I was pleased to see the meeting started with the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States Flag.
The meeting was opened by Board of Selectman Ben Thompson at roughly 4 minutes past 7 PM.
The first person that was introduced was Mr. Ernie Lizotte.
As Mr. Lizotte made his way to the front of the room, he held in his hands, a piece of green cloth. He spoke about his late wife, Ethel, and the many years she had been a member of Lebanon town government and the many things she had done to volunteer. Then he began to unfold the piece of green cloth with the assistance of two young women, and the residents who were present were amazed when he offered a beautiful flag, which his wife had created for the town. It had taken Mrs. Lizotte 3 years to complete the labor of love, and Ernie was so proud and so emotional donating her work, started for the Town's Bicentennial year, to the Town, accepted by Town Office Employee, Sue Collins.
Ernie explained that the logs represented the original industry of Lebanon, which was the milling of logs. The shape in green in the center is the outline of the town map. 1767 is the year that the town was incorporated, and the pine tree in the center is for Maine, the Pine Tree State, and in the center of the pine tree, a likeness of Gully Oven. On the end of each of the logs was an embroidered picture, featured are the Lebanon Town Hall, Blaisdell Corner Schoolhouse, Lebanon Academy, and Lebanon Rail Road Station. Finally, his wife Ethel had chosen the background color of green, as it represented new and continued growth, and the white fringe around the border, well that was for God keeping us all safe.
Following Mr. Lizottes emotional presentation, State Representative Karen Gerrish was welcomed and she took the podium, giving to the Town, a United States Flag, that had flown over our Capital Building in Augusta, along with a State of Maine flag. She also called upon the Chief of our Fire and Rescue Departments, Daniel Meehan, to come forward and she presented him with similar flags.
State Representative Gerrish then called to the front, the family of our town's beloved Road Commissioner, the late Larry Torno. Daughter Angela was moved to tears and bouts of weeping as Representative Gerrish read a special proclamation recognizing her father in the Maine House of Representatives. Most of the people in the room wept openly along with Angela as we all felt the pain of her father's loss, but also understanding the enormity of her personal loss, and the great loss to Mr. Torno's entire family.
The Moderator for the Town Meeting was introduced, an Attorney from the law offices of Bernstein Shur of Portland, Maine, which represents the town in litigation matters. She took the lecturn and announced the ground rules for the meeting, which were really basic Town Meeting rules, with a reminder to be respectful, and a 2 minute or less, per person, allotment of time.
Mrs. Rebekah Thompson spoke on Referendum 1, telling the residents why it was important to the Lebanon Festival Committee to appropriate $1,500 for the Festival Committee's use, reminding the gathering that 2017 will be the Town's 250th Celebration and that they were hoping for a very big Festival in that year as a way for the town to celebrate together.
Ms. Corinna Cole, Candidate for Selectman in the upcoming election, spoke regarding Referendum 2 and her support of a Town Manager to be hired by the Town. There was quite a bit of discussion regarding this issue, with comments added in favor of a Town Manager from Budget Committee members Chris Gilpatrick and Chip Harlow. Former Town Clerk, Laura Bragg presented a State Statute regarding the work of a Town Manager that was helpful in reassuring some of the folks who were still on the fence about creating this position, as it answered questions as to who would oversee the Town Manager, that the Selectmen had the right to set his salary, and that as an employee rather than an elected official, if there were problems that arose, what the town's recourse could be. Selectman Paul Philbrick spoke in opposition to the hiring of a Town Manager as he was not ready to start looking for someone to fill that position without a more detailed idea of what the Manager's position would include. Selectman Royce Heath also admitted to not being in favor of this position as he felt that adding one more person to town government was unnecessary. Select Board Chairman Ben Thompson, however, voiced his approval of this idea, saying it would ease the already overstretched burden on the Board of Selectmen and make it easier for them to function doing the jobs they were supposed to be doing.
Questions by Eric Neubert and Rebecca Beal regarding whether or not the $60,000.00 proposed salary would be including benefits and insurance, and Corinna Cole, the sponsor of the Citizens Referendum, answered that the benefits and insurance would be considered in addition to the $60,000. proposed. Chip Harlow mentioned that a $60,000 salary was low for someone in a Town Manager's position and worried that for that money we wouldn't get the quality Manager that the town had been seeking for the past few years.
Harrison Thorp ended the resident's discussion on the two Town Manager Referendums by saying that this was an idea "who's time has come!" There was quite a giggle when he added, "Well, we worked out Obamacare, we can work this out! Stop dragging your feet!"
Referendum 4 deals directly with the last remaining issue of the former Lebanon Rescue Department Inc. What is left to do with this old business is a final approval from town voters to transfer the last remaining balances from the defunct department's "Enterprise Fund" into the General Fund of the town. Lebanon Assistant Fire Chief, Dan Roy, stood to question the amount of money remaining in that fun, and Selectman Thompson answered there is about $18,500.
When the talk turned to Referendum 5, resident Laura Bragg had more than one question, but reminded folks, amid much good natured kidding, that as an employee of the Town, she'd had to remain silent for 15 years, but now she was free to talk and was going to exercise that right, saying that it made her so happy to finally be able to speak! This Referendum deals specifically with the Selectmen's rights to enter into a longer contract for certain town services so that they don't have to set them out for bid each and every year. Chip Harlow of the Budget Committee spoke in favor of this saying that it added a "stability" to the budget process. Ms. Bragg asked what specific contracts would this include, as the language of the Referendum does not state that specifically. Selectman Thompson mentioned snow plowing, while Selectman Philbrick said he has specifically thought of the Town Office cleaning and the Municipal Cemetery and Town Property lawn mowing contract.
Referendum 6 did not receive much talk until after Selectman Thompson took a moment to speak about it. This Referendum deals with the ability of the Town to accept monetary gifts and to use them for the exact purpose for which they were given. Budget Committee member Judy Churchard asked questions about Endowment Funds and Trust Funds, which Selectman Thompson spoke about, saying that in this economy with lower than low interest rates, when a monetary trust only gives 1/2 of the interest accrued on a yearly basis, trusts and endowment funds don't work as well for the Town as they have in the past.
Referendum 7 was the winner of the most conversation and questions of the night. This Referendum speaks about whether or not the Town should offer Elected Selectmen insurance through the Town's Health Insurance program. Selectman Paul Philbrick stated that he had personally asked that this Referendum be added to the ballot. Once you read Referendum 8, that specifically asks if the Town should fund Health Insurance for it's elected Road's Commissioner, Philbrick thought it was important to word this Referendum so that the town's voters would know that the Health Insurance question of Referendum 8 was not for ALL elected officials, but ONLY for the Roads Commissioner, and the Selectman's question would then become separate from the Road Commissioner. Chip Harlow was recognized asking why the three Selectmen had chosen to Recommend or Not Recommend this to the Town's Voters, the first of one of his many comments on the night on "Conflict of Interest", but Selectman Thompson said that he personally thought it was important to let the Town's Voters know exactly where each of the Board Members stood on this issue. Royce Heath added a comment that he had chosen to say YES, and Recommend this Referendum to the Voters as the Town had offered Health Insurance to Selectmen for years. That sparked quite a few furrowed brows and raised hands. Judy Churchard commented that the Town had NEVER offered benefits to it's Selectmen and Laura Bragg questioned where Royce had heard that this had been offered. Ben Thompson stood to answer those questions that in 2010 it was discussed as an offering due to the amount of hours that a single Selectman had put in with the town, stating that the amount of hours one works has direct bearing on whether or not the Town should be offering health insurance. A knowing head shake and sigh was audible while everyone realized the former Selectman that was referred to and then Fire Department Volunteer Eric Neubert questioned what the amount of hours would be for an elected official to work before being offered Town health insurance. Thompson answered that the threshold was currently set at 25 hours, but that the Town was looking to increase that to 32 hours as there were some who were willing to work a little harder, but who were being held back from their work due to the amount of hours they were working. The final comment came from Budget Committeeman, Chip Harlow who suggested that if people were hired or elected to more than one position within the town, their hours should count separately for each department, rather than being lumped all together. He also stated that there were a few in the room who worked for more than one department and he again questioned "Conflict of Interest".
There was much discussion on Referendum question 8 as well, the language regarding Health Insurance for an elected Road Commissioner. The Lebanon Voice's Harrison Thorp stood to ask why all of the Budget Committee members had voted against funding for this position. Chris Gilpatrick stood to answer Mr. Thorp and a lot of talk was thrown about regarding how guys come in working for the Road Crew and billing for the use of their 1 ton trucks, and walk away owning their own construction companies from the profit they are making. Gilpatrick added that making over $35,000 a year plus the Town paying for fuel was sure a hefty amount of money for an elected official to be making. At that time I also stood on behalf of current Road Supervisor Tom Torno. I stated that I had no idea who's truck he used or what his pay scale was, but that Mr. Torno could not possibly work a "regular job" because of all the hours that he put in for the Town of Lebanon. I spoke about being at weekly Selectman's meetings and hearing all the work that Mr. Torno was doing in a day's time, his quest for free or "experimental" road materials and grants, his calls from citizens that he takes personally and how much help he has been in addressing citizen complaints regarding sand in the roads, bumpy roads, potholes and more on a daily basis. Mr. Gilpatrick assured me that he too had sat in on many Selectman's meetings, and that as a business owner himself, he hated seeing people taking advantage of the Town Payroll and using it to build up a business of their own while the Town basically paid their truck and house payments along with their fuel expenses.
There were no questions at all on the Referendum 9 question to raise and appropriate the sum of $215,748.00 for the operation, upkeep and purchase of equipment for the Lebanon Fire Department.
Referendum 10, however, the question regarding a $50,000 amount to be placed in a Reserve Fund for the purchase of major equipment for the Fire Department met with some questions. Candidate for Selectman, Corinna Cole asked why some of the Budget Committee had voted not to recommend this money to the voters. Chip Harlow stood and answered that he was not happy with the spending of money on the new Jaws of Life from the reserve fund this year. At this time, Fire Department Volunteer Eric Neubert stood to defend the department's need to replace the 12 year old outdated Jaws the department had already owned. He also added that the Department had received a $60,000 grant for new and improved breathing apparatus that was essential for the department. This equipment, he explained, was recharged with an old air compressor that finally just up and died on them and the need to replace that compressor was immediate. That equipment too, came from the Reserve Fund and that the entire department was grateful for the Town permitting their purchase. At that time, Selectman Heath, after hearing the department's emergency need and knowing that in the event of immediate need, going to the town for an increased budget request would have taken longer than the department could have afforded to wait, admitted that he had also chosen to not recommend this Referendum to the voters, but that he was now changing his decision and would recommend this Reserve Fund be continued by the Town.
Referendum 11, listed on the Ballot as being recommended by 7 of the 8 Budget Committee members, was noted as incorrect by Committee member Bettie Harris Howard. She amended the numbers to show that all 8 of the Committee members had voted to Recommend the amount of $256,695.00 for the Lebanon Rescue Department.
Referendum 12, the Referendum we all thought would bring a lot of questions and concerns, met with little in the way of conversation. Department Volunteer, Eric Neubert rose to speak for the entire membership of the Lebanon Fire Department saying that the members were "fully behind this". Neubert added that under the new Chief, the members of both Fire and Rescue Departments had been working together what he termed a "combined mindset" for months now. "We want this," he added, "our two departments go hand in hand, they should be combined." Selectman Thompson stated that there were many members who were currently "cross trained" or who were currently in training to be able to work in both the EMT / Rescue aspect of the position, as well as in the Firefighting positions. Rebecca Beal stood and asked if there might be a cost savings due to the departments being joined, and Thompson stated "Yes, as we progress through this, and as a town, there should be".
It was at this time that Selectman Thompson chose to address the elephant in the room. The "Illegal Ballot Question" that was on everyone's mind, but had yet to be spoken. According to Selectman Thompson, the "Rumors, and okay, outright lies on Facebook" regarding the legality of this Referendum question were untrue. "Home rule prevails" he added, stating that Town Counsel had gone over this question completely. Thompson read from the original June 8, 2010 Town Vote article being sited by the Town's most controversial pages, and afterwards he stated that there was "Nothing to do" with the allegations being made against the illegality of this particular Referendum. "This vote would completely override the 2010 one", he finished.
The Moderator moved onward to Referendums 13, 14, 15, and 16 without comment or question.
Referendum 17 brought a bit of tense banter between the Moderator and Budget Committee member Chris Gilpatrick. The Moderator asked him to please state his question and comments in their entirety before she would ask anyone to respond. Gilpatrick stood his ground, stating "I am a taxpayer in this Town and when I have something to say, I should be heard!" The Moderator did allow him to continue, even though she did note that he form in which he was asking his questions was not correct and that she would prefer if he would not promote a back and forth debate, but rather state his question and his statement directed to her, and then she would direct the question to the correct party to answer. Mr. Gilpatrick wanted a specific answer as to which of the Selectmen had spoken to recommend this Referendum to the voters. Selectman Heath stated right away that he had voted to not recommend the $150,000 amount requested specifically for road paving. Another citizen who spoke several times during the evening, but I could not make out his name, questioned if the Town had received any FEMA monies for the problems we'd had in the past years with storm damage. Selectman Thompson said that to his knowledge, no FEMA money had been obtained by the Town, however they were still waiting to see if they were approved for money from January's damage from Winter Storm Juno, as that had not yet been resolved. Thompson added that there was money available from a program he called, L-RAP, which provided money for project where the expected lifespan was 10 years or greater. Chris Gilpatrick said that this had been an issue with him for years. He talked about Road Crew employees using their own 1 ton trucks and billing the town $550 per day, "for that kind of money," he stated, "the Town could own and maintain their own fleet of trucks!" Gilpatrick went on to say that the Road Crews in town were not managed well, and that he continually saw them operating machinery without the proper safety gear. "If someone gets hurt, they'll sue the town. Everyone's in it (the Road Crew) for the money," he added, saying that every year he urges the voters to say NO to this funding, and every year they vote it back in. Corinna Cole said that she had been going over budgets for the Road Crew and that last year there were laborers who made over $60,000.00 for the year, agreeing with Gilpatrick that this was unacceptable. Seletman Thompson added a statement saying, "I don't have the guts to tear down this Town's budget the way I should be, but yes, we probably could support our own trucks." Resident Ernie Lizotte didn't seem to like the tone of the conversation, and he stood on behalf of Road Commissioner Larry Torno. "This town has never had a better Road Commissioner than Larry Torno," he said, "I sure hope we don't let him down."
Referendums 17, 18, 19, and 20 met with only a few comments, but Referendum 21, the Referendum to pay the Selectmen $12 an hour for their work, met with some opposition. There were questions on "double dipping" with regards to whether folks who worked for 2 separate departments were always paid the higher rate, but the answers were clear that they would receive the rate for whatever job they were doing at the time. Chip Harlow chimed in regarding "one family" that works at the transfer station and complained about going to the transfer station and finding no one there and full containers, and added that one of the transfer station employees (questioning specifically Ronald Patch) was a salaried employee, but that statement was quickly shot down by both Selectman Thompson and Budget Committee member Judy Churchard as untrue. All transfer station employees are hourly. I asked after a Facebook question from a local resident regarding the statement made by Selectmen the night of the Budget Committee meeting where they stated that the three would take a cut in pay from $36,000 a year down to $32,000 a year as they wanted to add a part time counter clerk / data entry position to the Town Office Staff. If the pay rate is $12 an hour for the Selectmen, how did they plan on cutting their yearly pay amount without cutting their hours? The answer was that they would be budgeted at $32,000, but if they went over that amount of money, the money would be taken from the General Fund to pay for the excess. I might be a bit on the thick side, but to me, that's no guarantee that the Select Board will be cut any money on their pay at all. Just that the additional would be taken from another fund. Selectman Thompson has promised to sit down and explain it to me at a later date in more detail.
Referendum number 22, asking the voters to appropriate $357.940.00 for Town Office expenses including Elections and Selectmen's wages brought the Town Office question back again, this time coming from newly able to speak, former Town Clerk, Laura Bragg. She asked if there were plans to cut the hours of current office staff in order to help fund the new part time office staff position that was being considered. Selectmen Thompson stated that there had been no decision made on that yet, but that "it could happen".
Referendum 24 speaks to the appropriation of money for the care and upkeep of municipal buildings. Resident Rebecca Beal asked if the Old Town Hall on Center Road was included in this amount of money. Selectman Thompson answered with a speedy "No", but Budget Committee member, Chip Harlow was recognized and questioned Selectman Thompson on his speedy reply, stating that the Old Town Hall is still considered a municipal building, to which Thompson replied that yes, it was a town owned building, but was not being used for any reason by the Town at this time.
Referendum 25 brought some discussion on the anger of town residents at the loss of the former building code enforcement officer. Chris Gilpatrick spoke on the former enforcement officer's behalf stating that he had heard the dispute that led the Code Enforcement officer to part ways with the town was as little as $1,000. He asked the Selectmen to answer to that, but they refused, with Thompson stating in an all too familiar way, that it was a "personnel issue" that he was not going to address.
Referendums 26, 27 found no questions or comments.
I did personally speak on Referendum 28, the request for $35,900.00 for legal fees for the Town. My objection was that our current Town Counsel, and Town Government has done nothing to protect the residents, children, and Town Volunteers from slander, harassment and stalking. I mentioned specifically the Town Fire and Rescue Department Volunteers. I mentioned many of them by name. I spoke of the great job they are doing and how not one of them deserved the hand they were being dealt. I spoke about the need to stop the use of the Town name and Town Department names. How we needed to stop the use of the Town Patch and photos of Town vehicles. I spoke about being sick about no representation against this type of harassment for people who are volunteering for our Town Departments and how sick I am of the hush-hush "pending investigation" speech. I stated that $35,000.00 was not enough of a legal fee allocation to stop this from continuing to happen. I actually got a little emotional looking at our Town Volunteers all seated in the back row. "They are good men and women, and they deserve our protection". At that point, the Moderator silenced me, and I didn't argue.
Referendums 29, 30, 31, 32 and 33 all passed by with little conversation or question, but Referendum 34, which speaks to a $3,000 appropriation for the operation of the "Comprehensive Plan Committee" saw a question from me, asking what exactly this committee is and what they need $3,000 for. Corinna Cole, stood and said that she was also the chair for that committee. She directed me to several handouts that she had prepared regarding this committee. I would have rather had an answer, but took the handouts to read later. Budget Committee member Nancy Neubert spoke stating that this was a 3 year progressive plan that would, over the proposed time, cost the town a total of $23,000.00. Budget Committee member Judy Chruchard stated that they had begun work on this already, but that a former Committee director had all the records in his personal home and was no longer answering phone calls or allowing access to these records. "He has all our information and we can't get to it." she stated.
Referendum 35, 36, 37, 38, 39. 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 all met with no discussion.
As soon as the Moderator announced there was no discussion, Budget Committee member Chip Harlow jumped up motioning that the meeting be adjourned, but there was one more question, asked in different forms by two local residents. If all of the Referendums on the June 9th ballot pass, what is the Town of Lebanon looking at for a MIL Rate? Selectman Ben Thompson answered that the calculations come out to a MIL Rate of about 16.0 a difference of about $1.10 per thousand from our current 14.9 MIL rate.
The Moderator asked if there were any other questions or concerns, and finding none, she adjourned the Town Meeting at about 1 minute after 10 PM.
No comments:
Post a Comment