The power of Town Meeting - sometimes through it's Advisory Committee:

The town meeting can have a great deal of control over department heads. The town meeting can, for example, investigate town problems or administration through its advisory committee, other standing committees or special ad hoc committees. On the basis of findings and recommendations by such committees, or on the petition of ten or more local voters, the town meeting may adopt resolutions and bylaws establishing new town policies or initiating new programs [G.L. c. 39, §10]. The town meeting can also, within certain limits, reorganize town agencies and control development in the town. The most important power of town meeting is the power of the purse. By appropriating or withholding funds, the town meeting can force, prevent or influence actions by town officials and departments.

The above can be found in the latest copy of selectmen handbook.

No one time money to support Town budget:

Why is there a Town Meeting Warrant article to use ambulance receipts money to help with the general fund budget then? It is on the Templeton Town website; article 28, $250,000.00 from ambulance receipts to support general fund operating expense budget. This article actually has FY2019 but I suspect that is a cut n paste mistake.

 I recall that the message from selectmen was no one time money for the budget, just savings and capital items. Has the plan changed?

November 7, 2011, article 8, special town meeting vote:

To see if the Town will vote to create a Fire Department-Ambulance Receipts Reserved for Appropriation Account where collected ambulance receipts for services are placed beginning with FY2013. Monies out of this fund are expended only through town meeting vote for the purpose of funding various Fire Department capital requests pursuant to the

betterment of the Fire Department services as deemed by the Templeton Fire Chief.

Submitted by the Templeton Fire Chief

On a motion duly made and seconded the Town voted to create a Fire / Ambulance Receipts Reserved for Appropriation Account where collected ambulance receipts for services are placed beginning with fiscal year 2013.

Passed Unanimously/Nov. 7th @ 8:00

So, you make the call on the intent of this article and whether it is correct to use these funds to help pay for the Town general fund expenses or shall this money be used to make things like an ambulance lease payment, seeing how the ambulance operation is a fee based service (as presented to voters in the past by some selectmen). Time for the Town to do business in a different way? Is it time for selectmen to actually follow their financial policies?


from the Capital plan as presented by the Capital Planning Committee:

Section 6: Committee Recommendations The committee recommends acceptance of the above tax and non-tax impact capital requests. Furthermore, this committee must strongly urge the BoS, the Department heads, and the town supporting staff offices to promptly execute the MGL-defined purchase goals. Based on historical data, this committee recommends prompt purchases made in accordance with the town administrator’s guidance on leased items and future impacts to the operating budget; any deviation could send a ripple-effect thru the integrated Master Capital Plan.

What could go wrong? 

Yesterday, Templeton highway dept. was using a loader to patch pot holes. It apparently has been an ongoing approach as I encountered a loader being used for that purpose on Partridgeville Road.

As for yesterday, I encountered a highway loader on the one-way section of South Road next to the new school construction site. Once a vehicle gets there, no where to go and with all the cars parked on one side of the road, the road was blocked by the loader. The loader operator appeared to get upset when I hit my horn as he backed up closer and closer to my vehicle. I could not back up because now I had a vehicle behind me.

I checked the highway budget for fiscal year 2019 (present FY) and sure enough, in the fiscal year 2019 budget under highway, page 146; police details - $3,150.00. Page 132 under highway; training - $1,350.00. As one road is one way entirely and part of South Road is one way, I see this happening again and again, blocking of road due to any number of items, so clearly a plan is needed; funds are provided for police details, those funds should be used. Again, a loader for pot hole patching?? Signs at the intersection of Wellington and South Road alerting drivers of the situation would also be nice, so as to give drivers the option of turning around and going back up South Road and use Victoria Lane to go to Hubbardston Road and go where ever one is headed. At the very least, rather than getting pissed off because of a horn, how about a public employee, who works for the residents, get out and explain what is happening and how long it may be. There were two town vehicles with two town employees there, one in the loader and one in sidewalk snow blower. One of them could have gotten out and explained things. Still, why no police detail or signs for this work. Is there any daily work plan over at highway? I voiced my concerns to all selectmen and the Town Administrator via email which has been acknowledged by one selectmen and the T/A. This has nothing to do with the number of employees at highway, rather everything to do with management or lack there of, in my opinion.

Quid pro quo:

Page 187 of the 2020 budget/legislative package as seen on Templeton Town website:

As many of you remember, Senator Brewer helped us secure $300,000.00 towards completion of the building in exchange for the building being named in his honor. He has asked on many occasions if we still plan to name the building after him so it will be named Senator Stephen Brewer Templeton Senior Community Center.

So let us get this straight; Brewer used his position as a state senator to divert or direct 300K of tax payer money (some of which naturally came from Templeton residents) and in order for that to happen, he requested "payment" in the form of the building being named after him? Is that not called bribery and is that against the law? Is that ethical? Is that what you want from elected state representatives paid with your tax dollars?

Interesting proposed by-law for Templeton: Rude, Indecent speech or behavior / $50.00 fine allowed - enforcer - police department or designee.

How much does it cost per day to house a prisoner because your honor, I cannot afford the $50.00 and I have a tooth ache that requires attention and seeing how I will be in custody of law enforcement, they need to take care of my medical needs or else a law suit happens.

Who decides rude behavior or speech; what is the definition and would that violate my free speech rights, seeing how one can burn an american flag. Seems like a power grab by the police department / selectmen.

That by-law proposal is on page 414 under the by-law section of the budget/legislative package on the town website.

Get Town Hall in order before moving sewer collections:

from the fiscal year 2018 Town audit management letter.

3. Closing Checklists
Closing checklists are employed by accounting departments to better ensure that all routine and non-routine accounting transactions and reconciliations are performed and the final outputs (i.e., the Town’s balance sheet and Schedule A) are reviewed for accuracy and completeness. The use of closing checklists is commonplace in private industry but is seldom used in the public sector. The Town had great difficulty getting its free cash approved; in the end it was approved at the expected amount, but the Department of Revenue process was not used properly. We recommend that the Town Accountant, Treasurer/Collector develop a closing checklist to monitor and track the annual accounting close in order for the process to be more efficient in the future.

6. Indirect Costs (repeated from prior year) Water, sewer, and light indirect costs are approved at Town Meeting, and transfers are made annually into the General Fund. However, they are not reflected as transfers on the tax recap, but instead as miscellaneous revenues and expenses. Furthermore, the transfers are not made if sufficient resources do not exist in the enterprise funds, and there is no formal process to the calculation of indirect costs from year to year. A more comprehensive calculation of indirect costs should be undertaken, documented, and signed off by the Town and enterprise funds with updates performed every few years.

9. Treasurer/Collector Office (repeated from prior year)
In our letter to management dated March 23, 2017 we identified 17 critical areas in the Treasurer/Collectors Office that needed to be addressed. Many of those have been addressed through fiscal year 2018, however some remain and should be addressed in the current fiscal year. Those are highlighted as follows:
• While efforts are made to collect cash from department heads weekly, there is no formal policy regarding cash held by departments outside the Treasurer’s Office. The Treasurer was unaware that all Town cash is under the Treasurer’s control, and the Treasurer has the duty to force effective internal control policies on all departments who handle cash. 
• Presently, the Collector does not use a lock box to collect taxes. A lock box is essentially a third-party collector of taxes. Taxpayers mail their payments to a Post Office box, and the third-party collector deposits the funds for the Town and posts activity for all those who have paid. Daily, an electronic file is then sent to the Town where payments are uploaded automatically to the Town’s system.
• Cash forecasts are currently not prepared as part of a monthly routine. This is a critical process for Towns that are cash stressed; we suggest such a process is implemented immediately.

How convenient . . .
 Posted on the Templeton Town web site under sewer collections report as:

As a matter of sound financial management practice, those responsible for determining payments due the town should not also be charged with collecting those payments. Therefore, we recommend that officials separate responsibility for creating the commitment that authorizes the collection of taxes, fees or other charges due the municipality from the collection function.”

It is stated that is from the financial review of 2009 by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue,

That is not the complete opinion from the DOR financial review:

19. Centralize the Collection of Taxes, Fees and Other Charges As a matter of sound financial management practice, those responsible for determining payments due the town should not also be charged with collecting those payments. Therefore, we recommend that officials separate responsibility for creating the commitment that authorizes the collection of taxes, fees or other charges due the municipality from the collection function. Presently, the light & water plant and sewer department create a commitment, and, at the same time, are responsible for receiving payments. This approach may require that personnel currently operating elsewhere be reallocated to the collector’s office in order to process the additional customer volume.

Portion in bold was left off of the posting, why is that?


The present Town Treasurer / Collector was not aware she was responsible for the tracking of the Town's cash!

The recommendations over the years has always been collections; not billing, not personnel. We have elected Sewer Commissioners for a reason!

Other town departments collect money after generating a bill and those are not addressed by the selectmen; why not? It really is about the money, selectmen Brooks "can we charge sewer and will that help the general fund." BOS meeting, April 2, 2018.