Massachusetts Municipal Association votes:

At its Nov. 14 meeting, the MMA Board of Directors discussed recommendations from the MMA Fiscal Policy Committee on two of the questions expected to be on the November 2018 election ballot.
 
The board voted to oppose a question that would reduce the state’s sales tax rate from 6.25 percent to 5 percent, and decided to continue discussion on a ballot question that would increase the tax rate on incomes of more than $1 million.
 
The Fiscal Policy Committee unanimously recommended that the MMA Board oppose the sales tax ballot question, which would reduce state tax collections by an estimated $1.25 billion. The policy committee vote followed presentations by Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, which drafted and filed the ballot question, and Chris Dempsey, director of Transportation for Massachusetts, which opposes the plan. The committee recommendation was based on concerns about a substantial loss of revenue that is needed to help pay for state and local capital programs and balance the state’s operating budget.
 
The Fiscal Policy Committee had also recommended that the MMA Board support the proposal to amend the Massachusetts Constitution to impose a surtax on incomes of more than $1 million to be used for public education and transportation purposes. The committee recommended that support for the question be linked to using the new revenue to pay for updating the Chapter 70 school finance program and other school aid programs and to support an increase for the Chapter 90 local road and bridge program.
 
The Fiscal Policy Committee took its vote following presentations by Eileen McAnneny, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, in opposition to the proposal, and by Noah Berger, president of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, in support. The committee supported the ballot question based on the need for new revenue to update and fully fund important school aid programs and to provide more Chapter 90 funds to help local officials keep municipal roads in a state of good repair.
 
The MMA Board decided to continue its consideration of the so-called millionaires tax question at a future board meeting to ensure time for full discussion. The question is expected to be back before the board early next year.
 
Proponents of the nearly two-dozen proposed ballot questions had until Nov. 22 to file enough signatures (64,750) with local elections officials to move forward with their questions. For any questions not approved by the Legislature early next year, proponents will have until June 19 to file an additional 10,792 signatures with Secretary of State William Galvin’s office in order to qualify for the November 2018 state ballot.
 
The income tax question, a proposed amendment to the Massachusetts Constitution, has already qualified for the ballot.
 

Written by 

MMA Legislative Director John Robertson

Board of Selectmen meeting agenda for Wednesday, November 29, 2017 @ 6:30 P.M.

One item strikes me as odd for this time of year - request for proposals for legal services.

Usually, town counsel is chosen in June, at the end of the fiscal year. Of course, this could be for something involving the elementary school project, but it does seem strange for this time of year. Last time town counsel services were discussed by this board of selectmen, it was agreed that no change was necessary. Unfortunately, with this group of selectmen, always expect the unexpected.

Whatever the reason for this subject, it will be interesting for the reasoning. Maybe it is for bond counsel -:) Oh, wait, Templeton does not have a bond rating!

Narragansett school district project - propane heat and wood chip system.


Who inspected the removal of oil fired boilers at the district school, NRHS? Who sign the permits, if indeed any were obtained? Who did the inspections for plumbing, gas and electrical for the installation of propane heating at the district school? Who paid for and who did the inspections fro the wood chip boiler?


So, when the town of Athol built a new elementary school, using MSBA, who paid for the inspections of that project? Since the selectmen stated it was against statute for the district to pay the town for these inspections, who paid for them? Are these inspection fees reimbursable from MSBA?

Remember, there is a revolving fund for inspection services and while there is a spending limit set (I believe it is $7,500.00) there seems to be a provision that it can be increased by selectmen and Advisory Committee.

Honesty and transparency in government - not in Templeton! (my opinion)

Follow the money - the town can only borrow so much and it has multiple projects, police station, sewer pump station, school, and it can barely borrow the amount to move along on these projects, especially the school. I do not say this, the selectmen say this via a part time town administrator.

Since so few showed up for town meeting, perhaps people do not care how their money is spent or saved?

The MMA encourages new municipal officials, including selectmen elected this spring, to attend. The morning of Jan. 19 will feature a special session for first-time attendees to help them get the most from the two-day event.
 
The advance program registration rate is $180 for members and $295 for registrants from other government entities. After the early registration deadline of Jan. 10, all registrations will be done on-site at a rate of $230 for members and $345 for other government entities. MMA Business Partners qualify for member rates.
 
Annual Meeting registration forms must be returned to the MMA, and no registrations can be accepted over the phone. Registrants are urged to return their form with payment. The MMA accepts credit cards for Annual Meeting transactions.
 
Reservations are also being accepted for the Women Elected Municipal Officials Leadership Luncheon on Friday, Jan. 19, and the Friday and Saturday evening dinners, which will feature engaging speakers and entertainment.
 
• See registration details
 
The Sheraton Boston Hotel, conveniently located adjacent to the Hynes, is the host hotel for 2018. The MMA negotiated a reduced room rate of $174 per night for a single or $184 per night for a double. The reduced-rate rooms are expected to sell out quickly, and reservations must be made by Dec. 22 to take advantage of the special rates.

Templeton Town Administrator has it in contract to attend and yes, you pay for it. Also, if all five selectmen attend, that is quite the bill just for attendance and rooms, there is also parking and meals. 

Looking at the so called special financial report, I find no reporting of all town employee salaries, no accounting of the individual trust accounts, only a total of all trust funds. No real accounting of town debt. A very lacking report from the treasurer, no showing of actual cash flow, no accounting of the spending of taxpayer dollars

If you think Town Counsel works for you, you are mistaken! If you think Town Counsel is at Town Meeting to help you out, you are mistaken. Town Counsel is there for the 'Town", the corporation. If you think the selectmen or Planning Board has done something wrong and you pursue it legally, you will be up against Town Counsel.

from Templeton General By-Laws:


Article VII – Legal Affairs

 Section 1. The Selectmen shall be agents of the town to institute, prosecute and defend any and all claims, actions and proceedings to which the town is a party or in which the interests of the town are or may be involved.



Section 4. The Selectmen shall annually in June appoint a Town Counsel, who is a member of the bar in good standing, to serve for the term of one year from the first day of July following and until his successor is appointed and enters upon the performance of his duties. They shall likewise fill any vacancies in said office for the unexpired term, and may employ special counsel to assist the said Town Counsel whenever, in their judgement, necessity therefore arises. Amended 8-31-78

If you recall, a resident at Town Meeting commented he got advice from Town Counsel, then selectmen Brooks jumped up demanding who gave you authority to contact Town Counsel? The resident responded he had spoken to them at the end of a previous town meeting. Shortly there after, selectmen Brooks is at a BOS meeting taking about looking at and for new Town Counsel.

An attorney is a licensed professional and an officer of the court, so when a question is asked pertaining to a subject that an attorney was not involved in or has no knowledge of the background facts, do not expect much. Expect what was given, a general description of the options available.

Remember also, that is the individuals responsibility to act legally and ethically, as all elected or appointed officials are suppose to take the ethics training and obtain open meeting law information as well as sign a document stating that.

I have spoken to different attorneys from different law firms after a Town Meeting and the information received or just the conversation was different than the perception arrived at by way of comments or opinions rendered during Town Meeting.
Town Counsel is employed/appointed by the BOS, retained or not by the BOS and firms are not in the business of losing clients, in this case, the client is the BOS.

Having served as a selectmen and having dealt with three different law firms, I can state with confidence that Templeton has a very good Town Counsel and can receive very good legal advice, but the selectmen have to want that to happen for it to come to fruition. The selectmen have to want good governance, transparency and honesty for that to happen. Remember who shut down conversation at Town Meeting with regards to the school funding; selectmen Brooks made the motion that resulted in Town Meeting, as in the people who took the time to attend, being unable to discuss that matter any longer. Town Counsel did his job for his client, the BOS. The selectmen wanted to shut down any talk of stopping the school and they did it. If you want that to change, elect new selectmen and demand they do things in the way in which you want them too. If they do not, either elect new ones or recall them, you have the power to do that. That is not going to happen with 66 people showing up for Town Meeting. Remember, that 66 includes selectmen, Advisory Committee, the checkers, etc, so how many residents actually showed up who were not required to be there?

Very low turn out for Templeton special Town meeting. Pretty embarrassing and disgusting when only a handful of town residents show up for their meeting!

The few that did show up demonstrated your vote does matter and you can have an effect on the out come. Two zoning changes were passed over at this meeting when those few citizens showed up and spoke, they made their case and put it to the voters - and they won!

Once again, in my opinion, it was shown that Town Counsel is not being utilized for the benefit of the Town. When there is an issue brought before the people, why was the regional school agreement not given to counsel and the question (s) asked: can we change town election dates without issue? Can we change the agreement so only Templeton residents vote on Templeton representatives and only Phillipston residents vote on Phillipston representatives?

On the zoning changes, what are the ethics challenges or solutions to bringing these two articles forward? Were businesses grandfathered  when zoning passed? Perhaps the big question is the land formerly owned by Bill Putnam and the class II / III licenses involved in the sale of that property; did the property lose it's grandfather clause with the sale? With zoning in place, is that large piece of property now limited to certain use by way of the present zoning regulations?

Templeton can and does get good legal advice when it is asked for, unfortunately, there seems to be a lack of that these days with this BOS.


If the school district cannot pay our inspectors, how were any inspections done when the district changed over to propane/wood chips? Was the project inspected? Who did the inspections and who paid for them?  With the constant changing of numbers, will the Tempeton tax recap sheet be done on time? Why is Templeton only borrowing 10 million dollars with the school project beginning shortly?

More piecemeal borrowing, more BANs which will probably cost taxpayers more.