Massachusetts General Law, chapter 48



Section 58. In every town which accepted chapter two hundred and ninety-one of the General Acts of nineteen hundred and sixteen or chapter one hundred and forty of the General Acts of nineteen hundred and seventeen, or in which the provisions of chapter thirty-one were, on April third, nineteen hundred and seventeen, applicable to the chief of the fire department thereof, such chief shall hold his office continuously during good behavior unless incapacitated by physical or mental disability to perform the duties of his position; provided, that in every such city the official having the power of appointment, with the consent of the confirming board, if any, and in every such town, the selectmen, may, for just cause and for reasons specifically assigned by said official or selectmen, remove such chief, first giving him a copy of such reasons and allowing him a reasonable time to answer them in writing. A copy of the reasons, notice and answer, and of the order of removal, shall be filed with the town clerk.

posted by Jeff Bennett

Since there is a good chance you did not go to Town meeting, here is the $5.00 question:
Article 3 - Fiscal 2016 Financial transfers:
Transfer $5.00 from the Board of Health Agent (salary) to Tree Warden. I looked at the tree warden account number and compared it to the number on the budget versus actual report from the Town Accountant, since there is an account for tree warden salary and expense. So I raised my hand and asked the question, is that tree warden salary or expense? Answer was it is tree warden salary so I followed with who is the tree warden/ Answer, the highway superintendent. I then inquired about the legality of a Town employee receiving two pay checks, that is when the stuff kind of hit the fan, with the selectmen and Town Accountant shuffling. Town meeting told selectmen will remove the $5.00 transfer to tree warden and combine it with a $75.00 transfer from health agent salary to highway superintendent salary which equals an $80.00 transfer. The Town meeting was told by Town Accountant the $2,500.00 tree warden salary account would be reclassified and be added to the highway superintendent salary account.

Now for the nit picking, there had originally been a Town meeting appropriation of $2,500.00 for tree warden salary at Town meeting held in May 2015 for the fiscal 2016 town budget. The highway superintendent has been getting paid from that account for a while and you can not undo that.
Selectmen Brooks may call that nit picking and other things, I call it trying to follow the law. I call it being transparent. I see the selectmen budgeting, as in asking you, to pay $66,000.00 for a Town Accountant, so what do you expect for $66,000.00 of your money?

posted by Jeff Bennett

What you may not know; Templeton Town Administrator has on his resume that he taught graduate level courses in public budgeting and public finance and undergraduate courses in state and local government. Not a dumb guy so how did the selectmen end up in a conference huddle at Town meeting over a five dollar question?

Solution/suggestion: spend less time on face book and more time going over the budget in open meeting, line by line and perhaps these questions would come up there rather than at Town meeting with the Town Accountant scrambling for a solution to a $5.00 question. Hopefully the current chairman of the select board will not be tossing people from the meeting for pointing things out.

posted by Jeff Bennett

here is some more stuff people can report to and post on some selectmen face book pages.

I had $25,000 in the Selectmen's budget for raises for non-unionized employees. It was raised to $35,000 in case we need to increase the Fire Chief's salary during recruitment. The current Chief is paid $64K. I put $70K in the FY'17 budget and an additional $10K buried in the BoS budget in case we need it.

That is part of an email sent from Town Administrator to selectmen,
$10K buried in the budget? Is that like hidden so there is a "slush fund" of sorts in selectmen budget? Is that the openness, honor, honest, integrity talked about? Remember selectmen, you can delegate authority but not responsibility.

Solution: Talk about and vote budget items in open session, as in line item by line item, the way the Advisory Committee did it. Be willing to speak on and stand for what you put in the budget rather than hide it!.

posted by Jeff Bennett

from the current pages of Policies and Procedures for selectmen:

On Templeton Town website under the Board of Selectmen.

Minutes shall contain a full statement of all actions taken by the Board and of the disposition of all proposals for
action. Minutes of Executive Sessions shall be separately kept and recorded in accordance with the above
procedures. Minutes (other than of Executive Session) are open for public inspection. Copies of all approved
open session minutes shall be posted on the Town Website for viewing and recorded with the Town Clerk.

yet on Town website, meeting calendar, selectmen meeting at such a date & time, that minutes ARE NOT on file with Town Clerk.

from the face book page of Diane Brooks:

Diane Haley Brooks
May 17 at 2:48pm · Templeton, MA ·
Grrrrr. I believe that with a great attitude, high intentions, honor, honesty, integrity and a spirit of cooperation we can accomplish many things individually and as a whole no matter what path we have chosen to walk in our career or any kind of service.
I am so tired of back stabbing, nit picking, a lack of concern and care, the out to get you attitude along with not understand the consequences for all actions and how about the general disregard for respect of another's thoughts and opinions.

Suggestion for a solution to this dilemma, rather than standing on a soap box on face book, (figuratively) get up and speak up at a selectmen meeting and ask or state why the Board of Selectmen are not following their own rules that the board voted on? Now that would be a solution and an accomplishment done in open meeting. That would be one less item that Bennett could bring up, as in nit picking as Ms. Brooks put it.

posted by Jeff Bennett

following is a post from Town of Templeton, MA facebook page, which seems to have quite a few pictures of Holly Young, but I digress, please read and pay attention to what is written:

Message from Town Administrator Bob Markel

The Department of Revenue has always discouraged the use of free cash to balance the budget. Bond rating agencies do the same, and the low bond rating for the Town reflects, in part, the lavish use of free cash to fund the operating budget. However, this is not illegal; it is simply unsound financial policy.

The amount of free cash available changes yearly, and it is not predictable. Free cash is considered one-time revenue, and the Department of Revenues recommends that it used to augment the Stabilization Fund (reserves) or for one-time purchases like capital items.

Audit firms do not do a thorough job of auditing the books (unfortunately). They come and test various areas of the town’s finances to see if there are problems, but some problems are not caught and can persist for years. They tell you up front that they cannot do a thorough audit for the relatively modest amount they charge. The DOR representative at today’s meeting called the standard municipal audit a “hit and run” audit. Still, some firms are more reputable and more competent than others. I cannot name names in this message, but there are several firms that I would never hire.

Recommendation: The Selectboard should create an Audit Committee of knowledgeable citizens who will have two responsibilities: 1) Bid the audit contract every three years, and hire an independent auditor; and 2) Receive the annual audit and do a public review of the findings and the management letter. Municipal auditors are typically hired by the Town Administrator, Town Accountant or Finance Director. This is an inherent conflict of interest since town officials who do the hiring are the ones whose work is being audited. Hiring and receiving the audit should be an arm’s length transaction from the Town’s financial team.

The Department of Revenue oversees 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth. They accept data provided by the Town Accountant, the Treasurer/Collector and the Assessors. They often question the data, but they are not always able to verify if data submitted on the Tax Recap or Schedule A are accurate. The DOR does not have access to the town’s accounting system. For example, the DOR was in Templeton today to question whether the Town has properly reported debt obligations on the DE-1 section of Schedule A. Some debt is paid from general revenue within the town budget and some debt is paid through debt exclusion. There is a correct way to report these two types of debt on Schedule A. The DOR representatives checked to see if the Town reported the data correctly, but they are limited in their ability to verify the accuracy of the data.

The long term solution to Templeton’s financial problems is to hire a professional Town Administrator who will put in place a competent financial management team – Accountant, Treasurer, Collector and Assessors. The Selectmen and Advisory Board have the responsibly to oversee the T.A. and the financial team on their management of the Town’s finances. To complement the BoS and Advisory Board, the Audit Committee should retain a reputable accounting firm to conduct an annual audit with the results made public.

Bob Markel
Interim Town Administrator

from face book:

Diane Haley Brooks

May 17 at 2:48pm · Templeton, MA · 

Grrrrr. I believe that with a great attitude, high intentions, honor, honesty,

 integrity and a spirit of cooperation we can accomplish many things individually and as a whole no matter what path we have chosen to walk in our career or any kind of service.

I am so tired of back stabbing, nit picking, a lack of concern and care, the out to get you attitude along with not understand the consequences for all actions and how about the general disregard for respect of another'sthoughts and opinions.

Think before you speak. Quit with the gossip as it's hateful and hurtful. Reserve your judgement for when you know all the facts. Go get the facts and don't assume what you hear or read is gospel. Don't speak harshly as everyone deserves the utmost regard.

We all make decisions with the information we have at that moment in time. Use the golden rule always and truly try harder to put yourself in another's shoes.

If your are complaining or gossiping and not offering any solutions, you become part of the problem.

Listen more. Talk less. Be patient. Come from a place of love or at least like.

I am not sure who selectmen Brooks is referring to, if anyone in particular, but perhaps the cooperation and honesty should begin with the board of selectmen. Those words are easy to write and sound noble and all and most likely gets some cheerleading such as "tell em sista" but they really mean nothing nor amount to anything without action. Someone should try to put aside the click and remember about the whole town. I suspect we will see all of this integrity, honor, honesty and spirit of cooperation when the fire chief situation plays out. I have already seen it with regards to the budget. Remember the former chairman spoke of using some free cash to supplement a budget and when someone spoke up about that is how the town got in trouble in the first place and the chair told the person to leave and the rest of the board members sat in silence, that pretty much said it all, through action, or lack of it.

posted by Jeff Bennett