Posted on Behalf of Chris Gilpatrick – - - I would like to tell a little history of why I have a problem with taxpayer money being spent wastefully and why our elected officials should be held accountable.
To some present board members this is complaining about nothing. Several years ago I worked for the town of Lebanon and several employees were talking about an elderly lady that our road commissioner and town crew had done a private job for. Talking with the employees I was told the town actually paid for the cost for all the equipment and labor involved while the commissioner and a sub-contractor (for the town) pocketed the money the lady paid them.
After hearing this story my wife and I went to visit the lady to get the details of what happened. She explained to us how she had hired the commissioner privately to fix her driveway and the job was done by him and a bunch of men. Unknown to her this was the town crew. The material used to do the job came from a junkyard which contained glass,metal,oil,etc. and was washing down into her well which she called the commissioner on to fix the problem. This went on deaf ears.
Talking with this lady was in the winter time and she had all her rooms of her house blocked off because she couldn’t afford heat for the whole house. She explained how she had no money for food and was barely scraping to get by.After leaving my wife went shopping and filled boxes of food and delivered to her to helpout. To make a very long story short I collected all the information to provide our selectmen (timesheets, signed affidavits, pictures,etc.) and presented it to them. Their response was it was a personal matter and to drop it.
Fearing retrobution from some individuals involved she moved out of state and sold her house. This is when I called the D.A. and explained what was happening in town. Shortly thereafter our road commissioner resigned due to health reasons followed by two selectmen with the same health issues. The last selectmen opted not to seek reelection. All this information is located with my attorney for verification.
Would you turn the other way if you found out a situation like this??
Would you want someone to stand up for your mother or grandmother??
Call me a bitcher or a complainer as one of our present selectman has repeatedly done (which was involved with this and made a REMARKABLE recovery from his health issues) but when I see misuse of our tax money I will make the town aware of what’s happening!! Unfortunately, I can’t stand on the sidelines and watch as people struggle in this bad economy and our tax money is wasted. Thank you for reading and remember it’s your money.
Posted on Behalf of Chris Gilpatrick…
Thanks for sharing Chris.. your story is a not so flattering example of Lebanon’s past.. it is good to put the facts out there so people understand these thing can happen, do happen and could occur in different ways even today.
I commend you for your efforts over the years. Many would have simply walked away or as you put it…stand on the side lines.
Thanks for sharing Chris. The same sort of thing is still happening today. We have not stood on the sidelines either. We have stood up and have been turned away by the Town. Supposedly, the Town’s attorney would NOT let us go to the selectmen unless the opposing party and his attorney were present. If we loose our appeal, will the Town of Lebanon reimburse us for the 12 plus acres of land we have been paying taxes on for almost 50 years?? We think NOT! We have been the victims of retaliation and every day we have wondered what will happen next. We will NOT give up, although we cannot name names on here because we are still in litigation we can tell most of our story. It is sad that things have gotten so bad it has to be this way. The more that people are aware the more we stand a chance of making things better here in Lebanon.