The average salary for a Templeton highway employee (laborer/operator) is around $45,500.00 plus on average 27 - 30 thousand dollars per employee for benefits.

Also, funds in budget for each employee:

$300.00 for boots, $200.0 for glasses, $125.00 for jacket, $100.00 for DOT physicals, $75.00 drug testing, Tee shirts (5 each @ $12.50 per shirt).

Town of Templeton pays 75% of the costs for health insurance for each covered employee.

All of this information is listed in a budget book and is part of the cost of maintaining roads, parks, etc. All of this is paid before any money is allotted to repair roads. Roads are public safety number 1 because everyone drives on the roads, residents, police, fire, ambulance and if the roads are unsafe, that affects everyone, if the roads are not plowed, no ambulance is getting thru.

Hopefully this year, each town employees pay will be included in the annual town report, as it should be.

 Unfinished, not started Templeton projects,

from October 2022 expenditure report from the accountant.

2019 - recreation - Gilman Waite / $10,000.00.

2019 - building/grounds - senior center / $19,581.00.

2020 - building/grounds - town hall cameras / $3,000.00

2020 - DPW - Main Street bridge / $148,700.00

2021 - DPW - Royalston Road title work / $15,448.00

2021 - select board - NRSD regional agreement / $9,395.00.

2023 -DPW - Improve GW building / $15,000.00.

2023 - DPW - street signs / $7,500.00.

December 31, 2022 will be end of 2nd quarter, so department quarterly reports should happen at a selectmen meeting in January, these and other things demand explanation and estimation of completion, if project is actually planned to be completed. 2019, 2020, 2021 monies will probably not do what was presented at the time due to increase in costs and a dollar buying less today than it would have back in 2019. (thanks joe biden)

 Hard to have good roads, sidewalks, drainage without the highway dept. getting a proper budget, Roads are driven on by everybody; residents, police, fire, ambulance service, so real public safety begins with the highway department! If there are no sidewalks, people walk in the road, potholes and bad roads, people drive a bit erratic to avoid hitting them. Bad roads also cost everyone a bit extra in repairs and maintenance of vehicles.

 Thought that is how it goes. Town Meeting Times, Templeton official guide for town meeting. Page 93 - "A motion to amend requires only a majority vote, even though the motion to be amended may require a two-thirds vote or more. It must be remembered that the main motion must always be acted upon after action on a motion to amend. Page 96, "the moderator must maintain a careful record of the motions that are pending and put them toa vote in the proper order. Action must be taken on every motion. A common fault is the failure to put a main motion to a vote after action on a hotly debated motion to amend when it is clear that the only real question is whether the meeting desires the original or the amended form. The main motion, however, must be put to a vote whether or not amended.' My opinion, town meeting got bad legal advice again! Regarding article 9, I suppose all is well that ends well, but, I happen to think details matter and the fucking lawyer should know them better than all the rest of us!

 Note: There is a record that can be found on Templeton Town website concerning a certain parcel of land off / on Crotty Avenue, which is off Route 68 (perhaps state road) that is owned by the inhabitants of Town of Templeton, sold to the town on July 31, 1997 for a dollar. The deed states it was sold to the town from the Otter River Recreation Association for one dollar. It has a conservation restriction in perpetuity and is supposed to be overseen by the Templeton Conservation Committee. One can also find this item on / in town meeting records on Town website or by visiting the town clerk. Deed states no commercial use of land, maintain as a swimming and picnicking facility. Any concerns on this propert, one should probably begin with attending a conservation committee meeting and ask about it.

 So, does anyone think it might be time to require licensing of cats, if for no other reason than to aid animal control officers, so called animal shelters and just reglar people who may find a stray cat. I personally once had a dog in my yard, very friendly who met me when I came home one night, I thought he was just passing through, but when he was still here the next morning, curled up by the front door, I gave him some water and food and checked his collar for a license, called the number on the rabies tag, found who owner was and brought the dog home to them. They were thankful for that. I could not have done that without license information. Since records show that as of June 30, 2022, Templeton raised over 37 thousand dollars from just dog license fees, while there was a budget request of less than $800.00 to purchase said licenses along with postage and cards, I believe the fee for a dog or cat license could be reduced, by way of town meeting vote, to lower cost to no more than 5 bucks. We just pick a dollar figure and that would be that. One can expect push back from many municipal figureheads on this citing loss of revenue, ah, those fees help pay for animal control officer (which would be pure poppycock) The animal control officer costs are covered within police department budget. To show both sides, money to cover town operating expenses, including the schools, come from 3 basic places, real estate taxes (taxes) state aid and local receipts, which dog licenses are part of. The catch is, fees, are supposed to be set to cover the cost of a service only provided to those who use it. Not everyone owns a dog, but everyone can call animal control, so why penalize or make dog owners pay for animal control? After all, the meals tax was sold to residents and business alike as going to pay for capital, when was the last time you saw an article at town meeting for capital paid for by meals tax revenue, which according to records, was 67 thousand dollars for fiscal year 22, which goes from July 1, 2021 until June 30, 2022. (you can see this information for yourself by going to town website, click on find it fast, click on R, then reports and presentations, then reports and scroll down until you see quarterly finance and look at fourth quarter fy2022, open that and scroll down to page 23 and look for meals tax) When we go to vote at town meeting, we need to understand what is being asked of us and when we are told money is not part of taxes or this program will be for this, we need to know the real deal; CPC money is tax dollars, just not raised by way of the tax rate, it is a steady 3% surcharge (fee or tax, however you wish to label it) and it is shown on your real estate tax bill.

 FYI - Templeton recreation has 10 thousand dollars available to them, by way of town meeting vote, to improve Gilman Waite field. Just in case they were interested in improving say the tennis court (s).

Deed to said field states donated to town and Templeton no longer has a high school, as the town belongs to a regional school district, which is a legally separate entity from the town.

There is also 15 thousand dollars available, by way of town meeting vote to improve building at Gilman Waite field. The town is appropriating money, by way of town meeting vote, to take care of a town owned recreation / sports complex, so it follows, recreation events sponsored or put on by the Town of Templeton recreation committee have priority over other sport events held or planned by say, NRSD. Just as the Town has to ask the school district if the auditorium is available for a town meeting, the school district must ask the town if the fields at GW are open for any event, they wish to use GW for. That is a policy document adopted by the Templeton board of selectmen (select board). This would be called coordination, planning, FOLLOWING POLICY!