Saturday, April 29, 2017

Of interest for Town meeting - Town Operating "budget" article 18
Transfer from ambulance receipts fund to support the general government operations, the amount of $225,000.00. Per DOR meeting on 4/25/2017, "Must be able to show funds transferred were on hand at time of vote. Must supplement in the fall (Fall Town Meeting) failing that, cut the budget."

There will be a shortfall of 100 thousand dollars in the operating budget that will have to be taken care of in the fall and if the transfer is not approved, the budget will have to be cut by 100 thousand dollars. A wonderful thought and plan! I believe we should start at Town Meeting and remove the expense of two full time fire fighters/Para medics, which we clearly cannot afford at this time, those positions are listed on page 121a under fire & EMS

Fund                         1000
Account Number     220   5100
Account name          Personnel

FY 2018 administrator recommend $88,400.00 for two (2) fire fighter/EMT-P

page 121c lists fire fighter/EMT-P as full time   48 hours at $22.00 per hour for total at $54,912.00

page 121 c lists fire fighter/EMT-P as full time   48 hours at $22.00 per hour for total at $54,912.00

both of those lines have ** next to them with an explanation below at; both above for 52 weeks.

**  original budget was 42.5 hours
one of the above positions has * next to hourly rate and below it has;

* EMTB RIG employee at 90%

There are two fire fighter?EMT-P listed as full time for 48 hours ** for 13 weeks.
each one of those two has salary listed $13,728.00.

I was unaware Templeton had moved to a full time fire department, I was under the impression we have a volunteer on call department. Perhaps this impression is wrong.

posted by Jeff Bennett
The entire article as printed

from the Telegram & Gazette
by Brian Lee
Communities weigh pros & cons of regional dispatch centers


The state continues to encourage cities and towns to study formation of regional emergency dispatch centers, which are often viewed as a means to improve 911 services and save cities and towns money. But one town in the region recently nixed the idea. Regionalization at times comes at the hefty expense of individual police departments closing at the end of the business day, which has spurred the law enforcement term “going dark.” Spencer had been part of a proposed five-town Central Regional Emergency Communication Center to be housed in Oxford. Charlton, Southbridge and Sturbridge also were part of the plan. But last week, the Spencer Board of Selectmen voted to withdraw from the study. Spencer Town Administrator Adam Gaudette said not wanting to close the police station, and consideration for the tasks dispatchers perform for the chief and department, weighed heavily on the board’s decision. Dispatchers man the police station, and the Spencer board noted that Spencer’s lockup serves as a regional facility for smaller, surrounding towns. The board didn’t want Spencer to give up that responsibility, the administrator said.

The Spencer board suggested that regional dispatch would amount to no savings realized if it had to hire administrative help to pick up the tasks dispatchers perform, Mr. Gaudette said. Southbridge Police Chief Shane D. Woodson said he remains supportive of the proposal, with the caveat that the Southbridge station remain open 24 hours, seven days a week. “I agree with it,” Chief Woodson said of regionalization. “I’ve spoken with my town manager. He has assured me that we will not be closing the police department at all. The only way I’d agree and support this project is if my doors stay open. It’s a disservice to the community (to lock the department’s doors for parts of the day) and the people that we police.” Chief Woodson said that he doesn’t want to insult departments that close their buildings. Doing so can work for small communities. He said with regional dispatch programs in Essex County and on the South Shore, for instance, some departments went dark and could so because they’re largely affluent communities with lower volumes of calls to police. Closing the department would not work in Southbridge because of the town’s demographics, he said. “People (in Southbridge) need the police more than in some of these other communities because of the city issues we have here, with poverty, unemployment and drug abuse,” he said. “Every child in our schools receives free lunch. We have a lot of serious issues in our community that need to be addressed, and they rely heavily on our police. That’s why we need to be open.” In 2012, when Southbridge considered joining regional dispatch with Dudley and Webster, Chief Woodson said, Southbridge conducted an 11-day study in which it found approximately 400 people walked in to the station requesting police services, while another approximately 450 people called the business line to request police services. Southbridge can also be busy housing prisoners, he said. During the 11 days of the study, 36 eight-hour shifts were reviewed. Prisoners were housed during 22 of the shifts, he said.

CTC Inc. Public Safety Technology Center of Westboro conducted the fivetown study, and projects that recurring cost savings would be $65,855 for Southbridge, while the annual non-recurring capital cost savings would be $188,399. But Chief Woodson suggested those savings projections won’t apply to Southbridge, because, if the proposal comes to fruition, he aims to hire additional administrative staff to ensure the department never closes. On the other hand, Chief Woodson said, he understands how regional dispatch can help. Technology upgrades, in particular, will be tremendous, he said. Presently, there is poor radio reception in some areas of Southbridge, but if the proposal goes through, the state will spend millions of dollars upgrading radio communication between all of the agencies. This increases officer safety, Chief Woodson said. The other benefit is having the dispatch center as a separate entity, with dispatchers focused solely on 911 calls, and a manager who is a trained professional in handling emergency medical calls on hand at all times, Chief Woodson said. Regional dispatch centers are cropping up throughout the region and state. Holden, West Boylston and Princeton are part of the recently opened Wachusett Regional Emergency Communication Center, with emergency calls going directly to Holden’s public safety building. The Regional Emergency Communication and Emergency Operations Center in Worcester recently opened. It serves various Worcester emergency operations and Leicester for public safety 911 dispatch services. The South Worcester County Communications Center in Webster began providing 911 call-taking and dispatch services to Webster and Dudley in November 2014. Leicester and Dudley are among police departments that “went dark” after joining regional dispatch. Leicester Police Chief James Hurley said it’s more accurate to describe it as restricted service.

Residents can still go to the Leicester station and make contact with a dispatcher outside the station lobby, through a call box. But Dudley Police Chief Steven J. Wojnar called it “a definite change of business operation,” and he noted that “a lot of members of the public aren’t really too thrilled with it, if they need to come through and get some business done.” Dudley employs interns from Nichols College to help with daily administrative tasks. “We don’t have enough funding to keep them there around the clock, so there are times when we don’t have anybody stationed at our desk to help out with public walk-ins and things,” Chief Wojnar said. “It’s not an ideal system, but we understand that that comes with the territory, when you have to do something like this. It takes away from customer service, that’s a definite.” He suggested that having an experienced dispatcher in the building provided the opportunity for the dispatcher to answer questions, provide information or maybe handle something a police officer wouldn’t necessarily have to handle. “Now if somebody comes in and no one is at the desk, or the person there doesn’t have the experience, they’ll have to call an officer from the street to deal with those situations,” the chief said. Dudley has an agreement with Webster in that Webster will hold Dudley prisoners who are locked up for an extended time. But if Webster’s lockup is full, or if Webster can’t hold someone from Dudley, Dudley is responsible for the prisoner’s well-being. At times, a Dudley prisoner has to be taken directly to Webster, especially if they’re causing problems or acting violent, Chief Wojnar said. As for the positives, Chief Wojnar said, “We certainly find it’s a good product as far as the quality of dispatch, and we get the benefit of equipment upgrades.” Leicester Town Administrator Kevin Mizikar said the town will be able to reallocate cost savings to hire two additional police officers in next year’s budget. Presently, Leicester has 18 sworn full-time officers, including its chief
Mr. Mizikar said there hasn’t been a decline in service since regional dispatch opened. “We’re still operating as we did, just from a different location.” He acknowledged that the drawback of regionalization is not always being able to employ someone who sits in the station to deal with a person face to face. Leicester has hired jail monitors to give the department the ability to house prisoners if they can’t be taken to an alternate location immediately. “That’s operating efficiently,” Mr. Mizikar said. “We are looking, in next year’s budget, to hire some part-time civilian staff that would be able to pick up some of the administrative functions that our dispatchers did, that are not being provided to the regional center.” Leicester and Worcester’s agreement is different than other communities’ in that Worcester is able to take over Leicester operations and utilize the state funding it received, Mr. Mizikar said. “We don’t have to make a direct payment to the city except for capital costs,” Mr. Mizikar said. “So although we have to hire additional civilians, we’re still able to hire two full-time sworn police officers with our savings. It enables us to provide better policing services that we wouldn’t have been able to if we didn’t transition to the regional center.” Charlton interim Police Chief Daniel R. Charette, whose department is also part of the five-town study, said he believes some police chiefs would want to implement regional dispatch. But, like Chief Woodson and the others, he suggested a civilian presence will be needed at police stations to give out information, forms, and take care of basic daily administrative duties. “I don’t think stations are going to go dark,” he said. “I do think that some stations may have different business hours, say they’re open until 7, 9, at night.” Also, he said that at least one of the stations would have to be used as a regional lockup because, without full-time dispatchers, departments can’t house prisoners.

He said the increased expectations of both officers and dispatchers in the last decade or two has to be recognized, and, “we should let dispatch break off and do their thing.” Ten area towns’ emergency calls are handled by dispatchers at the State Police Academy in New Braintree. State police spokesman David Procopio said in an email that several of the local police departments maintain some presence in their station lobby for the public, at least during the day shift and when staffing allows, while others do not. Residents of those towns who wish to physically go to a police station, for whatever reason, are welcome to go to any of the state police barracks, which have front desks staffed around the clock, he said. The closest barracks for residents of the area are in Brookfield, Belchertown, Sturbridge and Holden. In an emergency, people should call 911 on their home phones or cellphones to receive immediate service, Mr. Procopio said.

posted by Jeff Bennett


To Bob M.

The question of who is responsible for following Policies & Procedures, I would say that with regards to the selectmen, they are the first ones who are responsible for ensuring their policies are followed:
 page 1, Selectmen policies & procedures: Role of the selectmen - The board is responsible for policy development and review for compliance.

page 4, Selectmen policies & Procedures;
Agenda items normally include -
Reading of Agenda
public comment
town administrator report
topics not reasonably anticipated by the chair 48 hours in advance
Selectmen report/future agenda items
Adjournment

So Bob, when was the last time you saw public comment on an agenda for selectmen?

Seems  hard to expect others to follow written policies if the selectmen do not do it. The second ones who should be responsible for ensuring policies are followed are us, the people, which takes time and effort because you have to take the time to read them and attend the meetings. For instance, under selectmen policies & procedures.

As for your thought on how other committees might "use items such as toner, paper etc. from other departments or entities, well that is a good point which is why I brought another item to the board of selectmen when I served, that was central purchasing, which I thought would make for better tracking and accountability. All office supplies bought under one fund and used by all, with say a book that is filled out with who, what, when and how much, then say each month you look at what was used, how much and by who and if there is say quite a bit of paper used by one department, a discussion ensues and see if there is a way to cut back. I thought it was a no brainer and it would allow for better tracking of Town resources, but again, it was a hard sell. To micro managing, department heads shoulld be able to manage their departments, etc. Problem is, no one seems willing to tell department heads that these are not their departments, all departments and equipment, supplies and money belong to the Town, as in the people. Same with the school, I suggested that it is a Town project and should be managed by the Town rather than the school district and this project began I think in 2009, same time as the Town of Ashburnham began their school project, which is finished and open with students in it. A 32 million dollar school and a $400 thousand dollar feasibility cost while Templeton began with $550 thousand and a 32 million dollar project. Those numbers are off the top of my head by I believe pretty accurate. back to who should be overseeing the school, now in 2016 - 2017, we have perhaps one selectmen being vocal about these contracts belonging to the Town/selectmen.

The second item of policies are the more important ones, Town by-laws, which the selectmen for the second year have not followed, getting the warrant to the Advisory Committee by April 10. I was told in a face to face meeting with the Town Administrator that this would not happen this year for a few reasons. So much for all the policies. The one thing that may help would be if all of the people who attend selectmen meetings stand up and ask why, not just the same people or one or two, but all people in attendance.

posted by Jeff Bennett

Friday, April 28, 2017

Annual Town Meeting warrant Draft - article 24 operating budget for FY 2018, shows a transfer from ambulance receipts - "anticipated receipts to be received by the treasury. In a conversation with the Town Accountant and what the T/A stated Tuesday night at BOS meeting, there would have been a deficit in that article because the $325,000.00 would not have actually been in the fund to transfer. In fact the T/A stated at that meeting that it was possible for a resident to ask what is the fund balance at that time and you (selectmen) would have to state there is in fact not $325,000.00 in the fund.

Now on the signed Town Meeting Warrant, with the order and number of articles having been changed, article 18 - operating budget now has a transfer from ambulance receipts in the amount of $225,000.00. Advisory Committee received this Wednesday, April 26, the evening of it's meeting

In a memo from Templeton T/A states ' DOR advises that we must show there is sufficient cash on hand at the time of the vote to satisfy the transfer.".

 
Wed 4/26, 6:01 AM
Sent Items

Thursday, April 27, 2017

To Bob M.

If you go to the Templeton Town website, click on boards and committees then board of selectmen, click town policies then board of selectmen policies and procedures.

Read through them and see what you think, that is one thing I put together and brought to the board of selectmen for consideration. I believe they were the first local guidelines for present and future selectmen to follow. There are guidelines for how and who puts the meeting agenda together, how meetings will run, time line for meeting length, how items brought up at a meeting will be dealt with and so on. That was something I thought would help the town and it's elected representatives on the select board. You see, screwing with smart is easy and only takes about ten minutes of my online time. You notice that when he makes a statement such as "the light PILOT was first lost on jeffy's watch" is proven untrue, smart deflects and goes on another rant. It is fine when he rants about Templeton light but if anyone talks about highway, such as the labor contract, he goes off. It is too easy to rile smart and it is a bit of enjoyment for me to do so. He continually takes from the town while I try to give back.
 Thanks for reading here.

posted by Jeff Bennett
Templeton Town elections; Support and elect Diane Brooks and Julie Farrell. I feel right now, the most important thing for the select board would be experience and experience comes from doing rather than theory. While we may disagree on some things, I feel there could be a good working relationship between the select board and the Advisory Committee which will be good for the Town. agree to disagree on things but remember the big picture, THE ENTIRE TOWN and I feel those two candidates fit better, right now rather than an unknown. It is my opinion that in order to progress, you must know and understand the mistakes of the past and I believe those two candidates fit into what Templeton needs now and for the next three to five years. (if elected, do not get to comfy, as I am not going anywhere, no matter where I sit!)


posted by Jeff Bennett
Nice Job JEFFY the point and one you have proven all by yourself is the reason and I Quote "We don't want to give a pilot because the Board of Selectman can't run the town." With the missing 500k on your watch and with the money we give them who can trust it will be put to good use. Why waste it like we have over the years.
Where is the 500k people would ask.We will do a road project instead.
What we got was a light bill paid at their cost. That's it.
Your boss at the time KENNY R. told dana at town meeting we wouldn't pay the light bill because the town didn't have it to pay them. Most town employees were put on furlough and sent home for 7+ weeks. As a Team player i volunteered to work at town hall and did what i could for the town.
Many people asked me why go volunteer after they lay you off?
It's still my town weather i work for it or not.
I would have thought many more would step up to help but it seem the core of the people who care step up while others are content to watch.
I thank all who helped even you jeff when we took a tarp up to cover the bad roof with Wil and his friend to keep the building from the disaster it would have been.

smart, wrong .....AGAIN!
If Kenny R is referencing Ken Robinson, former member of the select board, he was never my boss, he was yours but never my boss, never was, never will be!

Missing $500 thousand dollars????  Never seen that, never heard of missing money, so smart is wrong again!
smart may wish to speak with Wil Spring on that but as stated at public meetings, the 500 thousand was the result of numbers in the wrong places, left off information, wrong amounts used, as in ambulance receipts listed on revenue side but not on expense side as required.Also, some warrant articles where money was involved that were not counted. 

If smart is following any highway employees to their homes, smart may wish to stop following town employees home and stop causing trouble in the department he works in, thought he was a big union rep who looks out for employees?? again, if he is following employees to their homes and other things like that, he may wish to stay in his lane and be a good little town employee and bow to the board of selectmen, for they are the ones that give you all your freebies. Again, smart is wrong.

posted by Jeff Bennett
2 more meetings left to do!

Wednesday, April 26, 2017


To  jpb01468@comcast.net  
1 attachment
Thank you!  A very misleading typo.  Yes, the correct word should be “now”.

From: JEFF BENNETT [mailto:jpb01468@comcast.net]
Sent: Sunday, April 23, 2017 10:30 AM
To: Ferrarese, Brian (SEN)
Subject: Re: Ch. 90 Local Road Repair Bill

Brian

"both branches must not vote . . ." I am assuming it should be "must now vote . . . "

regards;
Jeff Bennett

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

What you sometimes get for your tax dollars - or not:

From: Templeton, MA Advisory Board [mailto:templetonadvisoryboard@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, April 23, 2017 12:21 PM
To: Paul Grubb <grubbp@comcast.net>; Jeff Bennett <jpb01468@comcast.net>; townadministrator <townadministrator@templeton1.org>; Holly <hyoung@templeton1.org>
Cc: Beverly Bartolomeo <bartsfarm@comcast.net>; Gordon Moore <GordonGMoore@yahoo.com>; Julie Farrell <jfarrell59@gmail.com>; Katharine Fulton <fultonkate@hotmail.com>; Wilfred Spring <185wilberdr@gmail.com>; Diane Haley Brooks, Selectwoman <seldhaleybrooks@templeton1.org>; Doug Morrison, Selectmen <seldmorrison@templeton1.org>; John Columbus, Selectmen <seljcolumbus@templeton1.org>; Julie Richard, Selectwoman <seljrichard@templeton1.org>; Selectman Caplis <Selectmen.Caplis@templeton1.org>; Carol Harris <townclerk@templeton1.org>; Derek Hall <dhall@templeton1.org>
Subject: Fwd: Notice of Advisory Board newest member Paul Grubb as required by by-law

Paul,

I have done some research on what was done to notify everyone that the Advisory Committee had filled it's last open position. On Nov 2, 2016 a notification went out to all (Town Clerk, Moderator, Selectmen,Town Administrator,Advisory Committee and the Administrator Assistant to the Town Administrator).  Shortly after that I went into the Advisory Committee web site to enter your name.  I could not because it stated the position was locked.  I called Holly to find out what the problem was and was told she could not take care of it at that time but would take care of it when she had time. When I received your email below  I tried again and got the same message that the position was locked.  I went to the help section on the web site to see what needed to be done to unlock the position and it indicated that I did not have access to unlock the position.



Carter and Holly,

Can you take care of this and get Paul's name in he open position on the web site and stop showing that there is an open position on our committee.



Thank you,

Wil


Good Morning Wil:

I had told you it was something that is more difficult to do, so that’s something I need to do-that’s why you couldn’t do it.

It’s been on my list since we spoke, but my list it just very long. I just added Paul on there, so he is all set.

Holly A. Young
Holly A. Young,
Assistant to the Town Administrator
TempletonMA-seal.png
Town of Templeton
Town Hall, Room 6
P.O. Box 620, 160 Patriots Road
East Templeton, MA  01438
Phone 978-894-2762 - Fax 978-894-2801


posted by Jeff Bennett

Monday, April 24, 2017

Annual Town Meeting 2010

Article 8. To see if the Town will vote to appropriate the sum of One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00) from the surplus funds of the operating account of the Municipal Lighting Plant as of December 31, 2009, for use by the Assessors to reduce the tax rate for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011, or to take any other action relative thereto. On a motion duly made and seconded the Town voted to appropriate the sum of One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00) from the surplus funds of the operating account of the Municipal Lighting Plant as of December 31, 2009, for use by the Assessors to reduce the tax rate for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011.
Passed Unanimously/May 11th @ 7:19  



Annual Town meeting 2011

Article 8. To see if the Town will vote to appropriate the sum of One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00) from the surplus funds of the operating account of the Municipal Lighting Plant as of December 31, 2010, for use by the Assessors to reduce the tax rate for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012, or to take any other action relative thereto. On a motion duly made and seconded the Town voted to appropriate the sum of One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00) from the surplus funds of the operating account of the Municipal Lighting Plant as of December 31, 2010, for use by the Assessors to reduce the tax rate for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012. 
Passed Unanimously/May 10th @ 7:51


Annual Town meeting 2012

Article 11. To see if the Town will vote to appropriate the sum of One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00) from the surplus funds of the operating account of the Municipal Lighting Plant as of December 31, 2011, for use by the Assessors to reduce the tax rate for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2013, or to take any other action relative thereto. Submitted by the Board of Selectmen On a motion duly made and seconded the town voted to appropriate the sum of One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00) from the surplus funds of the operating account of the Municipal Lighting Plant as of December 31, 2011, for use by the Assessors to reduce the tax rate for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2013. Passed by 2/3 Vote/May 15th @ 8:08


Annual Town meeting of 2013

Article 13 To see if the Town will vote to appropriate a sum of money from the surplus funds of the operating account of the Municipal Lighting Plant as of December 31, 2012 for use by the Assessors to reduce the tax rate for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014, or to take any other action relative thereto. Submitted by the Board of Selectmen On a motion duly made and seconded the town voted to accept the sum of One Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($150,000.00) from the Municipal Lighting Plant as of December 31, 2012, as a payment in lieu of taxes to the Town, and that said payment be used to offset FY 14 town expenses as part of “Town Balanced Budget”.
 Passed/May 14th @ 8:51

The Annual Town Meeting held in 2014, was the year that the light department began  "paying for" light charges of town buildings and street lights. So, I do not find where Dave Smart's comment about no PILOT payment while I served on the select board from about May 19, 2011 until about March 17, 2014 has any truth to it. The information is on Town Meeting record and annual Town reports.

oops!

posted by Jeff Bennett


  
Just to give you a warm fuzzy feeling, it was stated at tonight's selectmen meeting that the snow & ice fund is in deficit by $130,000.00. Fire/EMS fund is short, the highway maintenance/supplies fund that we transferred $10,000.00 into will probably not make it to the end of the year (should have went with the department head number rather than the T/A number?) The Warrant for the upcoming Town meeting was/will be changed again and the Advisory Committee will not have it as required by Templeton Town by-laws.

Update: Templeton General Town by-laws state the Advisory Committee is suppose to have the Warrant by April 10. It was also stated that the Ambulance receipts fund is running short as in the projections are falling short, as in the fund will not have the at least $325,000.00 that an article for Town meeting asks for that amount to be transferred from Ambulance receipts to the general fund.

Still using one time funds as well to support the general fund spending plan.


posted by Jeff Bennett

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Templeton General Town by-laws, and they can be found on the Town web site.
(Hopefully, they are up to date)


Article IV Advisory Committee

section 4a. All articles, other than those deemed by the board of selectmen to constitute an emergency, sought to be inserted in the Town Warrant for the Annual Town meeting shall be filed with the Board of Selectmen and referred by them to the Advisory Committee on or before April 10th and all articles sought to be inserted in the warrant for a special town meeting shall be referred by the board of selectmen to the advisory committee at least 14 days before the date set for such meeting.


oops, that did not happen!

Article VII - Legal Affairs

section 2. The Selectmen may at their discretion compromise or settle any claim or suit to which the town is a party, which does not require payment by the town of an amount in excess of one thousand dollars. No settlement of a claim or suit obligating the town in an amount in excess of one thousand dollars shall be made, except as authorized by law, without the consent of the town meeting.


oops, that did happen, back in 2012, after the big recall thing and the then town coordinator was fired and was paid to go, in excess of one thousand dollars, without a town meeting vote. I know, I was a member of the Board of selectmen at that time and voted not to do it, along with Chris Stewart, but the board of selectmen was chaired by a man named Columbus and it was done. The gentleman paid eventually came back for a time. Any other settlement the Town may have been involved with, you would need to ask the current Board of selectmen members about.


posted by Jeff Bennett

david smart9:50 AM
wrote in part:


"I always looked at Mr. Fred Bennett as a member of the community who looked out for the way our money was spent and a force to keep honesty among the towns departments.
So if Jeff doesn't agree with what the town Administrator or in some cases the Selectman sign he should say so at the meeting he might bother to attend.
I don't think they bother to read this like thew few of us do.
So do we need bad guys or not,who pretend to be what they think they are "partly"?


So, little davey thought my father was doing a good job looking out for how taxpayer money was being spent, so why does he seem to have such a problem with me pointing out how taxpayer money is spent with regards to the highway department? I submit that if I was doing the same with regards to the Templeton light & Water department, he would have no problem with it at all, because it would fit with his agenda.

The labor contract, which gives dave smart many things (freebies) at the expense of the taxpayers was used by me, as an example of how taxpayer money is/was spent and how those contracts become promissory that in turn affect things down the road. It appears that if one looks at light & water, that is good, but if you look at highway, not so much. Seems kind of hypocritical and conflicting, in my opinion.


posted by Jeff Bennett
Templeton has a full time fire chief and now it seems like it is heading towards a full time department, as there are two full time fire fighters in the upcoming spending plan, but there is no Town Meeting article concerning that, as there was in the annual town meeting of 2013.

Article 11 To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate, transfer from available funds, or otherwise provide a sum of money to hire two (2) full-time equivalent firefighter/EMTs to work daytime coverage 48 hours per week (Monday-Friday), or to take any other action relative thereto. Submitted by the Board of Selectmen
 Chief Laporte was allowed to speak.

On a motion duly made and seconded the town voted that One Hundred Twenty Eight Thousand Eight Hundred Twelve Dollars ($128,812.00) be hereby appropriated from the FY 14 tax levy and other general revenues of the town to be expended by the Fire Chief to add two daytime full time equivalent firefighter/EMTs to the staffing of the Templeton Fire Department. Passed/May 14th @ 8:26


posted by Jeff Bennett
from  Websters Unabridged dictionary of the English Language

Antagonist -   1. a person who is opposed to or struggles against.
Antagonism - 1. an active hostility or opposition
                        2. an opposing force, principle or tendency.


from the thesaurus: synonyms for antagonists -

adversary, enemy, for, opponent, bad person.

So, I feel that using the words "bad guy" in reference to being opposed to or against something or challenging something is being an antagonist or a bad person/bad guy. in that respect, my dad was the bad guy and I enjoy being like him, in that sense.

So if you think about it, and I realize there are a few who read things here and do not think about what they read because they are so quick to make fun of me, they miss the whole point of what was written or perhaps they wish to take attention away from what was written by attempting to steer conversation in another direction, such as the oft reference to some settlement and which they never seem to have "the rest of the story"


posted by Jeff Bennett

Annual Town Meeting 2014:




A         Article 20 CHANGE TO THE TOWN BUDGET PROCESS

To see if the Town will vote to change Article IV “Advisory Committee,” Section 4 of the Town By-Laws to read: 
“It shall be duty of the Town Administrator in conjunction with the BOS to consider expenditures and develop a budget for the ensuing fiscal year of the several boards, officers and committees of the town, as prepared by them in such form and detail as prescribed by the Town Administrator.”; or take any other action relative thereto. Submitted by the Board of Selectmen
On a substitute motion duly made and seconded the Town voted that Article III “Town Officers“ of the Town By-laws be herby amended:

4. “It shall be duty of the Town Administrator in conjunction with the BOS to consider expenditures and develop a budget for the ensuing fiscal year of the several boards, officers and committees of the town, as prepared by them in such form and detail as prescribed by the Town Administrator.”

Passed Unanimously/May 19th @ 8:38pm

So, as it is now presented there is no creation nor acceptance of any item to have or create a Town Administrator position, it is not written in the Town by-laws. This question or concern was brought up by the Advisory Committee and said committee asked for this concern to be passed on to Town Counsel. It was and Town Counsel answered but the selectmen never acted on the advice, so why is that? There were a couple of ways given to fix this, one was to go back to Town Meeting and have it corrected that way, but again, selectmen refused to address it.

on top of that, selectmen have again gone against Templeton town by-laws by failing to have the warrant to the Advisory Committee by April 10. 



posted by Jeff Bennett