The fund that was part of a reserve fund transfer request to Advisory Committee, had only $54.69 left in it at the end of the fiscal year, June 30, 2021.

Advisory Committee own policy states:

Extraordinary: A) Beyond what is usual, ordinary, regular, or established; a cost not arising from normal activities in the course of business. B) Exceptional in character, amount, extent, degree, etc.; noteworthy, remarkable.
• Unforeseen: unexpected, unanticipated; not able to be predicted at the time the budget was set.

Can anyone predict a culvert will fail? Is culvert failure usual, ordinary or regular?

Snow & Ice funding has nothing to do with this request, why was it part of discussion on part of Advisory? If you reduce snow & Ice funding below previous year, you cannot deficit spend.

 download (mass.gov)

https://www.mass.gov/doc/order-to-show-cause-in-the-matter-of-john-caplis/download

 YOUR MONEY: First contract for clear gov is $6,250.00 is it worth it?

Fiscal Year	cost	3% increase	Total
2021	$6,250.00	N/A	$6,250.00
2022	$6,250.00	$187.50	$6,438.00
2023	$6,438.00	$193.00	$6,631.00
2024	$6,631.00	$197.00	$6,828.00
2025	$6,828.00	$205.00	$7.033.00
2026	$7,033.00	$211.00	$7,244.00

 

Website and domain name costs: directed by town by-law chapter 22-section 19

Fiscal Year	website	Domain	Increase	Total
2018	$2,500.00	$450.00	zero	$2,950.00
2019	$2,500.00	$450.00		$2,950.00
2020	$2,500.00	$450.00		$2,950.00
2021	$2,500.00	$450.00		$2,950.00
2022	$2,625.00	$450.00	$125.00	$3,075.00

 

 

*Information on Clear Gov already available on division local services website & DESE site for no additional direct cost impact. Already supported by way of state taxes.

*Recent budget presentations and justifications for staff raises, to take care of town website. As quick as link for clear gov was put in place (after it was pointed out it was not) link for DLS data analytics should be able to be linked to town web site.

*DLS data analytics contains same information as clear gov.

VADAR service, which town already has and pays for, except water dept.??? Has cloud service for secure data access anywhere (computer) finance reports, 5 clicks (schedule A).

 The Massachusetts Department of Transportation has updated its Chapter 90 program web portal and released several informational resources related to the program for municipalities.

A new Municipal Guidance Document reviews eligible expenses under the program and details project planning and implementation processes that are considered best practices.

The document provides instructions for municipalities to use MaPIT, a GIS-driven project initiation and screening tool developed by MassDOT that will now support Chapter 90 project requests. MaPIT replaces paper-based Chapter 90 request forms, which have been transferred to this online system.

Another new resource is a toolkit designed to support local planning efforts. An Excel spreadsheet provides templates of the following documents:
• Annual Chapter 90 Checklist
• Asset Condition List
• Bridge Inventory List
• Infrastructure Budget
• Project Planning
• Project Prioritization Matrix (unweighted and weighted)

The MassDOT also developed a two-page Quick-Start Guide that briefly describes how the Chapter 90 funding allocation is calculated, what counts as eligible expenses, and how the program works.

The department notes that these new resources do not change any rules or regulations set forth for the Chapter 90 program and do not impact the funding authorizations established by the governor and the Legislature.

The Chapter 90 program (authorized through M.G.L. Ch. 90, Sec. 34) provides reimbursement funding to municipalities for the implementation of capital improvements on local public ways.

 Feds erase, Templeton makes it up; 

Town Meeting Times is a book/guide put together by the moderators association, it is for Town Meeting, not for, say, an advisory committee meeting. Speaking of moderators and advisory committee, do you know Templeton has a by-law (local governance allowed by commonwealth constitution) that spells out who and how members get appointed to Advisory committee; there is a time frame that allows moderator to appoint a member and after that time frame, the advisory committee can appoint a member to serve until the next annual town meeting. On appointments, there is a state law requirement that elected or appointed members must, within 30 days of being elected or appointed, complete online training on conflict of interest law, there is also a requirement of receiving and signing a form / certificate of receipt of open meeting law materials; it states you have OML, attorney general regulations, open meeting law guide, a copy of each OML determination by AG within last 5 years to the public body of which you may become a member to and in which the AG found a violation of the OML. This form further states, I have read, understand the requirements of OML and consequences of violating it. The is no Templeton by-law, no voted on formal policy overriding this state law on the 30 days after being appointed, again, Newly elected or appointed public employees must complete this training within 30 days of beginning public service, and every 2 years thereafter. In addition, every year all state, county and municipal employees must be provided with the summary of the conflict of interest law. If you wish to volunteer for your community, know the procedures.

 History of Templeton Advisory Committee is worth looking at and can be an interesting read. Past practice was to approve transfers from reserve fund (Town reserve fund) for salary expense. Unfortunately, there is not much in past annual town reports on end of year transfers, which were allowed beginning in 2006. End of year transfer from one fund to another is a way to balance the books by the end of the fiscal year, so the formal process can begin without financial issues for the town. 

 Hey Charlie, how about helping out the towns, send more chapter 90 monies out, we could use it.

Looking to close the books on fiscal 2021, Gov. Charlie Baker proposed a supplemental budget bill today that would allocate a significant portion of a state surplus that exceeded $4 billion.

Priorities in the governor’s spending proposal include adding $1 billion to the Unemployment Trust Fund and $568 million for relief programs, mostly focused on housing insecurity and human services.

Ten million dollars would be set aside for the Community Preservation Trust Fund, which provides funding to cities and towns that have adopted local property tax surcharges under the Community Preservation Act.