What happened in 2010?

Watching a recording of a selectmen's meeting, chairman Caplis stated "Town government has not been proper since 2010." So I thought what happened in 2010? What has John Caplis seen from 2010 to convince him of that statement. I know there a long time member of the board of selectmen who was not reelected in 2010 but that is about all I can think of or find.

As for contract issues, someone should go back and look at the contracts involved in the new elementary school. You will find the first one signed by the Town of Templeton, a second one by the Town of Templeton and Narragansett regional school district. John Columbus should know this as he was a member of the school committee then. There was also a file cabinet in the selectmen's office with copies of all contracts involving the town. What happened after the move of the selectmen's office, I do not know, but the files with the contracts and grants were there.

So much for the transparency and honesty with open government talked about last spring. Actions now in progress remind me of a time prior to 2010 when too many decisions were made in a corner office by a couple of people. Reminds me of the time when, as chairman of the board of selectmen, while attending a meeting of the elementary school building committee, there was a document needing to be signed by either the chief executive officer of the town (chairman of the board of selectmen) or the entire select board. I was asked to sign it at that meeting, at which time I refused, stating that it was a decision for the entire board of selectmen. I was also asked by a town coordinator to sign for a loan from the USDA for 252 Baldwinville road building on a Friday morning. I refused to sign without a meeting of the select board. I think there was a time when alot of town business was done in such a manner. I had hoped things would have changed but it appears things are regressing backwards in time rather than changing for the better. More sunshine is needed in Templeton.


posted by Jeff Bennett

Letter to editor at The Gardner News as submitted:

Vote supports Consensus of the Advisory Committee

January 16, 2017, Templeton Advisory Committee voted to send a letter stating concerns it has with regards to Town debt, especially the approach of adding to town debt by way of a state loan guarantee using Templeton’s share of unrestricted state aid. The vote of the seven member committee was five yes, one no, one member absent. The no vote was Kate Fulton. Is that considered a consensus of the Advisory Committee? According to Webster’s unabridged dictionary of the English language, consensus means; 1) majority opinion (as in a 5 to 1 vote to do something) 2)general agreement (as in concern about town finance and debt), as in “town finances are in a muddle.” The same dictionary, muddle is defined; to mix up in a confused or bungling manner; jumble. Now, we can talk about how Templeton finance got this way until the proverbial cows come home and I believe it began a good while back, as in around 2007, but I would think getting town finances unmuddled first, would be a wise thing to do before going into debt for 47 million dollars, the amount voted for at town meeting back in 2015. The FY 2017 spending plan presented to town meeting by the selectmen, said to be balanced and correct, would suggest that Templeton finances have yet to be unmuddled. Did the Advisory Committee act responsible and in the interest of the town by sending that letter?

By voting no, did Kate Fulton act in the interest of the town or in the interest of a small group? On the subject of how Ms. Farrell acted, the meeting of the MFOB held and attended by Ms. Farrell was a public open meeting, and if she was allowed to speak by whomever was in charge of that meeting, I believe there was no problem with her “testifying”, if that is how she spoke was characterized. If Ms. Farrell stated “we have concerns”, as in the Advisory Committee, I would say she was correct, by way of the 5 to 1 vote. Since it was a public meeting, Kate Fulton could have gone and I would say she would have been allowed to “testify” and give her views as well. I wonder how Kate Fulton would know so much on how a meeting went if she was not present at said meeting. I also feel, if Kate Fulton writes another letter to the editor, she sign it as Kate Fulton, Templeton resident, rather than as secretary, Templeton Advisory Committing. By doing that, she implied, she was writing and speaking on behalf of the Templeton Advisory Committee and as a member of said committee, I am not aware of any vote for her to do so.

As for the general welfare of the town, from a financial stand point, before going into further debt, perhaps the town should have 3 fiscal years in a row with budgets or spending plans that are truly balanced and correct, with a clear understanding of the total amount of debt the town is ultimately responsible for. This would include any debt of any department that acts under or as an enterprise fund, to include any special acts. The record of town meeting votes, show votes for debt of say the Templeton Water department, the articles state that if anything happens, the town of Templeton is responsible for the debt, regardless of how anyone says it is classified as being inside or outside a debt limit. That is why the Templeton Water department had to go to town meeting for a new water tank, a department, not even the Templeton Municipal Light & Water department can borrow on their own, only the town can do that. That fact is on the record of a selectmen’s meeting with an audio/video recording to show that. It is one thing to believe that building a new school and having one building rather than 2 or 3 is a good thing, which I do, just ensure you really can afford it. Trying to back up a 1.4 million dollar loan payment with funds that can and do change from year to year and do not even amount to 1.4 million is in my opinion, irresponsible.  The municipal finance oversight board has so far said no, perhaps I am not alone in that opinion. Let’s hope for Templeton’s sake, state politicians do not get involved in a local issue and force this on the town.

Jeffrey Bennett

77 Partridgeville Road

Templeton, MA 01468

978-360-4634

posted by Jeff Bennett

One would think a para legal would know better!

DO is STUPID7:05 AM

Is it "legal" to separate bills into parts to avoid the procurement laws?

1) Chartier had the work from day one at town hall and hired a NON LICENSED plumber to install the handicap bathrooms, a "plumber" signed the permit but north central mechanical is NOT a plumbing company and can't do work as such, in which they did.

2) those windows they removed and blocked in and replaced with new was ONE job and cannot be considered a couple different jobs.

That is just 2 observations that were pointed out to me by a town hall employee, there are more

To Do is stupid; this and a few other things are going to go to Boston as well as the DOR as the state should know how Templeton selectmen operate before they give them any loans. I have the name of an investigator from the inspector general's office and this is on the way, as well as the claim of an employee death (false) is on the way to the AG as well as secretary of state. Too bad the MA attorney general is a family friend of the echo in Templeton which makes me wonder if Templeton can get a fair shake from her. But perhaps the news, as in TV can have an impact.

posted by Jeff Bennett

Here is a link to the Petition and the Petition itself:

The above is a link to view the letter in which Carter Terenzini states Holly Young is dead. Apparently Holly Young is alive and well so Carter Terenzini lied to the secretary of the commonwealth so I do not trust anything he says or does from here on out.


posted by Jeff Bennett

So you think it is only the Advisory Committee?

Bud Chase

To  Kelli Pontbriand,   Advisory Committee  and 43 others

• Actions

Kelli,

I have strong concerns that the vehicle expense account will not have enough funds in the account to repair and service the town fleet until June 30^th. As you may recall $20,000 was taken from this account to repair a water pump on the Towns ladder truck. Without a transfer back to this account, vehicles will have to be parked until July 1^st. If this happens the Town has only one mechanic, it will take time to restore service to the vehicles that need repairs.

Bud

Seems like a department head has some concerns over the movement of numbers by the selectmen too!

Perhaps it would have been more prudent for the selectmen or the fire chief to go to the Advisory Committee and request a transfer from the reserve fund of the town. Oh wait, there is no fire chief and the temporary fire chief does not seem willing to go to the Advisory Committee. So we, the town. just get more moving the pea around from cup to cup. There seems to be a problem somewhere, now we just have to admit it and see how to best address it.

posted by Jeff Bennett

An interesting comment from this blog:

DO is STUPID7:12 AM

Surprise Surprise Surprise, Seems quite odd that Chartier has been doing continuous restoration and repairs on town hall without going out to bid, right now they have the go ahead to install air conditioning in the building according to an employee at town hall. always wondered where all that money was coming from and why they automatically get every job.

I think the bigger concern should be if Mr. Chartier is on the planning Board and there is a Christoff Chartier listed as an elected member of the Templeton Planning Board. So, does that raise an issue? Does it have the appearance of an elected official using their position for personal gain? Is that work going their way because they are in that position or because they are in Town Hall often? Has the work been bid? Has the contracts been broken down so as to be below the threshold of having to go to bid, so as to only use good business practices and get three quotes? Is this the item the auditors have found and raised concerns about? Is this something that needs to be reported to the Inspector General's office? You bet it is and it will be reported by me! If it has improper appearance, avoid it. Perhaps Mr. Chartier did nothing wrong but it looks suspicious, so in my opinion, it should not have been done. Templeton does need these clouds now or in the future, Templeton needs sunshine, open curtains and transparency. Templeton needs residents to be involved and Templeton needs people to speak up. This is not really a new situation, as almost every small town has the "good ole boy network" there is always a few who seem to be involved in Town stuff and appear to be trying to help out, but in almost every case, if you look close and be honest, they usually end up benefiting themselves personally and that is not good, just or what this Town needs, especially at this time. This is another issue that I will send to the director of accounts on the DOR.

posted by Jeff Bennett

FY2017 Single-Family Residential Tax Bill
Andrew Nelson, Supervisor, Bureau of Accounts (BOA)
Tony Rassias, Deputy Director, BOA

The State Total single-family residential tax bill for FY2017 is $5,621, an increase of $202 or 3.7 percent from FY2016, according to data captured from 332 of the Commonwealth's 351 cities and towns in the DLS Muncipal Databank.

In addition, the average value of a single-family residential home was $399,413, the highest value since the FY2008 average value of $403,705, which was set as values were starting to drop in the real estate market.

So far in FY2017, with 345 communities reporting valuation data to the Division of Local Services (DLS), single-family residential parcels statewide represent:

Remember, a reduction is the tax rate does not always equal a lower tax bill: if your home goes up in value, such as when a new school is built, your home may increase in value but your tax bill can also increase. This amount would be added to any increase resulting from a debt exclusion vote, so you get a double increase. Nice!

posted by Jeff Bennett