Templeton Selectmen required to report to Advisory Committee; not the other way around;

This is per Templeton Town General By-Laws and state statute:

Article II - Town Meeting:
Section 6. All articles in any warrant for a town meeting shall be referred to the Advisory Committee for its consideration. The Selectmen after drawing any such warrant shall transmit immediately a copy thereof to the chairman of said committee. A public hearing shall be held, upon all such articles, unless a public hearing by some other tribunal is required by law, and a notice of such hearing shall be given by inserting in the local newspaper. Said committee shall, after due consideration of the subject matter of such articles, report thereon to the town meeting, in writing, such recommendations as it deems best for the interests of the town and its citizens. Copies of the report of the Advisory Committee shall be made available to the voters at least two days before town meetings and at all town meetings

(In this day, perhaps the above should be changed to "a copy to said committee or Advisory Committee as a whole"  as most of our Town's by-laws were crafted and approved prior to the arrival of e-mail.)


Article IV - Advisory Committee

Section 4a. All articles, other than those deemed by the Board of Selectmen to constitute an emergency, sought to be inserted in the Town Warrant for the Annual Town Meeting shall be filed with the Board of Selectmen, and referred by them to the Advisory Committee on or before April 10th and all articles sought to be inserted in the Warrant for a Special Town Meeting shall be referred by the Board of Selectmen to the Advisory Committee at least 14 days before the date set for such meeting.

End of Year TransfersThe state also specifies that only town meeting may transfer appropriated monies. Town meeting cannot delegate this authority to the finance committee (Chapter 44 s33B M.G.L.), (see also In Our Opinion, 92-836). However, in 2006 the state allowed the board of selectmen, with the approval of the finance committee, to transfer sums between May 1 and July 15. This does not apply to appropriations for the local or regional school systems or light boards. Transfers are by majority vote. Further, the courts have ruled generally that even though a town bylaw calls for the finance committee to hold public hearings, these hearings are “incidental” to the proper function of the committee and are therefore not mandatory (Young v. Westport, 302 Mass.597, reaffirmed by Illig v. Plymouth, 337 Mass. 239)


Reserve Funds:

The law (Chapter 40 Section 6 M.G.L.) allows towns to appropriate money — either at the annual or special town meeting — into a reserve fund “to provide for extraordinary or unforeseen expenditures.” DOR has expressed its opinion that reserve fund transfers are appropriate:• to provide for urgent or unforeseen expenditures that could not have been anticipated before town meeting; and/or;• to allow immediate expenditures of funds in the event of an emergency (threat to public safety or health) when the delay of having to call a special town meeting could be potentially harmful.In either case, the fiance committee must approve all proposed transfers from a reserve fund. It is also understood that a reserve fund should not be to reverse a vote of town meeting or as a “backdoor” means of increasing the budget. Finance committees should adopt their own reserve fund guidelines to supplement the state statute, and should help other town offials gain a better understanding of appropriate uses of a reserve fund.