RECAP OF SEPTEMBER 6 MEETING,,, STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES

The September 6, 2011 meeting of the Town Council was extremely educational and entertaining to say the least.  The meeting started off with a Public Hearing on Access Management.  This is a new Ordinance dealing with driveways and sight distances in order to provide public safety.  Originally, this document was supposed to be restricted to Routes 9, 125 and 196.  The Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) worked with the Planning Board to come up with this Ordinance.  It was excellently written and provided Public Safety for the residents of Lisbon.  The Planning Board included Mill Street and Upland Road because of the school.  I recommended this ordinance apply to all the streets of Lisbon but the Planning Board and the council did not approve this.

During the Audience Participation, I brought out the fact the town Manager had stated in the council meeting on July 19th; “The Economic Community Development Director would brief the town on Moxie Day and provide a financial report.” in a couple of weeks. It is September 6th and no report.  Again, another example of the incompetency of the town manager by failing to follow through on issues presented at a council meeting.  According to Scott Benson, he will provide the briefing at the next meeting on September 20, 2011. 

I asked the question as to how the Animal Control Officer is paid for the four additional communities he provides support.  According to Eldridge, each of the other towns pays equally to the town of Lisbon for the Animal Control Officers salary.  

I asked the council at what point are the minutes of the meeting become a Public Record or a legal document.  No one could answer the question so I turned to the Town Attorney Roger Therriault for a response to this simple question.  Therriault shrugged his shoulders like he had no clue and gave no response.  The perfect lawyer for the Town of Lisbon.  The reason I asked the question was because the minutes of July 19th meeting have never been approved by the council.  Also the minutes of August 2 & 16th do not match the video of the meeting.  It appears the town clerk selects what she feels is important to record and once the council approves the minute they are considered a Public Record and a legal document.  By leaving questions and answer out of the minutes, the minutes are no longer an accurate record of the proceedings.  This council voted to no longer transcribe the minutes word for word and allowed the town clerk to write a smaller version of what took place at the meeting.  I believe if the town clerk is NOT recording accurately what took place during the meeting then maybe it is time to return to transcribing word for word the council meetings in order to get an accurate and complete version of the meetings.

I also asked where the Council Working Rules were and what date they were approved.  The response was August 2nd was the date the working rules were approved but they needed to work on the wording of paragraph e(5)d because I pointed out to the council it was impossible to comply with.  By the way, August 2nd minutes had no record of me telling the council about not being able to comply with the rules.  The town is very select when it comes to recording the minute of the meetings.  Showing up the council never gets published!!!!

Later on in the meeting, I asked to speak on the Charter changes and was denied by the Chair Mark Lunt.  I called a point of order and explained to the Chair the effective date of the approved council working rules was August 23rd but the changes had never been posted to town ordinances so I used Section 74-201 which states residents of the town of Lisbon are allowed to speak on agenda items after the sponsor has explained the issue and the councilors have asked questions.  I waited until these provisions were met to ask to speak.  Chairman Lunt stated he was running this meeting and I was denied a right to speak.  The actions of Chairman Lunt clearly demonstrate the council does not comply with their own ordinances and taxpayers are paying over $80,000 for an incompetent town manager who cannot be responsible to post current changes to the town ordinances and web site.

I left the saddest point of all for the last because I already wrote a full article on this; three councilors denied Mr. Morreale an opportunity to recover his property by paying all of the monies owed to the town of Lisbon on Monday September 12th.   Vice Chair Pomelow, Councilors Bowie and LaRochelle voted not to allow Mr. Morreale to pay all back monies owed and to take his property.  This act by these councilors showed the world they have no compassion for their fellow citizens.  They turned their backs on a resident in need of assistance.  Mr. Morreale asked for nothing more than a seven day extension on his back taxes and sewer charges.  In my opinion, this was a disgraceful act by Vice Chair Pomelow, Councilors Bowie and LaRochelle and I hope the next time these councilors come up for reelection; the residents of Lisbon remember how they treated one of their own. 

NEXT TIME IT COULD BE YOU, ME OR ANY OF US.

Larry A. Fillmore
Concerned Citizen