all material on this blog is directed to members of the general public and is not intended to be read by my fellow Committee members, nor do I intend for any readers to convey such material directly or indirectly to my fellow Committee members.

TO: Board of Selectmen
FROM: Carter Terenzini, Town Administrator
RE: Administrator’s Weekly Report
DATE: July 27, 2017
CC: All Departments

Important Notice To All Departments 

If you have procurement questions, you are urged to consult with this Office ASAP. 

(That would be the office that split contracts in order to avoid bids and such)

(That is included in the management letter from the auditors)

It is imperative that all Town Departments understand that any contract which is entered into that is not in compliance with the statute “… shall not be valid, and the governmental body shall make no payment under such contract.” (MGL Ch. 30B §17). I think we can all agree that we certainly do not ever want to see the Town in such a position. The following is intended to provide information where a full memo may not have been warranted or supplement the provided information. Business Meeting or Workshop: N/A Weekly Report: Working w/Kelli, we finalized a formal monthly reconciliation report we will use moving forward. We met w/Kent to work on some changes to their accounting codes which will make this monthly reconciliation workable across the full range of our funds. Review commenced of the applications for the several recently posted jobs. I reviewed specifications for our Sr. Center bid and have advised of changes needed to comply w/statute. Hopefully this can be out to bid w/in two weeks. I have learned of an “emergency” procurement and am working to ensure a measure of compliance with the statute. Kelli ran a year end summary of the total payments made to all of our vendors. This can form the basis for the discussion on formalizing a more localized Procurement Policy. This is critical to getting better compliance with Ch. 30B.


Highway Department: The crew observed a piece of specialty equipment by Johnston on Thursday. The item was a Sweeper combination catch basin cleaner. The new technology was great to see and the combo of uses was especially intriguing. Then on Friday we visited the Gardner DPW to see their sign making facility and discuss stencil materials that are longer lasting. The people @ Gardner DPW were very informative and supportive. We will use many new ideas going forward into FY2019 as for FY2018, the materials have been purchased and work already begun using the other method. Completed sweeping for the year and will begin road side trimming. Crosswalk and stop line painting is in-process and will continue as weather permits. The mechanic had to address some emergency issues with larger equipment as well as work on one of the COA vehicles.

(Perhaps Templeton will follow Gardner's lead on pot holes as well)

Disclaimer

Opinions expressed are those of Jeff Bennett and do not represent any other member of the Advisory Committee.

posted by Jeff Bennett