Our Voice : Citizens For a Better Lebanon Maine

The first Lebanon Citizens Roundtable was held this evening at the Old Center Road Town Hall. The meeting was very informative.  I would like to thank Selectmen Cole for attending, he had much to share and provided some wonderful insight. The dialogue shared amongst residents was refreshing, constructive and it was good to hear the varying perspectives.

I shared a presentation on the purpose of the meetings and provided an overview of what a Town Charter is and it’s importance. There were several topics that were discussed beyond a Town Charter, these revolved around…Town Administrator, Police Coverage, Comprehensive Plan and upcoming State Referendums to name a few.

Selectmen Cole shared details of the potential for losing more of our Sheriff coverage and cited specific examples of crimes that occur in the town and calls that Rescue performs.  He explained that Lebanon’s crime rate is very high for it’s population. He also explained how investigations are hampered by having the shared services with State Police.

The benefits of a full-time town administrator were discussed. It was felt if residents could be better informed they might make a better decision. We thought if we could have Town Administrators come and speak, providing a couple short presentations we could record these to share on the website as well as make some materials to circulate to residents. The Citizen’s Roundtable forum also affords a more intimate setting where people are more inclined to ask questions.

Petition paperwork is going to be picked up and circulated to residents so that a referendum to allow a Charter Commission to be formed to draft a Town Charter. It is understood this requires 20% of the signatures of the last gubernatorial election or about 334.

Residents in attendance were optimistic that the Town Administrator and Sheriff’s proposal referendums from the recent election could be revisited and placed on the ballot again in November. When the Selectmen meet this coming Tuesday we should know. If the Selectmen choose not place the referendums on the ballot,  they can still be placed on the ballot with a Petition for each one and 167 signatures.

A short discussion was had on the need to educate residents on the State Referendums particularly the Excise Tax and School items. It was determined education of the residents will be needed and details needed to be gained on the school items. This should be revisited next month.

Action Items:

Attempt to get a channel of communication formed with dispatch or another source so we can get the 911 / police calls made to Lebanon and post them on the website and in public areas to demonstrate to residents the high volume and severity of crime in our small town.

Pick-up Petition paperwork for collection of signatures to form a Charter Committee.

Contact Town Managers from Sanford and N. Berwick to speak as guests to inform residents about the position. Recording the presentations to share on the website. The presentations will allow question and answer period.

Re-visit State Referendum educational materials and methods at the next meeting.

Monitor status of Referendums revisited at the next Selectmen Meeting, and get Petition paperwork pulled and started if needed.

Contact papers for posting of meetings using direct channels.

Next Meeting to be August 5th at 6:30pm at the Old Town Hall on Center Road.

Thank all of you for attending…see you again next month!!