Thursday, November 17, 2016

Contract/agreement with UMass. Edwad J. Collins jr. center for public management.

This can be found on the Templeton town web site, under board of selectmen, town contracts/agreements.

The document is dated June 6, 2016 and it contains a professional fee (on page 4) for carrying out certain tasks. The fee is $14,000.00 and before you go further, look at the expense spread sheet presented to the town meeting back in May of 2016. There was $8,500.00 put forward for this. Perhaps realizing their error, selectmen proposed a transfer of$5,500.00 to cover/make up the difference. Problem is, on page 4, it describes what else the town (taxpayers) are on the hook for: town administrator candidates expenses, advertising, background checks and the center's out of pocket expenses(printing, mileage, lodging, etc.) These costs are not included in the professional fee.

It states Collins will bill $8,500.00 when task 2 is complete and $5,500.00 when task five is complete. It also states the professional fee for carrying out tasks one through four is $14,000.00 So read this and ask your self if this signing this agreement is an indication of how the town's finances are still in a mess and appear to be getting worse rather than better. My opinion is the selectmen went about a very coordinated effort to make the town's financial picture look much better than it was to gain a positive school vote.


posted by Jeff Bennett