Father donates $16K toward playground in memory of son

LISBON — The Town Council and audience members gave Lisbon Falls resident Luke Tuplin a standing ovation Tuesday night after he announced his $16,000 donation toward the construction of the new playground at the MTM Community Center.

Tuplin’s son, Mitchell J. Breton Tuplin, passed away July 17, 2014, in an ATV crash.

The Tuplin family is donating $8,500 from their personal funds and $7,500 from the Mitchell Breton-Tuplin Scholarship Fund.

“It just feels right and we know it would be something that Mitchell would be proud to be a part of,” Tuplin said.

The Mitchell Breton-Tuplin Scholarship Fund is raised through efforts of the community, such as the annual “Pitch for Mitch” baseball tournament.

“The outgoing support from our community upon the loss of our son, Mitchell, was and continues to be above anything we could have imagined,” Tuplin said. “This is our family’s small way of giving back to our community, as there could never be anything we could say or do to express our gratitude.”

The Town Council voted to designate $20,000 from the unassigned fund balance for the playground. There is a playground account with $3,050. The playground committee announced last week that the total needed might be near $50,000.

The Council also voted to enter into an agreement with Crooker Construction to pave parts of Canal and Main streets.

The town would pay $28,150 to Crooker for the paving and $2,500 to the Maine Department of Transportation for traffic control and sweeping when the work begins.

This is band-aid work to be completed this summer, according to Public Works Director Ryan Leighton. Roads and intersections will be paved in 2019 or 2020 for a project that’s estimated to be approximately $400,000.

A budget workshop is scheduled for 7 p.m. May 23 at the Lisbon Town Office following a workshop with Western Maine Transportation.