As of 4:30 P.M. on Tuesday, March 17, 2020, Templeton Town Hall is now like many other local "public" buildings; closed to the public. Message is if you need something, try online first, email or phone. You may be able to make an appointment, for things like needed home inspections, to buy, sell a home, install a new furnace, etc. If you want to try to keep up with corona, for MA information, try MA.gov/corona. There is a 2 1 1 number, my experience so far, can take a while to get through.

The state announced it is pushing out a total of 5 million dollars, aimed to help local boards of health to do some of the many things that may come about with the corona. Cleaning supplies, visits, follow ups, etc. Any costs may not now have to come from local budgets.

With all the hype of how much TP to buy, don't forget the others.

Monday afternoon, I called Gardner animal shelter and listened to recording and I left a message.


Got a call this morning, Tuesday, March 17, 2020, from Gardner Animal control; building is closed to public for now, fuckin corona, they have a big donation box to leave stuff, I am bringing 100 lbs food and some other things. Best part is, if they get overstocked, they call other places such as veteran organization to help out with some who may need some help in feeding fido. They act like food banks, they help and share when they can to help many, so maybe skip that 300 hundredth roll of tp and drop some food off for the 4 legged boys and girls who are already in lock down. 

The donation box is not large enough to hold big stuff, but you can leave things by the front door. This is one of those things you can do if you feel like helping out the community. 

from website of Massachusetts Municipal Association

At 5:40 p.m. yesterday, Gov. Charlie Baker issued an Executive Order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law due to the ongoing COVID-19 public health emergency.

The order is intended to enable public bodies to carry out their responsibilities while adhering to public health recommendations regarding social distancing.

The order relieves public bodies from the requirement in the open meeting law that meetings be conducted in a public place that is open and physically accessible to the public, provided that the public body makes provision to ensure public access to the deliberations of the public body through adequate, alternative means.

According to the Attorney General’s Division of Open Government, which is charged with enforcing the law, “adequate, alternative means” may include, without limitation, providing public access through telephone, internet, or satellite enabled audio or video conferencing or any other technology that enables the public to clearly follow the proceedings of the public body in real time. A municipal public body that for reasons of economic hardship and despite best efforts is unable to provide alternative means of public access in real time may instead post on its municipal website a full and complete transcript, recording, or other comprehensive record of the proceedings as soon as practicable afterwards.

In addition, all members of a public body may participate in a meeting remotely, the AG’s office states. The open meeting law’s requirement that a quorum of the body and the chair be physically present at the meeting location is suspended.

All other provisions of the open meeting law, such as the requirements regarding posting notice of meetings and creating and maintaining accurate meeting minutes, as well as the limited, enumerated purposes for holding an executive session, remain in effect.

The governor’s executive order is responsive to many of the concerns that municipal officials have raised over the past several days as communities grapple with the public crisis.

Following the advice of public health professionals to reduce the spread of the virus, cities and towns are considering restricting access to many public buildings, seeking to hold meetings and hearings remotely, placing caps on the size of public meetings and events, and taking other actions to protect the public and those most vulnerable to the novel coronavirus.

Without changes, the MMA has argued that the open meeting law and related regulations would make it virtually impossible to take all of these steps and conduct necessary governmental business.

“The governor’s Executive Order provides municipalities and state agencies with an important measure of relief from the open meeting law during the public health emergency,” said MMA Executive Director Geoff Beckwith. “The MMA has been in close contact with the governor’s office regarding open meeting law issues, and many others, and we appreciate that the administration is taking action to address those concerns.”

Local officials may want to consult with their municipal counsel to see how this action could provide relief or flexibility while moving forward with local actions under state law and local charter provisions to protect the public and the municipal workforce during this unprecedented emergency.

4, 2020 at 11:29 a.m. | UPDATED: March 14, 2020 at 11:44 a.m.

Gov. Charlie Baker is starting a “coronavirus command center” to battle the spread of the novel virus in the Bay State.

The command center will focus on expanding lab capacity for and distribution of testing, planning quarantine operations and overseeing allocation of personal protective equipment and looking at hospital crisis capacity.

“This team of experts will focus solely on pushing back against this disease and moving quickly to respond to the needs of our communities and residents,” Baker said.

The command center will be led by Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders. She will hand over her day-to-day duties.

The state is also issuing new guidance that will allow more people to be tested. Clinicians will no longer have to receive testing approval from the state lab before submitting specimens for patients that meet certain criteria. Clinicians can now also send just a single swab instead of two to speed up testing capacity at the state lab, Sudders said.

“This change will allow us to test more individuals in a day,” Baker said, adding that an additional lab coming online “will dramatically increase our ability to test and that’s a really good thing.”

Massachusetts officials had reported 123 cases of the novel coronavirus in the state as of Friday afternoon, with 18 confirmed and 105 “presumptive positive.” Of the cases, 94 are linked to last month’s Biogen conference. Overall, 475 patients have been tested for the virus.

Dear NRSD Staff,
At this time, the Narragansett Regional School District (NRSD), in consultation with area districts, has made the decision to close school for students for the next two weeks, from March 16, 2020 through March 27, 2020. All staff are asked to report to the auditorium on Monday at 10:00 am for a meeting at which time we will outline expectations and address any questions which you may have. Recently, the District has been part of several conference calls and other discussions that have included local district superintendents, NRSD nurses, administrators, and union representation, the Massachusetts Department of Health (DPH), local Departments of Health, and the Commissioner of Education, among others. The Commissioner is being proactive in stating that schools will be required to remain open through their 185th day, but will not need to make up school days after March 15th if schools are closed as a result of actions taken relative to COVID-19. Given that, NRSD’s last day of school will be June 23, 2020 and April vacation will continue as scheduled on the school calendar. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has given guidance to districts, including the following highlights:
● Cancel or reschedule large assemblies of 250 people or more for the foreseeable future;
● Limit other gatherings with fewer than 250 individuals and instances where students, staff and others are less than 6 feet apart from one another;
● Alter schedules to reduce large group interactions, such as by staggering recess and lunch;
● Limit inter-school interaction;
● Consider regular health checks for students, staff, and visitors such as taking temperatures and evaluating respiratory symptoms;
● Cancel extracurricular activities.

A few of these key recommendations are not feasible in our District. Among them are canceling large assemblies of 250 or more people, and limiting instances where students, staff and others are less than 6 feet apart from one another. As you know, our lunch schedules includes times where there are more than 250 students, and it is not feasible to maintain a six foot distance between people in our buildings. Heywood Hospital has stated that the community needs to work together to prevent the spread of the virus. Although children are not likely to be in danger from the virus, they can spread the virus to others whom it directly affects such as their parents, grandparents and caregivers, as well as the community as a whole. For these and other reasons, we are taking the prudent action of cancelling school for students for the next two weeks, from March 16, 2020 through March 27, 2020. Thank you for your understanding and support during this unprecedented time, as we continue to do our best to manage this ever changing situation.

Sincerely, Dr. Christopher Casavant
Superintendent of Schools

Message from Templeton Selectmen office:

Good Morning all:

Due to the evolving situation, Carter has conferred with the Chairman and a decision has been made to cancel tomorrow's budget session and take advantage of the scheduled snow date of Saturday, March 21. 

On Monday, we will send out information on conference call options for participation in next Saturday's meeting and other provisions to make sure that everyone is able to participate.

We encourage you and remind you to submit any questions you might have in writing so we can get answers out to all. 

Department Heads: please contact those under your supervision that would be attending to let them know. 

Steve: please let Shawn know that this will need to be taped next Saturday instead. 

Have a nice safe weekend.

Massachusetts Municipal Auditor Accountant Association

MMAAA canceling annual education program scheduled for March 16-18, 2020

Date: March 11, 2020

Given the evolving and intensifying developments and the Governor’s State of Emergency over the last 24 hours regarding the Corona virus the MMAAA Executive Board voted unanimously to cancel the MA Municipal Auditors and Accountants Education Training Program scheduled for March 16-18 at UMass in Amherst.

To all of our registered attendees and members, we want to thank you for your patience over the last week as we monitored the ever-evolving situation and tried to make the best decision in the interest of all of our members.  We also appreciate the patience and understanding of all of the speakers and teachers who are essential to making the conference a success.

Members will receive 100% of their registration fee refunded to them and do not need to call UMass to cancel.  However, all members who have reserved hotel rooms including the Campus Center must call and cancel.

The exam will be postponed to a future date.  Members registered for the exam will be notified when a new date is determined.  Exam takers with partial credit will be granted an additional year to pass both sections of the exam.

Also, any members attending this year to maintain their certification will be granted an additional year to do so.

Thank you all for your understanding given this highly unusual situation.

MMAAA Executive Board

from the Town Administrator weekly report, March 12, 2020:

Administration & Finance Town Accountant: My first week back after medical leave has been very busy. Nichole did payroll and the warrants, she also continued to work on the ethics compliance for the town. I completed the February Monthly reconciliation. Nichole, Cheryl and I interviewed for the assistant town accountant position and chose a candidate. Carter met with our choice and offered him the job and he accepted. His projected start date will be April 1st, pending the pre employment screening. Attended the staff meeting on Thursday before heading to Hubbardston. I heard this week that our School for the MMAAA has been canceled due to the Corona Virus. The only time to take the Accountant Certification test was at this School, so I will have to wait one more year to test, wanted to make this clear for the citizens that are interested and concerned about this.