Lisbon Charter Commission hears from former manager Jim Bennett

The Lisbon Charter Commission met on October 1 and spent most of the session hearing from Jim Bennett, a former town manager and selectman, who discussed forms of government, budget oversight, and charter design. Residents also raised concerns about property taxes, budget votes, and ethics. The commission discussed its public outreach website and survey, and set plans for upcoming meetings.

Key points

• Former selectman and town manager Jim Bennett spoke at length, favoring a council-manager form of government and cautioning against supermajority budget triggers and overly rigid charter rules.
• Bennett recommended strengthening the finance committee's role, fixing the town's staggered council terms, and requiring public financial reports such as monthly budget-to-actual statements.
• Resident Kelsey Purinton raised concerns about property taxes, staff accountability, and multiple family members serving on the council.
• Resident Karen Stevens called for ballot votes on municipal and school budgets, a representative town meeting, and voter approval of purchases over $99,999.
• Commissioner Mason presented excise tax figures showing roughly $1.9 million to $2 million collected in recent years with no capital outlay spending in fiscal years 2024 and 2025, and proposed keeping a survey question on dedicating excise tax to roads.
• The commission accepted the September 3 meeting minutes and discussed launching a charter commission web page modeled on Winthrop's, targeted for the following Wednesday.

Next steps

• Commissioner Albert will email the draft web page materials to the commission and aims to launch the site the following Wednesday.
• The chair will finalize the agenda by the Sunday before each meeting so the secretary can prepare the packet.
• The commission plans to invite former and current school committee chairs and other municipal officials to a future meeting for testimony.
• The October 15 meeting will move to the training room next door because the appeals board has reserved the main room that evening.
• The commission aims to begin proposing charter revisions by its October 29 meeting, starting article by article.

Read the full transcript