Town Meeting and the Advisory Committee.

from the Association of Town Finance Committees handbook, which there is a link to on Templeton webpage under advisory committee.

With in that handbook is stated "Without finance committee independent review, the town meeting would be at a severe handicap in voting on financial matters when all of the recommendations are coming from one source.

Within that handbook, it also states: This does not mean the finance committee should

have an adversarial relationship with the select board

or town administrator. In fact, the finance committee

should develop a good working relationship with both.

At the end of the day, the job of the advisory committee is to look at the town budget and all other articles that relate to money and to give Town Meeting reasons to vote in favor of or reasons to vote no or even to pass on an article (s). To me, this requires more than yes or no and as our town bylaws state, it shall be in writing, a report to town meeting. Yes or no in a document prepared by town administrator, who does the work for the selectmen is not a report nor does it appear independent. Fiscal year 24 advisory budget shows $760.00 for office supplies, surely enough money to cover cost of producing a written report as directed by town meeting per town bylaws. Until that is done several years in a row, no pay for you!

 Let us talk Town Meeting in Templeton.

Our by-laws state Town Meeting times is our guidebook for the meeting.

Articles, page 67: Since the purpose of a warrant is to apprise the voters of the subject matter to be considered at the meeting, all that is necessary is for the article to include a sufficient description of the subject matter to provide the voters with substantial and intelligent notice of the nature of the business to be acted upon. The article need not contain details or "an accurate forecast of the precise action which the meeting will take."

On amending main motions: page 96, "The moderator must maintain a careful record of the motions that are pending and put them to a 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 amended or not.

So, if a motion is before town meeting including a dollar figure and an amendment is proposed to change the dollar amount, either up or down, once that amendment on the dollar figure is voted on, then the original or main motion with the new dollar amount in place must be voted on. Just so there is no confusion on that in case this comes up at the next annual town meeting.

Again, this information comes from Town Meeting Times, which is the town's official guidebook for our town meeting.

 If you are not going to follow the bylaws of the town, voted in place by town meeting, whom you are directed to report to, you should not get paid.

 Templeton current town bylaw on advisory committee.

in part, states:

§ 9-1

Membership eligibilty.

There shall be an Advisory Committee consisting of five registered voters of the Town, none of whom shall be an elected Town officer, an appointed official receiving a salary or a Town employee.

So, anyone getting paid cannot serve on advisory committee, correct?

Also, it currently states: in part, The Advisory Committee shall choose its own officers and its members shall serve without pay, and it shall cause to be kept a true record of its proceedings.

Again, members serve without pay and a majority of our comparison communities bylaws state finance/advisory serve without pay.

So, town meeting warrant article # 8 asks town meeting to strike the words serve without pay from the bylaw, while leaving in appointed official receiving a salary (as in getting paid). Trying to eat the cake and have it too. Let us keep the current bylaw in place. If being paid is the only reason to serve on advisory, perhaps it is not a good fit for you. We do not need further grey areas in our bylaws either.

 Templeton Community TV: TCTV

released its first TCTV News

program this week, and more are on the way. Please check out TCTV

News on TCTV's YouTube Channel, YouTube.com/TCTVweb.

Looked at town weekly report and apparently the fire/EMS department did nothing the past week.

Templeton Fire/EMS: Nothing to report this week.

 A proposed change to current policy posted to Templeton Town website under DPW.

The first paragraph is what is currently in place:

Another area of concern is mailboxes. We do not “deliberately” knock over or damage mailboxes. Most mailboxes are not damaged by the vehicle itself but by the snow that is thrown from the plow. But, at times, with the combination of reduced visibility during a snowstorm and snow banks, it is not always possible for our drivers to see a mailbox in time to avoid it. Remember, anything installed within the town’s right-of-way (i.e., fence, mailbox, etc) is placed there at the owner’s risk. Hence, residents are encouraged to place mailboxes at the maximum allowable distance from the pavement.

What I proposed to put in place in an effort to help residents.

Mail Box policy: 

Purpose: The intent of this policy is to establish a uniform process to reimburse citizens for mailbox damage due to snow removal operations performed by the Town of Templeton Department of Public Works (DPW). The DPW’s mandate during “Snow and Ice Season” is to ensure that its roadways are kept free of snow and ice. It is also understood that most mailboxes are located inside the public right of way, and therefore, damage to them is often unavoidable for various reasons. This policy assumes there is a shared responsibility between the town and homeowner when mailboxes are damaged during snow removal operations.

Background: While the Town employees and contractors taking part in snow removal operations take care and due regard while performing their duties, plows may come in contact with privately owned mailboxes in the Town’s right-of-way and damage or destroy them, or snow rolling off snow plow due to speed. This policy recognizes there is inherent risk involved in plowing operations and is intended to provide some relief to property owners should their mailbox be damaged. The weather conditions at the time of the storm dictate the weight and characteristics of the snow that is being removed.

Policy: The DPW director may grant residents a reimbursement of $55.00 when the resident’s circumstances meet the following conditions:

 1. The property owner notifies the DPW within 72 hours when the damage is discovered. 

2. The property owner furnishes pictures or other visual evidence of the damage along with a written request (mail or e-mail) for reimbursement under this policy. 

 3. The DPW director will visually inspect the mailbox and post for damage consistent with physically coming into contact with a snowplow or snow rollingoff a snow plow.

 4.The DPW director will determine if the existing mailbox shows any signs of disrepair or lack of maintenance that would lead to the damage. (i.e. rotted mailbox post). 

 5. The existing mailbox must have met the requirements of a United Postal Service mailbox.

 6. If it is determined that the snowplow made contact with the mailbox or post causing damage, or there is evidence of damage caused by snow rolling off a plow, the property owner will be notified by the DPW in writing that their request has been approved. Residents may appreal a denial of reimbursement to the Templeton select board.

 A taxpayer asks for some public records from town of Templeton, electronic at that.

He gets a response from the town administrator, paraphrasing, send me $105.18 and you can have those.

Residents provide the money to buy paper, printer ink, pay for copiers and computers, pay the employees and when you ask for some records, you get a bill like that. First thing that comes to mind is we do not keep good records in town hall. Second thing comes to mind is town does not want to give the public it's records, do this by putting up a financial block to it. Perhaps this is another way of paying for the budget, another fee or tax. Yes, I know the law states the town can do this, but the secretary of state recommends give records for no charge. It is called service to the public, transparency, accountability and all that. Payback is a bitch and budget and financial transfers are the way to pay em back, as in deny them at town meeting.