Annual and Special Town Meetings

What’s the difference between annual and special meetings?

Each town must hold an annual Town Meeting. Additional Town Meetings are called special meetings. They may be called as many times during the year as necessary.

When are Town Meetings?

Annual Town Meetings, unless otherwise provided by special law or charter, must be held in February, March, April or May. The Board of Selectman may delay the annual meeting, but it must be completed by June 30th.

What does it mean that some towns have two business meetings?

A town may divide its business meeting into two meetings. Towns that do so hold one business meeting at the beginning of the year. The focus is primarily on the budget, finances, and taxes. The second business meeting is held in the fall. It is still part of the annual Town Meeting. The focus is on zoning, planning and by-laws.

In sum....
November: Some towns hold elections.
January, February, March, April, May, June: Some towns that held elections in November and December hold business meetings. Some towns hold both elections and business meetings.
Fall: Some towns hold second business meetings.

To the best of my knowledge, Templeton as a Town has not voted to divide it's annual town meeting into two parts, so any Town Meeting held after the required annual Town Meeting would be a special Town Meeting.  Following the guide from the secretary of state of MA, any Templeton Town Meeting held after the required annual Town Meeting would be a special Town Meeting rather than a fall town meeting; we should not allow our elected people to just start renaming things without our approval, otherwise you end up with things like a change in the budget format being done without our approval, per the DOR. If these things are not challenged and our elected people are allowed to keep making incorrect statements, pretty soon those items become accepted as fact rather than what they are; misinformation statements.

Templeton Board of Selectmen
Annual Retreat
Fire Station, 466 Patriots Road, Templeton, MA
Wednesday, September 19, 2018, 6:00 p.m.

Agenda 
1. Call the Meeting to Order 

2. Discussion and review Draft FTM Warrant (max 30 minutes)

3. Annual Goal Setting

4. Adjournment 

The listing of Agenda items is those reasonably anticipated by the Chair which may be discussed at the meeting. Not all items listed may in fact be discussed and other items not listed may also be brought up for discussion to the extent it is permitted by law.

What constitutes a public body?


While there is no comprehensive list of public bodies, any multi-member board, commission, committee or subcommittee within the executive or legislative branches1 of state government, or within any county, district, city, region or town, if established to serve a public purpose, is subject to the law. The law includes any multi-member body created to advise or make recommendations to a public body, and also includes the governing board of any local housing or redevelopment authority, and the governing board or body of any authority established by the Legislature to serve a public purpose.

Boards of selectmen and school committees (including those of charter schools) are certainly subject to the Open Meeting Law, as are subcommittees of public bodies, regardless of whether their role is decision-making or advisory.

The above can be found by looking up the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law guide.

jeff bennett

|

Sat 9/15/2018 7:34 AM

To:

selectmen.fortes@templeton1.org;

Selectman Caplis (selectmen.caplis@templeton1.org);

Selectwoman, Diane (seldhaleybrooks@templeton1.org);

selectmen.richard@templeton1.org;

Doug Morrison, Selectmen (seldmorrison@templeton1.org);

185wilberdr@gmail.com;

quiltingamy36@gmail.com;

glee70@yahoo.com;

debra_wilder@comcast.net;

Michael Currie (michael.currie71@gmail.com);

tdejoy@comcast.net;

advisorycommittee@templeton1.org

...

 

You forwarded this message on 9/15/2018 7:34 AM

 

Watched BOS meeting of Sept. 12, 2018. chairman Caplis spoke around "someone, not sure who, to someone in Boston about having a discussion group . . . " As you all can see from the email below, I stated exactly whom I spoke with and what the issue is or might be. I am insulted that a selectmen goes to a public meeting and talks in circles rather than just stating the already on the record communication. It was originally a selectmen; selectmen Fortes who mentioned a subcommittee at an advisory committee meeting. To be sure, it is not just about a by-law concerning advisory committee, it is about the process of developing a town budget, who does that and in what form (only town meeting can decide on what budget format will be used for the ensuing year according to the DOR, please check that as I have already done) whom shall present the town budget to Town Meeting, there is a MGL stating whom should do that unless there is a town by-law stating other wise, which in my opinion, Templeton does not have one that speaks directly to that. I am also a little insulted as a resident of Templeton that the select board appeared to laugh that another committee would attempt to follow the law. Lastly, if you watch the meetings, not all advisory members were in attendance at the so called joint budget meetings as well as having heard the information for the first time on such important issues, it is probably a good thing to not comment or make a decision at that instant. Makes the point that the budget needs to begin sooner so there is more time to digest what is presented, allowing more time to make considerations and judgment, decisions, votes, recommendations etc. Going down the route of codification shows this resident that the selectmen are not the by-law experts so why should we, the town, leave any by-law changes to just the select board? In the end, it is town meeting that decides if any changes will be made and what those changes might be. True working together means the opinion or memo from the Collins institute would have been shared with the advisory committee back in the fall of 2017 and discussion would have taken place before budget and town meeting warrant presentation and perhaps consensus made, or not, but that would have been truly working together, which in my opinion, this board of selectmen is long on talk and short on walk.

That is how this concerned Templeton resident sees it.

respectfully;

Jeffrey Bennett

(senior citizen, Veteran, volunteer for his Town, State and Country)

---

From: Selectman Caplis <selectmen.caplis@templeton1.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2018 2:12 PM
To: selectmen.fortes templeton1.org
Cc: jeff bennett; michael.currie71@gmail.com
Subject: Re: meeting

 

Already on the agenda for our next BoS meeting thanks Cameron

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 28, 2018, at 12:27 PM, selectmen.fortes templeton1.org <selectmen.fortes@templeton1.org> wrote:

Templeton MA templeton1.org Town of Templeton, MA Templeton Town Hall, 160 Patriots Road, East Templeton, MA 01438 Department, Board, Committee Phone Numbers & Addresses

John,


You would be correct. If we are going to be formally recognized as a subcommittee. We need to establish charge and appointments. This will have to go back to the Board of Selectmen for us to outline the subcommittees power and duties which will then have to go to the advisory committee.

I am not certain how Jeff may have describe the arrangement to the AGDOG but I don't believe a claim would be upheld following their own prescribed testing by right of the second test.

1) is the communication between or among members of a public body; (yes) John & Me (Selectmen) and Michael & Jeff (Advisory)
2) if so, does the communication constitute a deliberation; (No)
3) does the communication involve a matter within the body’s jurisdiction; and
4) if so, does the communication fall within an exception listed in the law?

Rationale
This does not constitute deliberation simply by this measure here. Found within the 2017 OML Guide
To be a deliberation, the communication must involve a quorum of the public
body. A quorum is usually a simple majority of the members of a public body. Thus, a
communication among less than a quorum of the members of a public body will not be
a deliberation, unless there are multiple communications among the members of the
public body that together constitute communication among a quorum of members.
Courts have held that the Open Meeting Law applies when members of a public body
communicate in a serial manner in order to evade the application of the law.


I believe the AGDOG provided Jeff with a "why not just post a meeting to avoid any conflict" rather than giving you legal advice. However, since he has made an inquiry, they documented it, and they advised us to post a meeting I believe it would be pretty bold at this point to deny their advice and risk having an OML complaint filed. Since they already make their "recommendation" and we ignored it. John can you place an agenda item on the next board of selectmen's meeting and we will propose a small subcommittee that will have to be voted on and approved. If we are going to do this right it looks like we will have to go the full 100 yards since there was an AGDOG inquiry. We don't meet until the 12th so I don't believe this will be getting on the fall town meeting to be corrected.

Regards,
Cameron Fortes

On August 27, 2018 at 8:44 PM Selectman Caplis <selectmen.caplis@templeton1.org> wrote:

ALCON

 If that is the case on there interpretation of the purpose  of the meeting with the two from the BoS and from the AC then the BoS would need to provide appointments prior to us meeting as well with a scope and duration of said sub committee, at least that's how I read it, if I am mistaken please let me know.
Please advise
Caplis   

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 27, 2018, at 8:15 PM, jeff bennett < j_bennett506@hotmail.com> wrote:

Just got home; got a phone call from the division of open government today, with advice on the issue I raised about four people meeting; it was suggested that it appears to be a sub committee which is covered by open meeting law and hence it requires posting. So, perhaps Thursday is the day rather than Wednesday in order to hit the 48 hour rule.

 

Bennett

September 4, 2018 at Templeton library: 6:00 P.M. to discuss what to do with the large rock left by the highwy department after they re did the road in front of the library. Get rid of the rock or turn it into a civil war memorial. I thought all the civil war memorials were being torn down because they offend people? Who will pay for the rock being turned into a memorial?

Consider an under ride vote on tax levy??


What is an Under ride?
Proposition 2 1/2 allows a community to reduce its levy limit by passing an under ride. When an under ride is
passed, the levy limit for the year is calculated by subtracting the amount of the under ride. The under ride results in a permanent decrease in the levy limit of a community because it reduces the base upon which levy limits are calculated for future years.
A majority vote of a community’s selectmen, or town or city council (with the mayor’s approval if required by law) allows an under ride question to be placed on the ballot. An under ride question may also be placed on the ballot by the people using a local initiative procedure, if one is provided by law. Under ride questions must state a dollar amount and require a majority vote of approval by the electorate.


With around one million dollars in so called "free cash" in 2017 and stated estimates of around eight thousand dollars left from FY 2018, perhaps it is time for an under ride for Templeton.

Free cash is a revenue source that results from the calculation, as of July 1, of a community's remaining, unrestricted funds from its operations of the previous fiscal year based on the balance sheet as of June 30. It typically includes actual receipts in excess of revenue estimates and unspent amounts in departmental budget line items for the year just ended, plus unexpended free cash from the previous year. Free cash is offset by property tax receivables and certain deficits, and as a result, can be a negative number.

The Bureau of Accounts (BOA) certifies free cash as of July 1 after the submission of the municipality's balance sheet. Updates to free cash must also be certified by the Director of Accounts. These certifications can only be appropriated from the date of certification through June 30. As of each July 1, a municipality's free cash available for appropriation is $0 until a new balance sheet is received and a new free cash amount is certified.

If selectmen cannot or will not ensure that taxpayer/voter's wishes, per their votes at town meeting, are carried out, then selectmen should have less funding available to them for budget planning.
When something is presented and voted on, selectmen should ensure it happens; when selectmen fail to do this, then steps need to be taken to show selectmen who is really in charge: the residents!