ABUSE OF POWER RUNNING RAMPANT IN LISBON!

Lisbon Town Council Chairman Dillon Pesce

Lisbon Councilor Roger Bickford

Lisbon Councilor Eric Metivier

Ever wonder how Chairman Pesce can ignore the Charter and Council Working Rules?   

It is very simple because he can.  Who is going to enforce the numerous violations of both the Charter and Council Working Rules?  Chairman Pesce can have the police remove anyone from the council meetings but members of the public cannot ask the police to remove the Chair.  This is called absolute power and violations of this are called abuse of power/position.  But, then again who is going to enforce these violations, no one.

At one point in the history of the town, it was possible to “Recall” a councilor.    However, that ship has sailed many years ago thanks to Michael Bowie and Roger Therriault (former Town Attorney).  These two individuals added additional requirements for Recall to make it harder to approve and easier to reject before it goes to a vote.  The most damaging aspect of the Recall process is that under Part 3 Sec 8-31d (Actions on Petition) is states in this paragraph “An official shall be recalled when a majority of those voting thereon shall have voted in the affirmative so long as the total number of voters who cast votes for and against recall is at least 30% of the total of qualified number voters who cast votes for Governor in the most recent gubernatorial election.”  

 I can remember twice the people tried to recall two different councilors and they failed.  The majority voted in favor of the recall but they did not come close to meeting the requirement for 30%.  In fact, two Priests, a Nun, a Rabbi and the Pope could not get enough voters out to meet this 30% requirement which makes it totally impossible to recall a councilor.

Since, there is no way to recall a councilor and there is no one to enforce the numerous violations by Chairman Pesce; the town’s only course of action is to vote Councilor Pesce out in November.   If he continues his present rate of destroying the community by November, he can do a lot more harm.  I have always supported Councilor Dillon Pesce but he is totally wrong in this vendetta against the School Department.   

This vendetta is causing irreversible damage between the Town Council and the School Department and is costing an enormous amount of taxpayers’ dollars to be used in legal fees.  This money could be better spent on town roads or reducing our taxes.

Councilors Pesce, Bickford and Metivier have got to realize how much damage they are doing to the community and end this vendetta.  Personal character assassinations are cheap low blows that take away from the integrity of the Town Council and each Councilor.  It also reflects poorly on the community because other people are watching Lisbon.

I noticed, at the time of my writing, that the video of the last council meeting is not posted possibly it has technical difficulty.  When the Town is too ashamed of their actions, there are always technical difficulties with the video.

Larry Fillmore