LISBON – Preliminary discussions earlier this year about
the possibility of Lisbon and the city of Lewiston combining tax assessing
services as a cost-saving measure have apparently been dropped – for now at
least.

This came after Lisbon councilors heard from constituents who
opposed relocating their town assessing services, saying they wanted to keep a
local town office open, a spokesman said.

Councilors, at their meeting
this week, appointed Gorham resident Warren E. Dow to a new one-year position as
assessor.

Dow, a certified Maine assessor, replaces longtime assessor and
Code Enforcement Officer Gerry Samson, who resigned on May 22. The assistant
code enforcement officer position will become a combination code enforcement
officer and building inspector.

Dow has worked in similar positions in
Portland, Windham and Gorham. He most recently operated his own appraisal
business.

He will work 30 hours a week at a rate of $20 per hour, for a
yearly salary of $31,000, a considerable savings for the town. Samson was
earning $56,000 a year as an assessor and code enforcement officer.

In
other business:

• First readings of three ordinance revisions, shoreland
zoning, nonconforming lots and structures, and off-street parking and loading,
were accepted.

• After a public hearing, Dick and Jane Waters, doing
business as Neighborhood Networking, were granted an itinerant vendor and
mass-gathering permit. The Androscoggin Chamber of Commerce and Lisbon Business
Association were granted a renewed itinerant vendor and mass-gathering permit
for Moxie Days.

• Also renewed were a catering privileges off-premises
permit for the Slovak Catholic Association and a liquor license for Mike Goslin,
doing business as Good Time Lanes.

• Louis Levesque was appointed sealer
of weights and measures and Barbara Agathos to a one-year alternate position on
the Conservation Commission.

• Town Manager Steve Eldridge reported that Crooker
Construction will begin work on the Ferry Road within two weeks. Eldridge also
commended Robin and Mark Tupper for their work on the children’s area at the
library, which has increased patronage. He also thanked Recreation Director Mark
Stevens for his work organizing and accompanying a senior citizens’ trip on the
Downeaster to Boston, where they visited Faneuil Hall and the aquarium.

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