from the selectmen corner
Lots of things happening within the entity that is the Town of Templeton. First is a group that got together first as kind of a political action committee, and these are my words because I do not belong to it nor do I profess to be a mind reader, but Citizens4Templeton seems to have evolved into a civic action committee. Simply looking at things to do or become involved with to try and make Templeton a better place. This group recently went on a quest to gather money for school supplies for children who attend Templeton Schools and are classified as homeless. Some of these kids may be living in cars, campers, or sharing a home with relatives,
sometimes on a rotating basis. This situation has become so common place in many places that there is actually a name classifying kids who are in this situation. Aunts, uncles, grandparents and even friends of the families take in kids temporarily. Biggest need it seems is help with school supplies and they raised around one thousand dollars and I believe they can still accept monies to be donated to help out some kids who find themselves in unfortunate circumstances. This leads me to believe there is probably a need of clothes and with food. This is another possible foundation for an annual Templeton Block party and perhaps Citizens4Templeton can drive this buggy forward.
On another school subject, there is a new group of people appointed to the TESBC charged with trying to get a new elementary school moving forward. It is a 7 member voting group with plans, as I understand it, to meet regularly at the KIVA. Residents should attend as many meetings as possible. Ask questions like how much money has been spent of a feasibility study and what information has been assembled as a result of those monies spent. The answer may surprise you, also attend a school committee meeting and ask how much money the regional school district has in the Excess & Deficiency account, this is the equivalent of its free cash. This is one of those places where a school can "hide" the cash, speak with any former member of school committee. Ask also about a contract with Carl Weber's group and how much that contract is for versus how much money was appropriated. Ask the selectmen via a public records request for invoices & contract between town of Templeton and Strategic Building Services, again you may be surprised at the amount but not who signed off on it (Gerald Skelton) And this is something from the past, only couple years ago, that matters!
New accounting software for Templeton will not be cheap but is required and with the new town accountant finding some oddities within the town's books make this an important issue. It will be a hard pill to swallow but Templeton cannot afford to not do this nor put it off any longer. I also hear there may be a new union group coming to Templeton and that is fine, as long as they recognize there is no money machine in the back yard so I hope everyone is ready for some positions possibly being eliminated to cover possible future requests for increases in some wages. Can you say regionalize? The time is ripe to make the size of the government of Templeton leaner, pay people a good wage but also place greater expectations on productivity. Many other towns pay a great deal more than Templeton does, but with that also comes a greater work load and a demand of work accomplishment.
From the financial front in Templeton, there is alot of work being done and things looked at to streamline and centralize the spending of taxpayer monies in Templeton. One reason is to get better control on what is spent and how it is spent. When everyone has to go to the same well to get funds and they have to give the reason for the request and more importantly, there will be a centralized tracking of who has requested and spent funds on what. The plan would be to cut down on end of year spending just to spend it rather that turn it in. There simply needs to be less captains on a tighter ship. I believe the past events in Templeton prove this to be true. the budget season is here, please attend meetings and ask questions, it is your money and your town.
This is how I see things and is my opinions and does not represent the thought of the Board of Selectmen, it just represents how I feel on many issues in Templeton. A homework assignment for you all; find out who in Templeton is an employee of Templeton, yet works in or for other towns, as out building inspector does, find the hours & days they are suppose to work in Templeton, the hours & days they are suppose to work in other towns, then add it up and see if it is possible to be in that many different places at the same time. A good question for a selectmen meeting.
Jeffrey Bennett
Lots of things happening within the entity that is the Town of Templeton. First is a group that got together first as kind of a political action committee, and these are my words because I do not belong to it nor do I profess to be a mind reader, but Citizens4Templeton seems to have evolved into a civic action committee. Simply looking at things to do or become involved with to try and make Templeton a better place. This group recently went on a quest to gather money for school supplies for children who attend Templeton Schools and are classified as homeless. Some of these kids may be living in cars, campers, or sharing a home with relatives,
sometimes on a rotating basis. This situation has become so common place in many places that there is actually a name classifying kids who are in this situation. Aunts, uncles, grandparents and even friends of the families take in kids temporarily. Biggest need it seems is help with school supplies and they raised around one thousand dollars and I believe they can still accept monies to be donated to help out some kids who find themselves in unfortunate circumstances. This leads me to believe there is probably a need of clothes and with food. This is another possible foundation for an annual Templeton Block party and perhaps Citizens4Templeton can drive this buggy forward.
On another school subject, there is a new group of people appointed to the TESBC charged with trying to get a new elementary school moving forward. It is a 7 member voting group with plans, as I understand it, to meet regularly at the KIVA. Residents should attend as many meetings as possible. Ask questions like how much money has been spent of a feasibility study and what information has been assembled as a result of those monies spent. The answer may surprise you, also attend a school committee meeting and ask how much money the regional school district has in the Excess & Deficiency account, this is the equivalent of its free cash. This is one of those places where a school can "hide" the cash, speak with any former member of school committee. Ask also about a contract with Carl Weber's group and how much that contract is for versus how much money was appropriated. Ask the selectmen via a public records request for invoices & contract between town of Templeton and Strategic Building Services, again you may be surprised at the amount but not who signed off on it (Gerald Skelton) And this is something from the past, only couple years ago, that matters!
New accounting software for Templeton will not be cheap but is required and with the new town accountant finding some oddities within the town's books make this an important issue. It will be a hard pill to swallow but Templeton cannot afford to not do this nor put it off any longer. I also hear there may be a new union group coming to Templeton and that is fine, as long as they recognize there is no money machine in the back yard so I hope everyone is ready for some positions possibly being eliminated to cover possible future requests for increases in some wages. Can you say regionalize? The time is ripe to make the size of the government of Templeton leaner, pay people a good wage but also place greater expectations on productivity. Many other towns pay a great deal more than Templeton does, but with that also comes a greater work load and a demand of work accomplishment.
From the financial front in Templeton, there is alot of work being done and things looked at to streamline and centralize the spending of taxpayer monies in Templeton. One reason is to get better control on what is spent and how it is spent. When everyone has to go to the same well to get funds and they have to give the reason for the request and more importantly, there will be a centralized tracking of who has requested and spent funds on what. The plan would be to cut down on end of year spending just to spend it rather that turn it in. There simply needs to be less captains on a tighter ship. I believe the past events in Templeton prove this to be true. the budget season is here, please attend meetings and ask questions, it is your money and your town.
This is how I see things and is my opinions and does not represent the thought of the Board of Selectmen, it just represents how I feel on many issues in Templeton. A homework assignment for you all; find out who in Templeton is an employee of Templeton, yet works in or for other towns, as out building inspector does, find the hours & days they are suppose to work in Templeton, the hours & days they are suppose to work in other towns, then add it up and see if it is possible to be in that many different places at the same time. A good question for a selectmen meeting.
Jeffrey Bennett
Elementary school-
ReplyDeleteThe town is in possession of maps of the TDC. The Selectman's office has a copy as well as the Assessor's office. The town is in the process of trying to acquire land at the TDC in order to build the school. This is a lengthy process. Sen Brewer has agreed to file the necessary special act in January to get the ball moving. We need people to attend the TESBC meetings. Stay tuned for more information on these meetings.
Accounting software - This will be a necessary and critical purchase. We, advisory and BOS had hoped to postpone this purchase until next year. This purchase has moved up the ladder to a top priority (sorry BOH). We need accounting software to generate the type of reports to keep track of the taxpayers money. Our current software isn't up to the task. In my opinion we will need to expend the money for this purchase in order to help save the town money in the future.
I am very glad the Citizens4Templeton fundraiser at the Templeton Arts and Crafts festival was a success! I hope it helps bring awareness to the very complicated lives some of our kids lead.
School is a place where every child has the opportunity to learn and grow, regardless of what happens before and after school at home every day. Unfortunately, we all know that circumstances outside of school do have a significant impact on what goes on in school. It may not seem like a necessity for children to have a new pair of sneakers, or a backpack, or a couple of new pencils, but it makes all the difference. A little bit of self-esteem goes a long way. Older students, especially in the middle and high school levels, are very much aware of inequities, and most are already uncomfortable in their own skin simply because that's what being a teenager entails. I can't imagine how uncomfortable it must be to not have a home or to be part of a family struggling to provide life's necessities. I still believe that if a child wants to go to school and work hard, he or she can create their own success. Citizens 4 Templeton just helped make this easier for a group of local students. Well done.
ReplyDeleteI agree - the town should look at all options, including shared services with other towns.
ReplyDeleteSome other suggestions:
Explore selling TMLP to National Grid. The proceeds could pay a lot of debt. The reason for a municipal power company is long past.
Understand the true costs involved in moving to full-time fire/ambulance service. Weigh those costs against contracting to someone like Wood's.
It is my opinion that pensions should be budgeted by every department. Here's an example:
A public safety officer retires at age 57. Based on his 3 highest years pay, his status as a group 4 member, 35 years of employment, let's say his pension will be $3500 per month, for life with survivor benefits for his spouse. His pension cost, from an annuity calculator, is $845,000. Part of this money comes from payroll deductions from the employee. But these payments cover only a small percentage of the pension. The rest must come from taxes, and we already have a HUGE pension liability. We have not been "paying as we go".
The cost of pensions must be figured in when deciding whether to go with a full time fire/ambulance service. We should pay these expenses as part of each year's budget. Otherwise, we don't know the true cost of Town Services when we approve a budget.
Mark-
ReplyDeleteYou raise some very good points. I disagree with your comment about the necessity for a municipal light department. I think municipal light/public power is important especially for a town like Templeton. In the event of an long term outage, Restoring power in Templeton is not a priority for the "Big Guys" like National Grid. I think better decisions could be made at the Light Department.
The wind turbine was "sold" to the commissioners as one thing...ie an 8 year payback( not 16-25 yr if you count decommissioning costs) cost of $3.1 million,( not 3.8 million and counting), good wind data ( not marginal wind). Signing a contract for the turbine with a company getting a bailout from the Canadian government that eventually went bankrupt. All of this was proposed to the commissioners as an "acceptable risk"...to push the project through.
My hope is that the Light department can recover from the unexpected costs associated with the wind turbine. I pushed for an audit of the wind turbine project. I remember we contracted with Peter Chatellier of Braver ($8,000 I think) to conduct the audit for the wind turbine. I have made numerous inquiries regarding this audit, but I'm still not sure the audit has been completed.
I think we as a town should discuss the light department to consider continuing a municipal light department. The Light department did an OPEB study ( unfunded liability...retirement, sick days, healthcare...) I think the unfunded liability for just the Light Department was over $1.2 million. The unfunded liability for the water department was under a million...I don't remember the exact figure.
It may be time for the town to conduct an analysis of unfunded liability. Our auditors have been urging the town to do this for a number of years. We have never had the money to do the OPEB study.
Just look back at the blog from July 10, 2012 entitled " Worcester County Retirement System" . From the Worc. telegram article the chart indicates Gerald P Skelton receives a retirement payment of $84,384.
So looking ahead, the town does need to do a complete analysis of all costs for ALL departments.
My opinions...supported by FACTS!!
Julie - My belief is that municipal utilities are not necessary.
DeleteSmall rural towns like Templeton and Ashburnham were not lucrative to wire, and municipal utilities were instrumental in getting them electrified. We're past that.
The vast majority of towns in Massachusetts get power from a commercial utility. They do fine, our electric rates are very often higher than they would be if we had National Grid.
During the ide storm, power was out on my road for 4 days. It was not restored way before co-workers. I was the last in my family or my wife's family to get power restored. Everyone thinks that our power will be out all the time if we have National Grid. I don't believe it, and we might save money. The state has to approve rate increases for commercial power companies.
The reason for this divestiture would be to get rid of debt. Selling the distribution system to National Grid would raise millions of dollars. And in the end, we would have taxes from the utility.
Government does not need to be in the electricty business. Templeton has large debt. Selling this asset would allow Templeton to pay down that debt. We certainly can't build a Public Safety building, a new school, a highway barn and a town hall with our current debt load.
By the way, to fund an $84,384 annual pension requires an annuity of $1,505,258 if the person retired at age 65. Be careful of that unfunded liability data. Most state retirement systems have been using very rosy projections for their rate of return. In 2011, Mass. had an estimated unfunded pension liability of $17 Billion. They are using a projected rate of return of 8.25%. One problem with that is the investments have been losing money in recent years. Some estimates hold that Massachusetts unfunded liability is closer to $21.5 Billion. The bottom line - no one knows.
One other thing about windmills. The federal government has a website where you can see if a windmill in your location makes economic sense. I looked at my site, and even with government tax credits it makes no sense. The site uses data that the federal government has mapped for average wind intensity and duration.
DeleteSo I zoomed out, found 'Gansett, and looked at the federal wind projection for the site where TMLP planned on putting the windmill. It was no better than where I live.
If we have Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour running our utility, it's no surprise that things don't work out as promised. I remember the claim, printed in the Gardner Snooze, that the windmill would provide 10% of the town's power. How's that estimate holding up?
The kind of input questions and thoughts that I always strive for (or hope for, although putting faith in the word hope for any outcome is less than an ideal process) I would like to see more input from taxpayers as good questions usually lead to a more complete thought process in looking at and attempting to solve problems. If you look at the past history of most cities and towns in MA, you will see the lack of response, funding and any mechanical process (as in budgeting, planning or discussion) on how to deal with these unfunded mandates / liabilities. History shows that it is the approach of put it off and deal with it down the road but all of a sudden you have these huge bills coming due and no monies to pay them.
ReplyDeleteMark, you make some good points. I do know people who have had the worst luck ever with National Grid and Unitil. I can not ever complain about the service we get, but the way the light company has been run, as far as the "wonderfull wind turbine" and the retirements that go with it, may just turn around and bite us bad. Something else that bothers me alot..The other night, after the personnel meeting, another group came in to have a meeting. Somebody said they were from the Gilman Waite group. Ok, This is good, but where are these people, along with the school people, when we need a hand trying to get our town on an even keel? You have to know that this is not my town , or Paulys town. This is our town, your town! The things that have gone wrong, in the last ten years have put our town in dire straights. The youngest people on our group are Daren, Sue and Jeff. {I think}. We could use some help, and I want you guys to know, you will be welcome. I keep saying, to get us back where we need to be, is not going to be easy. The tax payer is going to pay for 252 Baldwinville Road. Thank Mr. Skelton for that one. There is no other place to get the money from. Mr Skelton did more than his share to take care of himself, and to hell with every one else. There was a good reason the "light company" wanted to get rid of Julie! She asked too many questions, did not go along with the "Good Old Boys". Oh yes, she was trying to watch out for the tax payer.! Since when is that the wrong thing to do! This is something for everyone to sleep on. I do not think the Templeton Light and Water meetings are going to be quiet any more. My opinions as usual, Bev.
Deletethe town doesnt want to sell the light dept. look how long it takes these other companies to respond to outages. national grid has one guy on call from westminster to greenfield.they just need someone to run it the proper way. i thought shaun did a great job running the dept but we let him go to another town. and i realize you cant throw money at people to keep them here.then every dept head would threaten to leave .but when you have people that know there jobs and do good at it. you have to take care of them.
DeleteYou don't think the money & bennies at the TLWD is taking care of them??? You just don't think that is enough??? Do I not think they are inportant, of course I do, but so do I think the guy or gal struggling making ONLY $23,000 (average annual salary in Templeton) is JUST as important! And where else do you think they are going to come up with that money to pay more to people already making 60, 70, 80, 100 thousand+ & up. Because that is who it is going to have to come from. We just can't fund all these runaway retirement packages anymore either. The Enterprise or PILOT fund that was established was supposed to help the town with the cost of utilities but now I believe, all that money that was generated & sitting there is going to the GS gang, etc. but it won't last forever with the nose dives this economy keeps taking. I could be wrong but I think this is so. People have got to come down out of the sky & not be so full of themselves but, a monster was created over there & now we need to stop it but how is the question?? I can see all sides of the discussion on this but I agree with Julie that I don't think it is in the best interest of the town to get rid of the TLWD but to rein in the salaries, retirements & operating costs, as well as frivolous, but very costly useless projects, like the Windmill. My goodness, and we wonder why we are in trouble!! And this is only one dept. that needs restructuring. The school dept. is another. We are getting school supplies for kids (which I am all for & gave a donation to) but why are we in the general public as taxpayers trying to get extra money for school supplies when the Administrative salaries are through the roof, they have cut programs for students, spending money on ridiculous long lasting costly studies like this feasability study that has already cost us thousands of doillars for what?? Frigging find a spot for the school & put that money toward building it. Also, start putting more of that money back for the children is what I say. When I hear committee members, teachers, etc say this is all for the children that is bullcrap. It is for the adults who will be at those schools, not the kids. We also wonder why kids want want want these days? Well, they learn by example & there are some pretty bad examples that have been in charge the last 10 years or so. Oh yeah, just remembered we can't build the school because next month we have to start paying a huge loan back on a "ghost bldg" that some idiot bought on his own, it appears. I say, we should haul is A-s into court & make him pay for "stealing" from his employers, the tax & rate payers of this town!! Seems he is going to get away with his Ponzi pyramid schemes unlike Bernie Madoff. Sure would be nice if he could go permanently live with Bernie!! Just my thoughts & My opinion.
DeleteYou are right, Isteach. It seems the great projects of the TLWD were only to generate fat retirements, salaries, and other perks. I don't know how people can be so selfish and live with what they've done. And again with the school. Adult egos and greedy wallets have yet again gummed up the works on another town project. We need to push to see that audit of the turbine. Is this why so many LTPS, Inc. and/or the Echo Hill Gang pushed so hard for a recall because people were getting too close to the truth. I'm amazed at how much "truth" has come out since the election.
DeleteActually if you check, Shaun left on his own accord. Also I think there might be some issues with an audit of the windmill project. Lots of people resigned from all positions, volunteer or otherwise, why is that? Could it be that there is open transparency or going in that direction and all the minions bolted cause the old crew is no longer around to keep it running the old way as in benefit a few rather than the town. Ya may wish to be checkin on that stuff but i believe it is true. They all ran away because they are nervous of what may be found and who knew about it.
ReplyDeleteTtwistedssisster68 -
ReplyDeleteI believe Sean left of his own accord, right after I started asking for an audit of the wind turbine. Found a position in Sterling that offered more money.
I believe public power is important; it needs to become more relevant to the people they SERVE or it will become a thing of the past...not just in Templeton.
As far as the turbine, it was sold as one thing to get it built and has ended up being quite expensive to operate especially for a small municipal light department. One interesting item to note is that as the cost to operate the turbine increases, the payback time lengthens sometimes past the length of time attributed to the "useful life" of the turbine itself.
I think the 10% Mark B referred to referenced the fact the TMLWP's power portfolio is 10% wind energy...expensive wind energy. TMLWP is also part of the Berkshire Wind Coop (10 turbines) on Brodie Mt in Hancock, MA. The cost overruns for that project will also be felt in Templeton because TMLWP is one of the 14 municipals to buy into the Berkshire Wind Coop.
At what point do you come to the realization that you may be getting bad advice from the "experts" at MMWEC?
The 10% I refer to was the stated output of the one wind-turbine. 10% of the town's electricity. If it was a mistake on the part of the G-Snooze, nobody correctd it. It was a mistake that was repeated several times.
DeleteLater on, without any explanation, a 5% number appeared in that same paper. And that number was again for the single windmill.
One thing I found annoying, the manager of the light company never stated the expected output in kWh, only kW. So it could easily mislead people. A short gust of wind might produce an output of X thousand watts. What is more important is the duration of this output. And that number was missing from those G-Snooze articles.
A lot of things are missing from the Snooze articles...
ReplyDelete