Diane Haley BrooksFebruary 24, 2017 at 8:44 PM
Jeff, at which meeting did I stop the debate? I don't recall that. I will go through all of them that their was a school article. If there was an opinion I will send it and post it. I believe dispatch belongs here and I am not alone in that. I believe that we should not merge and have I public safety director nor do I believe we should contract out ambulance as that is not what our community wants based on how the receipt reserve was set up. Public safety is priortybine. I did not fight to keep any records a secret, unless it was stated we couldn't release them; they are public records as. Some iformation needs to be redacted but people should have what they ask for they should get unless legally it's not allowed. I have asked at meeting for us to see any potential denials of those requests ahead of time. Do you recall some of the board members said no? Oneill continue to support our elementary school and I haven't backed down from that for 8 years. We were told we would have 750,000 in free cash and of course I asked more questions about that and was told the same thing. The books were not all finished and they will be soon. How long did the argument about how the deficit of 505,000 came to be go on and finally uiubsaid you would take responsibility? Who else should have stood up? Never did. The numbers that came out of the finance dept was the issue and the Assessors office? Perhaps, but not from what I was shown after I was elected. I will get you any opinion I can. I didn't know there was one out there. I will see.
Personally, I think the Advisory Committee should have stood up and that would have given them credit and respect and perhaps people would have listened to that committee last year. The meeting I refer to is the special town meeting where you made a motion to take no action. It would have been a better move democratically is selectmen would have asked town counsel for wording to allow debate to happen rather than to close it down. If public safety is number one, then you really cannot touch much, you cannot pay for public safety if no one is there to collect the funds, record and approve then pay the bills such as salary. You have to have public health, building inspections, which are consumer protection, ensuring housing is safe. I can go on and on but I think the picture is clear.
Question; Town accountant received increases in hours and pay a while back with the reasons being there much work to do with regards to town records and getting them ready for audits. Now that the work is completed, or almost completed, as we were told recently, will the accountant's salary be scaled back? Wait, there was mention of an accountant assistant being created so I guess not. I cannot think of nor can i find any law that states any material in a public record that has to be redacted or blacked out or removed. Legal bills are not personnel files. You as a selectmen did not provide the legal bills in a timely manner so take responsibility for that. The board of selectmen is responsible for the actions of the town administrator so yes you did block the release of legal bills. No one asked for the name and address of a police officer or any town employee, although if they are a Templeton resident, that information is on the town website, you know that right? There was a request for a record of the spending of public money and that is that. The records did exist and therefor they should have been provided upon request but that is not what you selectmen did.
There is no spin on this one, it is on paper and you stated at the most recent workshop for selectmen that you go over the warrant very thoroughly and you ask questions on things, so I believe you saw the legal bill and you saw it showed that you selectmen looked at ways to prevent the article 8 from being discussed and then you asked for ways to keep the record of that from being public, it is right there in black n white.
posted by Jeff Bennett
