One task of the Advisory Committee, discussed and voted on by all members.
In my opinion, which I believe I am still entitled to have, is this is another example of interference by the office of the Board of Selectmen and is one reason I believe, the jabs will continue, from this individual anyway. Don't like me, don't like being written about and on and on, fine, but a report of a Committee that involves the accounting of public, taxpayer monies needs to be reported as submitted, as it was written and completed, in my opinion. If the original report had been included in the fiscal year 2016 annual town report that was handed out at the May 2017 elections, this would not even be mentioned here today and beyond.

Carter,

At the Advisory Committee meeting on June 21, 2017 a review of the FY16 issued Advisory Committee's annual report compared to your edited version was done,  The conclusion of the committee was that the submitted report be the one that is issued and not your edited version.  As the committee's report is a public document it is not subject to be edited by anyone other than the public body from which it is being issued.  In addition, the edited version does not include the transfers brought before the committee which were reviewed/discussed and were not approved.  Excluding them from the report would be in violation of the Town By-law Article IV  SEC 6.

Again, the attachment is the Advisory Committee  FY16 annual report being resubmitted to be included in the revised Town annual report.

Wilfred Spring

Advisory Committee Chairman

posted by Jeff Bennett

Want to see a Town website that is easy and citizen/taxpayer friendly, take a look at the Town of Athol, which uses the same website service as Templeton but with much better service (in my opinion and thought - watch out for the thought police)

Welcome to the Sunshine Page! 

Here the Town seeks to offer more convenient access to information about Athol's operations and finances.  You will find information about Athol's budget, key contracts, various reports and policy documents, and a link to ClearGov where you can compare Athol's finances with other communities in the Commonwealth.  Note: The Town's governing documents (Charter, Zoning and General Bylaws) can be accessed from the home page or by clicking here.

I hope this information helpful, but, you can always reach me with questions concerning Town operations by emailing ssuhoski@townofathol.org.  I try to respond to all inquiries within two business days.  Thank you!

Shaun A. Suhoski, Town Manager

posted by Jeff Bennett

If you wish to see what a Town face book page can or should look like, go no further than the Town of Hubbardston, MA. Well done by the Huddbardston selectmen!


An example of content from Hubbardston Town face book page - Selectmen meeting info, what a concept, informative and assistance to constituents. 

Town of Hubbardston

22 hrs · 

The Board of Selectmen will be taking questions during their meeting Monday, June 26th, which will be answered during the Public/Press question & answer section at the end of the meeting. If you have a question/comment/concern that you would like to have the Board address, please email it to the Town Administrator at admin@hubbardstonma.us or in the comments section on the Town of Hubbardston Facebook page notice, along with your street address.
Questions will be taken until 6:00pm Tuesday evening. The Board will try to address as many as time permits. Profanity, derogatory comments, and/or personal attacks will not be read or tolerated.

posted by Jeff Bennett

Winchendon hires Burlington company Streetscan to find it would take 60.2 million dollars to get all of the roads in that Town nice and smooth, bump free etc. The study was conducted with a high-tech van using ground penetrating technology to come up with a list of roads by condition. Apparently, a little over two thirds of the Town's roads are in fair, poor, very poor, or serious condition. The rest are good or excellent. Winchendon is suppose to receive just under $444,000.00 in chapter 90 monies from the state.

Perhaps using Winchendon management to oversee Templeton would not be such a bad idea!

posted by Jeff Bennett

What got the ball rolling:

david smartJune 15, 2017 at 6:39 AM

Sort of like the former selectman JEFF BENNETT sitting on the Insurance Advisory Committee.
Should he have known or was he just stepping over MGL when he wanted to?
Should he have checked the procedures? After i meeting he was removed and things were straightened out. Hard to see the trees in the forest?
The more we look the more we will see in Templeton.

Jeff BennettJune 15, 2017 at 7:32 AM

little Davey I was voted on the IAC by a vote of the Advisory Committee which was following the Towns by-laws. When I was voted on the IAC, that made the BOS office "nervous so effort was made to see if they could keep me off. MGL and the Town by-law seemed to conflict even though the by-law had been approved by the attorney general of the state. I do not know if anyone ever checked to see if the Town by law was incorrect or not. I never did and because of that, the AC agreed or surmised that there would no longer be a member of the committee on the IAC, got it. little Davey pretty quiet on Templeton light & water. bought off by the powers at be by way of Light buying things for highway. wait til we see what was bought by snow & ice.

Advisory Committee meeting of April 14, 2016 - Insurance Advisory Committee appointment:

Motion by Wil Spring

Second by  Bev Bartolomeo

five members present - yes all for Jeff Bennett as representative from Advisory Committee to insurance advisory committee. First meeting on Tuesday, April 19, 2016 per Templeton Town bylaw that had been approved by the Attorney General.

So, is correcting the misrepresentation of facts an open meeting law violation?

 I will be waiting to hear.

posted by Jeff Bennett

from the Town Administrator report of 6/22/2017


n. After checking with your various schedules for availability I have scheduled a joint meeting with the Winchendon BoS for 07/27 at 7p in Winchendon Town Hall to discuss the opportunities for programmatic and management sharing.


Public Works Highway Department: Removed branches, stumps and loamed/seeded where trees were cut. The brush mower continues to mow road side areas thru out town. Re-Patched the pot hole under the bridge on Central St., water seems to be under mining the patch. We also patched in various other areas on Brooks Rd. and Baldwinville Rd. The Sweeper worked in the area of Barre Rd, Harley Hill, Henshaw and Stone Bridge, and continued to Minuteman and Musket. Approximately 15 Ton of milling put out on Claire Dr. to help even out the roughness in the road. This effort will continue as the winter took its toll on the surface of the road. The director attended the conservation meeting on Monday night to address the situation on Cottage lane. On Tuesday Alan attended the Elementary school meeting seeking info on the ONE WAY and RADIUS changes. Parts for the H7 and H9 ten wheelers are on hand and those two vehicles should be returned to the fleet. Alan reached out to the Light and Water department about obtaining their used bucket truck to replace the one that is out of service @ the highway barn. The meeting was positive in respect to the light and water will be upgrading in the Spring and would be open to surplus their 2006 to the highway department in the spring. The options to repair the 2001 truck are expensive, New motor ~$12,000.00, Rebuilt out sourced ~$8,000.00 and rebuild in-house ~$2000. Since the feeling from the Light & Water department is favorable that they would surplus the 2006 to us, we will be putting a small amount ($2k+/-) into the truck to get it running. This bucket truck is vital to highway for emergency storm and tree related issues.



posted by Jeff Bennett