Good Afternoon,

I was notified that Jeff Bennet sat as a voting member of the IAC this morning. I do not have him listed as a member of this board, and have confirmed that he has not been sworn-in with the Town Clerk.

Should the Advisory Board wish to have Mr. Bennet serve on the IAC, they will have to make a vote and notify me of such so that I can get it on the Board of Selectmen’s agenda for appointment. Once appointed he can see the Town Clerk to be sworn-in and begin serving as a voting member.

Until these steps are completed he cannot serve as a voting member, and doing such could result in an open meeting law violation.

    Thank You for your time,

  Alisha O'Malley

Alisha O'Malley, Human Resources

Town of Templeton Board of Selectmen

P.O. Box 620, 160 Patriots Road

East Templeton, MA  01438

Phone 978-894-2756

This email was forwarded to me by the chairman of the Advisory Board, it apparently was sent to all members of the advisory board except to Jeff Bennett. This is what I found when I checked the open meeting law guide:

Bodies appointed by a public official solely for the purpose of advising the official on a decision that individual could make alone are not public bodies subject to the Open Meeting Law. For example, a school superintendent appoints a five-member advisory body to assist her in nominating candidates for school principal, a task the 1 Although the Legislature itself is not a public body subject to the Open Meeting Law, certain legislative commissions must follow the Law’s requirements. Open Meeting Law Guide Page 4 Version 3.18.15 superintendent could perform herself. That advisory body would not be subject to the Open Meeting Law. The Town Administrator and selectmen made the call to keep the health insurance as it is after some meetings last year so presumably, that could have been done this year and this committee by its name is only an advisory committee doing what the Town Administrator could do so does the open meeting law come into play? 

Bennett

However, with some exceptions, the town’s fiscal situation has since fallen more in line with neighboring communities. The number of building permits issued and their estimated value, as presented in Appendix A, Chart II, has declined and, after a spike in development, new growth, which is anticipated tax revenue associated with new construction, has returned to a more historic level. Consistent with the experience of most Massachusetts towns, Appendix A, Chart III shows a decline in home sales and an increase in foreclosures. Reflective of the regional economy, the unemployment rate as of June 2009 rose to 10.8 percent of the town’s working population, ranking it the 8th highest among all Massachusetts towns. See Appendix A, Chart I and Table I. Although Templeton has been moderately successful in its initiatives to stabilize the annual budget, the town is taxing to its levy limit and using all of its free cash to support recurring operating expenses that continue to escalate. While town meeting appropriated a “balanced budget” of $13,823,558 for FY2010 funded through a combination of property taxes ($7.27m), state aid ($1.53m), local receipts ($1.52m) and miscellaneous revenue ($3.5m), a significant portion was funded with free cash. As depicted in Appendix A, Table III, free cash is a healthy 6.4 percent of the budget or $882,486. Over the preceding two years however, the town has appropriated 100 percent of certified free cash or $1.55 million in total to supplement the budget.

The above material is from the DOR financial review of 2009.

Jeff Bennett

Someone is apparently a fortune teller in the office of the Board of Selectmen. They have put on the Town website that there are three openings on the Advisory Board, which is a 7 member board with 6 sitting members. It is the responsibility of the Town Moderator to appoint people at the conclusion of the Town Meeting. How do people in the selectmen's office know what the moderator will do? How does anyone in the selectmen's office know that current members wish to continue serving? Since there is only one individual running for moderator, does this mean there is a deal in place or a deal in the works? I am not really into conspiracy theories but it seems a bit strange for that posting. Perhaps the selectmen do not like some current members who ask to many questions. I think I will ask the selectmen at their next meeting and see what the response is.

Jeff Bennett

Things just keep adding up to more misinformation.

A few days ago I received an email concerning the Town and its responsibility to have required employees, elected and appointed board and commission members do some reading, training and signing of forms. One has to do with open meeting law and the other is conflict of interest. There is a conflict of interest online training course with questions and a certificate at the end which all of these need to be done, signed, printed etc., and turned in at the Town Clerk's office. One of the items covered under the conflict of interest is the rule of necessity. I believe the Board of Selectmen recently not only violated the Open Meeting law but also violated the conflict of interest law as well. Just another thing to file.

Jeff Bennett

Recently, on April 11, 2016, the board of selectmen invoked the rule of necessity. Reason given, two members of the BOS had a conflict of interest because the budget was being discussed. This is a five member board and there was one member not present at the meeting. Four members were present, three members are needed to have a quorum so a meeting can take place. With only two members sitting at the table, chairman of the board John Columbus stated the rule of necessity allowed them to continue. Here is what it says; Advisory 05-05: Rule of Necessity, from state ethics commission:
Example: A five-member elected board has a meeting involving a matter in which the board is legally required to act and four members are present (one member is sick at home). Two of the four present members have conflicts. A quorum is three. The one member who is sick at home does not have a conflict. The rule of necessity may not be used because, even though a quorum of the board which is able to act is not present at that particular meeting, there is a quorum of the board which is able to act. The absence of one member does not permit the use of the rule of necessity.

My thought is someone needs to read that book that someone said Templeton needs to be run by. I am not sure what book was being referred to, either a book of law or a comic book. You can decide on that one.

Jeff Bennett

email from Town Administrator to members of the Advisory Board - read the last couple lines with interest.

All -

1) I used the figure of $80,000 for new growth after conversations with the Deputy Assessor and the Building Inspector.  Our economy continues to grow, and my estimate is based upon building permits this year.  Assessors always give conservative estimates for new growth.  The budget as presented has slack in case our revenue does not hold up.  There is nearly $100,000 in the budget that can cover any shortfall in new growth or revenue.  Also, it looks like the Legislature will provide somewhat more in Local Aid than what we projected in the FY'17 budget.  

2)The Electric Department will decide their contribution in May, according to John Driscoll.  The Town did propose a project - help with renovation of Scout Hall - but it was rejected.  We are still trying to work with Light and Water on a stable, formula based annual contribution.  This week, I was asked to submit a letter with a formal request for funding.

  

3) The $175,000 from the sale of the property at Baldwinville Road must be used to reduce the debt - DOR mandate.   We are using $143,000 to reduce debt service in FY'17.  This will not result in a squeeze next year because the non-excluded debt service will decrease in FY'18 by more than $143,000 due to retiring debt.  

4) I believe that Kelli explained some of the reasons for the mismatch between BvA and FY'16 revised.

  

5) I will bring answers to your most recent questions to our meeting on Wednesday.  Most of the issues you cite with Police and Dispatch budgets are related to the long term use of the E-911 grant to subsidize the Dispatch operating budget.  We are attempting to move away from this practice before we are reprimanded by the state.  

Why would the Town be reprimanded by the state if the E-911 grant money was used correctly and legally? Suddenly, I question even more the statement made by a prior chief of police to the selectmen and really the entire Town that dispatch only costs taxpayers $37,000.00. This is just another reason to be very wary of all these financial transfers that have taken place, not by past selectmen, treasurers, accountants, coordinators, but by the ones who are presently in office.

Jeff Bennett

Something needs to be cleared up! 

     Monday. April 11, 2016, there was a public meeting of the Templeton Board of Selectmen. There was a discussion of $47,000.00 of unallocated funds in the FY17 budgets and then the selectmen began to use that money to potentially fund things from the "new initiatives" from department heads. Now on Thursday, April 14, 2016, page 3 of the Gardner News, article titled 'Gansett sees more students to Monty Tech, 2nd column, 3rd paragraph, "Markel added that all departments are fully funded with $47,000.00 unallocated available revenue." So unless this article was written prior to Monday nights meeting of the selectmen, that information is incorrect and is misleading Templeton residents/taxpayers into thinking there are more funds left over than are actually available and that is a bit disturbing. Perhaps contact the author of the story, tvocino@thegardnernews.com and ask her, then contact a selectmen and compare stories.

Jeff Bennett