So at tonight's selectmen meeting, there was discussion on job descriptions and sure enough, assistant town administrator was brought up and Holly Young was named as one. When asked if there would be a posting for any other town employee to apply, ah, not so much. When asked if there would be an impact on the budget, no was the answer, which seems strange when there is presently an increase proposed in the current draft for that very topic, assistant town administrator. But yet for 5 hour increase in Town Clerk's hours, that is a financial concern. Also there would be an increase in hours for the other admin assistant in the BOS office which would make that position qualify for benefits. Some selectmen now think that centralized purchasing of office supplies is now a good idea. That is an idea I proposed back in 2012 but not many selectmen agreed nor did many dept. heads, I think they do not like any interference with their little empires. But it is good to see that now it may be fashionable and money saving as well. Perhaps it was an idea ahead of its time. The best one yet was that apparently some members of the select board think they should be compensated for volunteering to run for the board. Some things never change. Towards the end of the meeting when dept. heads talked about their budgets, 2 selectmen recused themselves for possible conflict issues. So there were only 2 selectmen left at the table, good thing they did not have to vote on things. I thought Templeton had a five member board of selectmen.
Jeff Bennett
Monday, February 22, 2016
Selectmen meeting agenda;
Why is there an item for the Templeton Water dept.? Because the MA Department of Revenue told the Town, in a letter, that said in the first line of the third paragraph that with regards to Massachusetts General Laws, chapter 164, a municipal light dept. is NOT a legal separate entity and it needs Town meeting vote to borrow money. The simple fact is the Templeton Municipal light & Water is a part of the town and by that dept. taking on debt, enterprise fund or not, ultimately if anything happens, the Templeton taxpayers are on the hook for that debt. Pretty simple if you take the time to do a little reading / research. No big question or mystery there.
Action on Town Administrator; this could be the announcement that there will be an assistant Town Administrator and it will be Holly Young. Why state that as a possibility? Look at an electronic copy of the budget proposal for FY 2017 and you will see it by clicking on one of the little red triangles in upper corner of some columns of numbers. Of course we will have to wait to see what actually happens or is discussed tonight and I hope to have a report on that right after the meeting.
I will post the link to the last copy of the draft budget from the Town Administrator, look at line 78, selectmen office salaries and look for the small red triangle. Click it and read the explanation to the right.
Jeff Bennett
Why is there an item for the Templeton Water dept.? Because the MA Department of Revenue told the Town, in a letter, that said in the first line of the third paragraph that with regards to Massachusetts General Laws, chapter 164, a municipal light dept. is NOT a legal separate entity and it needs Town meeting vote to borrow money. The simple fact is the Templeton Municipal light & Water is a part of the town and by that dept. taking on debt, enterprise fund or not, ultimately if anything happens, the Templeton taxpayers are on the hook for that debt. Pretty simple if you take the time to do a little reading / research. No big question or mystery there.
Action on Town Administrator; this could be the announcement that there will be an assistant Town Administrator and it will be Holly Young. Why state that as a possibility? Look at an electronic copy of the budget proposal for FY 2017 and you will see it by clicking on one of the little red triangles in upper corner of some columns of numbers. Of course we will have to wait to see what actually happens or is discussed tonight and I hope to have a report on that right after the meeting.
I will post the link to the last copy of the draft budget from the Town Administrator, look at line 78, selectmen office salaries and look for the small red triangle. Click it and read the explanation to the right.
Jeff Bennett
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