FYI - Templeton recreation has 10 thousand dollars available to them, by way of town meeting vote, to improve Gilman Waite field. Just in case they were interested in improving say the tennis court (s).

Deed to said field states donated to town and Templeton no longer has a high school, as the town belongs to a regional school district, which is a legally separate entity from the town.

There is also 15 thousand dollars available, by way of town meeting vote to improve building at Gilman Waite field. The town is appropriating money, by way of town meeting vote, to take care of a town owned recreation / sports complex, so it follows, recreation events sponsored or put on by the Town of Templeton recreation committee have priority over other sport events held or planned by say, NRSD. Just as the Town has to ask the school district if the auditorium is available for a town meeting, the school district must ask the town if the fields at GW are open for any event, they wish to use GW for. That is a policy document adopted by the Templeton board of selectmen (select board). This would be called coordination, planning, FOLLOWING POLICY!

 One can find a property card on the Town of Templeton website, under the page of the Board of Assessors, that reads parcel M_154986_927889, Vision ID 259, owner - inhabitants of Town of Templeton, assessed value of $52,100.00.

Just so some things are clear, the swimming/picnic area over on Crotty Avenue, was left to the Inhabitants of Templeton and is valued or assessed by the Town (remember them board of assessors) at $52,100.00. That is a recreation park area for the inhabitants of town of Templeton. Also, I find more trash on the side of the road I live on in a quarter of a mile than I do on Crotty Avenue. Since it was left to the town, we have a responsibility to upkeep it and that means picking up trash, providing tables for picnicking and trash receptacles. Can you say Park Commissioners?

 In case you missed it, upcoming special town meeting set for November 2,2022, article 5, rooster bylaw, states in part: contains between 2 and five acres where the sale of products produced from the agricultural use generates at least $1,000.00 per acre annually.

Whereas MA general law, chapter 61A, section 3, states: Section 3. Land not less than five acres in area shall be deemed to be actively devoted to agricultural or horticultural uses when the gross sales of agricultural, horticultural or agricultural and horticultural products resulting from such uses together with the amount, if any, payable under a soil conservation or pollution abatement program of the federal government or the commonwealth total not less than five hundred dollars per year or when the use of such land is clearly proven to be for the purpose of achieving an annual total of not less than five hundred dollars from such gross sales and program payments within the normal product development period as determined by the farmland valuation advisory commission established pursuant to section eleven of this chapter. In cases where the land is more than five acres in area, the gross sales and program payment standard above set forth shall be increased at the rate of five dollars per acre except in the case of woodland or wetland for which such increase shall be at the rate of fifty cents per acre. No reason to reinvent the wheel or the law, unless you are an attorney looking to increase revenue to your wallet.

 A strange coincidence? MA general law chapter 40A, section 3 states in part: No zoning ordinance or by-law shall regulate or restrict the use of materials, or methods of construction of structures regulated by the state building code, nor shall any such ordinance or by-law prohibit, unreasonably regulate, or require a special permit for the use of land for the primary purpose of commercial agriculture, aquaculture, silviculture, horticulture, floriculture or viticulture, nor prohibit, unreasonably regulate or require a special permit for the use, expansion, reconstruction or construction of structures thereon for the primary purpose of commercial agriculture, aquaculture, silviculture, horticulture, floriculture or viticulture, including those facilities for the sale of produce, wine and dairy products, provided that either during the months of June, July, August and September of each year or during the harvest season of the primary crop raised on land of the owner or lessee, 25 per cent of such products for sale, based on either gross sales dollars or volume, have been produced by the owner or lessee of the land on which the facility is located.

Article 5, rooster bylaw states in part; This subsection shall not apply to property that is used for the primary purpose of commercial agriculture and contains five or more acres or contains two and five acres where the sale of products . . . This article sure sounds like a zoning ordinance, and zoning is not under the duty of the board of health or agricultural commission or the board of selectmen, MGL chapter 40A, section 5, states: No zoning ordinance or by-law or amendment thereto shall be adopted until after the planning board in a city or town, and the city council or a committee designated or appointed for the purpose by said council has each held a public hearing thereon, together or separately, at which interested persons shall be given an opportunity to be heard. Said public hearing shall be held within sixty-five days after the proposed zoning ordinance or by-law is submitted to the planning board by the city council or selectmen or if there is none, within sixty-five days after the proposed zoning ordinance or by-law is submitted to the city council or selectmen. Notice of the time and place of such public hearing.

If anyone checks Templeton zoning bylaws, there are sections of town where you need one acre to build and other areas you need 2 acres to build a home. Setting minimum acreage to have roosters is in my opinion, a zoning attempt and since procedure was not followed, vote no.

 Telling me I cannot put an advertising sign on public property is one thing, telling me I cannot have a rooster on my own land is fucking bullshit, what is next, not enough land to have a dog or chickens? You got a problem with your neighbor and noise, take him to court on your dime. Vote NO on article 5.

 2022, Templeton has received $1,168,088.00 in so called free cash (technically undesignated funds) that come from a variety of sources, Town financial management policy states so much of that money is to go into several funds and that request is on warrant for November 2,2022. There is 700 hundred thousand left over, with 100 thousand being asked for to create and pay for a grant writer and some more money for tax title,, leaving approximately 600 thousand dollars available and all that is being asked for is 2500 bucks for demolition fund? Are you kidding me, what building can be demoed for 2500 bucks/ Think 10 Pleasant Street is coming down for that amount? Think it is coming down for 50 grand? The demo fund needs money to take care of any town owned buildings that need to come down or any damaged building that is an immediate hazard. Surely 100 grand from the available 600 thousand can be put into a fund to benefit residents. How much of that 600 thousand do you think will go to rebuilding roads in town? Since 2017, the town has had around 7 million dollars in free cash, averaging one million plus each of those years, the money has gone to town savings, raises for town employees, covering operating budgets, positions, toys for town employees, but how much has gone to rebuild roads? There is approximately 600 thousand dollars sitting on the books (one can see this information under the agenda for the next select board meeting on Wednesday, October 26, 2022 under finance report.) There is money that has been sitting there since 2019 that was appropriated for such things as security cameras for town hall. Certainly, it would be a benefit to residents to put enough money into demolition fund so something could actually be done to benefit those residents, especially in the area of 10Pleasant Street. Let us amend this article and properly fund it! It is actually quite simple to amend the article, so let's do it.

 A new report identifies a $1.26 billion shortfall between state appropriations and actual municipal spending on existing programs that are mandated by the state.

Auditor Suzanne Bump’s report flags gaps in state aid for school transportation, education, veterans’ benefits, and other services within cities and towns. The school transportation gap was estimated at $448 million in the report, which pegged the education aid gap at $711 million and attributed $401 million of that gap to insufficient special education assistance.

In a statement, Bump said the new report provides legislators “with the information they need to address the burden of unfunded mandates.”

“The solution to the problem of unfunded mandates is to prioritize funding of them. It is a simple solution, but it may require some hard choices,” said Bump.

State legislators are great at saying they help us and they are our partners, so why not fund their mandates on us?

 If you receive one of those things in the mail from the Templeton firefighter's association asking for money to obtain training and to purchase equipment for which tax dollars are not available, think about this before sending or giving any more of your dollars.

I am not sure of what equipment or training is not available to Templeton town fire department or ambulance service, but there is/was plenty of money to do what is described in pamphlet. Fire department end of year financial, which you can read on town website shows a total of $108,400.00 left over from fire dept. budget. Breakdown is Personnel - $77,859.00, supplies- $4,000.00, other - $10,000.00, employee support - $12,365.00. Ambulance receipts shows ending balance of $682,619.00. Also, new ambulance computers show $10,000.00 appropriated with $8,500.00 spent. Also, fire dept. face book page shows new utility truck in a parade in Keene, New Hampshire which was bought from a $75,000.00grant from state. I do not see how the fire dept. is lacking in funding for training or other equipment. Residents have already provided enough money. Enough with using town, taxpayer funded buildings, equipment and town employees being paid to do a job collecting for a private charity.

 Why is it so hard to follow a simple policy?

Policy states take 15% of free cash, take 10% of free cash, take 5% of free cash and place those dollars into various reserve funds of the town of Templeton.

Templeton Financial Management policy, page 8.

According to MA division of local service, Templeton free cash available for FY23, which is funds from FY22 is $1,168,088.

My percentage calculator (you can find one online easy enough) shows the following:

OPEX 15% of $1,168,088.00 = $175,213.20

CAPEX 10% of $1,168,088.00 = $116,808.80

INFRASTRUCTURE 10% of $1,168,088.00 = $116,808.80

OPEB 5% of $1,168,088.00=    $ 58,404.40

So, where do the dollar figures on the proposed special town meeting warrant come from?

OPEX at $87,500.00

CAPEX at $57,500.00

Infrastructure at $57,500.00

OPEB at $28,750.00.

It simply does not add up, except for not following policy, which ifone is not going to follow, shred it.

 I thought I heard this state and Templeton is/are a green community, organic is better, knowing where your food comes from, shop local and on and on. How does this proposed by-law benefit the regular people who have a few chickens and some whom have a rooster to replenish their flock and have a protector of sorts for their chickens. This proposed by-law is bullshit and an example of the agricultural commission failing to do their job. Vote no on this anti rooster bylaw proposal.

 It is official, a rooster by-law will be a warrant article (assuming selectmen approve warrant) for the special town meeting on November 2, 2022. Wednesday at 6:00 P.M. in NRSD middle school.

Town meeting warrant article # 5.

The warrant states this article is submitted by the select board for the board of health.

Templeton right to farm by-law states: Dispute resolution will be the responsibility of the Select Board (Board), or its designee(s), until such time as an Agricultural Commission is formed by the Town and empowered to resolve disputes arising from this bylaw. State law shows farming or agriculture as

Section 1A. “Farming” or “agriculture” shall include farming in all of its branches and the cultivation and tillage of the soil, dairying, the production, cultivation, growing and harvesting of any agricultural, aquacultural, floricultural or horticultural commodities, the growing and harvesting of forest products upon forest land, the raising of livestock including horses, the keeping of horses as a commercial enterprise, the keeping and raising of poultry, swine, cattle and other domesticated animals used for food purposes, bees, fur-bearing animals, and any forestry or lumbering operations, performed by a farmer, who is hereby defined as one engaged in agriculture or farming as herein defined, or on a farm as an incident to or in conjunction with such farming operations, including preparations for market, delivery to storage or to market or to carriers for transportation to market.

So, seems clear the Templeton agricultural commission was/is only interested in having some signs and that the town, as in residents, provide them free advertising space. I hope town meeting votes this down and tells the ag comm. to do their job! I hope residents realize that when you choose to live in a right to farm community, you understand there might be things going on protected by rules and rights under town by-laws.

 Why should Templeton Capital improvement committee meetings not be shown by TCTV, as in live stream on Facebook live or any other format? As many meetings as possible should be on tctv.

I pose this question as I watched the last capital improvement committee discuss tctv role and then voted to not have their meetings recorded because the committee did not think the "workshop" type meetings needed to be recorded and if people were interested, they could attend in person.

With busy lives, it is not always possible to attend meetings, no matter how early or late they are, but if they are recorded, we the people, can then watch at our convenience.

After a post on facebook, tctv responded:

FYI: TCTV streams Capital Improvement Committee meetings and last year created a Playlist of all of them for public reference, on both Channel 8 and YouTube.com/TCTVweb. TCTV deems Capital Improvements as of significant public interest to warrant recording and live-streaming. Members of the Capital Improvements Committee should not be speaking on behalf of TCTV and our policies. Here is yesterday's FY23 kickoff meeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lvAAcFl4yQ.