Well, at least the firms hired and paid to look at things and make suggestions are doing their homework???? Right!!
from the Collins memo concerning Advisory Committee:
TO: Templeton Board of Selectmen
FROM: Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management
DATE: October 16, 2017
RE: Miscellaneous findings regarding the Advisory Committee in Templeton
Although the primary focus of this Community Compact project is Templeton’s budget document,
process, and related financial policies, throughout the research for the project, the Center project team
has become aware of various issues affecting the Town’s ability to develop its budget and financial
policies. This memo addresses one of these topics: the role and responsibilities of the Town’s Advisory
Committee. (Future memos may address other aspects of the process.)
Advisory Committee Vacancy Appointments :
The Center project team was reviewing the Town’s finance‐related bylaws and noticed an unusual
provision related to how the Advisory Committee is constructed (emphasis added):
Article IV, Section 3. The said committee shall fill any vacancy which may occur in its
membership, by vote, attested copy of which shall be sent by the secretary to the Town Clerk. If
any member is absent from five consecutive meetings of said committee, except in case of
illness, his position shall be deemed to be vacant and shall be filled as herein provided. The term
of office of any person so chosen to fill a vacancy shall expire at the final adjournment of the next
succeeding Annual Town Meeting, and the Moderator thereof shall appoint his successor to
complete the unexpired term of the member in whose office such vacancy originally occurred.”
The project team is aware of only one other town (Townsend) that similarly provides for the Advisory
Committee to select its own members in the event of vacancies. In those towns where the Moderator is
the appointing authority of the Advisory Committee (which is a plurality of Massachusetts towns), the
Moderator typically fills vacancies that appear. Allowing a board or committee to appoint its own
members, even for a short period of time, risks creating a situation where any traits or points of view
can become self‐reinforcing.
It would be worth considering a revision to the bylaw to remove this provision to reduce the potential
that a future Advisory Committee becomes self‐reinforcing.
from the website of the town of Bolton, MA:
chapter 10; boards, committees and other bodies
article I Advisory committee
