This could change when final state budget is voted on, but . . . . .

STATE LEADERS ANNOUNCE LEVEL FUNDING FOR MAJOR LOCAL AID ACCOUNTS

FY21 UGGA TO BE LEVEL FUNDED AT FY20 AMOUNTS

FY21 CHAPTER 70 SCHOOL AID AT LEAST LEVEL FUNDED FOR ALL

 

July 30, 2020

After months of uncertainty regarding the size of the state’s fiscal crisis, state leaders today announced a framework for protecting the two main sources of local aid in the state’s fiscal 2021 state budget. According to a statement issued by A&F Secretary Michael Heffernan, the Governor and Legislature are committing to no less than level funding of Unrestricted General Government Aid and Chapter 70 education aid as the baseline amount for fiscal 2021 funding for each community.

As a selectmen, I was in favor of a level funded town budget for fiscal year 2021.

It was just a matter of time, mortgages, taxes, maintenance, income; they all have to come from somewhere and what happens when the eviction control ends? Setup for failure from the very beginning.

from newspaper:

Massachusetts landlords in need of rent payments are hoping a federal judge will soon end the state’s eviction ban amid the coronavirus pandemic, a lawyer representing property owners tells the Herald.

Landlords in a federal lawsuit in Boston’s U.S. District Court are arguing that the eviction moratorium is unconstitutional, said attorney Richard Vetstein, lead counsel for the property owners.

The suit is against the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development.

“The state has never taken this drastic step,” Vetstein said of the eviction freeze on Wednesday.

“Our main thrust is there’s never been a whole moratorium on the filing of evictions in the history of the Commonwealth,” added Vetstein, who also has a state lawsuit pending in Suffolk Superior Court.

Vetstein is representing Marie Baptiste, a nurse who owns rental property in Randolph. Her tenants owe her about $20,000 in back rent, and that figure is expected to climb to $25,000 by October when the moratorium would expire at the earliest.

Gov. Charlie Baker on Tuesday extended the moratorium from August to October.

“She’s a blue-collar nurse, and is in serious financial difficulty because of this,” Vetstein said. “When a tenant can’t pay, that burden flows down to the landlords.”

https://www.masslive.com/news/2020/07/seek-alternative-transportation-mandated-social-distancing-to-limit-how-many-students-massachusetts-districts-can-transport-on-school-buses-this-fall.html

The Senate on July 16 passed a $17 billion five-year bond bill to fund a wide range of transportation-related projects, though the bill does not establish future funding levels for the Chapter 90 road and bridge program.

Because the Legislature had already passed a standalone fiscal 2021 authorization for Chapter 90, the Senate opted not to take up Chapter 90 again in its comprehensive transportation investment bill (S. 2813).

The MMA, with the support of Sen. Adam Hinds, filed an amendment to the Senate bill that would have funded Chapter 90 for five years at $300 million per year, indexed to inflation, but the amendment was withdrawn before the Senate debated and voted on its bond bill.

The Senate bond bill includes funding for several municipal transportation grant programs, including $20 million for the Complete Streets program, $70 million for the Municipal Small Bridge program, $50 million for a new Local Bottleneck Reduction program, and $100 million for a new Municipal Pavement Partnership program.

The bottleneck program would fund changes to address “operationally influenced” impediments to traffic flow, which cause safety issues and excessive idling that boosts greenhouse gas emissions. Changes would include redesign, re-striping, lane and shoulder width adjustments, addition of auxiliary, collector and distributor lanes, signal improvements, ramp adjustments, signage and other infrastructure improvements.

The competitive pavement grant program would be for the construction, reconstruction, resurfacing, repair and improvement of pavement and surface conditions on municipal roadways. Expenditures may include the costs of engineering, design, permitting, climate change adaptation and resilience, and other services essential to the projects.

The MMA has long advocated for an increase in Chapter 90 funding, which represents the only source of unrestricted and non-competitive state funding for local road maintenance. Chapter 90 has been level-funded at $200 million since 2012, with a few one-time exceptions.

from Wicked Local North - April 30, 2019:

What Town Meeting could be, perhaps.

(TNS) — For this year's annual Town Meeting, Town Moderator Mark DiSalvo has launched his newest initiative: remote voting.

DiSalvo teased the idea last month and has now launched the page (in Google form) on which voters can chime in from home — albeit with votes that won't count in any official capacity — from home, or work, or the grocery store or wherever they have Internet access.

"North Andover continues to be a laboratory for what Town Meeting may be like in the future. One sometimes hears that Town Meeting does not represent the opinion of the citizenry at large," DiSalvo said in a statement announcing the new idea. "In order to test this presumption, I will be conducting a survey inviting the public to state their opinion on each article whether they attend Town Meeting or not. Comparative results will be published post the adjournment of the meeting."

You can find the form at northandoverma.gov/tmsurvey. Just put in an email address, click "yes" or "no" on each warrant article, and submit. The survey will be available on the town website until Town Meeting adjourns.

from the Association of Town Finance Committee Handbook:

Town” means town meeting. Section 16, quoted above, is contained within the “Town meeting” section of Chapter 39 between two sections on the town moderator. Most finance committees are appointed by the town moderator, an official of the legislative body, town meeting.

Section 16 goes on to read:
 “In every town having a committee appointed under authority of this section, such committee, or the selectmen if authorized by a by-law of the town, and, in any town not having such a committee, the selectmen, shall submit a budget at the annual town meeting”

In other words, unless no finance committee exists, or a by-law of the town specifically authorizes the selectmen to submit the budget, the budget shall be submitted by the finance committee.

The Department of Revenue, Division of Local Services, reinforces this with an “In Our Opinion” 93-310 issued on April 27, 1993 titled -
“Role of Finance Committees and Boards of Selectmen in Budget Preparation and Submission to Town Meetings.  A board of selectmen in a town with an elected or appointed finance committee has no statutory role in the preparation and submission of the annual budget, unless it is expressly given a role by bylaw. If not, the finance committee is responsible for preparing, submitting and distributing the budget under G.L. Ch. 39 S16 and Ch. 41 S59 and S60.”

This does not mean the finance committee should have an adversarial relationship with the board of selectmen or town administrator. In fact, the finance committee should develop a good working relationship with both. By being open to suggestions and other opinions and working out compromises on key issues, the finance committee can be more effective in presenting its recommendations to town meeting. When compromises cannot be made, the issues should be narrowed to provide town meeting with a clear choice.

Town has by-law specifying budget preparation and presentation, passed at town meeting. Perhaps we need to change or adjust by-law to lower advisory committee membership to five and make clearer who may serve.

from the ole selectmen email box:

: Terenzini, Carter <cterenzini@TempletonMA.gov>
Sent: Thursday, July 16, 2020 8:37 AM
To: brucewmarien@gmail.com
Subject: Fw: [Templeton MA] BiLaw written with respect to sludge in town (Sent by Bruce Marien, brucewmarien@gmail.com)

(M)Good Day Mr. Marien:

This rumor, like all bad rumors, is unfounded. The appearance of the Casella truck had to do with the driver introducing someone they knew to the farmer, Mr. "Red" Tolman. At this time no materials were spread.

That said, Mr. Tolman will be spreading an organic fertilizer after his first cut of hay. That material has been reviewed by - and approved by - the State both as a product in general and by the State staff who are responsible for managing all of the agricultural contracts on state land in specific. Finally, while this product is not in conflict with the local by-law and the state has actively responded to all of our inquires, you must understand that they are exempt from local regulation should they choose to do so.

I do believe the attached memorandum from Ms. Wiita may provide further information on this that you find useful.
Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any additional inquires I might respond to.

Many Thanks
Carter Terenzini

Town Administrator

On July 10, Gov. Charlie Baker rescinded an executive order he issued in March that had temporarily suspended both the use of reusable bags in stores and local bans on single-use plastic bags in place in 139 cities and towns.

Consumers can now resume bringing reusable bags into stores and restaurants, and municipalities with local plastic bag bans can once again enforce those measures.

from the Gardner News;

WINCHENDON — There are many streets that have not been accepted by the town. Some are subdivisions where the roadways needed a little work to pass required specifications, and others were built long ago and just never went through the process. It was a surprise when the town discovered that parts of Central Street in the center of town were not an accepted way.

As part of the project to reconstruct Central Street, one of the checklist items the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) requires is an accepted layout of the road that they are working on. The town has been able to determine that a portion of Central Street was never accepted by the town of Winchendon. The reason is pure speculation.

Department of Public Works Director Al Gallant and the town clerk have been working with the engineering firm Tighe & Bond to view the information available.

“It appears that only portions of Central Street have not been accepted,” said Town Manager Keith Hickey. “There are also small portions of Summer and Railroad Street that abut Central Street that also were not accepted”

Selectmen received a copy of the layout on Central Street for approval coinciding with the existing layout of Central Street as it appears today. Hickey and Gallant asked the board to accept the layout as presented. The layout would then be moved to the Planning Board for its consideration. If approved by the Planning Board, it would go back to selectmen by Aug. 10 for a final vote to be placed on the warrant for the annual Town Meeting — the town would ask residents to vote to accept the layout of Central Street.

Selectman Audrey LaBrie asked Hickey for a more specific identification of the parts of Central Street that were not accepted by the town. Hickey said they were seeking approval for the total layout as presented. He said different portions were accepted by the town at different times in the past.

“This will allow for a clean process to allow people doing reviews in the future to be able to determine that this roadway was essentially approved in 2020,” he said.

Selectmen Chairman Michael Barbaro asked if the work recently approved for Railroad Street would be slowed by the fact Central Street had not received acceptance.

Hickey said that work would not be held up.

The board voted to approve the Central Street layout.

Town Administrator weekly report

https://www.templetonma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif3911/f/uploads/weekly_report_7.16.20.pdf

from the basement:

Memo to: E Jane Crocker, Earl Baxter and Laura Hoag

CC: Select Board

Date: July 15, 2020

Re: Norcross Hill – Complaint

On Saturday, July 11, 2020, I received an email from April Cover @ 9:10 a.m. This email pertained to the presence of a Casella vehicle around Norcross Hill and alleges that some type of “sludge”, prohibited by our new by-law, was being spread by said Casella vehicle.

After receiving the email, I contacted both Brian Postale, Bureau of Air and Waste at MassDEP and James Talvy of Casella Organics. On Sunday evening Mr. Postale reached out stating that Casella has not delivered anything to Norcross Hill or Templeton in the last year and that Mr. Talvy would be contacting me on Monday.

On Monday morning at 7:49 a.m. James Talvy of Casella Organics contacted me and provided the following information: Mr. Talvy was at the property of Red Tolman, as a longtime friend and fellow farmer, to introduce Mr. Tolman to a young man who can provide services for haying his fields and baling his hay, as Mr. Tolman is now 81 years old and needs help. Mr. Talvy also stated that he was there approximately 15 minutes and is very upset. Mr. Talvy also stated that as farmers they have rights and he will not abide by the harassment of individuals that have his cell phone number and could simply call and ask him why he was in the neighborhood.

Mr. Tolman and all agricultural entities have the right to fertilize with approved products, this does not include “sludge” based products that require special permitting from MassDEP. I have provided a copy of this memo to the Agricultural Commission.

I will continue to monitor the situation, and I will send MassDEP a copy of the re-instated/expanded by-law regarding “solid waste management”. At this time, I will not be taking samples of approved fertilizer that does not require special permitting by MassDEP

Templeton Health Agent.

To Templeton Residents:

  At the BoS meeting, we discussed updating the public works portion of the page to show the latest road work.  We recently worked with DPW Director Bob Szocik to show the work on Turner Lane and Gray Road.  These two road projects are now shown as a slide show if you click on public works projects.  We anticipate to have a couple more public streets completed and up in the near future.

We have also updated the MS4 portion to include the latest Annual Report, EPA Authorization letter, Notice of Intent and additional information.  We plan to have our next Annual Report sent in to the EPA by September 30, 2020 and will include that and supplementary materials on the Ms4 portion of the projects webpage.  These submissions are critical to stay in compliance with the MS4 Permit.

Feel free to check out the latest and greatest at https://www.templetonma.gov/town-administrator/pages/current-planning-construction-projects.

This page provides much information to our citizens and they will be able to see all the work we have been doing together making the town a better place each and every day! Please reach out to me with any questions, concerns or suggestions.  Enjoy the rest of your day!

Hope many residents check this out.

PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATORS TODAY AND ASK THEM TO SUPPORT AMENDMENT #258 TO THE TRANSPORTATION BOND BILL

Please Talk with Your Senators Today and Ask Them to Support Long-Term and Increased Funding for the Chapter 90 Program at $300M Per Year for 5 Years, Indexed to Inflation

The Senate’s Version of the Transportation Bond (S. 2813) Does Not Include Long-Term Funding for Chapter 90. The MMA is Strongly Supporting Amendment #258 to Guarantee Chapter 90 Funding Over a 5-Year Period With a 50% Increase Above Current Funding Levels

This Bill will be Debated in the Senate Tomorrow, Thursday, July 16. Please Reach Out to Your Senators Today About Supporting the Transportation Bond Bill With Amendment #258

Wednesday, July 15, 2020 - School Committee meeting scheduled to begin at 5:00 P.M., virtual meeting; couple things on agenda, Phillipston Town Meeting vote and budget re-certification.

Stated meeting can be watched by way of live stream (TCTV face book live)

So MA chapter 90 money is going to get the roads all fixed:

Looking at Templeton chapter 90 apportionment over the past five years.

Fiscal Year 2015 - state DOT allots 300 million, signed by the governor.
Templeton receives $509,797.00

fiscal years 2016 through 2021 - state DOT allots 200 million signed by the governor.

Templeton receives the following:

fiscal year 2016 - $338,351.00

fiscal year 2017 - $335,950.00

fiscal year 2018 - $333,245.00

fiscal year 2019 - $333,029.00

fiscal year 2020 - $399,634.00

fiscal year 2021 - $334,835.00

2015 was governor Baker first term and one of first moves he made and set us up for failure regarding road money (chapter 90) ever since; costs go up, but he holds at 200 million for 6 years in a row.

The beginning of Scout Hall re-use:

http://mytowngovernment.org/viewer?document=ahNzfnRvd25nb3Zlcm5tZW50LWhychoLEg1Eb2N1bWVudE1vZGVsGICAgJSZnaAID

http://mytowngovernment.org/viewer?document=ahNzfnRvd25nb3Zlcm5tZW50LWhychoLEg1Eb2N1bWVudE1vZGVsGICAgLT-05IJDA

Maura Healey reminds businesses it remains illegal to refuse cash over coronavirus fears.

from Boaston.com. - Across the country, stores have recently begun refusing — or at least strongly discouraging — the use of cash due to fears that paper money could be a vector of the coronavirus.

And while Maura Healey says she understands the need to take “extra precautions” in the midst of the pandemic, the Massachusetts attorney general issued a reminder Wednesday to local businesses.

“It’s illegal to refuse cash in Massachusetts,” Healey tweeted. “Businesses should take thoughtful measures to keep their employees and consumers safe, but let’s keep our economy open to everyone.”

Some fun financial facts for Massachusetts cities and towns.

In what is largely a win for municipalities, the Legislature unanimously passed the Municipal Modernization Act on the last day of the 2015-2016 session. The Bill should improve municipal administration, mostly over financial matters, by reducing red tape and a number of obsolete laws.

Many of these changes will go into effect in early November, but some apply retroactively, and the implementation of others is delayed until 2017.

Requiring municipal audits.  The flip side of decreased DOR oversight is that municipalities must now commission periodic audits of their accounts using private accounting firms and DOR standards. Previously, towns and cities could ask DOR to conduct such audits, but were not required to do so.

Year-end appropriation transfers.  The Bill eliminates limits on year-end appropriation transfers.

Massachusetts General Law on end of year financial transfers for cities & Towns:

MGL chapter 44, section 33B: (b) A town may, by majority vote at any meeting duly held, transfer any amount previously appropriated to any other use authorized by law. Alternatively, the selectmen, with the concurrence of the finance committee or other entity established under section 16 of chapter 39, may transfer within the last 2 months of any fiscal year, or during the first 15 days of the new fiscal year to apply to the previous fiscal year, any amount appropriated, other than for the use of a municipal light department or a school department, to any other appropriation.

https://www.templetonma.gov/home/news/road-construction-july-6th-thru-july-17th-2020

Gov. Charlie Baker on June 26 signed a $5.25 billion interim budget for fiscal 2021 that will allow the state to pay its bills beginning on July 1 in the absence of a final appropriations bill.

The interim state budget law will fund municipal and school aid payments based on fiscal 2020 Cherry Sheet estimates for the month of July, unless a final state budget is approved. The Division of Local Services issued a bulletin that outlines local aid rules under the interim budget (Bul-2020-09, linked below).

The interim budget law includes language to carry forward unspent fiscal 2020 state capital balances that are set to expire at the end of fiscal year.

Normally, the House and Senate would have completed action on their respective versions of a spending plan by now and would be working out differences in hopes of getting a final bill to the governor by the start of the new fiscal year on July 1. The state budget will be substantially delayed this year, however, because of continuing revenue uncertainty due the coronavirus recession and the wait for possible federal action to help state and local governments weather the storm, as happened during the last recession

The link should allow you to watch annual Town Meeting of Phillipston, MA from June 29, 2020.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-dOhFRU12M

On a Monday, June 29, 2020:

PHILLIPSTON — The process took a little longer than usual this year, but the town now has a budget, after Town Meeting was delayed from its original May 6 date.

Town voters — 57 of the town’s 1,252 registered voters — attended Town Meeting on Monday, June 29, in the Phillipston Elementary School Gymnasium.

“There was some minor adjustment to wording on articles,” Chief Administrative Officer Kevin Flynn said.

And financial officials kept their pencils sharp, even recessing to tweak numbers as modifications were made. “The meeting went well. Our Finance Committee did a wonderful job,” Town Clerk Karin Foley said.

Many were small changes, Flynn said. But the biggest was a change to the Narragansett Regional School District budget, which was originally slated to be a $1.6 million item. That resulted in a long discussion on the school budget, Flynn said.

The final figure was $1 million even, he said, reflecting a reduced assessment from the district.

The one million dollar figure is less than the Town's minimum required contribution and will most likely lead to a district wide meeting. If that happens, Templeton voters need to show up and have a real say in their school assessment, as Templeton Town Meeting already approve their school assessment.