BROOKFIELD - A town employee known for criticizing town officials on a large sign on Route 9 has been reprimanded for "inappropriate behavior."
Advisory Committee Chairman John David Holdcraft waived his right Tuesday night to an executive session, to discuss discipline or dismissal and allowed the session to be open to the public.
"With one condition," Mr. Holdcraft said, "that the truth gets told by the one who's bringing this to the board. That would be you, (Selectman) Clarence (R. Snyder III) ... Let the town people see the nonsense and where our money's being wasted."
The so called town employee is a member of the Advisory Committee and in Brookfield, according to their town website, members of the Advisory Committee are appointed by the Board of selectmen. So, in my opinion, the selectmen in Brookfield are the same as the selectmen in Templeton. They do not like, do not want and will not stand for any appointees speaking badly of or criticizing the selectmen. In Templeton, there is at least one selectmen, and probably three who wish to punish one Templeton resident and town employee who told the Templeton selectmen "you suck." That employee may face being told to present a public apology, no more speaking at selectmen meetings and may even be terminated in one way or another. One such way would be by a budget cut. Of course, all of these selectmen must be aware of measures this employee could take, such as legal action, filing a complaint with the very liberal and anti Town state entity called MCAD - Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. All of these current selectmen attended a training session presented by people from MCAD and I know this because I also attended that training session.
Unlike Brookfield, members of the Templeton Advisory Committee are appointed initially by the Town Meeting Moderator. These current group of selectmen also ignore the Templeton Town by-laws that state the Advisory Committee shall have access to all records and books concerning finance and there are emails that prove this and yes, I have them. In fact, there is at least one selectmen in Templeton who would like to change or add a by-law in Templeton that woulld allow selectmen to "punish" any member of the Advisory Committee who "acts badly" as the conversation went, "if I act or do something badly, I can get fired' I pointed out that with regards to any elected person, you could be recalled but that procedure does not guarantee you would be removed or the recall would actually take place. My theory is there are some current members of the board of selectmen who do not want anyone to question them, criticize them or write any opinions about them. It is also my opinion that I am probably on the top of that list of people whom the selectmen would like to quiet or at least take out of the information loop.
Recent information put forth by this current group of selectmen concerning the new elementary school funding, the fiscal 2017 town budget and even simple appointments show that the selectmen not only need questioning, they need to answer those questions.That is the very basis for a real democracy and a democratic form of good, open and transparent government.
posted by Jeff Bennett
