Board: Lisbon Town Council

Met: Tuesday

Budget requests

Issue: Lisbon is looking at ways to contain and cut costs in the coming year.

Scoop: Town Manager Steve Eldridge said he is requiring all town departments to prepare “no-tax-increase” budgets for the 2009-10 fiscal year; recommending reducing the mileage reimbursement rate from the current 50 cents to 44 cents per mile, following state guidelines; and holding wage increases for nonunion employees to 3 percent.

What’s next: The department budgets will be presented to the council, and the final town budget will be adopted by mid-June.

Island decision

Issue: In a report to councilors, the Conservation Commission recommended the town not sell a 4-acre island it owns on the Androscoggin River and instead turn it over to the Androscoggin Land Trust to preserve.

Scoop: Jonathan LaBonte of Androscoggin Land Trust gave an overview of what the trust does and handed out packets describing properties it oversees in Lisbon – the Littlefield-Packard Farm, the Hallelujah Farm and the Katherine Breton Memorial Preserve.

What’s next: A decision will be made later.

Offer of land

Issue: Both the Conservation Commission and Park Ranger Verla Brooks looked at a parcel of land on Ferry Road that is being offered as a gift to the town.

Scoop: Both recommended it not be accepted as they concluded it is of no value to the town. The property is wooded and located in a wetland.

What’s next: The council decided not to accept the offer.

Policy updates

Issue: The town is reviewing and updating policies on the disposition of town real estate and the foreclosure policy.

Scoop: After reviewing proposed changes, the issue was tabled for legal review by town counsel.

Announcements

Scoop: According to Emergency Management Agency Director P. Sean Galipeau, the town has qualified for federal reimbursement for the December snowstorm. The amount is yet to be determined.

Scoop: Francis Drake Jr. was made a full member of the Planning Board until 2011.

Scoop: The council accepted, with regret, the resignation of Kris Kucera from the Conservation Commission.

– Connie Footman