Selectmen Fortes writes in part;
"Also, sending a line as if to threaten town employees that you will be making burdensome inquiries into their financial items so they "may wish to clear their calendar" is as bizarre as it is unprofessional. I highly suggest you correct your actions in correspondence with Town Employees as this will not be tolerated."
Perhaps Mr. Fortes has not read up on public record laws, the fact that Town employees can very well be charged as holders of that information and most importantly, as a Templeton resident who regularly votes and attends most Town Meetings, I have a right to make as many public records request as I want and I can ask for such records as simple and small as one page or twenty pages. Town employees are there to provide a service to residents in one way or another, and if that involves collecting and producing public records, then how is that a burden? How is that a threat informing "town government" that one will be seeking many or multiple items of record, so be ready and do not be surprised when many requests come your way. I believe that in most instances, that is why there are assistants, such as assistant in assessors office, assistant treasurer/collector, assistant town accountant and so on. Perhaps selectmen Fortes should read up on some things rather than sending lecturing and threatening emails to Town residents. Perhaps begin with the Templeton general by-laws.
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteYou made the request as an advisory committee member. Certainly you weren't looking to pay for the record request like a citizen. Now start acting like a professional in the community. You wonder why people have a hard time seeing things through your perspective when you act like a grown child and have to have a 24 year old tell you that threatening public officials is bizzare and highly unprofessional for someone in your capacity.
Post the whole email thread Jeff or are you still busy playing games while the town moves forward without you.
Take a survey while you're at it and see if the citizens feel they should allow Jeff Bennett to threaten and harass employees? I'll hazard a guess and say it'll be black and white. Grow up Jeff and get it together.
Your selectman,
Cameron Fortes
Mr. Fortes
ReplyDeleteWhy dont you just have another drink, tell your friends how great you are and offer them more stock tips like "Twitter will be an easy triple by September". To funny. Hopefully you can keep this job for more than a year.
Coming here as a town selectman to berate a committee member is highly professional........Grow up Mr. Fortes
Mr. Anon if you checked your facts you would realize that the Board have been after Mr.Fortes since the date of his election for no other cause than He might make some changes that are not favorable for their old guard mentality that is ruining Templeton
DeleteTom Taylor - that is your name? i doubt it. Mr Fortes has been giving the AC a bad time all along. take a look at his filing OML and not following through because he and the BOS had nothing to go to the AG.
DeleteJJ
Ok Mr Fortes I am a private citizen. If I submit a public record request asking the accountant for a budget v actual with the account numbers and account names and I am willing to pay for it, will it be given to me? Ask any department, all they get is a budget v actual with account numbers. So all they can figure out is their departments accounts because they are not even given a list with account names. Do you no get that this is all public record. I don't care what the Advisory Board does. They are an "Advisory" board. I, as a voter and taxpayer want information. I can go to other towns' websites and see their annual reports complete with department salaries. Just my comment and this taxpayer isn't trying to harass anyone. Templeton's taxrate is low. People need to know where the money goes and that each department gets the appropriate amount of money they need to operate.
ReplyDeleteMr or Mrs. Anon,
DeleteYes you would get that information through a public request after paying the required money. I am with you on the salaries and I will fight to provide those on the annual report so the town can see exactly where we stand for compensation.
If you have a records request please consider doing so. They are public records and if you email me the request I may already have the information on deck or able to obtain fairly easily to provide free of charge.
Your selectman,
Cameron Fortes
Selectman Fortes...........Who exactly are you fighting??? Who wants to keep the public information from the taxpayer?
DeleteSo it appears we do have people on the Board of Selectman or the TA who wants to keep this information secret. If not why would Mr. Fortes be fighting?????
Hey Cam,
DeleteI'm interested in who or what you are fighting to get the salaries on the Town report.
How are these facts being withheld and by who? This is were you put up or shut up.
Cam wants to know who anom 10:16 is so he can come after you like he is doing to the AC
DeleteJohn
actually Mr Fortes it should not cost anything through a public record request. the public records law states the fee is charged if it is over 2 hours of work for the person who can produce the information. the report is just a report through Vadar that can be run in no time with account numbers, names and balance - no charge -
Deleteminutes to produce. so please put it on the website monthly for the taxpayers!
Maybe the Board of Selectman should be paying more attention to doing the job they were elected to do.
ReplyDeleteHow many events have been held on Templeton Town property since 2012? How many of them have carried insurance coverage to protect the town? NONE is the answer as was stated by Alan Mayo at an earlier meeting.
Thats open liability allowed by our present BOS this year!!! Not in the past, not someone else, but Selectman Fortes and his band of Merry men/women. Now maybe they were to consumed with filing bogus OML complaints and complaining about the Advisory Committee or maybe they are just incompetent. I'll let the Taxpayer decide.
Maybe its the playgrounds and the unsafe conditions allowed by our present BOS. The Chairman telling citizens its grandfathered at an open meeting. More open liability to taxpayers. Good job BOS!!!! Remember, its all about the children, huh, only if its a new school.
Is this the same little man who threatened the Advisory Committee members ? Gee I do think it is. This Town has had a line item budget for over two hundred and fifty years, so the voters could see exactly where their money went. Why did that stop ? It must have been when our intern TA could not figure out how to hide information from the taxpayers, any other way. So why did he get away with it ? It may be that the new people in town had never understood how town government is supposed to work in the first place, so you could sell them a snow storm in July and they would not know the difference. Does that give you the right to create friction with the members of the AC ? The withholding of information is nothing but mean spirited behavior by the BOS, the TA and the accountant. The AC has a job to do, like it or not ! Part of the reason this town is having the financial difficulties it is, was due to the lack of strong Advisory Committee's in the past. In my opinion you have a lot to learn, so it would behoove you to spend less time judging Mr. Bennett, he does after all provide facts to back up the information he presents on this blog, and learn to stop sticking your foot in your mouth. No one died and made you the sheriff in chief of Templeton. You are only one selectman out of five.
ReplyDelete