An email to Town Hall (not from Jeff Bennett)

Appears like Templeton residents are losing access to their government, at least the Board of Selectmen.

This current Board of Selectmen would probably not even have a public meeting if they were not required by law to do so.

Wow...................

I sat and watched the BOS meeting of June 11, 2018 and was, well, flabbergasted. 

I watched as the BOS read " is anyone taping us". I watched as Julie read "no comments other than during the "public comment" section.

Then we get to the meeting.

Their was more discussion regarding "rules for the meeting" than took place regarding the signing of a 4 year contract with Roselli. The Town Administrator recommends an auditor ( who is auditing his and his finance teams work) and the BOS doesn't even ask one question. This type of response makes me question the entire relationship between the BOS and TA. How can you not ask one question. The TA recommends a party to review his work and you just quickly without question vote a unanimous "Yes". Just another example of the financial team being left to regulate themselves. Look for the last  report from the Treasurer or Accountant on the TA weekly report, I believe its in February and something like "taxes due". We have nothing but financial issues in Templeton but yet nobody seems to be paying attention

 Next I watched you deal with the request for Lord Rd and North Main. The agenda states a $100,000.00 transfer request. The TA comes with paperwork requesting $110,000.00. Then the TA talks about the request. He mentions a 10% contingency. 

Looking at the numbers it goes more like this............

$96,100 actual cost of services requested plus an additional 14.5% contingency or slush fund at that point. It may not seem like much, but the sloppy addition, math, statements could be taken as misrepresentation by the Administration but the BOS doesn't even notice. The TA asked for $4,300 of slop and no questions at all from the over site of the Town. Did anyone even notice?

I am really pleased you were able to wrap it all up in 28 minutes. It was a very efficient lack of over site. Maybe a review of this meeting will give Ms. Richard her answer as to why nobody notifies the BOS regarding department issues. It might be because they wonder.......WHY?

MEMORANDUM – OFFICE OF THE TOWN ADMINISTRATOR

TO: Board of Selectmen
FROM: Carter Terenzini, Town Administrator
RE: Administrator’s Weekly Report
DATE: June 7, 2018
CC: All Departments

Important Notice to All Departments 

Job Openings:                         Laborer/Truck Driver (DPW)
                                                Fire Fighter/EMT-P R

Reports on surplus item due by June 14 to highway@templeton1.org

5. b. Given our decentralized structure, we found out we had an additional intern after the presentations of early May. This is to acknowledge their contribution to our organization. 

Weekly Report: 

I met with our Financial Advisor and our Finance Team to begin the compilation of our several bond offerings for the Police ($2.475M) and Schools ($12M+/-). We look to have these on your agenda for 07/11. You will see in August a renewal of the Sewer Pump Station Ban. The Finance team and I met with Counsel on our 130+/- Tax Title properties looking to move about 13 to Land Court (after we have an initial file search for any potential hazardous waste issues by Police, Fire, BoH, and DPW). We will begin our initial batch of 10+/- lands of low value for submission to DOR for certification which is a far speedier – and less costly – approach than going through Land Court. We had a conference call with the MRPC and environmental scientist relative to procuring funding for added research on the 20+ American Tissue properties. Our goal is to clear more lands than added each year by the time of the fall tax-title process to – slowly but manageably – reduce the list. We had a telcon with the Conway School of Design to secure their design services ($1k+/-) for the old Town Offices site in Baldwinville to try to move this project forward. We met with our tax mapping firm to look at various upgrades we want to make for better document management and making those documents available to the public. I had several conversations with Laurel View residents over the “Red List” letter they got about needed repairs before we can continue plowing this private rod. I’ve arranged a full neighborhood meeting for 06/18 here at Town Hall.

Since these residents already pay real estate taxes and since public money can be spent on private roads for improvement, why not, in the name of public safety, lay out a plan and make this road a public way. If this is not done, what happens if those so called needed repairs do not happen and there is a fire or a medical emergency; would that mean the town resources woulld not respond? A precedent has already been set; if the town now refuses to plow this road and there is a fire with medical emergencies, would this put the Town at legal risk? 

The people who live there will be paying for the recent tax increase for services but now the selectmen are going to deny them those services? Time for town management to accept that Laurel View residents were given a "bill of goods" and do right by them. Accept the road as is and put in for CDBG grant money and what ever other resources that can be gained and do the road, sidewalks, drainage, etc., over and be done with it. They are town residents, they pay taxes and they should receive something for their dollars. It is time for taxpayer money to go for something other than employee raises.  

from the Association of Town Finance Committee handbook.


True zero-based budgeting, in which all programs are reviewed annually and budgets are built from the bottom up, often does not work very well in the municipal arena. Many programs are mandated by state or federal law or by the realities of everyday life. However, it does make sense to review each department’s mission and resources every few years. Finance committees, town managers, employees and citizens should work together and re-examine priorities, think about whether and how missions can be redefined and how resources can be reallocated to better meet a town’s changing needs. This kind of planning, while more difficult in the short term, pays off in the long run if only by keeping the budget process from devolving into a series of ad hoc reactions to year-by year changes in the town’s financial picture.

from the Town website, under Town Administrator: FY 2019 budget presentation:

My Premises –
Zero Based Budget: From the Ground Up; –

 Reflected on our review of work-flow & structure to date;

No payroll checks?  Vacation?  What about the assistants?

The assistant to the Town Administrator was in the office of the board of selectmen.
What about the assistant Town Accountant? I thought that was one reason for having assistants, so the work can be done when the lead person is out. Perhaps the policy that covers this situation should be looked at for the answers.

I hope all Town employees attend the next selectmen meeting and under public comments, these questions are asked and they get answers. From some conversations I have had from residents, things are not much better in the Treasurer / Collectors office. I hope the elected sewer commissioners stand their ground and keep control of those enterprise funds. It sometimes seems there is nothing more than a big ponzi scheme going on with regards to Templeton finance. Time for some management costing to be done? An outside payroll service does not seem like such a bad idea right now.

Maybe it is time for a tax underride? Since there is 20 million dollars being spent on a regional lockup facility, to include drug rehab and medical services, is there a need for any small town to have their own jail cells, that come with all those requirements such as additional personnel to watch the prisoners, transport to hospital for any medical problem, real or possible, feeding them, etc.

Of course, the people just voted for a tax increase, just re-elected a selectmen so they must be happy with the government they have. Maybe time to just sit back, smell the coffee and have a good laugh. Now, about them pot holes and beetles in all the trees out there?

On page 65 in the spending plan book for FY2018, (Treasurer/Collector) there is an item listed as Harpers payroll for $12,190.00. Presumably, that is to cover cost of processing Town payroll.

On page 47 in the spending plan book for FY 2019, (Town Accountant) there is an item listed as Harpers Payroll for $12,190.00. Again, presumably to cover cost of processing payroll.

Looking through the Town Administrators reports for the year (weekly) almost every one of them contain the same thing: Finance team - Town Accountant and Treasurer/Collector; nothing to report.


Probably won't hear much about this at a selectmen meeting because the Town Administrator will handle it and he is not covered by the open meeting law. Things like employee evaluations are not done at selectmen meetings, where people who pay the bills and salaries, can hear about qualifications and quality of work completed by the employees they pay for. Taxpayers should be able to hear this information.

No fluoride, no smart meter, no trump conspiracies, just some information:

Wednesday, May 30, 2018, selectmen held a meeting and financial transfer was on agenda.

So two transfer requests were signed and forwarded to Advisory Committee for action.

 

One transfer was from benefits to snow & ice deficit in the amount of $25,000.00.

That transfer was approved.

Second transfer request was for $15,000.00 from benefits to highway department:

That transfer was not approved.

purchase of services - $9,000.00

supplies -                    $6,000.00

problem / issue: memo showing the breakdown of what the funds were needed for;

MS-4 / storm water report @ $2,000.00

arborist / diseased trees      @ $2,150.00

Equipment services            @ $2,850.00  (cylinder rebuild & body repair)

So, those total $7,000.00 which leads to the question: did the requester mean to ask for $7,000.00?

Did the requester make an error in the summary and really need $9,000.00/

Since the Town Administrator and accountant are both out on vacation and no one in selectmen office answered the question and it seems as if the selectmen do not read what they vote or sign or discuss, the chairman signed it and forward it to Advisory and no one came to the meeting to answer the question (s)

Tin foil is in aisle 6

House-Senate budget differences headed to conference committee

May 25, 2018

The House and Senate have each approved budget bills for next year, with some important differences in local government accounts and on policy issues that will have to be resolved by a six-member conference committee.
 
With state finances more stable this budget season than over the past two years, some of the concern about funding levels for state and local government programs has diminished a bit, and in some cases there is an opportunity for growth. Last year at this time, state collections were falling almost half a billion dollars behind the forecast. This year, collections through the end of April are about $800 million ahead of the target.
 
Policy differences in the House and Senate fiscal 2019 budget bills include some controversial issues that affect cities and towns, including Senate-approved updates to the Community Preservation Act fee schedule, a provision to establish a new car rental fee to help fund the municipal police training program, and a measure that would prohibit state and local law enforcement agencies from cooperating with federal immigration authorities. The House is acting on a police training program funding plan in separate legislation
.

Apparently, the state Senators think there should be no rule of law in Massachusetts. 

Do Templeton selectmen read and understand what is put in front of them? Do they understand everything that is asked of them?

On page 73 of the spending plan binders, an explanation in detail, of what is planned for purchase of service; Town Clerk, for the fiscal year 2019. One item listed is General Code - Codification @ $3,998.00. There is a notation showing this is year 3 of a 3 year contract with a further annual $1,195.00 fee for FY 2020 and thereafter.

So why would the selectmen tell people at annual town meeting that only $100.00 to no more than $1,000.00 was spent on codification?

So, did the selectmen lie to the Annual Town Meeting or did they really not  know how much they agreed to spend on a contract they signed? It was nice of the Town Administrator to take the blame, but he did not sign the warrant for town meeting.