Town of Templeton General by-laws

Article VI - Contracts by Town officers

section 1.   Unless otherwise provided by the general laws or a vote of town meeting, the board of selectmen is authorized to enter into any contract for the exercise of the Town's corporate powers on such terms and conditions as are deemed appropriate. Notwithstanding the foregoing, no board, committee, commission or town officer shall contract for any purpose, on any terms or under any conditions inconsistent with any applicable provision of any general law or special law. (G.L. c. 40, section 4, Town meeting designation of contracting authority).

Town Meeting vote in 2013 ATM:

On a motion duly made and seconded the town voted that Article III of the Revised General By-laws be amended, by adding the following new section 4, as follows: Section 4: Town Administrator- “The Board of Selectmen is authorized and empowered to appoint a town administrator who may be appointed for a term of one or three years, and to remove the town administrator at their discretion. The town administrator appointed under the provisions of this section shall be sworn to the faithful performance of the duties of the office. During the time that the town administrator holds office the town administrator shall hold no elective town office, but may be appointed by the Board of Selectmen or, with their approval, by any other town officer, board, committee or commission, to any other town office or position consistent with the town administrator’s office. The Town Administrator shall receive such aggregate compensation, not exceeding the amount appropriated therefore, as the Board of Selectmen may determine. The Town Administrator shall act by and for the Board of Selectmen in any matter which the Board may assign to the town administrator relating to the administration of the affairs of the town or of any town office or department under their supervision and control, or, with the approval of the Board of Selectmen, may perform such other duties as may be requested by any other town officer, board, committee or commission.” And, further, to reflect the above-mentioned amendment to Article III of the Templeton Revised General By-Laws, the following Templeton Revised General ByLaw sections will also be amended by replacing the title of “Town Coordinator” with the title of “Town Administrator” in Article XLII-Capital Planning By-Law- Section 1: And in: Article XLVII-Personnel By-Law –Section 3(b) and Section 3 (c) Passed/May 16th @ 8:37

Town Meeting vote in 2014 ATM:

On a substitute motion duly made and seconded the Town voted that Article III “Town Officers“ of the Town By-laws be herby amended:

4. “It shall be duty of the Town Administrator in conjunction with the BOS to consider expenditures and develop a budget for the ensuing fiscal year of the several boards, officers and committees of the town, as prepared by them in such form and detail as prescribed by the Town Administrator.”

Passed Unanimously/May 19^th @ 8:38pm

Seems like one year, town meeting gave authority to selectmen to have someone else authority for contracts then changed that in 2014, interesting situation. Check the existing Templeton General by-laws not online and then contact the Town clerk.

Seems like there were a few executive session meetings around the time the contract between the Town of Templeton and Local 39, so unless the selectmen held some bogus meetings, it would seem they, the selectmen met to discuss and vote to accept said contract. The selectmen may have instructed the town administrator, Robert Markel to sign on their behalf, or more correctly, on the Town's behalf, the selectmen are ultimately responsible for the contract and approving the budget or spending plan that has to fund it, such as freebies for little davey.

Article VII - Legal affairs

section 1. The selectmen shall be agents of the town to institute, prosecute and defend any and all claims, actions and proceedings to which the town is a party or in which the interests of the town are or may be involved.

If anyone takes the time to check, you will find first, that it is not debt of the Templeton municipal light & water department, it is debt of the Town of Templeton. The votes are in the reports of Town meeting. There is also a letter from the DOR to the light & Water commissioners and selectmen, dated January 9, 2014 that said among other things, with regards to borrowing, Templeton light is NOT a legal separate entity and with regards to borrowing, must go before the legislative body. That is why the people had to vote on the borrowing for a new water tank, so when anyone voted to borrow for a new water tank, they essentially voted to add more debt to the town. If anyone wishes to place blame on the light & water department for increased debt, they would be wrong, it was town meeting, the same way the 47 million dollar appropriation for a new school was voted on. Again it was the selectmen who placed that question before town meeting, so it would have been the selectmen's responsibility to explain both to town meeting, in an honest way, and what might be the consequences of each vote. I think the selectmen failed, especially Johnny Columbus.

So stop blaming the light commissioners for the added debt, they just asked for it, town meeting said do it and the selectmen supported it!


posted by Jeff Bennett