Chairman Caplis speaks: finally.

Apparently Mr. Caplis spoke to a resident and admits he was aware of the 106 page document sent to him, but he "just forgot." The chair also agrees that the position of the document was correct but there is nothing we can do about the past so we should just move on. That line sounds familiar. My question is what happened with open and transparent government and what happened with the qualified financial team in place? Why was this information not in the AR of 2016 Apparently that elusive financial report is in printing now and will be available by the end of the year. So we have another deadline to wait for!

With regards to the receipt of mail, the document was sent to the Town vial a P.O. box and the Town does not log in mail into Town Hall so the record ends there. At least there was an admission that the information was correct, this group of selectmen failed to follow through on another promise and the Town waits for another deadline. I wonder what happened to the 2015 annual Town report and the Town Meeting vote.

On another subject, the municipal fellowship position; you have to follow the bouncing ball. That came up by way of the discussion to have a shared town administrator. With a two day a week visit to Templeton, there was thought that some of the appropriated funds for the TA position could be used to hire a graduate and have on the job training in municipal administration. I believe this had been discussed at several board/committee meetings but that will require some reading for a later post. Since the Town will no longer have a shared administrator, perhaps more effort and all salary should be put towards hiring a full time town administrator as Town Meeting voted for.

Capital Planning Committee to have it's second meeting this year! Second meeting? That committee has a quorum for the first time in a very long time and the chairman, who is selectmen Doug Morrisson has only called for two meetings? This special Town meeting has been talked about since back in April, during and after the audit reports. Does not seem like much planning going on, at least in the public view, so much for transparency in government. I am talking about the here and now. No required reports of the accountant and treasurer, as required by law, why not? This is the board that said we will be transparent, we have a competent financial team, we have stability. When you consider that you do not need an audit to report cash flow, there is no excuse for not having a report from the treasurer and accountant. Money is voted at Town Meeting, it is spent on debt, salries and bills. There is no reason to not being able to report that. Again, this is not the past, this is now and there was no reason to not have that information in the 2016 Templeton Annual Town Report!

In the words of Bernard Heaney, "the time is NOW" for these things to happen!

TO: Board of Selectmen
FROM: Carter Terenzini, Town Administrator
RE: Administrator’s Weekly Report
DATE: September 28, 2017
CC: All Departments

Fall Town Meeting 11/14. As noted here, notwithstanding any deadline of the public during the “Open” warrant period, your warrant articles need to be to me by the morning of 10/2. Special BoS Workshop 10/16 to review Draft Warrant.

Business Meeting or Workshop: The following is intended to supplement agenda items where a full memorandum may not have been required or updates are needed. N/A

 Weekly Report: I carried out the second round of interviews for our Management Fellow candidates and made the arrangements for the assessment center to be carried out for the three finalists. We should remain on schedule for final decisions on the management path forward for your 10/10 meeting. Notices about the pay raises was distributed to the affected non-union employees. Working with Alan we will have a submission to the CIC for the Fall TM capital articles we need. We have begun to assemble our BAN offering for the School Project. I've begun a review of our health insurance offerings to try to manage the pricing for FY '19. We'll advise the IAC over the next few weeks

With regards to the document/information and letter sent to the chairman of the board of selectmen by a Town resident on October 30, 2016 and as of September 6, 2017, had received no response. after the BOs meeting on Monday, September 25, 2017, the chair of that board was given a copy of the cover letter and I was told the chair would contact Mr. Heaney. I do not know if that has happened yet. My impression was the selectmen did not want that brought up at a public meeting. I get the feeling they did not want that on the record, on tape. That is my thought and observation.

When the condition of the small play area at Templeton Town hall was brought to the attention of the selectmen at last nights meeting, chairman Caplis stated it was grandfathered so it did not need anything, while selectmen Brooks stated the Town did not have the money to do anything, "we cannot afford it." Well, a quick look at Town finance and one can see that there are some funds available, in the form of money apparently left over from Town Meeting warrant article 18, which included $10,000.00 for merit/equity raises. The selectmen gave out some raises at that meeting and it seems there is some of your money left, which could be used to fund wood chips or some other allowed material for the play area and thus provide for the safety of the kids who do use that area. Perhaps selectmen Brooks could not grasp that thought on the first go round, noting that she often states she does not process things well. Your selectmen not working to hard to ensure the safety of the kids. Maybe they are to busy falling face first into a swimming pool with beer in hand!

Monday evening, Templeton board of selectmen poised to approve merit raises for non union personnel.

Selectmen office personnel . . . . . $  512.00
Assessor . . . . . . . . . . . .   . . . . . . .$  170.00
Treasurer/collector . . . . . . . . . . . . $  117.00
Town Clerk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $  170.00
Development services . . . . . . . . . $1673.00
DPW - Highway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $304.00
DPW  - buliding & grounds . . . . . .$1682.00
Council on aging . . . . . .  . . . . . . . $3037.00
Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$  210.00

Total of $7,875.00, per board of selectmen information
25 September under authority of article  18 of may 2017 annual town meeting of May 13, 2017.

In case you are interested:
from city data.com - Templeton, MA

Single family new construction building permits;
1997 - 16 with an average cost of $106,400.00
2014 - 3 with an average cost of   $189,500.00

Police data for 2015:
Murder - zero
Rape -          4
Robberies -  2
Assaults -   14
Burglaries - 12
Theft -         36
Auto theft -   4
Arson -         3

Why would some one sell sanders/spreaders two years old?

The reasons are many and some times do not make sense. Mass.DOT gets rid of sanders - stainless steel ones that appear to be brand new There were auction photos of a Mass.DOT sander at auction full of salt! Mass.DOT bought towed plows, as in, resembling a tractor trailer, and now they sit in a garage somewhere never to be used. Sometimes people get out of the business. Sometimes they change or upgrade, changing from chain type spreaders to auger type spreaders. Sometimes it is simple down sizing. I am unaware of where the Town got the 2 year old sanders, I am just glad they got them and it appears there is a change in thinking at Templeton highway. Maybe the Town trades in the excavator and gets a new truck, something the Town actually needs. Other than the police station upgrade, I believe Templeton highway department has had more money spent on equipment than any other department in Town since 2014. A loader, excavator, two dump trucks, plow (s) and now "new" sanders. So, how many roads were paved this past summer? Remember, the Town needed the excavator "to prep the roads."

Using past experience with regards to Alan Mayo, I am confident that changes at Templeton highway will result in better things happening, as Alan historically has ran a "good ship."

On the other side, building and grounds, how come a business for day care, needs certified wood chips under swings, but the swings at Town hall do not require them? More importantly, if the chips are for safety, why not have them under town owned play areas?