Pete, Pete and repeattttt.

Just read weekly town administrator report. Under fire dept., it is the same message for 5 weeks in a row (must be good execution)

Apparatus/equipment: 4 gas meters from ladder 1 still out of service for repairs, Engine 2 out of service for normal oil change and service work. While returning from service work Engine 2 developed fuel and oil leaks. It remains out of service for repairs. Engine 3 light tower is out of service for repairs. The truck itself is in service.

 § 22-15

Motion to pass over articles.

A motion to "pass over" an article in the warrant shall not be entertained until a motion incorporating the substance of said article is before the meeting and at least one voter has spoken in favor thereof, unless, after a reasonable opportunity so to do, no voter makes such motion or speaks in favor thereof. A motion to "pass over" shall be debatable as to its merits but not as to the merits of the article.

At about 2:03;58 into town meeting, a motion to pass over article 11 was made by I believe Mathew Rivard second by selectman Griffis to pass over article 11. Clearly in the town bylaws, a motion on the article needs to be made first before any motion to pass over the article can be made. Since no main motion was made, kind of hard for anyone to speak in favor of the motion. Once again, this current board of selectmen failed to follow town bylaws and fail to even know them or perhaps ignore them.

The selectmen insist on making all the motions, so, they need to know the procedure (s) to do so.

 After reading the Templeton weekly report from town administrator, I have to think about is this coming to Templeton?

Officials in a suburban Chicago community have issued municipal citations to a local news reporter for what they say were persistent contacts with city officials seeking comment on treacherous fall flooding.

The tickets from Calumet City, a city of 35,000 located 24 miles (39 kilometers) south of Chicago, allege “interference/hampering of city employees" by Hank Sanders, a reporter for the Daily Southtown, the Chicago Tribune reported Friday.

It's the latest of several recent First Amendment dust-ups involving city officials and news outlets around the country, following this week's arrest of a small-town Alabama newspaper publisher and reporter after reporting on a grand jury investigation of a school district, and the August police raid of a newspaper and its publisher's home in Kansas tied to an apparent dispute a restaurant owner had with the paper.

 Town resident questions his town government. Town employee does not like being questioned, interferes with his free time.

So, the town employee, Templeton town administrator uses tax dollars to complain that a few town residents are causing him grief because tey are asking questions and then said town employee states he is going to talk with chairman of select board, who is a government employee (outside of being a paid selectman) to make a list of names of people asking questions and for information (a job of government employees) and make it sound like the residents are costing tax payers money by asking questions.

So, if you follow along, a town employee, adam LaMontagne, is using tax dollars, is time, town paper, computers, etc., to complain that a few residents are asking too many questions, which as the town employee tasked with day to day stuff of town governance and one of the town's records access officers, he is using tax dollars to complain about having to do his job? Wonderful, even Bear is shaking his head at that one! If this was not so serious, it would be damn funny, a town employee using town money to complain about having to do his job, fantastic.

 

latest from Templeton town administrator weekly report.

Our office has been receiving daily public records requests this week which has triggered a queue.

Each will be handled on a first come, first serve basis within the allowable time. We have a couple habitual records requestors in Town. I will be looking into the possibility of adding a part-time public records access officer/archivist position for the Town to respond to each accordingly. I will be examining with the Chair to see if we should post a log within the Weekly of the requestor’s name and whether they were assessed a fee or not.

Well, well well, it has come to try and intimidate people for asking for public information.

Habitual records requesters, well, I, Jeff Bennett have been asking for many public records of late and I have no intention of stopping. I know of another person who is requesting alot of information because the TA and others in town government are less than transparent. State law is almost everything that comes into town hall is public information. The TA is one of the towns record access officers per MGL. Apparently he does not like doing that job. Again, better transparency, less lying, less bullshit and answer the questions and maybe you get fewer requests for records. Obey the law, follow town bylaws and follow your own policy and maybe get fewer requests. You are not going to embarrass me mr. TA, just going to make me dig more and request more, make you earn your 100K per year.

 No matter how anyone tries to frame it, the Templeton advisory committee did not follow town bylaw, as in violated the bylaws of Templeton on September 20, 2023 during which the committee discussed and voted against a transfer from the town reserve fund. 

Templeton town bylaws clearly state:

§ 9-6

Meetings.

The Advisory Committee shall meet jointly with the Select Board whenever there is a request to consider adjusting spending limits on any revolving fund, any end of year financial transfer or any request of transfer from the Town reserve fund.

Failure to follow bylaws, policy, state law, etc., leads to a lack of trust in any entity. I hope this committee that is supposed to look at financial issues especially and at all articles for any town meeting, annual or special objectively and independently from the TA or selectmen, gets back on track and follows the bylaws of the town, which were voted on by the people of Templeton, which if one looks at history, finance committees were started and later mandated by state law, with the aim of helping people at town meeting have an understanding of what is being asked of them and what are the pro and cons of each article. Hard to trust any recommendations from an entity that fails to follow a simple bylaw.

Something to remember as one contemplates article 22 of the upcoming STM on November 15, 2023.

 https://www.templetonma.gov/home/select-board/pages/stone-bridge