"I pay your salary"  responding to difficult situations with residents, patrons and customers.



From time to time, we all have to deal with people and situations that we find challenging; public service employees certainly face their fair share. While getting the job done efficiently and safely, the public service employee is expected to retain a positive public image for their department and municipality. When confronted with a resident’s disappointment, anger or entitlement, what one wants to say and what one should say are often two very different things. Participants in this seminar learn specific techniques for defusing and resolving difficult situations with residents


the above should be required training for LOTs.

Do not grandfather; make them safe!

Safe playgrounds can help to reduce municipal liability

Playgrounds provide opportunities for children to explore their environment, develop motor and social skills, and gain confidence. Yet some present hazards that could be avoided with proper design, maintenance, and supervision.

Each year nearly 200,000 children are injured in playground accidents, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Seventy percent of these accidents occur in public parks and schoolyards; roughly 45 percent of the injuries are considered severe, and several are fatal.

Federal law does not mandate playground safety standards, but safe and well-maintained playgrounds can help to reduce exposure to lawsuits.

MIIA, in partnership with the Massachusetts Recreation and Park Association, offers members the most comprehensive program for playground hazard identification and risk management training programs: the National Playground Safety Inspector Course.

After completing 12 hours of training and an exam, participants become certified playground safety inspectors, ensuring that they meet guidelines set by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the American Society for Testing and Materials. (Together, these guidelines are the internationally recognized standard of care for playground safety.)

In addition to mitigating the risk of accidents and lawsuits, MIIA member municipalities that complete the training receive MIIA Rewards credit on their property and casualty insurance premiums.

Another resource, the CPSC Public Playground Safety Handbook, is available at www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/325.pdf. The handbook lists voluntary safety guidelines as well as suggested maintenance checklists and equipment testing procedures for playground safety audits.

Although the state’s recreational-use statutes provide a strong defense for municipalities, it is important to accurately document playground inspection and maintenance in order to protect against any potential charges of negligence. Records of any accident or injury reported on any playground should also be retained. This will help to identify potential playground hazards or dangerous design features that need to be corrected.

Key factors in evaluating playground safety include the following:

• Surfaces. Roughly 60 percent of playground injuries are caused by falls, so it is especially important to have surfacing that is designed to absorb impact. Hard surfaces like concrete and asphalt are unacceptable, as are grass and packed-earth because weather and wear can pack them and reduce their ability to absorb impact.

Acceptable surfaces include loose-fill materials like wood chips, mulch, sand, pea gravel or shredded rubber. Safety-tested rubber surfacing mats or rubber-like materials, such as poured-in-place unitary surfacing systems, are also safe. These surfaces, along with engineered wood fiber – the only loose-fill material that meets Americans with Disabilities Act standards – allow the best access for people in wheelchairs. Loose-fill materials should be a minimum of nine inches deep and extend across the entire use zone of the equipment.

• Design and Spacing. Playground equipment should be designed for three age groups: infants and toddlers; 2- to 5-year-olds; and 5- to 12-year-olds. In the safest playgrounds, play areas for younger children are clearly separated from those meant for older kids. Children should be able to move safely from one activity to another, with proper spacing between equipment.

Play structures should be spaced in accordance with their use zones. Use zones typically extend six feet from the equipment, but slides and moving equipment such as swings require more space.

Stationary equipment, less than 30 inches in height, may be located within six feet of each other. Stationary equipment greater than 30 inches may be located within nine feet of each other.

Among the many other areas to check are spaces that could trap children. Openings in guardrails or between ladder rungs should measure less than three and one-half inches or more than nine inches apart. These dimensions will ensure that fully bound openings will pass the head-torso probe test.

• Maintenance and Inspection. Playground equipment should be regularly inspected to make sure that it is clean and well maintained. Playground inspectors should check for equipment that is securely anchored and made of quality, durable materials that won’t break down as a result of weather.

Equipment should show no signs of weakening, or splintered, rusted, chipped or peeling surfaces. Hardware such as S-hooks and bolts, hinges and other moving parts should be checked for sharp edges, pinch points or areas for entanglement.

Sandboxes should be covered overnight to prevent contamination from cats and other animals. Sight lines from benches should be unobstructed, and fencing should be secured to prevent children from leaving the area.

Playgrounds should be free of trash, standing water and objects that could cause kids to trip, such as rocks, tree stumps and roots.

• Supervision. Although the design and condition of equipment are important, the most critical safety element is supervision. When a public entity is responsible for supervising children, liability becomes a significant consideration. The responsibility of recreation department and school employees to supervise activities is where the true liability exists. Playground supervisors should be trained before being given this enormous responsibility. This is perhaps the most overlooked aspect of playground safety.

Information about the next National Playground Safety Inspector Course can be found at www.emiia.org. Additional information is available at the website of the Massachusetts Recreation and Parks Association (www.massrpa.org).

Playgrounds anyone?

Section 14: Playgrounds; acquisition; use; management

Section 14. Any city or town may acquire land and buildings within its limits by gift or purchase, or by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine, or may lease the same, or may use suitable land or buildings already owned by it, for the purposes of a public playground or recreation centre, and may conduct and promote recreation, play, sport and physical education, for which admission may be charged, on such land and in such buildings, and may construct buildings on land owned or leased by it and may provide equipment for said purposes. Land and buildings so acquired, leased or constructed may be used also for town meetings, and, with the consent of, and subject to the conditions and terms prescribed by, the officer or board in control of the land or building, may be used by the municipality, or by any department thereof, or by any person, society or other organization for such other public, recreational, social or educational purposes as the said officer or board may deem proper. The foregoing provisions shall apply to land and buildings acquired for playground purposes, or for park and playground purposes, but shall not apply to land and buildings acquired solely for park purposes. For the purposes aforesaid, any city or town may appropriate money, and may employ teachers, supervisors and other officers, and may fix their compensation. Except in Boston and except as to the making of appropriations, the powers conferred by this section shall be exercised by the board of park commissioners, or by the school committee, or by the planning board, or by a playground or recreation commission appointed by the mayor in a city or by the selectmen or town moderator in a town, or elected by the voters of the town at a town meeting; or may be distributed among the board of park commissioners, the school committee, the planning board and such playground or recreation commission, or among any two or more of them; or they may be exercised by a committee consisting of one member each designated by all or any one of said boards or commissions, together with two or more members at large appointed by the mayor or selectmen or town moderator, or elected by the voters, accordingly as the city council or the town may decide. Any municipal officer or board authorized to exercise any of the powers conferred by this section may, within or without the city or town limits, conduct its activities on property under its control, on other public property under the control of other public officers or boards, with the consent of such officers or boards, or on private property, with the consent of the owners. Two or more towns may severally vote to establish co-operative arrangements between those towns for the provision and operation of recreational facilities and programs of mutual benefit to their citizens. The management and control of such facilities and programs and the apportionment of the expenses for their maintenance and support shall be provided for by the authorized recreation agencies of the participating towns. The provisions of section fifteen or sixteen shall not be construed to apply to any city or town because of any action taken under this section.

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!