project 

2013-126 ORDER -   Council Recommendation on Bond Order - Question 1

2013-127 ORDER -   Warrant for Bond Referendum on September 24, 2013

  

2013-128 ORDER -    Davis-Packard Cemetery

2013-129 ORDER -    Sergeants Teamsters Local No. 340 Contract

  

2013-130 ORDER -    County Budget Committee Nominations

8. OTHER BUSINESS

A. Trails Committee Update

B. Nomination Papers for Elected Officials

C. Finance Director’s Report

D. Town Manager’s Report 

9. APPOINTMENTS 

10. COUNCILOR COMMUNICATIONS

11. EXECUTIVE SESSION

2013-131 -ORDER  1 MRSA § 405 (6) (D) Labor Negotiations - Sergeants Teamsters Local No. 340 

12. ADJOURNMENT 

2013-132 -ORDER  To Adjourn

Lisbon 2013 1st Quarter Managerial Report‏

Town of Lisbon 1st Quarter Managerial Report

Greetings! Please click on the link provided below for the 1st Quarter reports:    1st Quarter Report    If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Respectfully, Stephen Eldridge Town Manager

OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK – PART 3

(Attention Lisbon Council Vice-Chair Lori Pomelow; This is how you present material to the public with facts, not innuendos and blabber like you did at the 10/16/2012 Lisbon Town Council Meeting!!!!!)

OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK – PART 3

In Part 1 I showed the “Bait and Switch” tactic utilized by town management to keep the Public from knowing what is going on with our tax dollars.  In Part 2 I showed what it takes to get to the truth. So now I am going to show you how town management covers up its mismanagement of our tax dollars.

During the 2012-2013 budget process, town management worked very hard to conceal information from the taxpayers.  Chief Brooks announced he had received a grant for furniture in the Communications Center.  This information was recorded under line item 01-110 General Government/Contingency 5227 Grant Match.  When I requested a copy of the grant under the FOAA program, I was told there was no grant.  IF THEIR LIPS ARE MOVING THEY ARE LYING.  The only way to get the truth is by FOAA. 

Next I asked for a copy of the Purchase Order that paid for the furniture.  I have included a copy of the Purchase Order below.  I circled critical information.  The circled information tells taxpayers what expense accounts these funds were taken from.  In this case $15,000 was taken from account E01-140-5410 and $8,830.06 was taken from account E02-200-5617.  You ask why this is important to know and I will explain it.

 (Click on documents to make a copy)

Notice who signed the Purchase Order authorizing the funds be taken from these accounts, the town manager, Stephen Eldridge.

You remember when I told you it was budgeted under the Contingency account, well neither of these account numbers are part of the Contingency account.  So what account were these funds taken from?  KEEP IN MIND THIS PURCHASE IS FOR FURNITURE IN THE COMMUNICATIONS CENTER.  So I submitted a FOAA asking what these accounts were and below is the response.
 

The two accounts fund were taken from were Equipment under General Government/Town and Police Department Officer Reimbursement fund.  

What do either one of these accounts have to do with the Communication Center?  How can taxpayers know how or what our tax dollars are actually being spent on if they conceal a purchase like this?  Chief Brooks does not want taxpayers to know what the real cost is of operating the communication center.  According to the computer, this purchase was charged against Town Building and PD Officer Reimbursement.  How will this effect PD Officer Reimbursements in the future?  Will there be funds available for them?

These are tax dollars being misappropriated and hidden from taxpayers.  The mismanagement of our tax dollars has caused citizens to suffer through yet another tax increase.  There is no hope of understanding how deep this misappropriation and mismanagement goes without a forensic audit.

Taxpayers are being 'screwed' every day and they don’t even know it.

Larry Fillmore
Concerned Citizen

OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK – PART 2

OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK – PART 2

Now that you have seen one of the tactics utilized by management to ensure the Public has no idea what is going on by using two different sets of numbers, we will see how this applies to our tax dollars.  I utilized the numbers provided to the Public to find out which accounts received the funds.  As you can see by Part 1, I used the wrong numbers so it took me two Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) requests to get the correct information.

One would think that before anyone transferred any funds; there would be a plan in place.  I would think it should be clear as to why the funds are being transferred and into what account the funds are receiving the funds.  I cannot tell you if the council received the plan but the Public certainly did not.  So I asked and check out what it cost me.  I circled the information.

Apparently, the Finance Director, Jessica Maloy, had to do two (2) and a half hours of research to determine which accounts received the funds.  This is the computer age and I would think, even if you did not have the plan written down, it should be able to be retrieved from the computer.  Not in Lisbon!  I was charged $22.50 for this information.  This should have been at her finger tips and taken no more than 5 minutes at most.

(Click on documents to print your own copy)

Now let’s look at the information provided by the Finance Director in response to my FOAA.  Remember, at the Town Council meetings I asked the council three times where the funds were transferred to from the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) program and finally Chairman LaRochelle stated it was put into the Economic Community Development Department.  Well, according to the Finance Director it was moved into Legal, Public Works and Winter Public Works.  IF THEIR LIPS ARE MOVING THEY ARE LYING.  This is why I have had to request the information under the FOAA program.  It is the only way to get to the truth.

So now comes the big question; “Why are taxpayers dollars being moved around so early in the year?  Were these accounts inflated to cover-up misappropriation of our tax dollars?” Taxpayers have a right to expect the town council, town manager, and the Finance Director to provide accurate information when it comes to our tax dollars.

Now that I have the correct sheet to work off of; what do you think it is going to cost me to find out which accounts received the funds from the following accounts?:  Elected Officials, Social Security, Town Buildings and General Assistance.  Apparently, all of these accounts have also been inflated.

I wonder why we suffered a tax increase this year.  Part 3 will show taxpayers how to utilize funds and hide the use.

Larry Fillmore
Concerned Citizen

Lisbon's Concealment Of Funds Explained In Detail: OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK – PART 1

OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK – PART 1 

For my next three articles, I am going to show the people of Lisbon what lengths our management will go to conceal how they spend our tax dollars.  The first article will demonstrate how much the town budget was inflated in order to provide money to purchase what I call “Toys for Boys”. 

Have you ever wondered why the town council approved the transfer and the carry forward of funds less than two months into the new fiscal year?  Below are the two sheets provided by the Finance Director?  One is to the Public and one is to the council.  Take a close look and you will see the numbers do not match.  It is very difficult to follow along at council meetings when you don’t have the right sheet. It is even more difficult to try and find out information such as what accounts these transfers were put into.

 (Click on the sheets to print your own copy)


Why two different sheets?  If the numbers had been updated why wasn’t the Public provided with the updated sheets?

Next take a close look at how much money was carried forward.  This is a large amount of money which apparently was not taken into consideration in the 2012-2013 budgets.  So if you add these amounts into the 2012-2013 budget management has inflated their budget at taxpayers’ expense.  Does anyone want to tell me again why we had to have a tax increase this year with so much money being carried forward?

It is impossible to tell which amounts were transferred into which accounts by looking at these sheets.  So why did the town council approve these transfers?

In Part 2 you will see the response by the Finance Director when I asked what accounts some of these amounts were transferred into.

Larry Fillmore
Concerned Citizen

Creative Accounting Exposed Lisbon Style Highly Protected But So Neglected!!!

LISBON’S CREATIVE ACCOUNTING SCHEME

At last night’s town council meeting, Chairman Fern LaRochelle stated "all monies were accounted for and there were no missing funds". 

 I had asked the question about $96,000 + transferred out of the TIF payment account.  I finally got it and I am going to try and explain it to you.  Now the numbers, I am going to use are NOT accurate numbers.  These numbers will make it easier for you to understand.  Councilor Cote and I have believed for a long time the TIF Payment account was being used as a slush fund.   Here is how the scheme works:

You start off with a budgeted amount:  $200,000
Next you pay out all expenses such as TIF payment:  $100,000
This leaves a balance which is then transferred to another account:  $100,000
Now as far as the computer is concerned you budgeted $200,000 and spent  $200,000.  So next year the town will budget $200,000 for this line item.

These transactions are legal.  But how much did you actually spend on this line item, $100,000?  The rest of it has been transferred to be utilized as the town sees fit.  Now the town will go through a legal process and spend the remaining $100,000:

Request for Procurement (RFP)
Council approval
Purchase order
Issue funds

All of these are transactions, according to an audit team are perfectly legal.  But wait a minute, the originally budgeted $200,000 for TIF Payment was not utilized for TIF Payments instead only $100,000 were used.  The remaining $100,000 went for some other purchases like “toys for the boys” totally unrelated to the TIF Payment. 

If the money designated for a purpose is not utilized for that purpose then the town has “misappropriated town funds”.  This is one of the reasons for having our taxes increased again this year.  This is why Councilor Cote and I have been preaching about padding the budget.  I discovered this with the TIF Payment account and I am sure there are more accounts being utilized to hide money from the people.

Because these are all legal transactions, they will never be detected by an audit.  These inflated accounts will continue yearly to provide the town with spending money and be part of the cause for raising our taxes.

 Councilor Mike Bowie

Town Manager Stephen Eldridge

I call this “misappropriation of town funds” by the Town Manager and Councilor Bowie.  Our tax dollars are designed for a specific purpose and should not be utilized as a slush fund.  I doubt if any of the councilors other than Councilor Bowie understand what is going on here.

Councilor Gina Mason

VOTE THEM OUT IN NOVEMBER!!!!!!!!

Larry Fillmore
Concerned Citizens