School choice, it is the schools choice!

A school district cannot stop students from leaving a district, but they can stop taking in students from other districts. It requires a vote by the school committee and that can stop trying to balance a schools budget by using students as a cash commodity, which in my opinion, is not a very honorable thing to do.


posted by jeff Bennett

So we have at least one selectmen stating on this blog they did not know how town meeting was going to go. Selectmen solving issues? Sounds like they are just creating more.

Question: Is there a rogue selectmen making calls by themselves and or with the town administrator?
               Seems like the rest of the board went along with it rather than question it, that is one of the
               things town meeting is for, to discuss and ask questions.

Question: Is that democracy in action? Is that how this board of selectmen is "functioning"? One selectmen making the rules                         without input from other board members in a public meeting?

Question: Are other selectmen allowing this to happen without calling for discussion or do they know
               about it and are fine with it, privately, then have a public opinion on it to make themselves look better?

Failure to explain all the warrant articles to the legislative body is an affront to democracy, it is an insult to the people who take the time to show up and wish to discuss something. Too bad a majority if not all of the selectmen did not want article 8 to be discussed, which means they put their personal agenda in front of the people that elected them. We are not suppose to agree on everything, as this board of selectmen seem to want, agree in public to paint an all is good picture, when we all know it is not. Seems like that has been tried the past few years, so how is that working out for you?

What we really do not need now is another policy to just use as a puppet to hold up as a statement of "onward and upward." Once again, this is not a pep rally, it is business! Should have honored the three no votes and found another way to deal with it.

So now, what are the real powers of selectmen at town meeting? After the warrant is voted, posted and town meeting is called, what really do the selectmen have to do that we must allow them to do?  What are the rights of the legislative body/ They do have and they demonstrated that they have the power to challenge the moderator so they must have the power to challenge the selectmen and they should, in my opinion.


The above is basically my opinion as a registered voter and participant.

posted by Jeff Bennett

As for the lawyer at Town meeting, he or his firm is hired by the Board of selectmen and he acts on things they request. You pay for it but that is how it goes. I believe if asked by the selectmen, Paul would have / could have, put forth proper and legal wording to allow for the motion to be discussed and voted on. The selectmen chose not to do that. I believe you will find a majority of the selectmen did not want further discussion on the school. Further investigation is required to find out what the actual authority of the selectmen is during a town meeting. Perhaps selectmen are not required and perhaps a group of citizens could go front and center and read each article to all who attend town meeting. That way, everyone who attends would hear the entire article read. Remember, the people who attend town meeting and sign in as registered voters are the legislative body, that body votes for or against all town by-laws and appropriations to operate the town. Perhaps a new by-law, properly researched, to force a reading of all articles, rather than "as written" could then happen. It is your government and it really does not need to be changed. It only becomes bad or misaligned when we allow it.

That is my opinion.
If a group of business men and farmers can take on the king of England, certainly the town's people can take on the selectmen.

posted by Jeff Bennett

from the face book of John Columbus:
Filibuster by the advisory committee.

As a member of the Templeton Advisory Committee, I can say there was no organized filibuster or delay tactic on the part of the Committee as a whole. What individual members do is on them, as they are still a resident of Templeton and a voter. Was selectmen Brooks acting as a selectmen or an individual? She did not come off the stage to speak on the floor, which the moderator informed Advisory Committee that if we wished to speak on recommendations, we could speak from our table but if we wished to act as a citizen, we needed to speak from the floor. The selectmen apparently did not get the same instructions or they ignored them. They have after all declared themselves "the superior board"

posted by Jeff Bennett

Massachusetts General Law, chapter 39:

Section 15. The moderator shall preside and regulate the proceedings, decide all questions of order, and make public declaration of all votes, and may administer in open meeting the oath of office to any town officer chosen thereat. If a vote so declared is immediately questioned by seven or more voters, he shall verify it by polling the voters or by dividing the meeting unless the town has by a previous order or by-law provided another method. If a two thirds, four fifths or nine tenths vote of a town meeting is required by statute, the count shall be taken, and the vote shall be recorded in the records by the clerk; provided, however, that a town may decide by by-law or vote not to take a count and record the vote if a two-thirds vote of a town meeting is required by statute; and provided, further, that if the vote is unanimous, a count need not be taken, and the clerk shall record the vote as unanimous.

A town may pass by-laws, subject to this section, for the regulation of the proceedings at town meetings. Such by-laws shall be approved and published in the manner prescribed by section thirty-two of chapter forty.

In any town having a representative town meeting form of government the town meeting members shall not use the secret ballot when voting in the exercise of the corporate powers of said town or on any motion unless two thirds of the town meeting members present and voting thereon vote that a secret ballot be used.

posted by Jeff Bennett

Where does it come from?

Actually, I do talk to people and people talk to me. I see town employees, including department heads, other boards and committees, people at town meeting. Then there are the groups such as the friends of the Templeton elders. I speak with some people at MacDonalds in the morning when I stop for a coffee. Surprising the number of "seniors" who gather there to talk. Information is all around us and while it may not all be on paper, so to speak, sometimes it is very interesting and worth tossing out there. I had heard the closing of the senior center before town meeting on October 20, but waited until after the meeting. If the article to take money out of stabilization had passed, there would be no need to close the senior center or anything else. All one has to do is think about it for a minute, unless the selectmen suddenly "find" some more money, how will they come up with $87,500.00?

By the way, I hope people do not fret or spend too much time wondering where somethings come from or begin. The information is all around us, all you have to do is listen.


posted by Jeff Bennett

Some thoughts on a reply to one of my blog entries:

I generally let the any replies on here go, as I let people post comments, but sometimes I find things interesting and decide to comment on the comments, clear as mud, right.

Onward and upward, where we going, to the moon? What part of Templeton is the "selectmen's house?" I always thought the selectmen were elected to watch out for the entire town rather than just some departments. Since the light & water department of Templeton deals with all of the people of Templeton, just check who your light bill comes from. Who has to sign the warrant to pay all the town's bills? Who hires and oversees the people who are suppose to take care of town employees taxes, health insurance, retirement? The selectmen and who do the L&W commissioners turn to when they need to borrow money?, the selectmen, so in my opinion, the Templeton light & water department is in the selectmen's house.

Some selectmen should remember how they came to be elected, a special election and how one selectmen made a speech about democracy and representation. It is on video by the way. Democracy and the democratic process is suppose to be about the free and unfettered sharing of information, not just the part you want to share to favor your opinion. Might be time for people to take back their town meeting and that will take some work.

As for working together, how come when the Advisory Committee asks the selectmen for information, it is not readily forthcoming? Talk all you want about working together, but where were the selectmen at pre-town meeting? Where is the budget to actual for the school project? Where are the contracts involving the town and the school district? Two legal separate entities by the way.

"We don't have free cash to certify and our board has made the promise it will never be use for operating expenses."

If I recall correctly, there was a member of the audience thrown out of a selectmen meeting after one selectmen talked about using some of that mysterious 750 thousand dollars of "free cash" for operating expenses. The current board of selectmen wanted to use savings to cover operating expense, long term debt. So much for that promise.

posted by Jeff Bennett