CHAIRMAN DILLON PESCE IS RESPONSIBLE!

 Town Manager Diane Barnes

Lisbon Town Council Chairman Dillon Pesce

The Chair is responsible according to our Town Charter; paragraph Section 2-04 (2) states “develop, after consultation with the Town Manager, agenda for Council Meetings” for the Agenda.  Also, paragraph c (Agenda) Section 74-201 Council Working Rules states: 
"(1) Development. The development of agendas for meetings of the Lisbon Town Council shall be in accordance with Section 2.04(a)(2) of the Charter. 

(2) Deadline. For regular and special meetings of the council held at the designated time and place, all agenda items shall be provided to the manager's office by close of business on the Wednesday prior to the regular Tuesday meeting."

The agenda shall be provided online by the close of business on the Thursday prior to the regular Tuesday meeting. Changes to the agenda will not normally be made after this time and documentation for all agenda items will be included with the agenda. Any missing documents will be addressed via memorandum from the Town Manager (i.e. fuel bids).

Now, I have quoted the reference addressing the Agenda from both the Town Charter and the Town Council’s own working rules; it is crystal clear who is responsible for the Agenda.  These references are to outline the duties for Chairman Dillon Pesce.  On July 21, 2015, these duties were NOT followed in the creation of the Agenda on purpose.  

What good is it to have a Charter and for the Council to create a set of rules if the Chairman is going to ignore them and do whatever he wants to do?   This is not the first time Chairman Pesce has ignored these documents and done whatever he wants too.

The first violation was allowing an item to be added to the Consent Agenda that was not even on the published Agenda.  Next, Agenda Items 2015-210 and 2015-211 there was no documentation to explain to the people what is going on with these items and there was no memorandum from the Town Manager in its place as required by the Council Working Rules.

Next let’s talk about the TWO Executive Sessions that were conducted.  The Agenda listed a single Executive Session to consult with legal counsel.  There was no mention of the state statute that the DEP Consent Agreement or the Revaluation Decision that applied or that it was even going to be discussed in Executive Session.  This is a violation of state law.  At the beginning of the meeting, Chairman Pesce asked for a motion to go into Executive Session and then went into Executive Session for approximately 45 minutes.  

Upon return there was nothing said and we moved on to the meeting.  When it came to these two items they moved into Executive Session again.  When they returned a Councilor made a motion to accept the decisions made in Executive Session; it was seconded and they voted 6-0 to accept.  There was no mention or explanation provided to the people of what was going on.  This is plain wrong on so many levels including the state it is not funny. 

 Apparently, the Town does not want the people to know what just took place behind closed doors.  It appears that we are reverting back to the Eldridge era and that Mrs. Barnes is Eldridge with a skirt.  Well, I have put in a Freedom of Access Act for a copy of the signed documents and when I get them I will let you know what is going on.

Normally, presentations are placed under Other Business with the exception of when you are going to use the presentation for a Character Assassination to try and justify your position.  Chairman Pesce and Town Manager Barnes placed the attack on the Superintendent Green just before the Council voted on 2015-2016 School Budget Warrant Articles.  This strategy was meant to discredit the School Department and give creditability to the Council’s decision to cut the School Budget.   
How did it work for you? 

Now, let’s look at how well the Councilors listen to their constituents. The people voted in June on the original cut by the Town Council.  The results were the people voted it down and with a non-binding question stated it was too low.  So what did the Town Council do Tuesday night?  Why did they make it even lower this time?  The Councilors, with the exception of Councilor Gregg Garrison, must be brain dead.  When the people vote stating the budget was too low you do not turn around and make it lower.  

Two things are crystal clear to me and that is the Town Council has no intention of ever listening to the people, with the exception of Councilors Garrison and Lunt,  Chairman Pesce, Councilors Bickford and Metivier are on a vendetta to destroy the School Department.

Councilors are supposed to put aside their personal feelings and do what is best for the community.  This vendetta has to stop because it is only destroying this community. 

Larry Fillmore