Answer, of sorts, to public records request regarding Veterans Advisory Boar and Town by-law.

According to by-law, the veterans advisory board is suppose to make a report to the selectmen in December. The Town Administrator informed me the report would be forth coming, however:

Mr Bennett

 As I stated last night in person there was a miss information and when it was discussed with the VSO in more detail this would be your answer. 

 No meetings scheduled because no  quorum not enough members to make a board or committee so no meetings no report period. The office of the BoS and I gave you miss information with out contacting the VSO first and I apologize for that and I will do my best for that. It to happen again. In short no report but what I did request is a memo for record outlining that and when completed you are able to receive a copy under the freedom of information act. So I hope this answers your question. Anything else please direct to me. Also I am working on your answer of the dump body NLT COB Tuesday.  (VSO = veterans service officer)

Respectfully 

John Caplis

Chairman 

My conclusion is the Town Administrator, Carter Terenzini fibbed to me, is uninformed or misinformed - all of the above. You make the call.

Certification Information

MMAAA CERTIFICATION PROGRAM

Many years ago the Massachusetts Municipal Auditors’ and Accountants’ Association (MMAAA) established a Certification Program to provide a measurement of achievement for governmental auditors and accountants.  The Program, which is purely voluntary and restricted only to members, is offered by the Association to advance the professionalism of its members.  
Members who pass both the Practical (Accounting) and Legal examinations and meet all of the educational and experience requirements are recognized as a Certified Governmental Accountants (CGA) by the Association. The examinations, which are very in-depth, test a member’s knowledge of municipal accounting and law.  The examinations are held at the Annual School (usually at U-Mass, Amherst in March), and the certificates are awarded to those newly certified members at our Annual Meeting (usually at Cape Cod in June).

Dear Members: MMAAA offers a certification program of Certified Governmental Accountant (CGA) as promulgated by our Association. While the examinations have been prepared by an independent source there should be no misunderstanding that the CERTIFICATION PROGRAM is the Association’s program and the Association is issuing the Certifications. The examination is purely voluntary and offered by your Association to advance the professionalism of its members. In addition to passing the exams, all applicants must satisfy education and experience requirements prior to becoming certified. Once certified, in order to keep the Certified status, the members must maintain active membership and attend the MMAAA Education Program at least once every three years.

LEGAL EXAM: This 30 Minute exam consists of 25 multiple choice questions. Each question is worth 4 points. Minimum passing grade is 72.

PRACTICAL EXAM:This 2 ½ hour exam consists of 10 problems worth 10 points each. Problems require specific journal entries and calculations. You may be required to prepare financial statements. Questions involving mathematical calculations must have an exact answer. Some problems allow for partial credit. Minimum passing grade is 70. The following suggested topics are recommended for your review: Recording Town Meeting or City Council Appropriations; Recording Tax Recap Sheet Items; Recording current year Cash Receipts and Disbursements; Recording Tax Titles and Tax Possessions; Recording Departmental Committed Bills and associated Cash Receipts, Refunds and Abatements; Recording Loans Authorized and Bond Anticipation Notes; Recording Year End Adjusting and Closing Entries; Recording Year End Accruals and Opening Reversal Entries; General Account Classification by title - Asset, Liability, or Fund Balance; Recording Journal Entries for Capital Projects; Calculation of Available Funds (Free Cash); Reconciliation of Cash – by Treasurer and Auditor/Accountant; Calculation of Principal and Interest Payments on Long-Term Bond Issues.

 IMPORTANT REMINDERS: DURING THE EXAM: Pens/Pencils and non-programmable business calculators will be allowed during the exam. No other materials/books/papers will be allowed on the table. All cell phones and electronic devices, other than calculators, must be turned off during the exam.
Please note that smartphones and other similar devices cannot be used as calculators for the exams.

With respect to this request which triggered this discussion, you may consider it withdrawn.  We will go back to ground zero and balcony the risks of unperformed tasks and closure at this time versus the risks of unperformed tasks and closure post ATM if we are not able to get a backfill at that meeting.  We will advise all on 04/03 of our course of action.

With respect to future requests, my memo laid out a discussion of the wide and varying views that different Towns take of how to view requests for transfers.  In fact the DOR guidance specifically stated that “Finance committees should adopt their own guidelines to supplement the state statute and provide other town officials with a better understanding of the circumstances under which the committee is likely to use the reserve fund.”  I would urge the AC to develop just such a policy as I firmly believe a better understanding of the full rules of the would be helpful to all.

Finally, I can assure you that this request was not the result of poor budget planning or “… an end around Town Meeting for poor budgeting… “.  On behalf of the Town Staff, let me assure you that your Town staff does not take unscheduled medical leave mid-year without ample justification and does so reluctantly preferring to be on their job serving the community.

Many Thanks

Carter Terenzini

Town Administrator

Note to Mr. Terenzini:

Templeton Reserve fund policy sent to you and all department heads back in 2016!

in part, the policy reads:

Policy on Reserve Fund Transfers
Purpose: The purpose of this policy statement is to identify the criteria the Advisory Committee will use to rule on requests for transfers from the Emergency Reserve Fund. The creation and use of the Reserve Fund is governed by Chapter 40, Section 6 of the Massachusetts General Laws.
The Reserve Fund is a sum of money appropriated at Town Meeting to be used at the discretion of the Advisory Committee to cover “extraordinary or unforeseen expenditures” that arise during the year. This means that if the Advisory Committee does not feel that a request is sufficiently unforeseen or extraordinary as defined below, it is not eligible for a Reserve Fund transfer.
Extraordinary: A) Beyond what is usual, ordinary, regular, or established; a cost not arising from normal activities in the course of business. B) Exceptional in character, amount, extent, degree, etc.; noteworthy, remarkable
Unforeseen: unexpected, unanticipated; not able to be predicted at the time the budget was set.
Policy:
• The Advisory Committee requests that it be alerted when a board or department believes that a developing situation may necessitate a Reserve Fund transfer, especially for large amounts. This will help the Advisory Committee to forecast overall needs, ensure funds are available for the most critical needs, and advise boards and departments in advance whether the Reserve Funds may or may not be available.
• A representative of the requesting organization should plan to be present at the meeting to defend and explain the request. This will ensure that questions from the Advisory Committee can be answered and prevent a denial or delay of approval. If being present is a hardship, please contact a member of the Advisory Committee to try and answer any questions in advance.


Perhaps a monthly review of the Town's expenditure report at a meeting of the board of selectmen could result in such notice, where all things could be considered, including whether a transfer request could wait until May 1, where an end of year transfer could be used rather than a reserve fund request. Either way, how does someone who is charged with oversight of the day to day operations of the Town not be aware of such a policy? With the "building" of the new town website, such policy will be posted under the Advisory Committee.

Is this good management of taxpayer dollars?

Templeton selectmen propose to use ambulance receipts to fund general fund budget, while they propose to lease an ambulance to include estimated $32,000.00 in interest. Under the capital plan, ambulance purchase price quoted is $297,000.00, so fire chief asks for $300,000.00 while the T/A suggests $315,000.00. Draft warrant proposes 5 year lease at $56,000.00 for five years = $280,000.00 and also asks for additional $70,000 so as to keep purchase lease amount as presented. Added together, that is $350,000.00, so when asked why so much extra money for ambulance, borrowing costs / interest of $32,000.00. So, February expenditure report shows $250,000.00 in ambulance receipts, now if $50,000.00 from free cash was added to that 250K, ambulance purchased outright, town does not spend $32,000.00 on borrowing costs and that $32,000.00 is $10,000.00 less than the capital plan dollar figure of $42,000.00 for a new suv police cruiser. The extra 10K needed is right there from the proposed $70,000.00 in draft warrant article #33. Ambulance bought out right, new police cruiser with $10,000.00 left over.

I can hear the selectmen response; "we need that ambulance receipts money to balance the general fund budget"

I look at the fiscal year 2018 end of year report and see $595,784.17 left over from expenses. That money rolls over to so called certified free cash, so perhaps there is a little padding going on regarding expense appropriations? If the same happens in fiscal year 2019, then total expense appropriations require a hard look as that is simply too much left over from expenses that are sold as very tight.

jeff bennett

Wed 3/27/2019 8:00 PM

Caplis, John;

Morrison, Doug;

Diane Haleybrooks;

Richard, Julie

So, did the town buy a dump body for a 1984 Mack ten wheeler? How and why did town accountant approve the spending of a specific tow meeting appropriation on something else?

According to the T/A, the dump body was not purchased!

---

From: Carter Terenzini <townadministrator@templeton1.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 5, 2018 5:15 PM
To: 'jeff bennett'
Cc: dpwdirector@templeton1.org
Subject: RE: dump body

 

Good Day Jeff:

No, the Town did not buy a new dump body for a 1984 Mack it did, however, buy a Dump Body (as we advised people we would with those monies in seeking approval of the $160k for the 6 wheeler).

As to improving Town Meeting and attendance I would suggest you watch the December Talk of the Town and ask you to encourage people to attend the 01/29 public meeting with the Town Moderator and Town Clerk at 6:30 p.m. in the Conference Room.

Many Thanks

Carter Terenzini

Town Administrator

Town of Templeton

160 Patriots Road

East Templeton, MA 01438

1.978.894.2755

From: jeff bennett <j_bennett506@hotmail.com> 
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2018 4:06 PM
To: Carter Terenzini <townadministrator@templeton1.org>
Subject: Re: dump body

So, my real question is did Templeton buy a new dump body for the 10 wheeler truck mentioned in the town meeting warrant? 

Secondly, the town meeting warrant makes no mention of using this appropriation for anything else other than what was asked for.

Which is why, the town needs to have the actual town meeting warrant at town meeting. We will not get more people to attend town meeting doing business that way.

Thank you for the response.

Bennett

eff bennett

Thu 3/28/2019 7:42 AM

Caplis, John;

Richard, Julie;

Diane Haleybrooks;

Morrison, Doug

The request I made and the results I received. So, how am I to receive a report from a Veterans advisory board that does not exist? How would a report be generated from a board that has not posted an agenda since April 2018? Yet, I receive word from the office of the Board of Selectmen that I will receive such a report. I have to wonder if all selectmen are aware of what goes on in the Board of Selectmen's name that is incorrect?

regards;

Bennett

---

From: Terenzini, Carter <cterenzini@TempletonMA.gov>
Sent: Friday, February 22, 2019 10:28 AM
To: jeff bennett
Subject: RE: public records request

 

As of this date I do not have a report from the Veteran’s Advisory Board.  My understanding is that they did not have a quorum for the evening they were to finalize it this past week.  I shall forward it upon its receipt.

We do not have on file a copy of the agreement between the TMLWP and NRSD.

Many Thanks

Carter

1.978.894.2755 (o)

1.603.498.0958 (m)

Please note our new email of; and redirect your contacts to - cterenzini@templetonma.gov

From: jeff bennett <j_bennett506@hotmail.com> 
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2019 4:23 PM
To: Young, Holly <hyoung@TempletonMA.gov>; Terenzini, Carter <cterenzini@TempletonMA.gov>; Caplis, John <jcaplis@TempletonMA.gov>
Subject: public records request

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Holly Young
Town of Templeton
Town Hall, 160 Patriots Road
Templeton, MA 01438

Re: Massachusetts Public Records Request

Holly Young:

This is a request under the Massachusetts Public Records Law (M. G. L. Chapter 66, Section 10). I am requesting that I be provided a copy of the following records:

A report of the Veterans Advisory Board, per Templeton Town general by-law - article LVI: Veterans Advisory Board. According to the by-law, a report from this board is to be provided to the Board of Selectmen in December of each year.

A copy of a contract between Town of Templeton and Narragansett Regional School District involving a wind turbine. Per Massachusetts General Law, chapter 164, section 56C, Every municipal light commission or manager thereof, who makes or executes a contract on behalf of a municipal lighting plant, where the amount involved is five thousand dollars or more, shall furnish said contract or a copy thereof to the city or town auditor within one week after its execution.

I would request, if possible, that these records be provided in electronic form.

I recognize that you may charge reasonable costs for copies, as well as for personnel time needed to comply with this request.

The Public Records Law requires you to provide me with a written response within 10 business days. If you cannot comply with my request, you are statutorily required to provide an explanation in writing.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Bennett
77 Partridgeville Road, Templeton MA 01468

Northfield, MA resident gets creative; submits article for Town Meeting to limit municipal spending. There was/is a legal problem with the wording but it is a nice idea for residents to become involved in municipal spending. The legal issue was imposing a limit on the bottom line. Good effort on the part of the Northfield taxpayers association.

One Town has a plan:

Posted Mar 19, 2019 at 11:00 AM

HUBBARDSTON — Selectmen and Department of Public Works Director Travis Brown presented their five-year plan for road maintenance and repairs on Monday, March 18.

The plan outlines what roads, and in what order, the maintenance will go through fiscal 2024. Each year has about three or four major projects earmarked for it, as well as an extra plan in case the town gets additional grant, state or federal funding. Residents showed up for the Board of Selectmen meeting, filling the Slade building as well as an overflow room in the Senior Center, to hear the plan, advocating for their own roads.

“Last year we did a two-year plan,” Town Administrator Ryan McLane said. “We wanted to go out five years so people can get an idea of what is coming. ... It is important to note that by clustering projects we saved money for the best use of funds, so some roads are being done because they fit that financial puzzle.”

For this year, the town is finishing the total reclamation and repair on New Westminster Road and Prentiss Hill Road, while looking at Morgan, Underwood and High Bridge roads.

“These roads would see serious repair, these are some of our worst roads,” McLane said.

Proposed for 2021 is work on Flagg Road, Hale Road and Hale Road Extension.

For 2022 would be Elm Street and Brigham Street, as well as crack sealing. If the town receives grants or other additional funds, it would look to add Barre Road and Barre Road cutoff, as well as Parsons Road.

Fiscal 2023 would see continued work on Williamsville Road as well as Kruse Road, work on another part of New Westminster Road and Simonds Hill Road. Extra funds would add Evergreen Road and Ed Clark Road.

Finally, 2024 would have work on Pitcherville Road, Ragged Hill Road, Cross Road and Healdville Road.

The plan presented is not final, meaning that selectmen are looking for resident input to help adjust plans. For the most part, people were happy with the roads presented, though residents did advocate for the addition of Dogwood Road, which was excluded from the plan.

“There is a good amount of families on that road, too,” Selectman Michael Stauder said.

Resident Sandra Barre mentioned a previous 10-year plan to pave all of the roads, and advocated for paving more of the dirt roads as well.

Reserve Fund:
An amount of money set aside annually within the budget of a Town, not to exceed 5 percent of the tax levy for the preceding year. In a Town, the Finance/Advisory Committee can authorize transfers from this fund for extraordinary and unforeseen expenditures. Other uses of the fund require budgetary transfers by Town Meeting.

For instance, if a fire truck of the town has a pump break down requiring replacement and there is no money in maintenance budget to cover this, that could be an acceptable use of this fund.

Certified Free Cash:

Free Cash - (Also Budgetary Fund Balance) Funds remaining from the operations of the previous fiscal year which are certified by DOR’s Director of Accounts as available for appropriation. Remaining funds include unexpended free cash from the previous year, receipts in excess of estimates shown on the tax recapitulation sheet, and unspent amounts in budget line-items. Unpaid property taxes and certain deficits reduce the amount of remaining funds which can be certified as free cash. The calculation of free cash is made based on the balance sheet, which is submitted by the community’s Auditor, Accountant, or Comptroller. Typically, a community will attempt to maintain a free cash balance of between 3 and 5 percent of its total budget as a hedge against unforeseen expenditures, to insure there will be an adequate reserve to prevent sharp fluctuations in the tax rate, and to prevent expensive short-term borrowing. (Maintenance of an adequate free cash level is not a luxury but a necessary component of sound local fiscal management. Credit rating agencies and other members of the financial community expect municipalities to maintain free cash reserves; judgments regarding a community’s fiscal stability are made, in part, on the basis of free cash.)


Overlay - (Overlay Reserve or Reserve for Abatements and Exemptions) An account established annually to fund anticipated property tax abatements and exemptions in that year. The overlay reserve is not established by the normal appropriation process, but rather is raised on the tax rate recapitulation sheet.

Overlay Surplus - Any balance in the overlay account of a given year in excess of the amount remaining to be collected or abated can be transferred into this account (See Overlay). Within ten days of a written request by the chief executive officer of a town or city, the assessors must provide a certification of the excess amount of overlay available to transfer. Overlay surplus may be appropriated for any lawful purpose. At the end of each fiscal year, unused overlay surplus is “closed” to surplus revenue; i.e., it becomes a part of free cash.

Override - A vote by a community at an election to permanently increase the levy limit. An override vote may increase the levy limit to no higher than the levy ceiling. The override question on the election ballot must state a purpose for the override and the dollar amount. (See Underride.)

Override Capacity - The difference between a community’s levy ceiling and its levy limit. It is the maximum amount by which a community may override its levy limit.

Underride - A vote by a community to permanently decrease the tax levy limit. As such, it is the exact opposite of Override.

Respect the intent or . . . ?

Another item out of the historical archives (found on Templeton Town website)

Special Town Meeting November 7, 2011

Article 8 To see if the Town will vote to create a Fire Department-Ambulance Receipts Reserved for Appropriation Account where collected ambulance receipts for services are placed beginning with FY2013. Monies out of this fund are expended only through town meeting vote for the purpose of
funding various Fire Department capital requests pursuant to the betterment of the Fire Department services as deemed by the Templeton Fire Chief.

Submitted by the Templeton Fire Chief

On a motion duly made and seconded the Town voted to create a FireAmbulance Receipts Reserved for Appropriation Account where collected ambulance receipts for services are placed beginning with fiscal year 2013. Passed Unanimously/Nov. 7th @ 8:00

So, the receipts from fees (ambulance transport collections) are to be put into the ambulance receipts reserved for appropriation. Was the intent of Town Meeting vote to use this money only for capital items for fire/Ambulance department? Should these monies be used to support the general fund expenses of the Town? If that is the case, why have this account in the first place?

Another example of why it is important to look back and not repeat the same things over and over again. For the past three years, we have now used free cash to back fill the budget, using free cash after the fact as opposed to using before hand. In my opinion, it is still doing the same thing and here I thought we had agreed as a town to not do that any longer!

All separate and not reporting to the selectmen?

Perhaps a review of Town Meeting vote!

Carry out the intent of the article!
Perhaps that should be the number one focus of all selectmen, the intent of the voters!

Before a motion is voted on, take time to explain to voters present exactly what they are voting on, so as to try and ensure, what people intend, is contained in the motion which is actually voted on!

TOWN OF TEMPLETON 

WARRANT FOR SPECIAL TOWN MEETING 

MARCH 8, 2000 

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS 

WORCESTER, ss.

 To either of the Constables of the Town of Templeton in said County: 

GREETINGS: 

 In the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, you are hereby directed to notify and warn the Inhabitants of the precincts of the Town of Templeton, County of Worcester, qualified to vote in elections and town affairs to meet at the Narragansett Regional High School, 464 Baldwinville Road, Baldwinville, MA on Wednesday, March 8, 2000, at 7:00 PM, then and there to act on the following articles:

Article 1 To see if the Town will vote to instruct the Board of Selectmen to petition the General court to adopt necessary legislation which upon acceptance by the Town, would combine the Water Department and the Light Department under the authority of a single Municipal Lighting and Water Plant and a single Light and Water Commission and to repeal or amend any previous special acts in order to carry out the intent of this article, or to take any other vote or votes in relation thereto.

 On a motion duly made and seconded the Town voted to accept an amendment to Article 1 to read as follows:

 AN ACT ABOLISHING THE DEPARTMENT OF WATER OF THE TOWN OF TEMPLETON UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE SELECTMEN OF SAID TOWN AND ESTABLISHING A WATER DEPARTMENT UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE TEMPLETON MUNICIPAL LIGHTING PLANT

 Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

 Section 1. Notwithstanding any contrary provision of law, there shall be established in the Town of Templeton, a Water Department, under the jurisdiction of the Templeton Municipal Lighting Plant. Upon the effective date of this act, the Templeton Municipal Lighting Plant shall be known as the “Templeton Municipal Lighting and Water Plant”, shall have all powers contained in General Law Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Four and otherwise, and all powers and duties now and from time to time vested by general or special law and by by-law in the Water Department of said town, and the Department of Water under the jurisdiction of the Selectmen shall be abolished. The books of accounts of the Light Plant and Water Plant shall be kept separate and the Water Plant shall continue to operate as an enterprise fund until changed by law.

 Section 2. The Manager of the Templeton Municipal Lighting and Water Plant shall exercise and perform such of the powers, rights and duties transferred to him under section one above and those contained in General Law Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Four and otherwise as he may from time to time designate. He shall be specially fitted by education, training and experience to perform the duties of his office and need not be a resident of the town during his tenure of office. He shall be responsible for the efficient exercise and performance of such powers, rights and duties.

 During his tenure he shall hold no other elective or appointive office nor engage in any other business or occupation. He shall appoint such assistants, agents and employees as the exercise and performance of his powers, rights and duties may require. He shall render to the Selectmen, as often as they may require, a full report of all operations under his control during the period reported upon, and annually, and from time to time as required by the Selectmen, shall make a synopsis of such reports for publication and shall keep the Selectmen fully advised as to the needs of the town within the scope of his duties, and shall annually, not less than one hundred and twenty days prior to the expiration of the fiscal year of said town, furnish to the Selectmen a carefully prepared and detailed estimate in writing of the appropriations required during the next succeeding fiscal year for the proper exercise and performance of all said rights and duties.
The permanent employees of the Department of Water under the jurisdiction of the Selectmen of the Town of Templeton abolished by this act shall be transferred to and become employees of the Templeton Municipal Lighting and Water Plant and every employee so transferred who immediately prior to such transfer was subject to section nine A of chapter thirty or to chapter thirty-one of the General Laws under a permanent appointment and who has served a probationary period shall continue to serve subject to the provisions of said section nine A of chapter thirty or said chapter thirty-one as the case may be, whether or not thereafter reclassified, and shall retain all rights to holidays, sick leave and vacations in effect on the effective date of this act.

 Section 3. This act shall be submitted to the votes of the Town of Templeton for acceptance at the annual town election in the year two thousand or any other election, in the form of the following question, which shall be placed on the official ballot to be used for the election of town officers at said election:--“Shall an act passed by the General Court in the year two thousand, entitled ‘an Act Abolishing the Department of Water of the Town of Templeton Under the Jurisdiction of the Selectmen of Said Town and Establishing a Water Plant Under the Jurisdiction of the Templeton Municipal Light Plan,’ be accepted?” If a majority of the votes cast in answer to this question is in the affirmative, this act shall take effect one hundred and twenty days following the vote. If this act is not accepted as provided in this section, it shall thereupon become null and void.

Amendment Passed 7:17, Main Motion Passed 7:47

The power of Town Meeting - sometimes through it's Advisory Committee:

The town meeting can have a great deal of control over department heads. The town meeting can, for example, investigate town problems or administration through its advisory committee, other standing committees or special ad hoc committees. On the basis of findings and recommendations by such committees, or on the petition of ten or more local voters, the town meeting may adopt resolutions and bylaws establishing new town policies or initiating new programs [G.L. c. 39, §10]. The town meeting can also, within certain limits, reorganize town agencies and control development in the town. The most important power of town meeting is the power of the purse. By appropriating or withholding funds, the town meeting can force, prevent or influence actions by town officials and departments.

The above can be found in the latest copy of selectmen handbook.

No one time money to support Town budget:

Why is there a Town Meeting Warrant article to use ambulance receipts money to help with the general fund budget then? It is on the Templeton Town website; article 28, $250,000.00 from ambulance receipts to support general fund operating expense budget. This article actually has FY2019 but I suspect that is a cut n paste mistake.

 I recall that the message from selectmen was no one time money for the budget, just savings and capital items. Has the plan changed?

November 7, 2011, article 8, special town meeting vote:

To see if the Town will vote to create a Fire Department-Ambulance Receipts Reserved for Appropriation Account where collected ambulance receipts for services are placed beginning with FY2013. Monies out of this fund are expended only through town meeting vote for the purpose of funding various Fire Department capital requests pursuant to the

betterment of the Fire Department services as deemed by the Templeton Fire Chief.

Submitted by the Templeton Fire Chief

On a motion duly made and seconded the Town voted to create a Fire / Ambulance Receipts Reserved for Appropriation Account where collected ambulance receipts for services are placed beginning with fiscal year 2013.

Passed Unanimously/Nov. 7th @ 8:00

So, you make the call on the intent of this article and whether it is correct to use these funds to help pay for the Town general fund expenses or shall this money be used to make things like an ambulance lease payment, seeing how the ambulance operation is a fee based service (as presented to voters in the past by some selectmen). Time for the Town to do business in a different way? Is it time for selectmen to actually follow their financial policies?


from the Capital plan as presented by the Capital Planning Committee:

Section 6: Committee Recommendations The committee recommends acceptance of the above tax and non-tax impact capital requests. Furthermore, this committee must strongly urge the BoS, the Department heads, and the town supporting staff offices to promptly execute the MGL-defined purchase goals. Based on historical data, this committee recommends prompt purchases made in accordance with the town administrator’s guidance on leased items and future impacts to the operating budget; any deviation could send a ripple-effect thru the integrated Master Capital Plan.

What could go wrong? 

Yesterday, Templeton highway dept. was using a loader to patch pot holes. It apparently has been an ongoing approach as I encountered a loader being used for that purpose on Partridgeville Road.

As for yesterday, I encountered a highway loader on the one-way section of South Road next to the new school construction site. Once a vehicle gets there, no where to go and with all the cars parked on one side of the road, the road was blocked by the loader. The loader operator appeared to get upset when I hit my horn as he backed up closer and closer to my vehicle. I could not back up because now I had a vehicle behind me.

I checked the highway budget for fiscal year 2019 (present FY) and sure enough, in the fiscal year 2019 budget under highway, page 146; police details - $3,150.00. Page 132 under highway; training - $1,350.00. As one road is one way entirely and part of South Road is one way, I see this happening again and again, blocking of road due to any number of items, so clearly a plan is needed; funds are provided for police details, those funds should be used. Again, a loader for pot hole patching?? Signs at the intersection of Wellington and South Road alerting drivers of the situation would also be nice, so as to give drivers the option of turning around and going back up South Road and use Victoria Lane to go to Hubbardston Road and go where ever one is headed. At the very least, rather than getting pissed off because of a horn, how about a public employee, who works for the residents, get out and explain what is happening and how long it may be. There were two town vehicles with two town employees there, one in the loader and one in sidewalk snow blower. One of them could have gotten out and explained things. Still, why no police detail or signs for this work. Is there any daily work plan over at highway? I voiced my concerns to all selectmen and the Town Administrator via email which has been acknowledged by one selectmen and the T/A. This has nothing to do with the number of employees at highway, rather everything to do with management or lack there of, in my opinion.

Quid pro quo:

Page 187 of the 2020 budget/legislative package as seen on Templeton Town website:

As many of you remember, Senator Brewer helped us secure $300,000.00 towards completion of the building in exchange for the building being named in his honor. He has asked on many occasions if we still plan to name the building after him so it will be named Senator Stephen Brewer Templeton Senior Community Center.

So let us get this straight; Brewer used his position as a state senator to divert or direct 300K of tax payer money (some of which naturally came from Templeton residents) and in order for that to happen, he requested "payment" in the form of the building being named after him? Is that not called bribery and is that against the law? Is that ethical? Is that what you want from elected state representatives paid with your tax dollars?

Interesting proposed by-law for Templeton: Rude, Indecent speech or behavior / $50.00 fine allowed - enforcer - police department or designee.

How much does it cost per day to house a prisoner because your honor, I cannot afford the $50.00 and I have a tooth ache that requires attention and seeing how I will be in custody of law enforcement, they need to take care of my medical needs or else a law suit happens.

Who decides rude behavior or speech; what is the definition and would that violate my free speech rights, seeing how one can burn an american flag. Seems like a power grab by the police department / selectmen.

That by-law proposal is on page 414 under the by-law section of the budget/legislative package on the town website.

Get Town Hall in order before moving sewer collections:

from the fiscal year 2018 Town audit management letter.

3. Closing Checklists
Closing checklists are employed by accounting departments to better ensure that all routine and non-routine accounting transactions and reconciliations are performed and the final outputs (i.e., the Town’s balance sheet and Schedule A) are reviewed for accuracy and completeness. The use of closing checklists is commonplace in private industry but is seldom used in the public sector. The Town had great difficulty getting its free cash approved; in the end it was approved at the expected amount, but the Department of Revenue process was not used properly. We recommend that the Town Accountant, Treasurer/Collector develop a closing checklist to monitor and track the annual accounting close in order for the process to be more efficient in the future.

6. Indirect Costs (repeated from prior year) Water, sewer, and light indirect costs are approved at Town Meeting, and transfers are made annually into the General Fund. However, they are not reflected as transfers on the tax recap, but instead as miscellaneous revenues and expenses. Furthermore, the transfers are not made if sufficient resources do not exist in the enterprise funds, and there is no formal process to the calculation of indirect costs from year to year. A more comprehensive calculation of indirect costs should be undertaken, documented, and signed off by the Town and enterprise funds with updates performed every few years.

9. Treasurer/Collector Office (repeated from prior year)
In our letter to management dated March 23, 2017 we identified 17 critical areas in the Treasurer/Collectors Office that needed to be addressed. Many of those have been addressed through fiscal year 2018, however some remain and should be addressed in the current fiscal year. Those are highlighted as follows:
• While efforts are made to collect cash from department heads weekly, there is no formal policy regarding cash held by departments outside the Treasurer’s Office. The Treasurer was unaware that all Town cash is under the Treasurer’s control, and the Treasurer has the duty to force effective internal control policies on all departments who handle cash. 
• Presently, the Collector does not use a lock box to collect taxes. A lock box is essentially a third-party collector of taxes. Taxpayers mail their payments to a Post Office box, and the third-party collector deposits the funds for the Town and posts activity for all those who have paid. Daily, an electronic file is then sent to the Town where payments are uploaded automatically to the Town’s system.
• Cash forecasts are currently not prepared as part of a monthly routine. This is a critical process for Towns that are cash stressed; we suggest such a process is implemented immediately.