Two Maine mayors who made lame attempts running their leftist, troubled city for decades combined are suddenly claiming their time in office transformed it into a jewel in the state’s crown.
A column by former Biddeford mayors Alan Casavant and Martin Grohman published in the Portland Press Herald calls the impoverished mill city a “dynamic community” suddenly free of “urban decay and fractious politics.”
Grohman, whose city’s crime rate is multiple-times worse than the state average, lost his mayoral reelection bid four months ago after succeeding Casavant.
“My opponent is making backroom deals with city councilors to guarantee them coveted committee assignments, in return for their support,” Grohman wrote in a pre-election Biddeford Gazette column. “I have never played that political game and never will.”
Before he decided he’d “apologize” for that gem, he accused his opponent of being a wasteful liberal spender who had no business experience.
Grohman is now telling newspaper readers across Maine that the Democrat stronghold over which he ruled as mayor before he got tossed out by that very opponent is free of “fractious politics.”
“Dynamic city?”
Grohman and Casavant as mayors were in control of a city often in crisis since 2011. Casavant himself has been in and out of City Hall elective politics for 50 years.
“If you want to go back to the days of empty storefronts,” Grohman lectured voters in the pre-election column that they should vote for Liam LaFountain, then council president.
Empty storefronts when exactly? When Casavant was in charge?
So much for no “fractious politics” in a city with a “vibrant downtown.”
“Casavant and Grohman were at the helm of the dysfunction at city hall, as was most of the current council and mayor to be honest,” commented SF O’Leary on Facebook. “Maybe they should sit this one out.”
“They are former and not current mayors for a reason,” said Facebooker Bob Tkacik.
Marc Lessard, who has been on the council more than 30 years, estimated a year ago the city’s taxpayers had seen bills increase 20 percent in just three years.
At that rate their taxes will go up 100 percent in a decade, meaning they will literally double.
City hall has been beset with one financial crisis after another, the latest its failure to collect rent from the municipal ice arena for a year with no legitimate explanation how it happened or which city staffer was asleep for 12 months while it went on.
Less than two years ago under Grohman, city residents went months without receiving sewer bills due to a supposed billing glitch.
The latest attempt by two mayors in charge since the mid-2000s to whitewash their municipal history is contained in a widely-published column in which they try to defend the University of New England’s alleged uncontrolled expansion.
The politicians in charge of their “fractious-free” city have been embroiled in a back-and-forth lawsuit with that very college over its supposedly running roughshod over development rules.
The council in the city that allegedly has no fractious politics just voted to freeze the university’s construction plans, angering the two former mayors now on the outside looking in.
Grohman is effectively lobbying in favor of the college in its legal fight with – guess who – his nemesis successor LaFountain, the guy he apologized to just a few short weeks ago.
No fractious politics?
Meanwhile, the “vibrant city” recently had to pay $90,000 to a former city manager who had sued his former bosses.
The same city under LaFountain’s watch is planning to spend $36,000 over six months to hire a “consultant” who is being hired to teach the new city manager how to run the community.
That’s $6,000 a month or roughly $2,000 a week on top of the just-hired city manager’s $200,000 salary.
LaFountain earlier this month said hiring a consultant would help city staffers address several critical issues that have been plaguing the city for more than two years.
The “issues” included possible fines relating to environmental laws.
Two mayors who were allegedly in charge of Biddeford for 15 years of tumult are now boasting about what they’re calling “Biddeford’s turnaround.”
And now the guy who Grohman accused of being too liberal with the tax money has, yes, in fact just overseen hiring a consultant for $6,000 a month to try to teach city hall how to run the show.
That would be the same city hall where municipal workers recently protested a plan to adjust their office hours to make it easier for taxpayers to come down and pay their property bills.
The same city hall where the city officials in charge sided with the workers instead of with the taxpayers.
“A vibrant community free of politics on the rebound.”
Can we say LOL (#LaughOutLoudBiddeford)?
