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Town departments under the gun at Lebanon Public Hearing

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Former Lebanon Fire Chief and budget committee member Skip Wood, fourth from left, addresses Public Hearing attendees as to why he voted against this year's Fire and EMS budget. (Lebanon Voice photo)

LEBANON - When it took more than an hour to get through the first two of 42 ballot articles, it became painfully evident this was going to be a long day in a packed Lebanon Elementary School gym on a sunny Saturday.

Nearly three hours later around 6 p.m. as Lebanon's 2016 Public Hearing on the May 10 ballot questions drew to a close, one thing was clear: There are deep divisions and concerns in this town over its Fire and EMS, it's Code Enforcement Department, its Highway Department, even how selectmen draft ordinances and maintain the town website.

Former state senator Richard Nass of Acton moderated the four-hour hearing and at times was tested by audience members who went off track.

Don't tell a story to make your point, just make your point, he said impatiently to a resident at one time.

After it took two hours to get through some 10 questions, a five-minute limit on discussion per question was enacted and generally adhered to, or we'd still be there!

While many items brought forth simmering debate, these were the ones that boiled over most:

The first four referendums all dealt with establishing guidelines under which Lebanon's Board of Appeal, Planning Board and Budget Committee function as well as an ordinance that sought to clarify how the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code co-existed with town policy.

Chip Harlow, a former budget committee member, argued the ordinance wasn't necessary as MUBEC policy holds sway in all Maine towns with populations over 7,000.

Selectmen Chairman Ben Thompson and a representative from the town's legal counsel said they wanted to make a comprehensive ordinance that recognized MUBEC but also represented the town's interests as well.

Referendum 5, the recall ordinance for removing a selectman from office, received considerable support though one audience member said we already have a recall ordinance, it's called an election every year.

Referendum 6, on increasing selectmen to a body of five drew wide support although there were concerns about increased cost. Many said it would increase diversity on the board and bring new voices.

However, resident and The Lebanon Voice editor Harrison Thorp called the issue a red herring, saying whether it's three or five, the same problems many see now could continue and that it simply masks the need in this town for a town manager.

Referendum 7, on the $1,500 funding of the Lebanon Festival, drew little criticism, however, it was brought out that with the vendors fees charged and donations made by local business, it should be able to operate without town funding.

Referendum 9, the Fire and EMS $450,000 budget was perhaps the mostly hotly debated as former fire chief Skip Wood voiced his concerns over a doubling of the current chief's salary and benefits package from last year. Others defended the chief saying he was doing a fine job and doing three jobs and deserved everything he's getting.

Referendum 11, to spend almost $500,000 on a new fire truck, was roundly criticized as too expensive by budget committee member Chris Gilpatrick, who said a better truck for less money was voted down two years ago. Wood had earlier criticized current chief Dan Meehan for taking the older truck out of service prematurely and not more aggressively pursuing stopgap measures such as repairing the old one as he had done in the past.

Referendums 13, 15 and 19 all had to do with the highway department, for running the department, paving roads and the road commissioner's salary, respectively. All were rejected by the budget committee and passed unanimously by selectmen. Among the complaints made by Gilpatrick, who is running for the office, are hundreds of thousands of dollars being expended to lease 1-ton trucks to do rudimentary busy work like ditching, brush hauling, tree cutting and debris removal.

"We spend thousands of dollars cutting trees that we then auction off for hundreds," he said. "We have 1-tons making dump runs with one stump."

Thorp, meanwhile, advocated for raising the road commissioner's salary but making him a true supervisor, and not allowing him to hire his own truck out at an hourly rate to do work he, himself, has authorized.

It should be noted there no one from the highway department addressed concerns or appeared to be at the hearing.

Referendum 14, the funding of the transfer station, drew wide criticism for nepotism in the department's personnel and its rising costs. Gilpatrick noted he'd seen pay records that showed workers who were supposed to work 20 hours a week getting 35 hours.

It should be noted there no one from the transfer station addressed these concerns or appeared to be at the hearing.

Referendum 22, the code enforcement office budget, again brought the issue of burgeoning hours and benefits to a heretofore part-time nonbenefitted position. Current CEO Mike Beaulieu declined to comment, but Thompson said he was doing a good job.

However, resident Teri Poirier and others said it wasn't right that residents couldn't use a third-party inspector who they said is typically more highly certified than the town CEO to inspect their building.

"It's in the best interest of the town to let a third-party do it, because that takes the burden off our CEO," Poirier reasoned.

Referendum 40, which puts in place a default budget using last year's figures if a town department budget is rejected by voters on May 10, was discussed at length, much of the concern being with what would happen if both the department budget and default budget question were defeated.

Thompson said if that happened selectmen would have to bring back those department heads and hammer out a new budget that could be vetted by the budget committee and then voted on by residents before June 30 when the fiscal year ends.

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