Year in review [looking in the rear view mirror]
Annual Town Meeting of May, 2018:
article 30:
On a motion duly made and seconded the Town voted to appropriate the sum of Fifty Eight
Thousand Five Hundred Dollars and No Cents ($58,500.00) toward a program of capital
purchases and improvements, as generally illustrated below:
Infield Groomer $10,000
Cemetery Garage Roof - 39 Bridge St. $10,000
T.C. Fire Training Room AC $ 3,500
Fire Chief’s Vehicle $35,000
and to meet said appropriation by a transfer of Forty Five Thousand Dollars and No Cents
($45,000.00) from certified free cash and a transfer of Thirteen Thousand Five Hundred Dollars
and No Cents ($13,500.00) from overlay surplus.
Passed/May 19th @ 1:20 pm
Problem is, the groomer was not bought, a substitute item was bought under the pretext that it was capable of doing the same job and could do a few other things.
So, what about the department head who made the original request? What about the capital improvement committee and the whole capital plan? Is that plan being followed or is it used to deceive voters/taxpayers?
People go to town meeting and are asked to support various items, yet, when they do, they find out selectmen have ignored their vote by doing something else.
Annual Town Meeting of May 2017
article 20:
On a motion duly made and seconded the town voted to appropriate the sum of One Hundred Seventy
Two Thousand Five Hundred Dollars and no cents ($172,500.00) for a program of capital purchases and
improvements and to meet said appropriation with a transfer of One Hundred Fifty Two Thousand Five
Hundred Dollars and no cents ($152,500.00) of unissued bond proceeds originally borrowed for 252
Baldwinville Road and the balance from taxation with the pricing for each item being generally
illustrated as follows:
Item Amount
TH Mini-Split; Conf/Accounting, Misc. $ 17,500
Temp Center Fire/EMS - Roof Replacement $ 35,000
Senior Center Siding $100,000
A&E Assistance, Advertising, Printing $ 2,500
Dump Body - 1984 Mack 10 Wheel $ 17,500
Passed/May 13th @ 12:37pm
There is also the issue with using the above funds for a stand alone dump body for the purchase of a brand new 6-wheeler dump truck.
How is it possible or allowable for something like that to be approved within the weekly town warrant, [listing/submittal of invoices & bills to the town that first gets looked at by town accountant and ultimately signed off on by the selectmen.
Chapter 41: Section 56. Warrants for payment of bills
[ Text of section as amended by 2016, 218, Sec. 58 effective November 7, 2016. For text effective until November 7, 2016, see above.]
Section 56. The selectmen and all boards, committees, heads of departments and officers authorized to expend money shall approve and transmit to the town accountant as often as once each month all bills, drafts, orders and pay rolls chargeable to the respective appropriations of which they have the expenditure. For purposes of this section, the board of selectmen and any other board, committee or head of department consisting of more than 1 member authorized to expend money, may designate any 1 of its members to approve all bills, drafts, orders and payrolls; provided, however, that the member shall make available to the board, committee or other department head, at the first meeting following such action, a record of such actions. This provision shall not limit the responsibility of each member of the board in the event of a noncompliance with this section. Such approval shall be given only after an examination to determine that the charges are correct and that the goods, materials or services charged for were ordered and that such goods and materials were delivered and that the services were actually rendered to or for the town as the case may be; provided, however, that such approval may be given to any bill received from a state agency for the town's share of the costs of a federal urban planning assistance program, established under the provisions of section 701 of Public Law 83-560, as amended, before any goods, materials or services ordered or to be ordered under such a program have been delivered or actually rendered, as the case may be. The town accountant shall examine all such bills, drafts, orders and pay rolls, and, if found correct and approved as herein provided, shall draw a warrant upon the treasury for the payment of the same, and the treasurer shall pay no money from the treasury except upon such warrant approved by the selectmen. If there is a failure to elect or a vacancy occurs in the office of selectman, the remaining selectman or selectmen, together with the town clerk, may approve such warrant. The town accountant may disallow and refuse to approve for payment, in whole or in part, any claim as fraudulent, unlawful or excessive, and in such case he shall file with the town treasurer a written statement of the reasons for such refusal. The treasurer shall not pay any claim or bill so disallowed by the town accountant. So far as apt this section shall apply to cities.
Another item where there are potential problems is the act of procurement; specifically, the procurement of new payroll services. According the job description of the Town Administrator, he is the chief procurement officer of the town of Templeton. MGL chapter 30b is the state law outlining how these things are to be done; it is an outlined process of how to do these things. The Town of Templeton has already had to have training from the State Office of the Inspector General because of recent mistakes made regarding chapter 30B. [splitting of contracts or requests for services]
With all the talk about transparency and policies for the town, how do these issues keep arising in Templeton? Getting very hard to trust selectmen and their governance.
As a concerned resident, I do not think I will be supporting any more capital items until some needed changes are made; perhaps more time spent at selectmen meetings actually discussing and questioning policies and procedures. Of course, selectmen have to actually show up for meetings and be competent in ability to understand things.
