Selectmen meeting scheduled for Monday, August 28, 2017 has agenda item listed as 4c, open meeting law response from Advisory Committee.
TO: Board of Selectmen
FROM: Carter Terenzini, Town Administrator
RE: Administrator’s Weekly Report
DATE: August 24, 2017
CC: All Departments
BoS: Please submit your Annual Retreat Survey to Holly ASAP so we are ready for 09/06.
The following is intended to provide information where a full memo may not have been
warranted or supplement the provided information.
Business Meeting or Workshop:
4. c. The response takes refuge in a defense on the basis of free speech rights and does not
acknowledge the issue of a majority of the board viewing or commenting upon matters over which
they have domain. That said, it seems the best approach would be a continuation of that expressed
by the Board at its last meeting.
4. d. Should any final draft presented to you gain your approval, or – failing that – should you
decide to continue negotiations, we will also need to discuss the schedule for Town Hall and any
changes to your meeting schedule. This will also impact potential revisions to the Countdown to
the FY’19 Budget & Legislative Package. You asked me to consider accelerating the
presentation of the FY ’19 revenues (which I can move to your workshop of 10/02 if I am not
trying to also present the five-year financial forecasts envisioned in the Draft financial
policies). You have also asked me to consider accelerating the review process. I am not at all
convinced we can do this by having all departments present and defend on the first workshop
of 03/02. First this would be a substantial amount of material for you to have to review in the
week between the 02/26 presentation and this workshop. Secondly, I do not believe you could
get through all of the departments in the one evening. Therefore, I am going to suggest that
we look at adding some meetings in March such that we can target 03/26 as Adoption.
If the selectmen follow the last approach, there will be more name calling and more of the "we are the adults here, etc, etc." Kind of hard to state a quorum of a seven member committee violated open meeting law when only 3 names appear on the complaint. The selectmen appear to be assuming things - again and as the saying sometimes goes; when you assume, you make an ass out of You and me. In my opinion this is more posturing by the selectmen and is aimed at mitigating effectiveness of something covered within Templeton Town by-laws. It also distracts from the fact that in 3 years, the board of selectmen have failed to deliver a Town Administrator, which was a Town Meeting vote. So the almighty "we are elected" ones, the superior board, the "when I was on Advisory, our report was only one page" (when it was actually two /three pages) they cannot get the job done so they need distractions. Remember this past year, the selectmen, the superior board could not get the budget documents out to the Advisory Committee by the date required in the Town's by-laws.
Selectmen failed to follow their own policies and could not take the criticism, the selectmen failed to follow Town by-laws and the selectmen have failed to hire a town administrator. So if the selectmen follow the same routine as their last response to an OML response, they will show just how childish they really are, in my opinion.
What is the point of the 4c comment being part of the Town Administrators weekly report? The BOS filed the complaint against the Advisory Committee. Carter is a member of neither. He has no responsibility to respond in any fashion, so why make his personal opinion a matter of Town record?
ReplyDeleteWhat benefit to the Town was derived from Carter including that comment in the weekly report? NONE! Carter just took sides, back up an assumption made by the BOS as DIRECTED by the TA.
In this one comment Carter shows his contempt for the Town bylaws, the BOS Policies and Procedures and the process as laid out by the AG. He has joined/steered the BOS in using political retaliation against the advisory Committee. In my opinion this is done because the Advisory Committee keeps pointing out areas in which he is/has failed to do an effective job managing.
In my opinion this shows Carters poor influence over the BOS. The divisiveness brought to the Town Hall by the Town Administrator. He needs to go. He has given bad advise, bad direction, and bad service to this town.
As Jeff mentions above regarding the "when I was on Advisory, our report was only one page" by Doug M I believe this is an example of the problem we have with placing multiple members of the BOS on other committees. Board members spout info like Doug M did that is completely false yet it is taken as factual from the member of the superior board. The other members not knowing its false follow the bad info down the bunny hole and more bad policy is created.
It is now obvious that the TA is biased and is showing that in his unrequired comments prior to the meeting.
It is also my opinion that Carter potentially violated the OML in stating his opinion about a matter to be discussed at the August 28th meeting. The weekly report will or should be read by the BOS members which according the Carter violates the law as he stated in multiple meetings.
Will anything be filed based on this..............
carter must go now he is bad news for this town
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right ! Think about this. The selectmen should know by now that the town should have made an attempt to put some money in the Stabelization Fund, to prepare for a bond rating. This is what is required to show the town has some stability. Did Carter in all of his wonder, do anything to prepare for this event ? Did the town save a dime, a nickel or even a penny ? Absolutely not ! Why not ? Demolishing departments that were running well, so it would look like things were getting done, cutting hours for some at Town Hall but leaving their pay alone was a move ! Good ? I have my doubts ! When Markel left the town in debt, why did good old Carter keep spending money ? Maybe because the Selectmen let him. Now they are looking for advice on how to make cuts if the crap hits the fan at the end of the fiscal year ! Like my mother always said, "if you made your bed, you lay in it ! " The only bad thing is these people have taken the rest of the town down with them . It is no wonder the people in Wolfboro N.H were ready to run an TA they once had out of town on a rail, from what I understand ! This is my opinion, this is still a free country, ironic, isn't it. Bev.
DeleteIt looks like the AC did not do anything wrong or the BOS would have sent it to the AG. This is a carter move for sure
ReplyDeleteThe BOS should have sent all the OML paper work to the AG. But i hear that a lawyer from the AG's office told them it was not a OML violation. Another BOS attempt to trying to make people look bad
ReplyDeleteWow is this Advise from a AC board member?
ReplyDeleteI thought they didn't do that sort of thing!
jeepers