After Six Months on the Job in Lisbon...

At last Tuesday's Town Council meeting in Lisbon, the community showed up in droves to find out why the new Town Manager, Steve Eldridge, planned on moving the Recreation Director from his current location at the MTM Recreation Center in Lisbon Falls to the Lisbon Town Office three miles away in Lisbon Center.

The Rumford Reporter reported in February that after one month, Eldridge fired two town of Lisbon Employees and was working on a third, the Lisbon Recreation Director. What they didn't report was that one of those town employees, Maryann Morgan, had been working for the Town of Lisbon for over fifteen years. She was the accounts payable manager, part of the union, and only a few years away from her retirement. They also didn't report that Cassie LeBlond, the Town Manager's secretary, was a mom with two children struggling to make end's meet.

After one month on the job, Mr. Eldridge felt that his decisions were justified but we all know that it takes a lot longer to determine whether an employee has issues that warrant being fired. And, we all know that a good manager would take time to evaluate his employees before making such bold moves. It is also a good practice to let the employee know where they are falling short in an effort to give them the opportunity to improve. This was clearly not the case. Why?

According to our sources, the Chief of Police while employed as the Interim Town Manager was not given the authority to fire any employees but he was working on building cases against these three individuals. Clearly, Mr. Eldridge carried out the tasks upon taking the job. Although, Mr. Eldridge has not yet fired the Recreation Director, he is making major changes with the Recreation Department, cutting the Recreation Department budget, and also requesting that the Recreation Department Director, Mark Stevens, move his office from the Recreation Department to the Lisbon Town Offices. Why?

According to another source who worked for the Town of Lisbon, David Brooks and Steve Eldridge admitted that the Town of Lisbon has had problems with the Recreation Department Director. If the Recreation Director moves to the Town Offices, Mr. Eldridge can "keep an eye on him" and can make claims that he did "this or that" whereas if the Recreation Director continued working at the Recreation Center building, Mr. Eldridge can't prove or disprove that the Recreation Director has done anything wrong. When Mr. Eldridge was confronted by the Lisbon community about WHY he wanted to move Mr. Stevens to the Lisbon Town Office, his response was: "I want him more available to the public and more available to the business people."

The Lisbon community showed up in droves at the July 1st Town Council meeting to find out why Mr. Eldridge would discount the years of hard work the community did to get the Recreation Center where it is today. They also showed up in droves to support Mr. Mark Stevens, who has been the Recreation Director for fifteen years. Mr. Steven's service to the Town of Lisbon community is impeccable. One community member stated to Mr. Eldridge and the Town Council, "We know our people, we know our town." They also shared that Mr. Stevens had taken a program that was falling apart and turned it into a success. Mr. Stevens not only is the Recreation Department Director which he takes very seriously but he is a coach, a father, and a community activist. The community expressed to the Lisbon Town Council that the Lisbon school sport's teams are so successful because of the programs offered by the Lisbon Recreation Center. They also expressed that Mr. Stevens is available to them on and off the clock even giving out his home phone number to ensure that the Recreation Department is open to the community when they need it and accessible for sports programming.

So, from a common sense perspective, Mr. Eldridge's excuse for moving Mr. Stevens from the Recreation Center building to the Town Offices does not make sense. As a matter of a fact, Mr. Stevens had an office at the Town Offices when the new building was first built but the Board of Directors for the Recreation Department made a conscious decision to have him and his staff relocated to the Recreation Center building so that they would be more accessible to the community. And, it has been a huge success.

The recreation center building used to be the Lisbon Falls elementary school and was closed down after the new elementary school was built in Lisbon Center. It was a building that was falling in disrepair located in Lisbon Falls central to the downtown and nearby many, many neighborhoods. The Recreation Department Board of Directors and the Recreation Department Director turned this town owned property around and made it what it is today. The building was renovated on the inside by volunteers, the grounds were improved, and the location became attractive to other volunteer organizations including the Lisbon Historical Society, the Food and Clothing Bank, and Headstart. The Recreation Director was responsible for overseeing the building, its maintenance, and hours of operation. The Recreation Director also used the location which included a gymnasium, an exercise room, basketball courts and volleyball courts for sports programming. Mr. Stevens also took it a step further and created a park with a playground for both the children and their parents. The new Recreation Center and its grounds were transformed in a short period of time to a viable community service center. It is a hit!

So after learning in the Brunswick Times Record that Mr. Eldridge not only wanted to move the Recreation Director and Assistant Director to the Town Offices and that eventually he was going to close the Recreation Center building, the community was understandably upset. And, they asked Mr. Eldridge to make his decisions make sense. They also expressed that they DO NOT WANT THIS TO HAPPEN. One community member also suggested that all of the Directors including the Public Works Director be moved to the Town Offices. And, they asked if Mr. Eldridge had taken the Recreation Department Director's proposals into account. Finally, they expressed that Mr. Eldridge had not been in Lisbon long enough to understand the history, he had not spoken to the community about his decisions, and he had ignored or discounted the community's reaction to his recent "managerial" directives. They asked him if he was going to "micro-manage" all of the Director's in the same way he was micro-managing the Recreation Department Director.

The Town Council and Mr. Eldridge's response to the community was very sad. One of the Town Councilor's, Mr. Dale Crafts, expressed to the community during the council meeting that he had tried for three months to get the Recreation Department changes on the agenda but Ms. Norma Wells, the Chairman of the Town Council, refused to put it on the agenda. Mr. Crafts also informed the community that "if the people say they want something, give it to them!" Mr. Crafts was the only Town Council member who was clearly responding to the needs of the community and deserves to be recognized for his efforts. Mr. Crafts also confronted Mr. Eldridge about his earlier comments that the Recreation Department Director "issues" were dropped in his lap. Mr. Crafts wanted to know who dropped it in his lap. Ms. Wells informed Mr. Crafts and the community that they did not have to answer that question.

Mr. Eldridge was squirming during the entire confrontation. First, as stated earlier, he shared that he wanted to move the Recreation Director back to the Town Office because he wanted him to be more accessible to the public and to business people. Okay, this does not make sense given the fact that he is more accessible to the public at the Recreation Center where the public will actually be using the services of the Recreation Department. And, why does the Recreation Director need to be more accessible to business people? He's not the Economic Developer, he is the Recreation Director. This response is ludicrous. Mr. Stevens was moved to the Recreation Center building to make him more accessible to the public after many discussions over the years amongst the Board of Directors and the community at large. And, Mr. Eldridge after six months on the job is undoing the hard work of the community, lying to them about the reasons for doing it, and in essense patronizing the community.

Mr. Eldridge was asked if he had considered any other proposals to his supposed response to budgetary constraints and he was also asked if he had taken the Recreation Director's input into consideration. Mr. Eldridge's response to these two questions were NO. Mr. Eldridge did not consider any other proposals and he did not take Mr. Stevens inputs into consideration. When asked if he was going to move the Public Work's Director to the Town Offices, his response was NO. When asked why, Mr. Eldridge stated that the public works director works in that building to oversee equipment and supplies. This response was infuriating to the community members in the audience because this is the same exact reason they want Mr. Stevens, the Recreation Director, to remain at the Recreation Center building! It appears that Mr. Eldridge has been caught with his pants down and is unable to share the real reason he wants to move Mr. Stevens to the Town Office. And, Ms. Norma Wells and Mr. Michael Bowie, who are in on it, protected him and his decisions to the fullest extent. In our opinion, Ms. Wells ended her career as Chairman and here are the reasons why.

First, Ms. Wells, the Chairman of the Town Council, refused to put the Recreation Department issue on the agenda for over three months. Second, Ms. Wells acted incredibly unprofessional while protecting the Town Manager; she confirmed that she is working "behind the scenes". Her actions also displayed that she discounts the needs of the community and needs to be in control. At the urging of the community, a request was made to allow Mr. Mark Stevens to speak. Ms. Wells refused to allow Mr. Stevens to talk during the audience participation portion of the Town Council meeting. She informed the public that he could speak at the workshop but they could not. So in essence, the workshop was not really a workshop because it did not allow the opportunity for discussion, therefore, the public wanted to have the discussion during the audience participation portion of the Council meeting.

Mr. Crafts made a motion to allow the Recreation Director to speak during the audience participation but it did not pass. The same 4-3 vote occurred this time as it has in the past. After hearing the community outcry that the workshop didn't make sense if they were not allowed to talk after hearing Mr. Stevens speak, Mr. Bowie backtracked and stated that he did not mind if Mr. Stevens spoke. Mr. Crafts attempted a second motion to allow the Recreation Director to speak again but Ms. Wells absolutely would not allow the motion to be heard. This in fact is illegal and proves that Ms. Wells was putting up roadblocks at all costs to protect Eldridge (and Brooks) and to prevent the community from getting the answers to their questions and being a part of the decision making process.

Bottom line. Mr. Eldridge had not been working for the Town of Lisbon long enough to make a determination as to whether or not any of these employee's actions warranted being fired. Based on his actions, in our opinion it is obvious that he is carrying out the Chief of Police's agenda and the Rumford Reporter called it. After reading the Rumford Reporter and learning about why Steve Eldridge was run out of Rumford, we now understand what they were talking about. One of our community members informed the Lisbon Town Council that they should hang their heads in shame for hiring him. He clearly has a dictator type management style and is not a man of the people. Lisbon is an amazing community with amazing people who have made it what it is today. We will not stand for one man coming in and turning our town upside down to benefit a few. The Town Manager is supposed to be making decisions for the greater good. Instead, he is cutting services that benefit the community while at the same time increasing the police department budget by over 6%, increasing the salary of the Economic Developer who only works three days a week, and increasing the salary of the Town Engineer, who not only doesn't have an Engineering Degree but is paid to go to school and can rarely be found.

When you ask yourself why the Town Council and Eldridge would behave in this way, think about this: What do Maryann Morgan, Cassie LeBlond, and Mark Steven's have in common? They all grew up in Lisbon, they all have close ties with the Lisbon community, and they care deeply about the needs of the community and the future of their town. In our opinion, Wells, Bowie, Eldridge (and Brooks) are protecting their domain and do not want their actions to be questioned by the community. They are not looking out for the greater good. They are instead looking out for themselves. You need to stop and think about what is in it for them. A Town official ethically should not operate in this fashion because they are supposed to WORK FOR THE PEOPLE. They answer to us!