Saturday, April 27, 2019

As a candidate for Templeton Board of Selectmen; 
NO stipends / pay for selectmen

Friday, April 26, 2019

This year, there are multiple openings on the Templeton Advisory Committee;

Please consider volunteering for this most important committee.

It can be interesting and educational as well.

You may email Holly Young in the Board of Selectmen's office at hyoung@Templetonma.gov

You may visit the selectmen's office in Town Hall and ask for a committee interest form.

You can find the interest form online at Templetonma.gov

You may contact the Moderator Derek Hall via email at dhall@templetonma.gov

The committee presently meets on Thursday evenings beginning at 6:30 P.M. at Town Hall.

There can be a few more meetings beginning in January.

This is an opportunity to be part of the process and the committee needs new people with open and varied view points.

Please consider volunteering for this important and interesting committee.

Thursday, April 25, 2019

Lucas McDiarmid, the District Director for Senator Anne M. Gobi is holding monthly office hours at the Town Hall to meet with area residents.  He will be in Room 1 at Town Hall.  His next office hours will be held on:

Wednesday, May 22, 2019, from 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. at Templeton Town Hall, 160 Patriots Road, East Templeton, MA 

Lucas is available to meet with constituents who cannot make office hours, by scheduling separate appointments. Please contact him by phone at 413-324-3082, or via email Lucas.McDiarmid@MAsenate.gov

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

TOWN COUNSEL REQUEST FOR WRITTEN ARGUMENTS
 IN FAVOR OF AND IN OPPOSITION TO 
PROPOSITION 2 ½ OVERRIDE FOR FISCAL YEAR 2020 OPERATING BUDGET 

On March 29, 2019 the Board of Selectmen voted to accept Section 18B of Chapter 53 of the Massachusetts General Laws, which authorizes the Board of Selectmen to print information relating to local ballot questions (the “Printed information”). On April 10, 2019, the Board of Selectmen voted to include the following question on the ballot for the May 20, 2019 Annual Town Election:

 “Shall the Town of Templeton be allowed to assess an additional $988,336 in real estate and personal property taxes for the purposes of opening and operating the new Templeton Center Elementary School and paying for additional operating costs of the Narragansett Regional School District, for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2019? 
Yes____ No____” 

In addition to the full text wording of the question, Section 18B provides that the Printed Information must include: 1) a fair and concise summary of the question, which shall be prepared by the Town Counsel, including a one sentence statement describing the effect of a yes or no vote; and 2) arguments, of not more than 150 words, both for and against the question.

Town Counsel is required to “seek written arguments from the principal proponents and opponents of the question” and to “contact each ballot question committee, if any.” Town Counsel is authorized to determine, based on the arguments received, the person or group best able to present arguments for and against the question. If no argument is submitted for a particular position, Town Counsel is required by law to prepare the argument.

Therefore, this request is being issued by Town Counsel, Miyares and Harrington LLP, through the office of the Town Clerk, for written arguments “for” and “against” the Proposition 2 ½ override question. Arguments must be submitted to the Town Clerk for delivery to the Town Counsel, no later than April 25, 2019. The arguments determined to appear on the ballot will be included in the Printed Information that will be mailed to each voter household at least seven days before the Annual Town Election. All arguments filed or prepared will also be available in the office of the Town Clerk and at the polling places on the day of the election.

If you are interested in participating in this process, please contact the Town Clerk’s Office at 978- 894-2758 (phone), 978-894-2790 (fax), or by email to charris@templetonma.gov.

Monday, April 22, 2019

House to Start FY20 State Budget Debate Today


Representatives to Decide on All Municipal and School Amendments

Please Call Your Representatives TODAY, and Ask them to Support Higher Chapter 70 Minimum Aid, Charter School Reimbursements, School Transportation Reimbursements, PILOT Funding, and Other Key Priorities

State Senator Anne Gobbi - 617-722-1540
Anne Gobbi: Templeton Town Hall on April 24, 2019 at 11:00 A.M. - 12:00 noon.

State Representative Susannah Whipps - 617-722-2090

School Aid
Ask Your Representatives to Support the Following Amendments:
• Chapter 70 Minimum Aid at $50 per Student (#992), instead of the $30 in H. 3800
• Full Funding of Charter School Impact Payments (#615)
• Retaining a 6-Year Charter School Reimbursement Schedule (#340)
• Full Funding for Regional School Transportation Reimbursements (#44)
• Full Funding for McKinney-Vento Student Transportation Reimbursements (#244)
• Funding for Out-of-District Vocational Student Transportation (#480 and #482)
• Funding for Summer Jobs for At-Risk Youth (#1285 and #1011)

Ask Your Representatives to Oppose the following Harmful Amendments:
• Increasing the Charter School Facilities Formula Component, which would Reduce Funds that could be Used to Offset Losses to Charter Schools (#615 and #1340)

Municipal Aid
Ask Your Representatives to Support the Following Amendments:
• Increased Funding for PILOT – the Payment-in-Lieu-of-Taxes Program (#878)
• Increased Funding for Shannon Anti-Gang Grants (#127)
• Increased Funding for Local Planning Grants (#836, #233, and #391)
• Increased Funding for Public Libraries (#337, #863, and #339)
• Increased Funding for the Housing Choice Initiative Program (#1215)
• Increased Funding for Labor Relations Staffing (#864, #77, and #798)
• Increased Funding for Complete Count Census Grants (#1354)

General Budget Amendments
Ask Your Representatives to Support the Following Amendments:
• Fixing Problems in the Tax Title Law (#100)
• Updating the Outdated Statute Governing Solar Property Tax Exemptions (#803)
• Creating an Extractor Bulk Purchasing Trust Fund (#286)

Thursday, April 18, 2019

From Massachusetts Division of Local Services:


May Municipal Calendar
1Taxpayer
Deadline to Pay 2nd half and 4th Quarter Tax Bill without Interest
This is the deadline to pay the 2nd half tax bill in semiannual communities and the 4th quarter 

tax in quarterly communities.
1Accountant or 
Treasurer

Notification of Amount of Debt Due in Next Fiscal Year
As required by 
M.G.L. c. 44, § 16, the Accountant or Treasurer must notify the Assessors 

of all debt due in the next fiscal year. The community is required to pay its debts, 
appropriated or not. Any debt service not covered by appropriations is added to the 
“Other Local Expenditures" category found on page 2 of the recap. It is important 
the Assessors have this information to avoid setting a tax rate that will raise insufficient 
revenue to cover the community’s expenditures.
Would it be simpler and better to simply try to follow Town By-laws, which were voted on by Town Meeting? Town Meeting should have the Town Meeting warrant in hand!
So says Town Meeting Times.


From: Terenzini, Carter <cterenzini@TempletonMA.gov>
Sent: Thursday, April 18, 2019 10:46 AM
To: AdvisoryCommittee Templeton; 185wilberdr@gmail.com; quiltingamy36@gmail.com; debra_wilder@comcast.net; tdejoy@comcast.net; glee70@yahoo.com; j_bennett506@hotmail.com; michael.currie71@gmail.com; Hall, Derek
Cc: Tom Harrington
Subject: RE: Voters Guide for ATM
 

Subject to direction by others to the contrary; it would be my intent to be guided by what Town Counsel advises; It may be as simple as labeling the cover Warrant Articles and Voter’s Guide;

Many Thanks

Carter
1.978.894.2755 (o)
1.603.498.0958 (m)

Please note our new email of; and redirect your contacts to - cterenzini@templetonma.gov


From: AdvisoryCommittee Templeton 
Sent: Thursday, April 18, 2019 10:42 AM
To: Terenzini, Carter <cterenzini@TempletonMA.gov>; 185wilberdr@gmail.com; quiltingamy36@gmail.com; debra_wilder@comcast.net; tdejoy@comcast.net; glee70@yahoo.com; j_bennett506@hotmail.com; michael.currie71@gmail.com; Hall, Derek <dhall@TempletonMA.gov>
Subject: Re: Voters Guide for ATM

Just a note; in Town Meeting times, which according to Templeton by-laws, is the guide for our town meeting. Page 54 of Town Meeting times, section 19 "if the reading of articles is to be omitted, the warrant should be printed and in the hands of, or available to, every voter." No where does it refer to a voters guide, so I hope the Town Selectmen will follow our own by-laws and follow Town Meeting times; have the warrant at Town Meeting rather than a voters guide, which in my opinion, appears to be another distraction to the voters. Selectmen vote on the warrant, it is the warrant that gets posted in designated places according to state law and it should be the warrant in front of the voters.

respectfully;
Jeffrey Bennett
Chairman, Templeton Advisory Committee

From: Terenzini, Carter
Sent: Thursday, April 18, 2019 7:40:53 AM
To: Hall, Derek
Cc: AdvisoryCommittee Templeton; Caplis, John; Richard, Julie; Morrison, Doug; Diane Haleybrooks; Harris, Carol; Adam D. Lamontagne; Harris, Carol
Subject: RE: Voters Guide for ATM

Good Day Derek:

I know there is a question as to whether or not we must also provide a copy of the entirety of the warrant to people if the reading of a warrant article is to be waived  (I’ll be discussing this with the BoS on 05/01 but at this time do anticipate a move to waive the reading on at least four (4) articles). Given the Voter’s guide actually does include the entirety of each and every warrant article as the “anticipated motion” (albeit with some wording added (bold italics) or deleted (with strikethroughs) I would posit we do actually do that.  I have referred this question to Town Counsel previously and would expect him to turn his attention to it as we get closer to Town Meeting (concentrating for now on the 18B Voter’s Guide and some other higher priority matters).

I expect him to be able to address it when he comes out for the public presentation on  04/30 or 05/07/07.  Once he provides guidance on this I’ll Draft some advice for the Moderator’s Rules for you to review and sign off on. suggest that

Many Thanks

Carter