In preparation for the June 9th Town Vote and Election, Harrison Thorp, Editor of the local and regional online news site, The Lebanon Voice, sponsored a Candidates Night on June 1st, 2015, where Lebanon town residents could come out and meet the 4 Candidates running for Town of Lebanon Selectman.
Up until the last minute, Candidate Leo Richer was unsure if he could make the scheduled evening, but it was pleasant to see that all four candidates were present for the 6:30 pm meeting.
Once again Lebanon's patriotism led the evening with the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.
Moderator for the evening, Mr. Harrison Thorp, Editor of The Lebanon Voice, took the podium to advise the crowd of about 70 people of the Guide Rules, which included 4 rounds of time for each candidate to speak their minds. He reminded people to be respectful and said, "It takes a lot of guts to run for public office", and thanked all four of the candidates for the evening event's participation.
The first round, consisting of 3 minutes per candidate was used to tell the people present their history with the town and any background information the wanted to share.
Mr. Paul Nadeau, simply by his choice of seating, was the first to speak. Nadeau outlined his 50 year history as a town resident and that he had always been interested in town government. He cited the death of Road Commissioner Larry Torno and his anger at the way Mr. Torno was treated as the catalyst in his decision to run for Selectman. He also added that he was unhappy with the fact that Selectmen seemed to have an agenda and that he thought it was wrong that our new Town Clerk and Fire and Rescue Chief were from out of town and that he thought that Paul Philbrick had taken away the Code Enforcement Officer's job to do it himself without having any experience. "If I'm elected, I'm not going backwards!" he stated, thanking several residents for their support.
Mr. Leo Richer, cited being in town for 34 years and a business owner for 30 of those years. He said that his main objective in running for Selectman was to keep expenses down, adding that he too was unhappy with the hiring of out of town employees, especially the current Fire and Rescue Chief.
Mr. Paul Philbrick, our incumbent Selectman, took the lectern third and spoke about how much he's learned in his 15 months as Selectman, saying that taking Selectmen's office has provided him with an opportunity that he was thankful for. He stated that all that he has learned will provide him with a base knowledge useful should he return as Selectman for another 3 years. He took the time to speak of the current Board of Selectmen and said they operate as a team, thanking Chairman Ben Thompson and Board member Royce Heath for their time with him. "Fixing the spending in this town takes a lot of time," he stated, "I apologize, but it can't be helped". He mentioned the financial fiasco of the Rescue Department specifically and thanked the current volunteers for "doing a lot of runs for very little money" and for "hanging in there".
The fourth and final Candidate to speak was Mrs. Corinna Cole who first noted that she had handouts available at the door outlining her background and goals. Her 3 minutes was spent mostly discussing her sponsored Referendum Question on the June 9th ballot promoting a Town Manager Plan form of town government. She says that in the past few years, she sees the Selectmen's position as a "popularity contest" following with stories of how folks that had promised to vote for her in the past had then turned around and voted for someone they had known longer, or who had been a neighbor for years. She also spoke on the past history of Selectmen who had used the position to embezzle money, misuse funds and talked about how a Town Manager would help to provide checks and balances in Lebanon to help insure that wouldn't happen again.
The Editor of The Lebanon Voice announced Round 2, a 2 minute opportunity to rebuttal on other Candidates answers, or for the Candidates to add something more to their information.
Leo Richer spoke first this time, saying that he didn't really have much to add, except for that he was in agreement with a Town Manager's position being added to Lebanon government.
Incumbent Paul Philbrick used every bit of his 2 minutes to speak on how people had perceived him. "They always think I'm the quiet one," he stated, adding that he had been working on truly listening to residents to see what was ACTUALLY being said and then he would go and spend his time researching local, State and Federal law before he would make a judgment on where he stood and THEN would speak. "There are rules and regulations for a reason," he stated, "we must abide by them." He also added that he was not against a Town Manager position for the town, he just didn't think Lebanon was quite ready as the details of exactly what that position would involve had not yet been discussed. He added that he would be much more comfortable having details provided. He cited as an example the town's hiring of a Police Department years ago without clear details on how the department would be run and who would oversee them. "That didn't do well," he ended.
Corinna Cole stated that according to State statutes, the sitting Selectmen would outline the job description and parameters of the Town Manager's position. "The Town Manager's position would absorb so many of the Town Departments," she said, adding that the salary of that position would also be set in agreement of the Board of Selectmen. She also spoke on the hiring of out of town people for various positions within the town. "It's not easy to find qualified people for each department all in one town. There may just be no one in town who is qualified." she said.
Paul Nadeau said he didn't understand why Cole and Philbrick thought there were no qualified people in town to fill all the jobs, especially noting the Fire Chief's position and stating that someone currently on the department should have been given the chance for advancement. "I think the Selectmen have an agenda here", he said, "and that they don't follow precedent". He returned to using our late Road Commissioner, Larry Torno as an example saying that he didn't believe that the Selectmen knew that much about road work and that he felt "running a town is just like running a house budget, but with a few more zeros".
Harrison announced the beginning of Round 3, the Audience participation round. Town residents could ask one question, no follow ups, and no discussion or argument. Each Candidate would have the chance to answer the question.
Former Town Clerk, Laura Bragg asked "Why should I vote for you?"
Philbrick answered with simplicity. He said if you liked the forward direction the town was currently moving in, vote for him. If you wanted to go backward and try to bring up something from the past that may, or may not, still be there, then vote for one of the others.
Cole said she also did not want to go backward, again citing the need for a Town Manager and the need to uphold the Comprehensive Plan for the vision of our town's future. She also said that she wants to continue with her proposal for all town meetings to be video taped and presented on Metrocast Cable, stating that the money has already been voted for that and that Metrocast's contract with the town would be up for renewal soon and she would like to see public meeting access be part of that contract.
Nadeau said people should vote for him because he has plenty of available time. "I don't want all these changes", he stated, adding that he didn't understand why our town can't keep our volunteers and why people aren't participating.
Richer, being the last to speak, said that he thought people should vote for him because he'd successfully run a business for 30 years and he felt he could stop wasteful spending.
I stood, (Deborah Dorey Wilson), and asked what, specifically, would each of the Selectmen do to protect our townspeople and volunteers from the harassment, stalking and belittling that had been going on in our town, and what they would do to stop private residents from operating websites that use our town logo, or patch, and make people believe that they are town officials?
Mrs. Cole stated that she thought a Town Manager would handle that effectively with his knowledge of checks and balances and that she thought the matter should be handed off to an outside agency to be investigated and if necessary, prosecuted.
Mr. Nadeau said that he thought our lack of volunteers was due to the Selectmen being on people's backs all the time.
Mr. Richer said he personally had "no clue" what has happened, but he thinks that if people are nicer to the volunteers we can get them back.
Mr. Philbrick, speaking last gave the matter a few minutes of thought before answering. He said that as a sitting Board Member, he felt uncomfortable addressing this in a public forum as he must speak carefully as there were many issues involved here, some being personnel issues and some being of a civil suit nature. He then spoke to each resident seated in the elementary school gymnasium and said that "WE are all part of this problem." He spoke to people with an air of truth and said that "WE as a town, need to protect and shield our volunteers. We need to block people we see taking photos of videos of them. We need to speak up when we hear someone speaking badly of them. When we hear they've done a good job, we need to promote that and let everyone know what a good job they're doing for us!"
This speech by Selectman Philbrick met with a hearty round of applause, the first of the night.
Assistant Fire Chief Dan Roy asked Leo Richer specifically, "Mr. Richer, why have you never been to any of the meetings?", specifying Budget meetings, the recent Referendum meeting, the "Meet the Chief" meeting back in February, or any of the Selectman's meetings that Roy had attended in the past. "I've never seen you there," he said, "So why is it you'd like to run for Selectman?".
Richer stated that he used to go to meetings but "didn't see these meetings being much of anything, really.", adding "I'm just very angry at the spending in this town. I'm tired of it."
Cole said, "I never really wanted to be a Selectman without a Town Manager...because I know there is a lot to being a Selectman.", and that she just thought a Town Manager would be a benefit to the town and she wanted to see it pass.
Nadeau said that he was only running after seeing the horrible way that Road Commissioner Torno had been treated in regards to the Selectmen refusing to continue to pay his health insurance when he could no longer work.
Another resident stood and asked "If we hire a Town Manager, and he doesn't do what the Selectmen say, he'll get fired. So isn't a Town Manager really just a front man for the Selectmen?"
Nadeau agreed with the resident saying that he was right and that "it could be just that", adding that he was against the Town Manager's position.
Richer said that he thought the Town Manager's position should only be for going after Federal money and grants to help the town pay for things.
Philbrick again answered that without clear details on what the Town Manager's position should include, he would not be satisfied. He added, "If you are not confident that your Selectmen are trustworthy, if you hire a Town Manager and the Selectmen oversee his position, what are you really gaining? The Selectmen would still have the control."
Cole once again countered with the fact that the Town Manager would just add another level of checks and balances to Lebanon town government, but agreed that the Selectmen would have the power to fire or replace him or her.
Judy Batchelder, attending with daughter Becky, and a local business owner in town, spoke of her own unfamiliarity with computer systems. She asked if the Candidates were "up to speed" with current computer technology.
Mr. Paul Nadeau said that he was not all that familiar but could "get by".
Mr. Leo Richer said he could "run a computer okay".
Selectman Paul Philbrick stated that he had "basic skills" but that he most often relied on the Town Office employees to navigate the different Town Office software systems.
Mrs. Corinna Cole stated that she had been using computers since 1984 and that had been using them to run her own business since 2005. She said she was not familiar with Town Office software.
At this time, Harrison Thorp announced that he would allow time for 2 more questions.
Chris Gilpatrick questioned the choice of current Selectmen to vote to recommend, or not to recommend to the voters a couple of the Referendum questions that directly spoke on Selectmen's positions, specifically citing the ballot question as to whether or not Selectmen should receive health insurance benefits. He asked how each candidate felt about that choice by the current Selectmen.
Richer immediately agreed that he found the Selectmen's choice to speak on this question to be a conflict of interest, and said that he didn't think that Selectmen should be eligible for town paid insurance.
Philbrick, second in line to speak, said that he had addressed this question already at the Referendum Question Town Hearing held on May 26th, but that he would address it again with the same answer. He said that he only voted to NOT recommend because he wanted to send a clear message to the voters that he was against this change.
Cole said that the MMA (Maine Municipal Association) came out clearly against insurance for any elected town positions adding that she thought the REAL conflict of interest came when you have employees of the town also acting as elected officials.
Nadeau was just as clear that he was against Selectmen having insurance.
The final question of the evening was asked by long time Lebanon school teacher, Rebecca Beal. She asked what each candidate thought was the best thing in our town and worth spending money on, and what they thought was the worst thing in town and in need of being dropped.
Mr. Philbrick, looked out over the group of residents and without hesitation stated that he was "Utterly amazed by our Fire and Rescue Departments". He said, "All they've been through, worked through and recovered from is noteworthy". He added that 80% of our volunteers on Fire and Rescue Departments were from outside of Lebanon. He also added that he agreed there was not enough money being spent on our Roads and Highways. He added that he'd been spending a lot of time with the Acton Road Commissioner, listening and then researching and that the Selectmen, rather than spending more money, need to start spending Highway Department dollars more wisely.
Mrs. Cole said that she would like to concentrate more on our town's Education dollars. She said, "This is our town's future", and thought that a single town vote, combining Referendum articles for all town departments as well as the MSAD60 budget might be beneficial. She said that the last MSAD60 saw less than 150 registered voters come to the polls. She was corrected by Rebecca Beal that the number was actually 212. But they both agreed that was a very low number of the town's voters to decide on Education dollars. Cole also added that the Roads, and Activities for our Senior Citizens were also important to her.
Mr. Nadeau made a much simpler statement, saying "No cuts for the Highway Department". adding "You can't cheat on Highway and play catch up later".
Mr. Richer, having the last word on this question, stated that he wants to see more money spent on our making our highway intersections safer, He spoke about a $900,000 Highway Department budget, adding that he'd like to see less money spent on Winter plowing and sanding, noting that he often sees a lot of sand on the sides of the roads in the Spring and that he thought this was wasteful.
Harrison Thorp then stood and announced the final round in which each candidate would have 2 minutes to sum up their goals, statements, question answers and candidacy.
Corinna Cole used her 2 minutes to speak again on the Town Manager, she said, "A good Town Manager, along with the work of the Comprehensive Plan can help our town's vision for the future". She outlined the Comprehensive Plan, a survey to all residents, followed by research in how to help the town achieve these goals, and then a final report on the best ways to go forward in town growth. She added that she thought that the town should copyright their logos, name, and patches and that they should then prosecute legally anyone who was using them illegally.
Paul Nadeau said that he would work hard on the town's roads and that he thinks that is what is most important.
Leo Richer, too ended with a statement on working hard with special attention to the roads in town.
Paul Philbrick used his entire 2 minute allotment. He said that for right now, the Acton Code Enforcement Officer is acting on behalf of Lebanon. He said that the position of Code Enforcement Officer had been advertised now twice and that not one single resident of Lebanon had applied for the job. "Understanding that, we MUST go outside of town to hire for this position". He then spoke directly to Nadeau's earlier comment on the Road Commissioner position and said that it was directly against State Law for the Selectmen to have included the Road Commissioner position on this year's ballot, as it can only be included once per term, which was 3 years. He added that Larry Torno's son, Tom Torno, had been hired on as the Road Supervisor and that he was doing a FABULOUS job for the town in that position. He ended by saying that all over town, he sees people struggling to pay their taxes. He's listened to what is important to them, and he thinks that adding a $900,000 to $1 million dollar Highway Budget would be raising taxes beyond some people's payment capabilities.
At that point, Mr. Thorp stopped Selectman Philbrick as his time was up.
Harrison thanked all of the candidates for being present and answering questions during the meeting, and he adjourned the meeting for the evening.
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