Sounds like a good deal, this new community compact, but like a grocery store, if they can give me so called great deals if i have their store card, why can't I just get the great deal without the card? So why do we have to sign this compact to get state grants? Why do we to sign this compact to get a quick response from state initiatives? Why do we have to sign this compact to get technical assistance/ Is that not what the residents of the Commonwealth pay taxes and fees for? Sounds like another political gimmick to suck cities and towns into more red tape. Sounds like if you do not have their card, you do not get equal protection, you do not get equal representation, you go to the end of the line and get put on hold. More politics of the same, make em play more games and jump through more hoops so we can give them something for their tax dollars. It would be nice in the elected state legislatures would just do right by the residents but that is probably not going to happen anytime soon. So here is what the state will tell you if you sign the communit compact:

Commonwealth Commitments

As a sign of its commitment to an improved partnership with cities and towns, the Baker-Polito Administration:

• Intends to be a reliable partner on local aid.
• Pledges to work with our partners in the Legislature toward earlier local aid formula funding levels.
• Will work to make available technical assistance opportunities for cities and towns as they work toward best practices.
• Will not propose any new unfunded state mandates, and we will look at existing mandates with a goal toward making it easier to manage municipal governments.
• Will give special attention, in its review of state regulations, to those that affect the ability of municipalities to govern themselves.
• Pledges to work closely with municipal leaders to expand opportunities to add municipal voices to those state boards and commissions that impact local governments.
• Will introduce incentives for municipalities that sign Compacts in existing and proposed state grant opportunities, including proposals for technical assistance grants available only to compact communities.
• Will identify ways to expedite state reviews that can often slow down economic development opportunities or hinder other municipal interests.

Jeff Bennett

What is the Community Compact?

All cities and towns in Massachusetts are eligible to participate. Municipalities interested in applying for a Community Compact can submit an application online at any time. All cities and towns have the option of applying with a neighboring community by choosing the regionalization option in the application.

Once a municipality has decided that it wants to implement a Community Compact, local government leaders will need to take the following steps:

• Choose Best Practices — The community must choose one or more best practice areas it wants to implement. The city of Worcester, for example, has pledged to create a public communication and professional development strategy to help improve citizen engagement. Best practice areas fall under the following categories:
  • Education — Areas include professional development, higher education, and early education.
  • Energy and Environment — Areas include maximizing energy efficiency and renewable options, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and promoting local agriculture.
  • Financial Management — Areas include capital planning, reviewing financial management structure, and long-range planning/forecasting.
  • Housing and Economic Development — Areas include housing, infrastructure, and job creation and retention.
  • Information Technology — Areas include cyber security, citizen engagement, and transparency.
  • Transportation and Citizens Safety — Areas include adopting Safe Routes to School programs, adapting streets to accommodate people using all modes of transportation, and promoting safety and mobility for older drivers.
  • Regionalization/Shared Services — Includes compacts for municipalities who have submitted jointly with another community.

• Review Goals — The Commonwealth and the municipality will review the best practice areas together to make sure that they are focused on areas that need the most improvement.

• Sign the Compact — Once the goals have been approved, both parties will sign a written agreement. The compact will include the Commonwealth’s commitments to the city or town.

• Implement Best Practices — The community will implement the best practices within two years. The state’s Division of Local Services (DLS) will monitor progress.

The Community Compact initiative enables the state to help municipalities make the improvements they need to better serve Massachusetts residents.

The link is the latest fiscal year 2017 budget document for the upcoming Town meeting. If you click on it, find the selectmen line and click on it then look for line 77. You should see an amount of $49,367.00 with a red triangle and if you click on that, you will see notation for assistant Town Administrator, Holly Young with salary of $47,438.84

Jeff Bennett

2017 OPERATING BUDGET View in OneDrive

Today, I went to the office of the Templeton Selectmen and the Town Clerk's office and filed an Open Meeting Law complaint against the Templeton Board of Selectmen for a few reasons. The main reason is because again last evening, the board carried on with a meeting even after two members stepped down because of budget discussions and those two members having conflicts of interest (family members on Town payroll) then again stated they were allowed to do this because of the rule of necessity, both the Town Administrator and chairman John Columbus stated this reason. If you google Massachusetts rule of necessity, you will find that is not true. The rule of necessity allows board member (s) to take part so there is a quorum so a legal open meeting may continue per the MA Open Meeting Law. Other reasons are past issues such as trying to do financial transfers outside the legal time period, statements such as "tonight, selectmen will set the tax rate", having said the rule of necessity allows less than a quorum, the law says we must appoint NRHS buiding/grounds director to the building committee and then the kicker, "the new school in Templeton Center is 1.5 feet over the allowed height allowance per Templeton Zoning regulations, and that is what the selectmen put out last night. In today's Gardner News, page 13, there is a legal notice for the zoning board of appeals. I believe that notice did not just get submitted yesterday afternoon. The notice states the zoning height restriction is at 2.5 stories or 35 linear feet and the proposed school is listed at 43 linear feet, if my fourth grade math serves me correctly, that is more like 8 feet in difference, rather than 1.5 feet. Too many instances of bad information, incorrect information, lies coming from the selectmen and / or Town Administrator. Tell lies often enough and they may become accepted as the truth.

Jeff Bennett