From a concerned Town Citizen.........
Dear Lebanon Truth Seekers......
Jason is using the email address they have from the secret Santa to send out emails using the Lebanon community news. I got this yesterday.
Well, well, well..........so spineless to send this to the families of the Secret Santa recipients. People who may, or may not, be having financial difficulties. Nothing like scaring the pants off of people who have had financial troubles in the past, whether they do now, or not.
Interesting that this was not posted in open, but that it was sent in secret, sneaky, behind the backs of all who would openly argue with the craziness.
Now, let me say that the statements made by THIS page, The Lebanon Maine Truth Seekers, can all have the PROOF found on the pages of our website.
We've gotten all the proof of everything that we state here and the paperwork is all viewable in the many articles we've linked to and videos that we've shared.
DO NOT CUT OFF YOUR NOSE TO SPITE YOUR FACE.
Your vote is your own.
You decide.
You've seen the EVIDENCE and you've seen empty words from people who have stripped your Rescue Department to bare bones and then ran from the responsibility of answering for the money that was spent. WHERE IS THE EVIDENCE of what's being said. Follow the trail of credibility.
Your vote is your own, and I find it completely offensive to have someone TELL me how to vote!!
Lebanon voters will head to the poles THIS TUESDAY and the decisions made could result in much higher taxes, higher foreclosures and a weaker real estate market due to high taxes and so many vacant houses.
How can anyone possibly predict higher foreclosures, weaker real estate markets and vacant homes?? If anyone could predict this, he would surely be a wealthy man. Real Estate geniuses have been trying to predict these things for years. SCARE TACTICS... Is he scaring you yet???
We have a new fire chief who is trying to have people paid to staff the station for 14 hours a day. Though previous rescue chiefs gave a great explanation on how $150,000 would help staff the station 24 hours a day, this new chief proposes having 4 people paid at the station. This is Lebanon, with one of the lowest call volumes for fire departments in the region. Sanford and Rochester, both cities about 4 times or more the size of Lebanon, often have run with 8 people. But this new chief decided to sneak it into the budget, so residents don’t get the option of voting for it independently of the budget question, like previous chiefs had asked to do. When the former rescue chief presented it, the fire chief at the time had put in for increases to his pay every year. The former rescue chief put in for a small raise with the understanding that if part time people were hired, the administrative tasks would increase and the chief could not cover shifts as they receive a stipend. This new chief wants to work shifts for money for himself and also his fiancée, so they make out financially. This new chief also did away with the towns paramedics and now we have to rely on every other town to cover our paramedic calls, which is the first time this has happened since we had a municipal ambulance service, but he spent a lot of money to take his town owned, maintained and fueled vehicle and strip it of the perfectly good decals and spend a lot of money to redo it.
The TRUTH is that the Fire and Rescue Chief will NOT be getting a pay raise or increase with this new budget. He is NOT staffing RESCUE with 4 people. 2 will be at the Fire Station on Upper Cross Road, and 2 will be at the Rescue Station on Route 202. While this former Rescue Assistant Chief states that Chief Daniel Meehan would ask for a raise for himself and his "fiance" who is a cross trained Firefighter AND EMT, this is simply another LIE and a way to make people think BADLY of our new Chief.
The New Chief, who has a name, Chief Daniel Meehan, did NOT "do away" with our paramedics. He had a LOT of help from the very writer of this e mail notice. This was made evident at the "Meet the Chief" meeting back on February 28, 2015. A video is available of this meeting, and if you have not seen it yet, please request to see it and we will make sure we get you the link.
We do not rely on "every other town" to provide Paramedic support. ONLY Sanford and Rochester are providing paramedic intercepts at this time. Sanford charges for these calls, Rochester, through Frisbee Hospital, does not.
Once again we will tell you the TRUTH about the "town owned, maintained, and fueled vehicle"........The former Rescue administration had decals and labels on that vehicle that were BLUE and this is NOT accepted for a RESCUE AND FIRE vehicle, which needs to be RED to comply with STATE REGULATIONS. It also needed to have REFLECTIVE paint and decals added as encouraged by the Maine Fire Chief's Association. The vehicle had several rust and dent issues that were repaired, as well as the REMOVAL of several sets of BLUE lights in the front grill of the vehicle which are ALSO HIGHLY ILLEGAL if you're not a POLICE vehicle.
Unfortunately, if we approve all the fire and rescue budget items, its about half a million dollars. Taxes are going to increase due to school funding. Plus the selectmen put on a question to give themselves benefits, like pay for their families health insurance and other stuff, plus hire a town manager, and more. While roads need the most work, the Selectmen cut the road budget so they could help fire and rescue.
School funding tax increases are going to go UP this year after the Town of Lebanon voted to do so back in the April MSAD60 funding vote. This has NOTHING to do with the Rescue or the Fire Departments. It was a separate vote. The Selectmen DID put a question on the ballot regarding the funding of Selectman's benefits. This is a SEPARATE Referendum Question and one likely to be voted against in the June 9th vote. Again, this has NOTHING to do with the Rescue and Fire Budgets. The Selectmen have also NOT cut the Road Budget. Yet another scare tactic that is completely unfounded. Road budget is NOT cut and recently the Town has put out HELP WANTED posts for laborers for town road crew members. LIE AGAIN. This past year, the Selectmen DID ask for the Fire Department and ALL Town Departments to cut their budgets by an amount of about $3,000 each to help fund the $200,000 deficit that the FORMER RESCUE CHIEF and husband left our town STUCK with when they "Retired to spend time with their family".....UGH.....LIE LIE LIE
The solution: While work is being done to get prices to regionalize services like the ambulance, we can’t afford hundreds of dollars more for the big city budgets that the new chief wants. He has already gone out and got himself and his girlfriend new gear, now has a town owned vehicle that his girlfriend drives and made sure to get the best of the best for themselves. If we vote down the budgets, and Question 42 passes which would revert budgets to last year, then we would have the final say of them sneaking into the budget the option to staff the stations with 4 people 14 hours a day. The problems with no response or really slow responses have mostly been when under this plan, there is NO ONE AT THE STATION. So, our taxes go up, and we still don’t have full coverage. The budget would revert to last years budget and our taxes wouldn’t increase from the nearly half million dollar combined fire and rescue budgets.
Most people don't recognize or understand that our proposed Fire and Rescue budget is nowhere NEAR a city budget of say, Rochester or Sanford for our Fire and Rescue. Another scare tactic. For example. When the former Rescue Chief and her Ass Chief Husband ditched their responsibilities and left the Rescue Department IN THE HOLE for $200,000 +, the money HAD to come from SOMEWHERE. The taxpayers of the Town of Lebanon have EATEN that $200,000. There is NO ONE AT THE STATION because the Rescue of the Town of Lebanon has ZERO TOWN FUNDING. If Lebanon had ONLY an outside Rescue service, in the form of American Ambulance, the cost to the town would be OVER $600,000 JUST for the Rescue. THEN you'd have to add Fire Department budget as well.
We can’t afford to just pay for the chief, fiancée and friends to hang around the station as fire calls are at an all time low. This solution is not a solution. It doesn’t even cover the entire day. Lets figure out something with a regional approach, where we get better services at better prices because the towns work together. The chief wants 4 people at the station, while some towns around us have zero paid fire coverage, they rely on volunteers or they may have 1 or 2. But not this chief, he wants 4.
AGAIN this is a LIE. And a Regional Ambulance Service is going to charge this town over $600,000 a year JUST for Rescue. You are SAVING $100,000 a year and gaining BOTH FIRE AND RESCUE services.
All of the area press and community groups are calling this a bad idea. In today’s Lebanon Voice, which has always been a strong supporter of the fire department, they discussed the “lavish plan” the new chief has made. “When you look at the amount of money Lebanon Fire and Rescue is looking for to fund per diem staff it's easy to see those outlays are far more lavish than some of the surrounding towns of comparable size. For instance Milton, which is a combined fire/rescue, staffs two people for 12 hours a day. North Berwick Rescue will soon be staffing two people 24/7, but North Berwick Fire is still all call firefighters who don't get paid unless there's a fire call.” The Lebanon Voice published. “Lebanon's taxes have outstripped inflation three out of the four past years. And during two of those years money from the town's general fund was used to offset what would've been even larger mil rate increases at the cost of putting the town in dire financial straits. Lebanon taxes, for so long reasonable, are starting to get out of hand. It's time to lower the boom on runaway spending. Lebanon's older residents as well as its working poor can't afford another increase. Renters beware also, landlords will load any tax hikes onto your rents. Lebanon's Fire's mutual aid partnerships are solid. It's the Rescue side that has drawn criticism and sole responder fees from surrounding towns. We think it's in the best interest of the town and its citizens to staff Lebanon Rescue. But say no to fire. They'll still be in business. Their budget will just revert to last year's levels.” Said today’s Lebanon Voice.
The final vote on this is your own. YOU think it through, review the numbers, call the Town Office for confirmation on the numbers you've been given and take it from there. NO ONE has the RIGHT to tell you HOW you should vote. ANY newspaper worth it's salt will tell you the FACTS and allow you to THINK and VOTE your own conscience.
The people of Lebanon need to make up their own minds. Do you WANT staffed coverage or do you NOT want staffed coverage. Do you WANT the failing RESCUE department, left naked at the hands of the VERY person who penned this MESS, or do you WANT the Rescue to recover and be funded by the Town so that there is control of the budget in the SAME CHECKS AND BALANCES system that SHOULD have been kept in place BEFORE the Pied Piper of Lebanon began playing his magical flute and ALMOST leading Lebanon over the edge of the cliff financially??
Please take the time to vote this Tuesday. There is a full wrap up of the election questions at www.lebanoncommunitynews.com - The polls are open from 6am-8pm at the Lebanon Elementary School. In the words of the Lebanon Voice, Lebanon CANNOT AFFORD ANOTHER INCREASE!
Lebanon, Maine Community News
www.lebanoncommunitynews.com
Lebanon Election News 2015
