I did not realize that the version of the Warrant used by the TAB to add in votes and recommendations was the version with erroneous account numbers.  So we printed that version and took copies to the STM.  In the meantime, I created the PowerPoint presentation and gave a copy of the final, accurate version of the Warrant to the Town Clerk.  At the Town Meeting, the motion for Article 4 was read from the PowerPoint slide --- it had the correct account numbers. The certified copy from the Town Clerk also has the correct account numbers. 

Because both the Warrant and the Operating Budget change and evolve during the process, I decided to prevent any confusion with differing versions by posting the official copy in the cloud and giving Selectmen and TAB members access.  

N.B.  The FY'17 budget continued to evolve this week when our assessment from Monty Tech and when our health insurance cost for FY'17 came in.  

Bob
Robert T. Markel
Interim Town Administrator
Town of Templeton
160 Patriots Road
East Templeton, MA 01438
(978)894-2753

The above is from an email concerning issues with the last special Town meeting of November 9, 2015. The issue is that within some transfers, account numbers do not match, specifically, the account number shown for general insurance as 1000-945-900-57-5743-0000 which is the exact same account number given twice as the account number for Town accountant expenses. If you look at the town meeting report on the Templeton Town web site, under town meeting, you can find the copy of the meeting results which at the end says,

A true copy, ATTEST: with the name of the Templeton Town Clerk. Meeting attendance is listed at 356 voters.

In my opinion, the most bothersome part of this is the apparent spin put out to answer questions and concerns posed by members of the Templeton Advisory Board. It is through a process of checks and balances that is needed and is a good thing, that this and many other concerns of a financial nature that have been raised on more than one occasion. Why else are we being asked to put money back into fire/ems after we were just asked to take money from there to pay snow & Ice? I believe all these transfers in the past year demonstrates that there is either not enough money to cover everything or money is not being applied correctly, or both. My opinion is we still have a shell game going on and not one selectmen from Templeton is asking one question about it publicly, as at a meeting of the BOS.

Jeff Bennett

On a motion duly made and seconded the Town voted to transfer funds within the Fiscal 2016 annual Operating Budget as follows: notice the numbers in bold, that is how it looks at the Town website on STM November 9, 2015 and that is how it looks on email to Advisory Board dated November 10, 2015. You decide if something is fishy;

Name	Acct. Name	Amount	To	Acct. name
1000-951-900-53-5305-0000	Triennial Revaluation	$5,000.00	1000-141-100-51-5110-0000	Deputy Assessors’ office salary
9010-200-000-00-2300-0020	Planning Board-detention ponds	$16,000.00	1000-421-400-54-5420-0000	Highway dept. - expenses
9010-200-000-00-2300-0020	Planning Board – detention ponds	$32,000.00	1000-945-900-57-5743-0000	Town Accountant -expenses
1000-945-900-57-5743-0000	General Insurance	$19,000.00	1000-945-900-57-5743-0000	Town Accountant -expenses
1000-123-100-51-5110-0000	Town Administrator	$14,000.00	1000-135-100-54-5420-0000	Town Accountant -expenses
1000-220-200-51-5117-0000	Fire/EMS Salary	$111,608.50	No acct. number	2015 snow & Ice deficit

Passed/November 9th @ 9:10pm

posted by Jeff Bennett

Why is it suddenly important to clean up language from an article passed in 2014?

Right now, I am just supposing, but there could be a few reasons for this.

1.    Simple house keeping to get all paper work to agree.

2.     The district is "transferring" the building to the Town of Templeton, because the Town has                    always owned the building, it has been under control of the district per the regional school                  district agreement. 

3.       Perhaps Phillipston finally questioned the legality of the district being the one doing the                       borrowing and therefore, the district would be considered responsible for the loan and 

          since Phillipston is the second school of the district, they want to stay clear of this issue.

4.       Might be the waters have to be clear so short term borrowing can take place for demolition

          work and since the district is scheduled to transfer the building officially back to the Town,

          Kind of hard to explain why or how the district is on the hook for a loan for a building

          they now have nothing to do with. 

Probably would have been better, both in the past and moving forward, if the selectmen had taken the point on this from the beginning, as soon as Phillipston opted to not take part in the finances, so there would be one central place for taxpayers to look to in trying to follow this project. This is all just my opinion and this project will just keep rolling along, as a new school building to replace three aged buildings makes sense business wise and financially. 

Jeff Bennett

M.G.L. chapter 44, section one; definitions.

''Director'', director of accounts in the department of revenue.

''Majority vote'' and ''two thirds vote'', as applied to towns or districts, the vote of a majority or two thirds, respectively, of the voters present and voting at a meeting duly called, and, as applied to cities, the vote taken by yeas and nays of a majority or of two thirds, as the case may require, of all the members of each branch of the city government where there are two branches, or of all the members where there is a single branch of the city government, or of a majority or two thirds of the commissioners where the city government consists of a commission; and in every case subject to the approval of the mayor, where such approval is required by the charter of the city.

''Municipal finance oversight board'', a board composed of the attorney general, the state treasurer, the state auditor, and the director of accounts in the department of revenue, or their designees.

''Town'' shall not include city.

''District'' shall mean a fire, water, sewer, water pollution abatement, refuse disposal, light, or improvement district, or any other district, howsoever named, formed for the purpose of carrying out any of the aforementioned functions, whether established under general law or special act.

posted by Jeff Bennett

M.G.L., chapter 44; municipal finance
section 16 - issuance of bonds, notes & certificates of indebtedness; procedure; form; contracts with banking or financial institutions.

Section 16. A city, town or district which has authorized a debt to be incurred within the limitations, as to amount and time of payment, prescribed by this chapter may issue therefor bonds or notes, or, in the case of a city, certificates of indebtedness, all of which shall be properly denominated on the face thereof, signed by its treasurer, and, if issued by a city, countersigned by its mayor, unless its charter otherwise provides, or, if issued by a town, by a majority of its selectmen,

this is the first part of a long worded section that you may look up and read in its entirety if you wish.
Again, a project is not the problem or issue, it is the details. Why would a board of selectmen and or a town administrator try to hand over control to the general manager of a water department and/or it's commissioners to sign all paper work involved in Town debt, as in borrowing money and being ultimately responsible for repayment of such, when the law states it is their responsibility. With all the transferring going on and with the financial issues still unchanged or completed, why would they wish to further complicate that process by allowing that work to become further convoluted and again cause Templeton residents/taxpayers to have to chase multiple locations, boards, etc. to find out details or status of said debt, that belongs to them. 

posted by Jeff Bennett

M.G.L., chapter 44;
Section 59. The supreme judicial or superior court, by mandamus or other appropriate remedy, at law or in equity, upon the suit or petition of the attorney general or of the mayor, or of one or more taxable inhabitants of a city, town or district authorized by law to incur debt, or of any creditor to whom it is indebted to an amount not less than one thousand dollars, may compel such city, town or district, and its assessors, collectors, treasurers, commissioners of sinking funds and other proper officers, to conform to this chapter.

posted by Jeff Bennett

MGL chapter 44, municipal finance:
A long read but the important part is highlighted in bold.


Section 53A. An officer or department of any city or town, or of any regional school or other district, may accept grants or gifts of funds from the federal government and from a charitable foundation, a private corporation, or an individual, or from the commonwealth, a county or municipality or an agency thereof, and in the case of any grant or gift given for educational purposes may expend said funds for the purposes of such grant or gift with the approval of the school committee, and in the case of any other grant or gift may expend such funds for the purposes of such grant or gift in cities having a Plan D or Plan E form of government with the approval of the city manager and city council, in all other cities with the approval of the mayor and city council, in towns with the approval of the board of selectmen, and in districts with the approval of the prudential committee, if any, otherwise the commissioners. Notwithstanding the provisions of section fifty-three, any amounts so received by an officer or department of a city, town or district shall be deposited with the treasurer of such city, town or district and held as a separate account and may be expended as aforesaid by such officer or department receiving the grant or gift without further appropriation. If the express written terms or conditions of the grant agreement so stipulate, interest on the grant funds may remain with and become a part of the grant account and may be expended as part of the grant by such officer or department receiving the grant or gift without further appropriation. Any grant, subvention or subsidy for educational purposes received by an officer or department of a city, town or school district from the federal government may be expended by the school committee of such city, town or district without including the purpose of such expenditure in, or applying such amount to, the annual or any supplemental budget or appropriation request of such committee; provided, however, that this sentence shall not apply to amounts so received to which section twenty-six C of chapter seventy-one of the General Laws, and chapter six hundred and twenty-one of the acts of nineteen hundred and fifty-three, as amended, and chapter six hundred and sixty-four of the acts of nineteen hundred and fifty-eight, as amended, apply; and, provided further, that notwithstanding the foregoing provision, this sentence shall apply to amounts so received as grants under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, (Public Law 89?10). After receipt of a written commitment from the federal government approving a grant for educational purposes and in anticipation of receipt of such funds from the federal government, the treasurer, upon the request of the school committee, shall pay from the General Fund of such municipality compensation for services rendered and goods supplied to such federal grant programs, such payments to be made no later than ten days after the rendition of such services or the supplying of such goods; provided, however, that the provisions of such federal grant would allow the treasurer to reimburse the General Fund for the amounts so advanced.

posted by Jeff Bennett

an excerpt from Massachusetts General Law, chapter 29C, section one;
''Cost'', as applied to any water pollution abatement project, any or all costs, whenever incurred, approved by the department in accordance with section twenty-seven A of chapter twenty-one, of carrying out a project including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, costs for planning, preparation of studies and surveys, design, construction, expansion, facilities, improvement and rehabilitation, acquisition of real property, personal property, materials, machinery or equipment, start-up costs, demolitions and relocations, reasonable reserves and working capital, interest on loans, local governmental obligations and notes in anticipation thereof prior to and during construction of such project or prior to the date of such loan, if later, administrative, legal and financing expenses, and other expenses necessary or incidental to the aforesaid.
Massachusetts General law, chapter 29 deals with state finance
Massachusetts general Law, chapter 29C deals with Mass, Clean water trust
Massachusetts General law chapter 44 deals with municipal finance posted by Jeff Bennett

How it was done in the past, and why the change? Why now? Is it selectmen being lazy? Is it politics by Town Administrator? Politics of Light & Water commissioners?  Who knows and for the issue at hand, it does not really matter, in my opinion.

Now I do not wish to confuse anyone with the facts but. . . ,

It is a good decision, business wise to replace a tank that will cost $500 thousand to paint and have to do it again in fifteen years (if that is all true) with one that will last at least 50 years with a cost of 1 million, 250 thousand dollars. This same idea or case is made all the time; as in Templeton highway, we spend so much on maintenance costs on old trucks that it would be cheaper to buy new truck. That same case was made at a public meeting by the Town Administrator, although it was discovered to be a bit convoluted because the dollar figure given for maintenance costs was not just spent on highway equipment but for all Town vehicles with exception of fire trucks.

I believe the problem lies in the wording of the article (same as the school article that has to be re-voted because of wording issues) with regards to who is responsible for signing, who does the borrowing and all the details with regards to funds, borrowed and grants. So, I look to history for guidance:

Templeton annual Town report of 2003, pages 138-139, article 24;

"On a motion duly made and seconded, the Town voted to appropriate the sum of One million, eight hundred thousand dollars ($1,800,000.00) for the purpose of financing the design and construction of a 0.5 million gallons per day green sand pressure filtration plant at the Sawyer Street well site, including, without limitation, all costs thereof as defined in section 1 of chapter 29C of the general laws, as most recently amended by St. 1998, c78; that to meet this appropriation, the Treasurer, with approval of the board of selectmen, is authorized to borrow one million eight hundred thousand dollars ($1,800,000.00) and issue bonds or notes thereof under chapter 44 or chapter 29 of the general laws as most recently amended; that such bonds or notes are expected to be paid from the Water enterprise fund revenues, but nevertheless shall be general obligations of the Town and that any federal or state grants awarded prior to issuance of bonds will be used to reduce the amount by the Town.

2/3 vote passed May 13, 2003, annual Town meeting.

What has changed to suddenly give authority to borrow on behalf of Town to Water commissions and to give signing authority to General Manager of Templeton Light & Water.

My personal opinion is this is another case of this board of selectmen can not or will not be bothered by this matter, but it is time to check the facts.

posted by Jeff Bennett

That Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000) be hereby appropriated for the purpose of paying costs of the Feasibility Study/Schematic Design work ahead for the Templeton Center Elementary School, located at 17 South Road, in Templeton MA, including the payment of all costs incidental or related thereto, and for which the Town may be eligible for a grant from the Massachusetts School Building Authority ("MSBA"), said amount to be expended under the direction of the Templeton Elementary School Building Committee. To meet this appropriation the Treasurer, with the approval of the Templeton Board of Selectmen, is authorized to borrow said amount under and pursuant to M.G.L. Chapter 44, or pursuant to any other enabling authority. The Town acknowledges that the MSBA's grant program is a non-entitlement, discretionary program based on need, as determined by the MSBA, and any costs the Town incurs in excess of any grant approved by and received from the MSBA shall be the sole responsibility of the Town, and further provided that the appropriation hereunder shall be subject to and contingent upon an affirmative vote of the Town to exempt the amounts required for the payment of interest and principal on said borrowing from the limitations on taxes imposed by M.G.L. 59, Section 21C (Proposition 2½), and that the amount borrowing authorized pursuant to this vote shall be reduced by any grant amount set forth in the Feasibility Study Agreement that may be executed between the Town and the MSBA.

What you will be asked to vote on at the next special Town meeting on March 21, 2016.
Again, it is the responsibility of the Town, not the school district, to borrow and repay all money for this project. Most, if not all, has already been spent. You have to re-vote this because the original article was worded wrong. I hope the proper people, as in Templeton Bond Counsel has looked over the water article to be presented on March 21, 2016 special Town meeting.

Jeff Bennett

Templeton Elementary School is definitely a Town Project being paid for by Templeton taxpayers.
If anyone wishes to dispute that, just pay attention to your tax bills and you can always contact the Town of Phillipston's Treasurer or office of the Phillipston board of selectmen.

This project really began on May 13, during the annual Town meeting which started on May 12, 2009, per the Templeton annual Town report, pages 156 - 157, article 33.

On page 132 of the same 2009 Templeton annual Town report, the returns for Templeton annual elections, and continuing/ending on page 134, question 2, feasibility study for elementary school, 481 yes, 456 no.

Templeton 2009 annual Town report, page 157;

"On a motion duly made and seconded the Town voted to appropriate the sum of five hundred fifty thousand dollars ($550,000.00) for the purpose of funding a feasibility study for the purpose of replacing, building an addition onto or renovating the Templeton Center school located at 17 South Road, Templeton, Massachusetts, said sum to be expended under the direction of the school building committee, and to meet said appropriation, Treasurer, with the approval of the selectmen is authorized to borrow said sum under MGL, chapter 44, or any other enabling authority; that the Town of Templeton acknowledges that the Massachusetts School building authority's grant program is a non-entitlement, discretionary program based on need, as determined by the MSBA, and any costs the Town incurs, on behalf of the district, in excess of any grant approved by and received from the MSBA shall be the sole responsibility of the Town, and that the amount of borrowing authorized pursuant to this vote shall be reduced by any amounts received from the MSBA prior to the issuance of bonds or notes under this vote. In addition, no sums shall be borrowed or expended here under, unless and until the Town shall have voted to exclude the amounts required to be raised to repay any borrowing here under from the limitations of chapter 59, section 21c of the general laws (proposition 2 1/2)"

So it seems pretty clear this is was and is a town project that should be under the complete direction of the Templeton Board of selectmen. Templeton residents should not have to watch multiple different meetings (some held on the same night and same time) to watch how their money is spent. This is why it is important for residents to attend Town meeting, to vote and to attend selectmen's meetings.

Jeff Bennett