Reading thru some comments, a couple of things stand out; "you made the request as an Advisory Committee member. Certainly you were not looking to pay for the request like a citizen."
Another comment had "for their old guard mentality"
First things first, The only requests I made as a representative of the Advisory Committee were some questions that came about at a recent meeting. There was a motion and a vote on the questions and to have myself ask them via email, which I did. Following a response from the Town Accountant, I sent back a thank you. Following an email response from the interim town administrator, which I had CC'd as a courtesy, I responded back with my view on his statements. At no time did I make a public records request or ask for copies of material as a member of the Advisory Committee. I did offer up the thought, opinion, statement that there would be many questions to follow and you may wish to clear your calendar; as in it may be good to have free time to deal with said questions. As for ""pay for the request like a citizen", I do not believe there is any law that says one must pay for a public record. There is a law (s) or guidelines that state if a government wishes to charge for public information, they may do so and there are amounts, in dollars and cents given as to cost per a double sided page. There are charges given for what salaried costs may be included and so forth. One may contact the secretary of the Commonwealth for more assistance with that. Some government entities use large fees and costs as a deterrent to providing information. Since government is basically a service industry and in the case of the town of Templeton, there are budget items for office supplies such as paper, ink, printers etc., as well as Town employees being paid for their work, so why are taxpayers charged a second time for public information by their representatives which they elect? Seems like the selectmen are charging them twice, first by way of taxes and other fees, then another set of fees to get information the people already pay the town to produce. Seems like master Fortes is of that thought process, "pay for the request like a citizen."
I think Master Fortes should take his own advice, if he wishes to tell the Advisory Committee what their job or duty is, what their role is and how they should go about it, he should attend a meeting of the Advisory Committee. I promise he will be allowed to speak and make his point. I cannot tell him in advance what the answers, if any, he will receive. Secondly, grow up, putting a picture of yourself on twitter, doing a face dive into a swimming pool, with a drink in hand, in your clothes, is hardly professional. Remember, you are an elected official for the Town of Templeton. One other thing, and it may be a generational thing these days, but show a little respect for your elders.
As for the old guard mentality, not sure what that entails, perhaps it is talk of what happened in 1991 or 2003 or whatever. Perhaps it is questioning change in a financial document that at one time showed things in an open matter and now that document has been changed so it shows less information. Maybe it has to do with the perception or the reality, that at one time, town meeting was a place and time where debate happened and questions were kicked around with less parliamentary procedure used to shut off discussion and debate. Sometimes it seems elected officials like to have few questions and just a vote for things and that seems like a move toward people being subjects rather than citizens with a say in how their money is being spent or taken care off. Why else would a selectmen have to fight for town employee salaries to be included in the annual town report? Which, if any, selectmen are against that? Why would they be against that. Why the big secret concerning what town employees make? Let us see what they make so we can compare to other towns and then we, as citizens, can decide if we are being told the truth or being lied to, with regards to how Templeton town employees are poorly paid, compared to other towns.
Saturday, October 14, 2017
TO: Board of Selectmen
FROM: Carter Terenzini, Town Administrator
RE: Administrator’s Weekly Report
DATE: October 11, 2017
CC: All Departments ______________________________________________________________________________
Business Meeting or Workshop: The following is intended to supplement agenda items where
a full memorandum may not have been required or updates are needed.
Item 5 is still in progress and will need a bit more discussion with you. Item 6 i&ii are now being worked on by Mr. Fortes and will not be available for distribution until Monday.
Weekly Report: I met with our health insurance representatives to prepare for the upcoming renewal and budget season. John Driscoll was able to join me. Our loss ratios year to date and over the past two-year rating period look fairly good on the HMO side but the indemnity plan still remains at an extremely high level (2x loss over premium). We discussed potential savings now available on the Rx side which we need to do more PR on, a potential no-cost program expansion (though one always has to look at the effort needed if you ever have to constrict that improvement) and potential tweaks to contain the premium increases we are told to think of in terms of 8 – 10%. They will package all of this – and more – up for an IAC meeting in mid-November. I attended the meeting of the School Building Committee. Your bids came in very nicely at roughly $32.55 million. You will have roughly $4M for your construction contingency, furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E), permits/inspection, testing and the like. The timeline is for the Committee to present to you on 10/23, the School Committee to vote the Notice of Intent to Award on 10/25, you to get the next phase of BAN bids on 11/22, you to award the BAN on 11/27 and the contract to be signed shortly thereafter. The Financial policies are here for your signature so that we might circulate them to all. Collins will now proceed to comments on revenue optimization, and look at potential forecasting templates so that we do not have to construct them at our end. I finalized a Draft of the Fall Town Meeting warrant for 10/16 and kicked it off to Town Counsel to get a head start on review. There were no citizen petitions. The permits for the timber cutting were received this week so the bid process can commence shortly. The Police Station is out to bid. Given the virtual elimination of the USDA grant program ($25k - $50k) toward the project we will be looking at a general borrowing. Given the increase in the rate this year to claw-back the unrecovered debt of ’13 – ’16, given the payment patterns for the school in FY ’19; we may yet be able to shoe-horn that debt into a three – four year payment plan closer to what was originally projected. Holly and I have sorted out a relatively easy means of publishing online supplemental documents submitted during your meetings and we will start this process starting with your 10/16/17 meeting
FROM: Carter Terenzini, Town Administrator
RE: Administrator’s Weekly Report
DATE: October 11, 2017
CC: All Departments ______________________________________________________________________________
Important Notices
Positions Now Open: DPW - Highway: Laborer/Truck Driver
BoS Workshop 10/16 to review Draft Warrant. Please plan to attend if you have an article.
Item 5 is still in progress and will need a bit more discussion with you. Item 6 i&ii are now being worked on by Mr. Fortes and will not be available for distribution until Monday.
Weekly Report: I met with our health insurance representatives to prepare for the upcoming renewal and budget season. John Driscoll was able to join me. Our loss ratios year to date and over the past two-year rating period look fairly good on the HMO side but the indemnity plan still remains at an extremely high level (2x loss over premium). We discussed potential savings now available on the Rx side which we need to do more PR on, a potential no-cost program expansion (though one always has to look at the effort needed if you ever have to constrict that improvement) and potential tweaks to contain the premium increases we are told to think of in terms of 8 – 10%. They will package all of this – and more – up for an IAC meeting in mid-November. I attended the meeting of the School Building Committee. Your bids came in very nicely at roughly $32.55 million. You will have roughly $4M for your construction contingency, furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E), permits/inspection, testing and the like. The timeline is for the Committee to present to you on 10/23, the School Committee to vote the Notice of Intent to Award on 10/25, you to get the next phase of BAN bids on 11/22, you to award the BAN on 11/27 and the contract to be signed shortly thereafter. The Financial policies are here for your signature so that we might circulate them to all. Collins will now proceed to comments on revenue optimization, and look at potential forecasting templates so that we do not have to construct them at our end. I finalized a Draft of the Fall Town Meeting warrant for 10/16 and kicked it off to Town Counsel to get a head start on review. There were no citizen petitions. The permits for the timber cutting were received this week so the bid process can commence shortly. The Police Station is out to bid. Given the virtual elimination of the USDA grant program ($25k - $50k) toward the project we will be looking at a general borrowing. Given the increase in the rate this year to claw-back the unrecovered debt of ’13 – ’16, given the payment patterns for the school in FY ’19; we may yet be able to shoe-horn that debt into a three – four year payment plan closer to what was originally projected. Holly and I have sorted out a relatively easy means of publishing online supplemental documents submitted during your meetings and we will start this process starting with your 10/16/17 meeting
Selectmen Fortes writes in part;
"Also, sending a line as if to threaten town employees that you will be making burdensome inquiries into their financial items so they "may wish to clear their calendar" is as bizarre as it is unprofessional. I highly suggest you correct your actions in correspondence with Town Employees as this will not be tolerated."
Perhaps Mr. Fortes has not read up on public record laws, the fact that Town employees can very well be charged as holders of that information and most importantly, as a Templeton resident who regularly votes and attends most Town Meetings, I have a right to make as many public records request as I want and I can ask for such records as simple and small as one page or twenty pages. Town employees are there to provide a service to residents in one way or another, and if that involves collecting and producing public records, then how is that a burden? How is that a threat informing "town government" that one will be seeking many or multiple items of record, so be ready and do not be surprised when many requests come your way. I believe that in most instances, that is why there are assistants, such as assistant in assessors office, assistant treasurer/collector, assistant town accountant and so on. Perhaps selectmen Fortes should read up on some things rather than sending lecturing and threatening emails to Town residents. Perhaps begin with the Templeton general by-laws.
"Also, sending a line as if to threaten town employees that you will be making burdensome inquiries into their financial items so they "may wish to clear their calendar" is as bizarre as it is unprofessional. I highly suggest you correct your actions in correspondence with Town Employees as this will not be tolerated."
Perhaps Mr. Fortes has not read up on public record laws, the fact that Town employees can very well be charged as holders of that information and most importantly, as a Templeton resident who regularly votes and attends most Town Meetings, I have a right to make as many public records request as I want and I can ask for such records as simple and small as one page or twenty pages. Town employees are there to provide a service to residents in one way or another, and if that involves collecting and producing public records, then how is that a burden? How is that a threat informing "town government" that one will be seeking many or multiple items of record, so be ready and do not be surprised when many requests come your way. I believe that in most instances, that is why there are assistants, such as assistant in assessors office, assistant treasurer/collector, assistant town accountant and so on. Perhaps selectmen Fortes should read up on some things rather than sending lecturing and threatening emails to Town residents. Perhaps begin with the Templeton general by-laws.
Friday, October 13, 2017
Good Morning Jeff,
I hope all is well. I would like to express my concern with the way you are talking to town personnel. These are people with functions that do not need your concerns expressed to them directly. I would suggest if you have a concern over the nature of any town employee you bring that before the Town Selectmen. As we are the one's who would handle such matters. The response you were given actually suffices to any and all your questions. Carter & Kelli stated in their email, if you have a question they will be happy to answer it.
This is not your place to pick a quarrel with the Town Administrator or the Town Accountant. Your place to take it up would be with the Selectmen and give us your feed back in a public forum about your qualms about financial details. I am sure the Chairman would be willing to accommodate.
Also, sending a line as if to threaten town employees that you will be making burdensome inquiries into their financial items so they "may wish to clear their calendar" is as bizarre as it is unprofessional. I highly suggest you correct your actions in correspondence with Town Employees as this will not be tolerated.
Furthermore, The Advisory Committee is not a spending watchdog. Your task as an advisory committee is to review the budget and make recommendations. The Select Board reviews and signs all warrants once a week. We have been tasked with reviewing day to day financial operations & spending within the community. As the executive body of Templeton, we also have the power to put a financial team in place and as such we are responsible for their actions and reviewing their work.
The Advisory Committee is not an investigatory body and it is certainly not an audit committee. Kelli has three auditing bodies already. Tony Roselli, the Department of Revenue, & the Board of Selectmen. Which would make three entities reviewing the books and as you can imagine makes for some incredible strain on Templeton's financial department when they are asked the same questions regularly. Your scope, once again, should be defined as budgeting review and recommendation of warrant articles. You do not create the budget and you are not the financial arm of the town. You are an advisory committee.
So I direct you again Jeff. If you have a question about insurance payments being paid timely or in full. That isn't in your jurisdiction. If you have a question about what the insurance policy being paid in full and how much that would save the town versus payments over time and have a possible recommendation to the budget based on that information, you would be in your role as an advisory committee member.
If you have a budget related question, ask it Jeffery, if not then I would suggest you reach out to the Chairman of the Selectmen Board to discuss your specific complaints in open forum but in no way within your scope of duties does it say you can threaten members of town hall with burdensome work or enforce by-law requirements leave that to the elected officials.
Regards,
Cameron Forte
I hope all is well. I would like to express my concern with the way you are talking to town personnel. These are people with functions that do not need your concerns expressed to them directly. I would suggest if you have a concern over the nature of any town employee you bring that before the Town Selectmen. As we are the one's who would handle such matters. The response you were given actually suffices to any and all your questions. Carter & Kelli stated in their email, if you have a question they will be happy to answer it.
This is not your place to pick a quarrel with the Town Administrator or the Town Accountant. Your place to take it up would be with the Selectmen and give us your feed back in a public forum about your qualms about financial details. I am sure the Chairman would be willing to accommodate.
Also, sending a line as if to threaten town employees that you will be making burdensome inquiries into their financial items so they "may wish to clear their calendar" is as bizarre as it is unprofessional. I highly suggest you correct your actions in correspondence with Town Employees as this will not be tolerated.
Furthermore, The Advisory Committee is not a spending watchdog. Your task as an advisory committee is to review the budget and make recommendations. The Select Board reviews and signs all warrants once a week. We have been tasked with reviewing day to day financial operations & spending within the community. As the executive body of Templeton, we also have the power to put a financial team in place and as such we are responsible for their actions and reviewing their work.
The Advisory Committee is not an investigatory body and it is certainly not an audit committee. Kelli has three auditing bodies already. Tony Roselli, the Department of Revenue, & the Board of Selectmen. Which would make three entities reviewing the books and as you can imagine makes for some incredible strain on Templeton's financial department when they are asked the same questions regularly. Your scope, once again, should be defined as budgeting review and recommendation of warrant articles. You do not create the budget and you are not the financial arm of the town. You are an advisory committee.
So I direct you again Jeff. If you have a question about insurance payments being paid timely or in full. That isn't in your jurisdiction. If you have a question about what the insurance policy being paid in full and how much that would save the town versus payments over time and have a possible recommendation to the budget based on that information, you would be in your role as an advisory committee member.
If you have a budget related question, ask it Jeffery, if not then I would suggest you reach out to the Chairman of the Selectmen Board to discuss your specific complaints in open forum but in no way within your scope of duties does it say you can threaten members of town hall with burdensome work or enforce by-law requirements leave that to the elected officials.
Regards,
Cameron Forte
Good Day:
While it was not uncommon for some towns to use the accounting systems for the kind of details you had formerly it is also not uncommon for a town to have as few as two (personnel and expenses) accounts. We chose to collect our expenditures around their activity. Even reverting to the old system would not tell you if the insurance was paid in full for the year. We can always give you a specific response to any question that you have and are more than happy to do so.
Kindly understand that there is no addition to the overall staffing levels within the finance unit. We had 5 f.t.e’s and when we added the .5 Assistant Town Accountant we reduce the Deputy Treasurer Collector to .5. The total staffing remains at 5 f.t.e’s. That said, we are looking at how we might give you some better access to payments (perhaps posting the payment register on-line) and would hope to complete that within the next week or two.
Many Thanks
Kelli &
Carter Terenzini
Interim Town Administrator
Town of Templeton
160 Patriots Road
East Templeton, MA 01438
(978) 894-2753
From: jeff bennett [mailto:j_bennett506@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2017 7:03 AM
To: 'Kelli Pontbriand' <accountant@templeton1.org>
Cc: Selectman Caplis <selectmen.caplis@templeton1.org>; Selectwoman, Diane <seldhaleybrooks@templeton1.org>; Doug Morrison, Selectmen <seldmorrison@templeton1.org>; selectmen.fortes@templeton1.org; Town Administrator <townadministrator@templeton1.org>; selectmen.richard@templeton1.org
Subject: Advisory Committee and Town by-laws
Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2017 7:03 AM
To: 'Kelli Pontbriand' <accountant@templeton1.org>
Cc: Selectman Caplis <selectmen.caplis@templeton1.org>; Selectwoman, Diane <seldhaleybrooks@templeton1.org>; Doug Morrison, Selectmen <seldmorrison@templeton1.org>; selectmen.fortes@templeton1.org; Town Administrator <townadministrator@templeton1.org>; selectmen.richard@templeton1.org
Subject: Advisory Committee and Town by-laws
All;
I have again been tasked by a vote of the Advisory Committee to bring to your attention as well as to high lite one article/section of the general by-laws of Templeton;
Article IV, section 5 -Article IV – Advisory Committee:
Section 5. In the discharge of its duty, said committee shall have free access to all books of record and accounts, bills and vouchers on which money has been or may be paid from the town treasury. Officers, boards, and committees of the town shall, upon request, furnish said committee with facts, figures, and any other information pertaining to their several activities.
We bring this up because in the discharge of our stated responsibilities and duty, we look at the recent document of expenditures or the budget versus actual and we do not see the accounts and records in the detail required to look at and analyze the spending and care of taxpayer dollars. For instance, with the current presentation, the committee cannot see if the Town has paid group (health) insurance in full, which if done, saves taxpayer dollars. This is one of the reasons for the committee asking for a return of detail in the monthly expenditure reports sent out from the office of the Town Accountant. With the addition of more staff, assistant town accountant, the committee feels this would be a simple and beneficial step towards bringing resident confidence back to town government.
respectfully;
Jeff Bennett
Advisory Committee vice-chairman
on behalf of the committee
I have again been tasked by a vote of the Advisory Committee to bring to your attention as well as to high lite one article/section of the general by-laws of Templeton;
Article IV, section 5 -Article IV – Advisory Committee:
Section 5. In the discharge of its duty, said committee shall have free access to all books of record and accounts, bills and vouchers on which money has been or may be paid from the town treasury. Officers, boards, and committees of the town shall, upon request, furnish said committee with facts, figures, and any other information pertaining to their several activities.
We bring this up because in the discharge of our stated responsibilities and duty, we look at the recent document of expenditures or the budget versus actual and we do not see the accounts and records in the detail required to look at and analyze the spending and care of taxpayer dollars. For instance, with the current presentation, the committee cannot see if the Town has paid group (health) insurance in full, which if done, saves taxpayer dollars. This is one of the reasons for the committee asking for a return of detail in the monthly expenditure reports sent out from the office of the Town Accountant. With the addition of more staff, assistant town accountant, the committee feels this would be a simple and beneficial step towards bringing resident confidence back to town government.
respectfully;
Jeff Bennett
Advisory Committee vice-chairman
on behalf of the committee
Sunday, October 8, 2017
Holly,
Please be advised that Advisory Committee voted at tonight's meeting to hold it's required pre-town meeting on Wednesday, November 1, 2017 at 7:00 P.M. News paper advertisement is in the works. As previously stated, there are time frames that are required by Town by-laws and the committee intends to abide by the by-laws.
respectfully;
Jeff Bennett
Advisory Committee vice-chairman
Please be advised that Advisory Committee voted at tonight's meeting to hold it's required pre-town meeting on Wednesday, November 1, 2017 at 7:00 P.M. News paper advertisement is in the works. As previously stated, there are time frames that are required by Town by-laws and the committee intends to abide by the by-laws.
respectfully;
Jeff Bennett
Advisory Committee vice-chairman
From: advisorycommittee templeton1.org <advisorycommittee@templeton1.org>
Sent: Wednesday, October 4, 2017 11:19 AM
To: Beverly Bartolomeo; Jeff Bennett; jfarrell59@gmail.com; Paul Grubb; Robert May; Wilfred Spring
Subject: Fwd: Nov 1 meeting
Sent: Wednesday, October 4, 2017 11:19 AM
To: Beverly Bartolomeo; Jeff Bennett; jfarrell59@gmail.com; Paul Grubb; Robert May; Wilfred Spring
Subject: Fwd: Nov 1 meeting
FYI
---------- Original Message ----------
From: Holly <hyoung@templeton1.org>
To: "'Advisorycommittee templeton1.org'" <advisorycommittee@templeton1.org>
Date: October 4, 2017 at 10:14 AM
Subject: Nov 1 meetingGood Morning Wil:Your meeting scheduled for November 1, 2017, will need to be moved either to the alternate meeting room (Land Planning Room) or to another evening. There is a Public Hearing that needs to be held that night in the Conference Room.Please let me know which is your preference.Holly A. YoungHolly A. Young,Assistant to the Town Administrator
Have you seen this in the Gardner News?
Seems like the Gardner News is only printing one sided stories - maybe the Telegram will print it!
here is a story for you, if you dare!
Seems like the Gardner News is only printing one sided stories - maybe the Telegram will print it!
here is a story for you, if you dare!
From: jeff bennett <j_bennett506@hotmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 30, 2017 7:14 AM
To: BERNARD HEANEY
Subject: Re: letter to selectmen
Sent: Saturday, September 30, 2017 7:14 AM
To: BERNARD HEANEY
Subject: Re: letter to selectmen
Bernie,
Thank you for the email and especially for all the time and work you put in to bring that issue forward. I know from experience the time it takes to do that type of thing. I understand the "moving forward" part, but when does it end? When does the following of the rules and laws begin There have been alot of mistakes made over the years with regards to Templeton's finance and reporting, and I have been part of those mistakes but when you tell people there is a competent finance team in place and all is well, there should be no excuse for those reports. We shall wait and we shall see. Again, thank you for your effort on this and for the school finance report you did, I am one who really appreciates it.
regards;
Bennett - SF
Thank you for the email and especially for all the time and work you put in to bring that issue forward. I know from experience the time it takes to do that type of thing. I understand the "moving forward" part, but when does it end? When does the following of the rules and laws begin There have been alot of mistakes made over the years with regards to Templeton's finance and reporting, and I have been part of those mistakes but when you tell people there is a competent finance team in place and all is well, there should be no excuse for those reports. We shall wait and we shall see. Again, thank you for your effort on this and for the school finance report you did, I am one who really appreciates it.
regards;
Bennett - SF
From: BERNARD HEANEY <bernieandnancy1@comcast.net>
Sent: Friday, September 29, 2017 8:34 PM
To: jeff bennett
Subject: Re: letter to selectmen
Sent: Friday, September 29, 2017 8:34 PM
To: jeff bennett
Subject: Re: letter to selectmen
Hi Jeff,
Thank you for the BOS input regarding my request for accountant's reports in the AR.
I had a lengthy discussion with John Caplis this week. Briefly, the "bottom line" is:
1. Regarding accountant's reports in ARs --- John says that I was right before and I am
right now; these reports should have been published. His position is that there is
nothing we can do about the past and we should move on.
2. Regarding why there was no accountant's report in the 2017 AR --- He says there was
a joint decision made to report all the past unaudited years together. This he says is in
printing now. I don't remember who was involved in that decision. He tells me that
he has been told this information will be available before the end of the year. He under-
stands my position that you don't need a last year's ending figure or a this year's starting
figure to report actual income and expense information for any recent year, thereby,
informing the people where our money is actually being spent, however, as he said, this
info is being printed now. So, again, we will have to wait for another deadline to see
these figures.
3. Regarding his receipt of my October 30 letter --- We have proof that this registered
letter was delivered to the town's PO Box in East Templeton. Unfortunately, the town does
not log in their receipt of mail so, the trail ends with the post office. After reminding John
of our discussion at a veteran's meeting, where he told me that he had received my letter
and that the accountant's report would definitely be in the AR this year, he said, "I just forgot."
I'm sending this by email because I will not be at the next Advisory Committee meeting.
I'm attending an evening course on Wednesdays at the Mount.
SF,
Bernie
Thank you for the BOS input regarding my request for accountant's reports in the AR.
I had a lengthy discussion with John Caplis this week. Briefly, the "bottom line" is:
1. Regarding accountant's reports in ARs --- John says that I was right before and I am
right now; these reports should have been published. His position is that there is
nothing we can do about the past and we should move on.
2. Regarding why there was no accountant's report in the 2017 AR --- He says there was
a joint decision made to report all the past unaudited years together. This he says is in
printing now. I don't remember who was involved in that decision. He tells me that
he has been told this information will be available before the end of the year. He under-
stands my position that you don't need a last year's ending figure or a this year's starting
figure to report actual income and expense information for any recent year, thereby,
informing the people where our money is actually being spent, however, as he said, this
info is being printed now. So, again, we will have to wait for another deadline to see
these figures.
3. Regarding his receipt of my October 30 letter --- We have proof that this registered
letter was delivered to the town's PO Box in East Templeton. Unfortunately, the town does
not log in their receipt of mail so, the trail ends with the post office. After reminding John
of our discussion at a veteran's meeting, where he told me that he had received my letter
and that the accountant's report would definitely be in the AR this year, he said, "I just forgot."
I'm sending this by email because I will not be at the next Advisory Committee meeting.
I'm attending an evening course on Wednesdays at the Mount.
SF,
Bernie
On September 25, 2017 at 9:22 PM jeff bennett <j_bennett506@hotmail.com> wrote:Bernie,
Tonight I asked John Caplis about your letter from October 2016 and why no response. First a few selectmen laughed about 106 pages then Caplis stated we could talk after the meeting about it. He told me he did not see it, does not remember getting it and he would call you.
Bennett
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