TO: Board of Selectmen
FROM: Carter Terenzini, Town Administrator
RE: Administrator’s Weekly Report
DATE: April 19, 2018
CC: All Departments


Town Clerk:

Absentee ballots are now available to those who qualify. All of the requested absentee ballots have mailed out. In reserving the auditorium for the Annual Town Meeting, the school has informed me that the auditorium is booked for May 19th and that it cannot be changed. The TA and myself will be looking at the Middle School & High School gyms to see which one will best fit our needs

from an earlier post:

With recent discussion and newspaper articles talking of Templeton, MA being under effort in support of the school district, I find it interesting that the Narragansett Regional school district shows the highest average teacher salaries in the immediate area; if you look at the report on the web site of DESE (department of secondary elementary education, you find NRHS at $76,742.00, Gardner at $69,195.00, Winchendon at $71,029.00, Athol-Royalston at $65,972.00 and Ashburnham-Westminster at $70,190.00. Templeton voters/taxpayers also voted to appropriate (make available) 47 million dollars towards the building of a new elementary school. The other town in the two town school district opted to not support this effort. Templeton residents, you are not under effort in supporting your school (s), in fact, you are providing more funding than even the DESE mandates and have been doing so for a number of years.
Time for that myth to be put to rest.

Seems there are two different places to look for comparison on Teacher Salaries:

Link #1 ---  www.doe.mass.edu/finance/statistics/ 

Link #2 ---  http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/statereport/teachersalaries.aspx 

Link #1  divides by 91 teachers and is for FY17.

Link #2  divides by 102 teachers for FY16;

yielding two different averages, $ 76,742.00 and $ 67,147.00.

So depending on which one you look at or use, you can present a different dollar figure, one high and one lower. The question becomes which one to use in presentation, are the figures correct, with regards to the number of teachers? I try very hard to present correct information, so if you read this and go check, you will be aware of the variation.

Article 31 of the Annual Town Meeting warrant to be held May 19, 2018 requires a 2/3 vote rather than the posted on Town website as only a majority vote required. This was questioned at recent Advisory Committee meeting. Town Administrator acknowledged it did require a 2/3 vote to pass. The original draft copy had it as a 2/3 vote. The final, for posting Town Meeting Warrant has it as majority vote required.
Watch for this at Town Meeting.

Vote Jeff Bennett for Selectmen

It is time for a change!

By attending all 8 district reorganization meetings, I have first hand knowledge of how things went. It was not a formal committee, there was no chair, vice chair or clerk. Someone did keep a record of sorts of what was discussed. For instance, nothing was really voted on. If you watch (ed) the meeting with the presentation, those items were a result of general discussion. The dollar figure presented as a possible savings comes from the school and needs to be checked further.
Again, Templeton voters were told, when they voted the $47 million dollars, that their students ( pre -K, kindergarten and grades 1 thru 5 would attend the new elementary school with Phillipston grades 1 thru 5 attending the Phillipston elementary school. I think it is time to follow through on what was told / promised to the voters.
Again, the insight of how, what and why with regards to the district reorganization committee was gained by actually attending the meetings I said I would attend. That is a difference between myself and Julie Richards. I recall when she first ran 3 years ago, one of her talking points was "she gets things done." So, when Julie Richards volunteers to be a selectmen representative on a committee but never shows up, is that getting things done? Two people volunteer for something, one person attends all of the meetings, the other never shows up. Who would you want representing you?

Please vote Jeff Bennett for Selectmen

Candidates night is in the books for 2018, few people take the time to attend any more.
Jeff Bennett - for selectmen. 

Served previously as selectmen and currently serve on Advisory Committee since 2015.

As one political sign out there states; it is time for a change and I agree with that. 

Past service gives me experience, lessons learned by some good decisions and some mistakes, which in my opinion gives me guidance to be a better selectmen. 

The current selectmen policies & procedures in place were brought forward by me while serving as a selectmen.

Attendance at selectmen meetings; 

There are five elected selectmen, therefore there should be 5 selectmen at most if not all meetings. There were 8 district reorganization committee meetings and as a representative for Advisory Committee, I made all of them. Selectmen representative made 2. I attended all of the joint budget meetings with selectmen. 

I miss few meetings when I serve. 

For the office of the board of selectmen, I am ready. 

Please vote on May 7, 2018 - 11:00 A.M. til 7:00 P.M

Accountability - All Town employee salaries should be listed in the Annual Town report

All end of year financial transfers / non-town meeting should be in the Town Report

Audits are done, we are told we have a good financial team in place, we have good numbers.

There is no reason that information should not be in the Annual Town Report - 

Unless selectmen do not wish it in there.

With recent discussion and newspaper articles talking of Templeton, MA being under effort in support of the school district, I find it interesting that the Narragansett Regional school district shows the highest average teacher salaries in the immediate area; if you look at the report on the web site of DESE (department of secondary elementary education, you find NRHS at $76,742.00, Gardner at $69,195.00, Winchendon at $71,029.00, Athol-Royalston at $65,972.00 and Ashburnham-Westminster at $70,190.00. Templeton voters/taxpayers also voted to appropriate (make available) 47 million dollars towards the building of a new elementary school. The other town in the two town school district opted to not support this effort. Templeton residents, you are not under effort in supporting your school (s), in fact, you are providing more funding than even the DESE mandates and have been doing so for a number of years.
Time for that myth to be put to rest.

Yes, we manage our finances well over here in Phillipston??
from the Athol Daily News:

PHILLIPSTON — The town is not putting the cart before the horse — as it has at times concerning town issues — when it comes to a “smelly” situation in the Town Hall Annex.

Instead, Phillipston has decided to draft an article for the annual Town Meeting warrant to address the situation at the annex, and then pursue quotes for the work.

The annex sits between the Phillipston Library and the Phillipston Congregational Church on Templeton Road. The offices housed in the annex include the town accountant, town treasurer, Board of Health, Cemetery Commission and building inspectors. The annex is a pre-1900 post-and-beam construction building, which housed the Highway Department before the new highway barn was constructed.

It was reported that Huhtala Oil & Propane has been called three times over the last year for various repairs to the aging furnace.

Administrative Assistant Kevin Flynn said the chimney is deteriorating, the furnace has melted parts. The blower to the furnace is tied into the light switch for the meeting area, and an electrician has been called to resolve that.

“The furnace is an antique, ready to go to the Historical Society,” said Flynn.

The town is exploring its options: replace the furnace with a new one, which will require extensive repairs to the chimney; switch to a propane-fueled furnace, which will require new venting to the roof; or switch to heating pumps, a multi-zone system. Officials say a switch to heating pumps would allow them to get rid of the oil tank.

Selectman John Telepciak said the voters should decide which way they want to go.

“It smells so bad over there,” said Town Clerk Karen Foley, shaking her head. “It’s bad.”

Others agreed. There are five town employees who work in the building.

Highway superintendent Richard Tenney said “it’s a rusty-oily smell,” and suggested obtaining quotes from several vendors for propane system, heat pumps or oil system.

Telepciak said, “Yes. We need better air, better heat over there.”

Other business

Addressing a concern raised that there might not be enough money in the budget to hold office hours through April, it was determined that there is enough in the payroll account for the Board of Health to work 21 and a half hours per month through the end of the fiscal year.