Sand and Salt: A Model for Change

A nature of the human condition is to resist change. However, in most cases, change turns out to be a good thing, particularly in the areas of science and technology.

In snow and ice control, one of the most difficult changes for an agency is to change from a policy of abrasives treatment (sand) priority to a policy of chemical treatment (salts and other chemicals) priority.

Abrasives priority is a policy of using a mixture of abrasives and ice control chemicals, or straight abrasives, to treat snow and ice situations. A chemical priority policy uses straight ice control chemicals, without abrasives, to produce the desired result. The strategy of anti-icing (trying to prevent ice/pavement bond) is inherent in most chemical priority programs.

To transition from an abrasive to a chemical priority policy, examine these steps that have been used successfully by others.

• Decide that chemical priority is something to try, and WHY
• Research relevant literature and web-based information
• Get help from knowledgeable peers: the Cornell Local Roads Program; NYSDOT; FHWA; and consultants
• Decide which roads or areas are good candidates for such a policy
• Conduct trials that yield data on costs, operational characteristics, and performance
• If successful, get legislative buy-in and educate your agency by using local “champions” who have seen the experimental results first hand
• Educate the public (people who use your highway system)

Train, evaluate, and refine

Warren County in New York State and the State of Maine have successfully managed the transition from an abrasives to a chemical priority policy.

Environmental protection and improved level of service

Warren County is situated in the Adirondack Mountains. Most of the western watershed of Lake George is in this county. In the early 1990s the loadings of silt and abrasives accumulating in Lake George were generating a high level of environmental concern. The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) and the Warren County Department of Public Works (DPW) installed many containment features to trap silt and abrasives before they reached Lake George. They also instituted aggressive sweeping programs to pick up abrasives before they entered the drainage system.

In the late 1990s, to further reduce abrasives loadings, the Warren County DPW decided to move from its long-standing abrasives priority policy to a chemical priority policy, and improve their level of snow and ice service. Coincidentally, researchers from the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) contacted Warren County to participate in a field study to compare the cost and performance of a chemical priority policy with those of an abrasives priority policy - A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN.

Warren County agreed to collect the necessary data. The researchers provided substantial training, experimental design, data collection forms, and data analysis. The results of the three-winter study were compelling. The data showed that an equal or higher level of service could be provided, at less cost, by using a chemical priority approach when compared with an abrasives priority approach. THE DATA SHOWED LESS SALT WOULD BE USED.

The Advisory Committee is made up of seven members, all volunteers, who are appointed by the Town Moderator for a term of three years. The Town’s General Bylaws direct the Advisory Committee to give recommendations that it deems best for the interests of the Town and its citizens on all department budgets, transfer requests, warrant articles, zoning articles and by law articles. One can look at the Templeton general Town by-laws to see the exact wording/direction given by way of Town Meeting and their by-law votes which show the direction residents wanted and voted for the Advisory Committee to proceed.The Advisory Committee's goal is to give Town residents an objective viewpoint on all matters to be considered at Annual and Special Town Meetings. Their recommendations are intended to ensure the residents of Templeton are receiving the best mix of services for the amount of taxes being collected. Since the members of the Advisory Committee are appointed by the Town Moderator, they act as a check and balance to the Town’s elected boards and committees as well as those individuals, boards and committees appointed by the Board of Selectmen and the Town Administrator.

Please be advised there are sometimes openings on the committee during the year and there are some appointments up each year and if you feel you are not getting what was voted for, please step up and volunteer. Since the committee is directed to be in the "checks and balance business", it is imperative that the committee have the access to information and that information is required to be clear, up to date and easily available to the committee.

Hopefully this year, Templeton residents will see a different format on recommendations from the Advisory Committee, and these recommendations will be available in different formats and places.

Massachusetts General Law, chapter 39

Section 16: Appropriation, advisory or finance committees; appointment; tenure; powers and duties

Section 16. Every town whose valuation for the purpose of apportioning the state tax exceeds one million dollars shall, and any other town may, by by-law provide for the election or the appointment and duties of appropriation, advisory or finance committees, who shall consider any or all municipal questions for the purpose of making reports or recommendations to the town; and such by-laws may provide that committees so appointed or elected may continue in office for terms not exceeding three years from the date of appointment or election.

In every town having a committee appointed under authority of this section, such committee, or the selectmen if authorized by a by-law of the town, and, in any town not having such a committee, the selectmen, shall submit a budget at the annual town meeting.

So, first off, Templeton has two conflicting Town by-laws concerning budget presentation; is the Attorney General's office aware of this?

Secondly, kind of hard to make a report or recommendation (s) to town meeting if the committee is kept out of the loop. Kind of hard to make a report or show a report to the Town Meeting when the information is unclear or hidden, such as the budget versus actual documents. Kind of hard for departments to know this information if it is unclear or hidden as well.

Narragansett Regional School Committee forms a District Re-Organization Advisory Committee. One purpose of this committee will be to help guide the administrative team and school committee shape a vision for the future of the NRHS district.

Within this letter, which was distributed through the Town office, as was explained to me. The school committee wished the committee to be made up as follows;

1 school committee representative from each district town (Templeton & Phillipston)
1 select board member from each town
1 community member from each town
1 teacher from each school (5)
1 UFCW member from each unit (cafeteria, secretary, paraprofessional)
1 member from each town's Advisory/Finance committee
Town Administrator or equivalent from each town.

Here in lies my concern; Templeton Advisory Committee did not receive the invitation/notification; not a phone call, no email, no letter, which would or should have come by way of town hall, as in the board of selectmen's office. I found out by way of a newspaper article and then contacted the school district.
There was a deadline of sorts within the original letter; December 11, 2017.

My conclusion is this was a deliberate move to leave Advisory Committee out of the loop and make it appear Advisory did not care or was not paying attention. ( I suppose it could have been a lapse because of the holidays approaching ) :) I draw this conclusion based on past actions by the current town administrator and board of selectmen. Games, plain and simple, as in those calls for resignation and bogus open meeting law violations, which after much bluster and newspaper coverage, never went anywhere. The responses from the Advisory Committee were never appealed to the attorney general's office. Selectmen Fortes stated at a recorded meeting "that we have to be the adults here." - Then he posts a tweet of himself doing a face first plunge into a swimming pool with a beer in hand, now that is an adult!

I was at the BOS meeting when mention of the creation of this district committee was stated and that the district was looking for a member of the board of selectmen to serve on it, no mention of Advisory Committee, even as I sat there at that meeting. Sorry boys and girls, I am now on that committee! I thank the Narragansett School district Committee and the superintendent of schools for their consideration.

School building committee;

Ground breaking should begin/ is planned for spring of 2018. There will be a website through the school district where information will be posted on progress with regards to the project. Residents will also be able to contact town hall, the school district, the school committee as well as attend meetings and or watch the recording on tv. Also mentioned was a planned announcement of when the existing building will come down and that should be sometime after the first of the year.

Actual digging for the new school again will be in the spring, as in warm weather, so the people in the pictures with shovels and such will be comfy.

Missing in action was committee member Diane Haley Brooks, who did manage a "drive by" after the meeting had adjourned, picking up some paper work from committee member Hank Mason in the parking lot. Now that is dedication

Capital planning managed a quorum and conducted some business while agreeing to hopefully have recommendations ready by end of January, 2018 for the upcoming Annual Town Meeting.

Note; While there may be work going on at the site now, I believe the "ground breaking" will include the usual group photo with shovels and the actual work involved in building the new structure rather than site work such as erecting fences, bringing in equipment and probably demolition of the existing building. Feel free to contact the school district for more information.

TO:            Board of Selectmen
FROM:      Carter Terenzini, Town Administrator
RE:             Administrator's Weekly Report
DATE:        December 14, 2017
CC:             All Departments

Town Hall will be closing at noon on Thursday, December 21, for the Holiday. Other Town

Offices will be closed at noon on Friday, December 22, for the Holiday.

All Town offices will re-open on Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Important Notices

Budget and Legislative Packages Are Due January 2, 2018

Please make sure all of your units and committees are submitting their projects to the CPC

We are having a continuing problem with CH. 30B procurements. Please confer with this

office before entering into any purchase or contract with a value of greater than $2,500.00. 

More formal guidance will be issued in mid January after conferring with the BOS.

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.

Weekly Report:  We opened the bids for the timber cut at the landfill and highway site (s). Our estimate was for a gross income of $15k with a net of $10k. The actual bids are closer to a gross income of $21k with a net of $15k. This will be on your 1/08 agenda. We have rejected the Police Station bids. The Chief met with the project manager and others to try and see where the major differences were between the estimates and the final bids. He will be prepared to brief you at your January workshop along with a plan to go forward. The several offices of the Treasurer/Collector and Development Services have been relocated. While we have a few more things to do over the coming year, this should address the safety concerns expressed by the Town Auditor. That said, the new security features for the Treasurer/Collector will mean a need to relocate the copying and faxing activities of some to the hall copier or other methods. Eric arranged for Jackie Abbott from the State's Operational Services Division to come to Town Hall on Tuesday to train staff members how to use CommBuys for state-wide contracts. Jackie trained staff members on how to make purchases and post bids for services on CommBuys. The staff felt more confident and prepared to use CommBuys in the future after the training. Along with Eric Politt, the following people attended: Eric Baker Dispatch, Felicia Kuehl, the accounts payable clerk from NRSD, Holly Young from the BOS office, Mallory Seamon of development services and Pam Rogers from DPW office. COA and Fire both wanted to attend but had other obligations. They will receive training on CommBuys in the near future.


Assessors:  The past two weeks have been very busy in our offices as work was being done in getting bills ready for 3rd and 4th quarter billing. Exemptions have been posted; liens for utilities have been placed on the tax bills. The actual FY 2018 Real Estate and Personal Property Commitment was processed on Tuesday afternoon and the files have been sent to the Collector/Treasurer office to export to the billing company. This year's tax bills bring a tax rate of $16.72 (an increase of .60 cents per thousand valuation) One reason for the increase is for the elementary school feasibility studies that were never committed in 2009 and 2013 thru 2015. Also real estate property values have increased this year.

posted meeting for December 19, 2017:

1. Meet and Greet the New Committee
Chair-MAJ Michael Currie
Co-Chair Hal Bourgeois
Secretary SGT Christine Caplis
Treasurer Ted Furr
2. Approving Calendar FY14
3. Budget FY15
4. Director’s Operation Report (John Caplis).
5. New Business
a. Look at Bylaws
6. Set next quarters meeting dates.
7. Executive Session, if desired.

from the Templeton Town website:

Name
Title
Phone

Jessica Butts
Director of Veterans Services

This is one of the things that piss me off! Veterans should have a clear idea of who is in charge and whom to contact. The Veterans Committee should also know and post the correct information!