Since I am rude, small minded and may offend my neighbors, I thought I would remind people of this:
from the special Town Meeting of November 9, 2015
ARTICLE 2 DEBT AUTHORIZATION: POLICE STATION UPGRADE
To see if the Town of Templeton will vote to appropriate, borrow or transfer from available funds, a sum of money to be expended under direction of the Selectmen to pay costs of designing, constructing and equipping a 4,000 square foot addition to and remodeling of the Templeton Police Station, located at 33 South Road, and for the payment of all other costs incidental and related thereto; or take any other action relative thereto.
Submitted by the Board of Selectmen
On a motion duly made and seconded the Town voted to appropriate the sum of Nine Hundred Seventy-Five Thousand Dollars ($975,000) to pay costs of designing, constructing and equipping a 4,000 square foot addition to and remodeling of the Templeton Police Station, located at 33 South Road, and for the payment of all other costs incidental and related thereto; said sum to be expended under the direction of the Selectmen; and to meet this appropriation the Treasurer, with the approval of the Board of Selectmen, is authorized to borrow said sum under M.G.L. 44, Section 7, or pursuant to any other enabling authority; provided, however, that no sum shall be borrowed or expended hereunder unless the Town shall have voted to exempt the amounts required for the payment of interest and principal on said borrowing from the limitations on taxes by M.G.L. 59, Section 21C (also known as Proposition 2 ½).
Passed Unanimously/November 9th @ 8:33
from the Annual Town Meeting of May 13, 2017
ARTICLE 16. RATIFICATION OF PREVIOUSLY AUTHORIZED POLICE STATION BOND
To see if the Town will vote to ratify, approve and confirm the vote adopted under Article 2 of the Warrant at the November 9, 2015 Town Meeting, pursuant to which the Town voted to authorize the borrowing of Nine Hundred and Seventy Five Thousand Dollars and no cents ($975,000.00) to pay costs of designing and constructing an addition to the Police Station, including the payment of all costs incidental and related thereto; or to take any other action relative thereto. Submitted by the Board of Selectmen 2/3 Vote Required
Advisory recommends for this article provided however that the Meeting be aware that the Town may need to use an extended borrowing in order to be able to smooth the overall tax rate as originally proposed.
On a motion duly made and seconded the town voted that the Town ratify, approve and confirm the vote adopted under Article 2 of the Warrant at the November 9, 2015 Special Town Meeting, pursuant to which the Town voted to authorize the borrowing of Nine Hundred and Seventy Five Thousand Dollars and no cents ($975,000.00) to pay costs of designing and constructing an addition to the Police Station, including the payment of all costs incidental and related thereto.
Passed by 2/3 vote/May 13th @ 11:49am
I have to wonder if it would be smart to first obtain authority from the residents to borrow the amount of money required to do this project, since bids have already come in over this authorization. I am thinking the selectmen/Town Administrator are using the above verbiage "all costs incidental and related there to" as a way to use the already approved funds to hire and pay for an OPM. Then they will have to ask taxpayers for more money to pay for the actual project. I would expect a great sales pitch on this subject.
from the OPM request for services for the Town of Templeton:
Building Info / Background
The Town of Templeton is a suburban residential community with a population of approximately
eight-thousand-thirteen (8013) residents, located in northern Worcester County.
The Town of Templeton has currently approved funding of approximately nine hundred seventy
five thousand dollars ($975,000) of the project to (including owner’s project manager) to
renovate and construct and addition to the existing Templeton Police Station for the Town of
Templeton.
A design firm was hired to prepare schematic designs and a detailed renovation budget for the
project. The designer worked with the Templeton Police Department through an iterative process
to identify needs and refine plans that optimize functionality and economy of operation while
minimizing total renovation and construction costs.
Additional funding for the project will be sought at the Town Election as a ballot question on
May 7th, 2018 with finally approval, should it pass the ballot, at the Annual Town Meeting on
May 19th, 2018.
If the Town already has funding for an OPM, why did they not hire one before going out to bid? Why is it after the fact, when the bid (s) came in much higher than the asked for amount?
I believe the chapter 193, acts of 2004, construction reform law - public building projects over 1.5 million dollars.
Section 44A1/2: Fair competition for bidders on construction
Section 44A1/2. (a) A public agency, before entering into a contract for design services pursuant to section 38D or section 38K of chapter 7, shall contract for the services of an owner's project manager to serve as the public agency's agent and consultant during the planning, design and implementation of a contract for the construction, reconstruction, installation, demolition, maintenance or repair of any building by the public agency estimated to cost not less than $1,500,000. The duties of the owner's project manager shall include, but need not be limited to, providing advice and consultation with respect to design, value engineering, scope of the work, cost estimating, general contractor and subcontractor prequalification, pursuant to section 44D1/2 or 44D3/4 when applicable,
Part of Massachusetts General Law, that you may wish to read, so as to be an informed, educated and perhaps engaged resident.
Now if I have offended any one, been rude or in your opinion, been small minded, I do not care, maybe that will be reason enough for you to attend a selectmen meeting or Town Meeting. You are aways welcome to an exciting Advisory Committee meeting.
That’s all well and fine Mr Bennett and I always watch the meetings and try to keep up with pending town projects. The information you posted above is correct however it does not address your (as self discribed even), rude and discourteous and I will add irrelevant comments about our neighbor to the west, and south of Templeton. What your comments show is a frustration with the town and misdirecred anger that serves no one.
ReplyDeleteOK, so if I read this correct its a catch 22. Either we violated 44a1/2 or we dont have funding.
ReplyDeleteNobody in their right mind should think a $975,000 project that gets funded and balloons into a 2.133 million dollar project was approved by anyone.
So is it coming out of the Chiefs salary if he hires the OPM and we dont approve the station. If we dont approve this massive adjustment who pays????
We might need a Police station, but we need to do thing logically and rationally.
I may be frustrated with skynet but not with Phillipston and I believe it is very relevant to point out and talk about what Phillipston gets from Templeton and what Phillipston pays or does not pay for those things. When there is talk of cutting service to Templeton residents, all things that involve cost to Templeton is very much relevant. It must be a new concept; pointing out facts is now discourteous and rude. I would also opine you did not like my metaphor concerning Phillipston regarding Templeton services. Lastly, I am not concerned with yours or any one else's "feelings", I will leave that to others. Now, if I get some one upset, angered, mad, etc. with my comments and that gets them to Town Meeting, I would consider that a good thing. Good evening and this will end further back and forth with you. Thanks for reading this blog.
ReplyDeleteFEB 14, 2014 Eryn Dion News Staff Writer Gardner News “ Templeton Police Chief David Whitaker was present at Monday’s Board of Selectmen meeting and said he was both surprised by the decision and concerned. He explained that Templeton’s dispatch center was one of the premier systems in the area and wouldn’t need to regionalize for better service.
ReplyDelete“Templeton runs a very efficient and very effective dispatch center,” he said. “It’s a dispatch center that’s been used as a model for other centers that are regionalizing.”
Templeton’s dispatch center, which is already regionalized with Phillipston, receives a considerable amount of funding each year through grants, which helps offset the cost of running such an advanced operation. The department averages about $119,000 in regional incentive grants yearly, as well as somewhere between $5,000 and $7,000 in training grants, and an additional $54,000 a year in reimbursement revenue from the town of Phillipston. The fiscal year 2015 budget has the center running at a cost of $210,503, however, after subtracting the grant funding and reimbursements, that number is lowered to $36,896.
“That’s not even the price of one employee for top-notch, A-plus service,” Chief Whitaker said. “I don’t understand why we want to outsource this to another community when we’re bringing in all these recourses.”
OK, so I just read Chapter 44 Section 7. It appears this only authorizes borrowing up to 30 years. Maybe I missed something, but I think the present idea was a 40 year loan through USDA.
ReplyDeleteI just dont feel we should be spending money on this project unless the voters agree to the doubling of the costs.
If this is allowed it seems to set a horrible precedent for future projects.............Get approval at a lowball number and then after you spend money based on the lowball you double the price and stick it to taxpayers..........
It does seem the BOS will spend as much as they can get away with, so long as no one says anything. I do not think spending more than asked for is stretching the truth. It may be down right illegal. Maybe a call to the Inspector General is needed. Make that absolutely needed.
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