TO:               Board of Selectmen
FROM:        Carter Terenzini, Town Administrator
RE:              Administrator's Weekly Report
DATE:         January 11, 2018
CC:              All Departments


A few highlights of this weeks report;

All material for the Annual Town report need to be submitted by January 22, 2018.
 Town Offices closed on Monday, January 15, 2018 for Martin King day observance.

Four (4) vendors (business') met for the local meals tax proposal. They expressed concern that the stated purpose of this proposed tax increase (rolling stock capital program) would change once it gets moving.

Four proposals for legal services were received and reference checks are in progress.

Town retirement assessment increased by $70,000.00. (10.5% increase)

Think about that when you realize Templeton is headed towards a full time fire department!

Highway Department: Between strong winds and extreme cold made clean up very difficult. The equipment that runs on diesel fuel struggled because the cold was causing it (diesel fuel) to gel and shut down.  We had an additive put in on the next diesel fuel delivery on Tuesday.

Once again, this shows reactive rather than a proactive approach. I wonder what happened to the "professionals" over there? Diesel fuel gelling is always a concern and is nothing new, which is why fuel additive is sold by the quart,  gallon, case and even 55 gallon drum. If you run diesel fuel, you have this on hand and you add it every time you fill up. It is called preventative maintenance. There are some diesel fuels better than others but it comes down to knowing the equipment and taking the precautions. Once the cold set in, it was all but impossible to find the additive on store shelves, which is why there are 14 cases sitting in a garage - with six diesel engine trucks to keep running, being proactive is a requirement, not an after thought. Public safety is involved here!

The sidewalk plow does not go out during the storm. When the plow does go out, it first clears snow from sidewalks for the school children that walk to school and local business. There is only one sidewalk plow, an additional plow and driver would enable us to get the job done faster.

Highway department looking to expand and hire more personnel? Got to grow the government workforce and keep the pressure on the taxpayers.

The town administrator's report can be found on the town website, under heading; departments, town administrator report - 2018. It is suppose to be given at the selectmen meeting, according to their own policy, but hey, what are policies for? Certainly not to follow. See you at the all boards meeting.

Sewer Rate Relief Fund - FY2018

The Division of Local Services has released Bulletin 2018-1, Sewer Rate Relief Fund - FY2018. It can be found by clicking here.

The Sewer Rate Relief Fund operates under the provisions of Chapter 29 Section 2Z of the General Laws. The Fund was created in 1993 to mitigate escalating costs of sewer service in the Commonwealth. Awards were based on "eligible debt service" and were calculated at up to 20% of debt service. For FY2018, $1.1 million has been appropriated. Applications must be returned by Friday, January 26, 2018 to the address noted in the Bulletin

Since this is a posted meeting, one would think it is open to the public. I would however, contact the BOS office and make sure.

All Boards Meeting Tuesday, January 16, 2018, at 6:30 P.M Kamaloht-1 North Main Street, East Templeton, MA-01438 Board of Selectmen hosting this second joint meeting of all Town Boards and Committees AGENDA Discuss progress we have made this past year. Discuss the direction boards & committees feel our organization should be heading in Discuss ideas of how we might better work together to improve communications, efficiency, and better serve our community. Miscellaneous discussion Adjournment

from the office of the board of selectmen:

Date: January 10, 2018 at 9:53 AM
> Subject: FY17 Annual Report
>
>
>
> Good Morning:

> Just a reminder about the deadline for the Annual Report. As you must have
> seen in the weekly reports, the deadline is now January 22, 2018 at 4 p.m.
> This was updated since my memo to you back in August.
>
> DEADLINE:   Annual Reports for FY’17 (July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017)
> are due to me in electronic format only-via email on or before Monday,
> January 22, 2018 at 4 p.m.
>
> This date is the absolute final deadline and anything sent after that date
> WILL NOT be included in the Annual Report.
>
> Format:  ALL reports must be sent in electronic format ONLY and in Times New
> Roman, 12 font, single spaced (1.0).
>
> 
> NOTE: This office reserves the right to edit reports received so they fit
> properly, have the correct format, and look their best for the final report.
>
>
> Thank you.

How about these reports get printed as submitted so all of the information a board, commission, committee or department wishes to convey to the taxpayers actually gets to those taxpayers . . . who pay for this report!

Note: This report is for fiscal 2017, which ended June 30, 2017.

With regard to Town employees salaries in the Annual Town Report, try emailing Selectmen Haley Brooks at seldhaleybrooks@tempeton1.org and ask her why town employee salaries are not in the ATR?

Town employee salaries were in ATR 2012, skipped 2013, appeared in 2014 and have been absent since. I believe you will find it was a selectmen who pushed for these to not be published because it is none of your business. That is what was rumored at Town Hall, but again, I would begin with selectmen Brooks and if she is ever at a BOS meeting, that would be the place to ask, in public and on the record. (my opinion)

Something to watch - Templeton selectmen sent out and / or posted a request for proposal for legal services. Proposals were to be submitted by January 9, 2018.  It will be interesting to see who responded, who is chosen and if present counsel was included. Again, what is the reason to change counsel in the middle of the fiscal year?

With regards to VADAR training and such, Templeton is not the only municipality to use that platform. Having spoke to a few Treasurer/ Collectors and Accountants, I was told that the kind of reports Advisory was looking for were indeed still available and could be produced. Of course those people were reluctant to come to a public meeting and basically call the BOS, T/A, accountant and the like liars or lacking basic knowledge of the financial system they use. The only logical choice was to have the training and see for ourselves. One member of the Advisory Committee has actually gone into the site and has seen that the information in the format wanted and requested is actually there. As to why the committee was told, join the guessing line. Why would selectmen, who profess to want transparency, support such a move? All will have to go ask them, as the conclusion I come to is they simply did not, nor wish Advisory or others to have access to such information. I draw the conclusion that the idea from the powers at be wish for everyone else to have as little information as possible; ie, a control issue; control information and remain in the drivers seat. That does not seem to be the case any longer due to the spending of a few thousand taxpayer dollars. Which now results in the same information that was always available up until August 2017. That is when financial information suddenly became scarce or hard to come by. So far, it looks like only a few minutes were/are required to obtain the information originally requested. One would think with an accountant and an assistant, the information could have been provided as before without the spending of the additional few thousand dollars. Again, the reasons for this would have to be asked of the selectmen.

An additional reminder:
Advisory and other Boards, Committees, Commissions were suddenly told there would be less financial information rather than more of these budget versus actual reports. Perhaps the focus should be; why? why all of a sudden is less information available on a regular basis now? The books were all redone, now complete with "good" numbers. Remember, it was Advisory Committee using these reports while looking at financial transfers during the year that an error was found with regards to a balance on one account. It was around $2,500.00 or so and after that error was found and reported, the committee was told it did not affect the "big picture" or words to that effect. The end balance of accounts was not really changed by that number. So, now with less information in those reports and with the available information also very generic, it makes it very hard if not impossible for the Advisory Committee to track and find things such as the above mentioned errors. Again, I draw the conclusion it is a control thing to keep all information in a very tight circle. Again, my question is why? Is it the new school? Is it tax money availability for spending? Is it finding too many errors or questions of the information that use to be in those financial reports? What is the real reason (s) for the sudden change (s) to those reports that were available monthly then changed to quarterly? The message from this board of selectmen has been (for a while) more policies, more transparency, more information, yet there are reports that show otherwise, you know, on paper. Again, selectmen would have to answer those questions as they are in charge.

Note: Templeton by-laws state that Advisory Committee is to have unfettered access to all things financial with regards to books, records, etc. With an accountant, assistant accountant, a treasurer/Collector who is knowledgeable about their job, this information should be easily produced, readily available and the detail that had been in those reports should not have been reduced. Back to the question; why??

The following is from an email from the Templeton Town Administrator concerning the request of the Templeton Advisory Committee to have a Town reserve fund of $80,000.00.

If you remember, Town Meeting via the T/A and board of selectmen left over 300 thousand dollars of free cash (left over taxpayer money) on the table under the working capital description. Since the selectmen's own financial policy states "to replenish other reserves", it seems prudent to fund this requested budget item at the requested amount from that still unused free cash. This increase in the emergency reserve fund could help Templeton in it's quest to obtain a bond rating. This could be accomplished without affecting any other department, such as the senior center (COA). Whatever, if any, amount of the reserve fund that is not used during the fiscal year, would revert back to free cash (so called), which again, would help the selectmen (Town) meet their policy of generating free cash in the 5% of the prior year's budget. This is another example of the Advisory Committee trying to help the Town, ie: selectmen in their quest to create and follow these policies.

Now we will see if the selectmen truly wish to work together for the benefit of the Town, I will be watching and reporting.

Policy:

The Town of Templeton will continue to avoid using free cash to fund the operating budget, except in the event of an emergency or extraordinary or unforeseen events as described in A-1 above.

The Town will endeavor to annually generate free cash of 5 percent of the prior year’s omnibus operating budget, less school debt

The Town will strive to have its free cash certified in time for use at its Fall Town Meeting.  Free Cash may be used for certain one-time expenditures, such as major capital projects, emergencies, other unanticipated expenditures and deficits (i.e. snow & ice) or to replenish other reserves.  Free cash shall not be depleted in any year, so that the following year's calculation will begin with a positive balance.