Thought that is how it goes. Town Meeting Times, Templeton official guide for town meeting. Page 93 - "A motion to amend requires only a majority vote, even though the motion to be amended may require a two-thirds vote or more. It must be remembered that the main motion must always be acted upon after action on a motion to amend. Page 96, "the moderator must maintain a careful record of the motions that are pending and put them toa vote in the proper order. Action must be taken on every motion. A common fault is the failure to put a main motion to a vote after action on a hotly debated motion to amend when it is clear that the only real question is whether the meeting desires the original or the amended form. The main motion, however, must be put to a vote whether or not amended.' My opinion, town meeting got bad legal advice again! Regarding article 9, I suppose all is well that ends well, but, I happen to think details matter and the fucking lawyer should know them better than all the rest of us!

 Note: There is a record that can be found on Templeton Town website concerning a certain parcel of land off / on Crotty Avenue, which is off Route 68 (perhaps state road) that is owned by the inhabitants of Town of Templeton, sold to the town on July 31, 1997 for a dollar. The deed states it was sold to the town from the Otter River Recreation Association for one dollar. It has a conservation restriction in perpetuity and is supposed to be overseen by the Templeton Conservation Committee. One can also find this item on / in town meeting records on Town website or by visiting the town clerk. Deed states no commercial use of land, maintain as a swimming and picnicking facility. Any concerns on this propert, one should probably begin with attending a conservation committee meeting and ask about it.

 So, does anyone think it might be time to require licensing of cats, if for no other reason than to aid animal control officers, so called animal shelters and just reglar people who may find a stray cat. I personally once had a dog in my yard, very friendly who met me when I came home one night, I thought he was just passing through, but when he was still here the next morning, curled up by the front door, I gave him some water and food and checked his collar for a license, called the number on the rabies tag, found who owner was and brought the dog home to them. They were thankful for that. I could not have done that without license information. Since records show that as of June 30, 2022, Templeton raised over 37 thousand dollars from just dog license fees, while there was a budget request of less than $800.00 to purchase said licenses along with postage and cards, I believe the fee for a dog or cat license could be reduced, by way of town meeting vote, to lower cost to no more than 5 bucks. We just pick a dollar figure and that would be that. One can expect push back from many municipal figureheads on this citing loss of revenue, ah, those fees help pay for animal control officer (which would be pure poppycock) The animal control officer costs are covered within police department budget. To show both sides, money to cover town operating expenses, including the schools, come from 3 basic places, real estate taxes (taxes) state aid and local receipts, which dog licenses are part of. The catch is, fees, are supposed to be set to cover the cost of a service only provided to those who use it. Not everyone owns a dog, but everyone can call animal control, so why penalize or make dog owners pay for animal control? After all, the meals tax was sold to residents and business alike as going to pay for capital, when was the last time you saw an article at town meeting for capital paid for by meals tax revenue, which according to records, was 67 thousand dollars for fiscal year 22, which goes from July 1, 2021 until June 30, 2022. (you can see this information for yourself by going to town website, click on find it fast, click on R, then reports and presentations, then reports and scroll down until you see quarterly finance and look at fourth quarter fy2022, open that and scroll down to page 23 and look for meals tax) When we go to vote at town meeting, we need to understand what is being asked of us and when we are told money is not part of taxes or this program will be for this, we need to know the real deal; CPC money is tax dollars, just not raised by way of the tax rate, it is a steady 3% surcharge (fee or tax, however you wish to label it) and it is shown on your real estate tax bill.

 FYI - Templeton recreation has 10 thousand dollars available to them, by way of town meeting vote, to improve Gilman Waite field. Just in case they were interested in improving say the tennis court (s).

Deed to said field states donated to town and Templeton no longer has a high school, as the town belongs to a regional school district, which is a legally separate entity from the town.

There is also 15 thousand dollars available, by way of town meeting vote to improve building at Gilman Waite field. The town is appropriating money, by way of town meeting vote, to take care of a town owned recreation / sports complex, so it follows, recreation events sponsored or put on by the Town of Templeton recreation committee have priority over other sport events held or planned by say, NRSD. Just as the Town has to ask the school district if the auditorium is available for a town meeting, the school district must ask the town if the fields at GW are open for any event, they wish to use GW for. That is a policy document adopted by the Templeton board of selectmen (select board). This would be called coordination, planning, FOLLOWING POLICY!

 One can find a property card on the Town of Templeton website, under the page of the Board of Assessors, that reads parcel M_154986_927889, Vision ID 259, owner - inhabitants of Town of Templeton, assessed value of $52,100.00.

Just so some things are clear, the swimming/picnic area over on Crotty Avenue, was left to the Inhabitants of Templeton and is valued or assessed by the Town (remember them board of assessors) at $52,100.00. That is a recreation park area for the inhabitants of town of Templeton. Also, I find more trash on the side of the road I live on in a quarter of a mile than I do on Crotty Avenue. Since it was left to the town, we have a responsibility to upkeep it and that means picking up trash, providing tables for picnicking and trash receptacles. Can you say Park Commissioners?

 In case you missed it, upcoming special town meeting set for November 2,2022, article 5, rooster bylaw, states in part: contains between 2 and five acres where the sale of products produced from the agricultural use generates at least $1,000.00 per acre annually.

Whereas MA general law, chapter 61A, section 3, states: Section 3. Land not less than five acres in area shall be deemed to be actively devoted to agricultural or horticultural uses when the gross sales of agricultural, horticultural or agricultural and horticultural products resulting from such uses together with the amount, if any, payable under a soil conservation or pollution abatement program of the federal government or the commonwealth total not less than five hundred dollars per year or when the use of such land is clearly proven to be for the purpose of achieving an annual total of not less than five hundred dollars from such gross sales and program payments within the normal product development period as determined by the farmland valuation advisory commission established pursuant to section eleven of this chapter. In cases where the land is more than five acres in area, the gross sales and program payment standard above set forth shall be increased at the rate of five dollars per acre except in the case of woodland or wetland for which such increase shall be at the rate of fifty cents per acre. No reason to reinvent the wheel or the law, unless you are an attorney looking to increase revenue to your wallet.

 A strange coincidence? MA general law chapter 40A, section 3 states in part: No zoning ordinance or by-law shall regulate or restrict the use of materials, or methods of construction of structures regulated by the state building code, nor shall any such ordinance or by-law prohibit, unreasonably regulate, or require a special permit for the use of land for the primary purpose of commercial agriculture, aquaculture, silviculture, horticulture, floriculture or viticulture, nor prohibit, unreasonably regulate or require a special permit for the use, expansion, reconstruction or construction of structures thereon for the primary purpose of commercial agriculture, aquaculture, silviculture, horticulture, floriculture or viticulture, including those facilities for the sale of produce, wine and dairy products, provided that either during the months of June, July, August and September of each year or during the harvest season of the primary crop raised on land of the owner or lessee, 25 per cent of such products for sale, based on either gross sales dollars or volume, have been produced by the owner or lessee of the land on which the facility is located.

Article 5, rooster bylaw states in part; This subsection shall not apply to property that is used for the primary purpose of commercial agriculture and contains five or more acres or contains two and five acres where the sale of products . . . This article sure sounds like a zoning ordinance, and zoning is not under the duty of the board of health or agricultural commission or the board of selectmen, MGL chapter 40A, section 5, states: No zoning ordinance or by-law or amendment thereto shall be adopted until after the planning board in a city or town, and the city council or a committee designated or appointed for the purpose by said council has each held a public hearing thereon, together or separately, at which interested persons shall be given an opportunity to be heard. Said public hearing shall be held within sixty-five days after the proposed zoning ordinance or by-law is submitted to the planning board by the city council or selectmen or if there is none, within sixty-five days after the proposed zoning ordinance or by-law is submitted to the city council or selectmen. Notice of the time and place of such public hearing.

If anyone checks Templeton zoning bylaws, there are sections of town where you need one acre to build and other areas you need 2 acres to build a home. Setting minimum acreage to have roosters is in my opinion, a zoning attempt and since procedure was not followed, vote no.