Gonna love this new selectmen, Cameron Fortes:

Well, so ya wanna be a wise guy and a smartazz, okay, no biggy.

Mr. Fortes, you are the selectmen, not me, so I will not be doing any hand holding nor will I bring you a copy of the selectmen policies and procedures, that is your duty and responsibility.

You got elected, now start serving and you may begin by doing what you said you would do, send financial information concerning the school project to the Advisory Committee. Real simple, do what you said you would do.

Second, get a copy of the latest selectmen handbook and look it over and then get a copy of the Town's by-laws, zoning by-laws, current fiscal year budget, recent town report and the policies and procedures for the selectmen. Just a suggestion since you are the vice-chairman and could end up putting together the agenda for a selectmen meeting. Again, that is your responsibility, not one of your constituents. There has been a lack of following open meeting law and selectmen policies for a while, specifically on the agenda, no public comment section as stated in the policies and procedures for selectmen. The chairman has also neglected to follow the open meeting law concerning asking if anyone is recording the meeting besides the town.

As for  the state (MA) credit rating change, that was as reported on the news at 4:00 A.M. today on FOX 25.  Some towns have what Templeton does not have, a full time, rather than interim Town Administrator, a good rainy day fund and as Winchendon has done, they created an audit committee to deal with things that need improvement with regards to their financial mess. You may find other towns have a good regularly funded general stabilization fund.  

By the way, if I ask you for anything regarding the town, such as information on snow and ice fund, you would not be doing me any favors, you would be doing your job and duty as a selectmen in helping out a constituent. In my opinion anyways.



posted by Jeff Bennett