Massachusetts Selectmen’s Association officers for 2018

President: Jim Lovejoy, Mount Washington

First vice president: Paul DeRensis, Sherborn Second vice president: Ellen Allen, Norwell
Secretary; Andrew Hogeland, Williamstown District 1: John O'Rourke, Conway District 2; Vacant District 3: Vacant District 4: Alan Slavin, Wareham District 5: Mary Krumsiek, Milbury

 
District 1: Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, and Hampshire counties
District 2: Essex and Middlesex counties
District 3: Bristol, Norfolk and Suffolk counties
District 4: Barnstable, Dukes, Nantucket and Plymouth counties
District 5: Worcester County

Don't worry, no one reads his bog anyway.

UPDATE:

The following meeting has been updated:

Town(s): Templeton, MA;
Board: Templeton Elementary School Building Committee
Time: Tuesday February 27, 2018 7 PM EST
Location: Town Hall

Agenda:
1. Call to order
2. Pledge of Allegiance
3. Approve minutes
4. Approve Invoices
5. OPM Update
6. New Business
7. Other

** You can manage your email notifications at

email update for this meeting was received today and now people know where to show up for this meeting.

So this meeting magically disappeared from Tuesday, February 20, 2018 and now is on February 27, 2018 as if it were never scheduled. The magic of everything electronic - poof - it is just gone, it was not cancelled, it just never was.

Templeton Meals tax; can you say Dunkin Donuts and Cumberland Farms?

Store sales

Sales of food and beverages by the stores listed above are subject to the tax if the items are sold in a way that it could be considered a meal. The following items sold in stores are taxable:

• Beverages: Poured beverages, such as a cup of coffee or a fountain soda.
• Unpackaged baked goods: Unpackaged baked goods or other snacks are generally taxable unless sold in units of 6 or more to be taken out. Baked goods in units of 6 or more include any variety of items totaling 6 or more servings. For example: 2 bagels, 3 muffins and 1 danish; or a whole pie, cake, loaf of bread, etc. However, a bakery may sell any amount of unpackaged baked goods tax-free if it sells only baked goods, or if it keeps its restaurant sales separate as required by DOR regulation.

Meals Tax:

Local option meals excise: A city or town may impose a local sales tax on restaurant meal sales that come from the city or town by a vendor. The rate is .75% of the vendor's gross receipts from restaurant meal sales. This local excise, which is imposed along with the state sales tax on meals, takes effect on the first day of the calendar quarter following 30 days after acceptance by the city or town on the first day of a later calendar quarter that the city or town may designate.


Massachusetts imposes a sales tax on meals sold by or bought from restaurants or any part of a store. The tax is 6.25% of the sales price of the meal. (Before August 1, 2009, the tax rate was 5%.)

Meal: A meal is any food and/or beverage that has been prepared for immediate human consumption and provided by a restaurant or restaurant part of a store. A meal includes food or beverages sold as "take out" or "to go," whether they're packaged or wrapped or not, and whether they're taken from the premises of the restaurant or not.

Restaurant: A restaurant is any eating or drinking establishment (stationary or mobile, temporary or permanent) that is primarily engaged in the business of selling meals for a price. These include but are not limited to:

Cafes

Cafeterias

Canteen trucks or wagons

Catering businesses

Cocktail lounges and bars

Coffee shops

Diners

Dining rooms, including hotel and motel dining rooms

Ice cream or other food product stands

Lunch counters

Private or social clubs

Salad bars

Snack bars, including theatre snack bars

Street wagons or carts

Taverns

Vending machines or "honor snack trays" that sell snacks or candy with a sales price of $3.50 or more. Honor snack trays are open trays in which employees (in an establishment that normally doesn't sell food) can pay for snacks and candy on the honor system.

Nomination papers are now available for the May 7, 2018 Annual Town Election. 

List of available seats

Thursday, March 15th is the last day to obtain blank nomination papers from the Town Clerk's Office.

Monday, March 19th is the last day to submit completed nomination papers to the Town Clerk's Office.

below is what I received as an email alert for this meeting:



The following meeting has been updated:

Town(s): Templeton, MA;
Board: Templeton Elementary School Building Committee
Time: Tuesday February 20, 2018 6 PM EST
Location: Town Hall Central Office - NRSD

Agenda:
1. Call to order
2. Pledge of Allegiance
3. Approve minutes
4. Approve Invoices
5. OPM Update
6. New Business
7. Other



This is what is posted on the Town web site as of right now - 3:31 P.M. / 2/18/2018.
Remember, two selectmen serve on this committee. So, who is on first base and I don't know is pitching.

My home country of Templeton, yeah buddy!

Town:	Templeton, MA
Board:	Templeton Elementary School Building Committee
Time:	Tuesday February 20, 2018 6 PM EST
Location:	Town Hall 160 Patriots Rd., East Templeton, MA 01438 Central Office - NRSD
Agenda:	1. Call to order 2. Pledge of Allegiance 3. Approve minutes 4. Approve Invoices 5. OPM Update 6. New Business 7. Other

Perhaps to relieve the tension on conspiracy, opinions and the like, perhaps grab some weed, then get a piece of hemp paper and a pencil (for the techno generation, grab ya phone) and lets do some math;

the 1 percent meals tax that is only going to add a penny to a cup of coffee is going to raise about $40,000.00 per year. Templeton establishments selling food must be doing well. So for some home work (I do not want to put forth any conspiracy information nor would I wish to stir the pot, so to speak) homework: how much in sales is required to raise $40,000.00 at 1 percent tax?

Would it be $40,000.00 in sales, $400,000.00 in sales, $4,000,000.00 in sales? What would the magic sales figure in dollars be to raise $40,000.00?

Now let us see what if any comments morph into on this subject? How far off track can we go?

PS; Since I try to keep content relevant to Templeton, there will be no Sandy Hook nor any other area of Hoax or other theories here. Some may say this is infringement on free speech, but there are plenty of other avenues and places for that discussion or thought. As Emeril Lagasse  use to say "get your own show" Some how, we need to try to stay focused on local issues that effect Templeton and there are plenty of things to keep us busy.

Watching a recent meeting of the Templeton Planning Board, the subject of bringing things back to Town Meeting that have already failed once and whether Town Meeting should be respected or should a failed item be brought again. Should there be a time frame before a failed vote subject is brought back to Town Meeting? How many times is enough. What about citizens rights to bring things before Town Meeting? How about what information was used to arrive at the $40,000.00 figure of new tax revenue from meals tax? To me, that is more important and relevant than any proposed hoax on some event. Those hoax theories should also be kept separate from the local issues. I wish no more situations like little kids being used as pawns for politics.