At
the Advisory meeting last night, chairman Will Spring, started a discussion of
the budget guidelines for FY14. There seems to be some confusion on the part of
some departments what the term “level funded” means. Level funded means you
have the same amount of money as you did last year…the total that was
appropriated at town meeting for FY13. Some departments are referring back to
ghosts of budget past. Those were
the good old days.
The
Advisory Board is recommending a 5% cut from the level funded budget (what was
appropriated at the ATM in May) as a starting point for FY14.
The BOS came to
consensus for a 2% cut from level funded. These are preliminary guidelines.
Hope for the best, plan for the worst. State revenue projections are failing to
meet their targets and the “fiscal cliff” is fast approaching. We will need to
seriously consider regionalization and/or outsourcing some services in order to
meet these budgetary goals. Higher taxes and reduced services do not present a
pretty picture, but it is a better option than state receivership/bankruptcy.
The
Advisory Board chairman presented a thorough analysis of the Conservation Agent
pay structure from 2008-2012. In FY’08, the part-time conservation agent worked
on an “as needed” basis, averaging 7.5 hours/week. When the former conservation
agent was hired, he was hired to work 20 hours/week. The 20 hours/week entitled
the former conservation agent to benefits including, sick and vacation time.
The
BOS received a letter from the Advisory Board in August asking for an
investigation into employment records, including payroll and accruals for the
former conservation agent. The BOS did not act on the Advisory Board request.
The analysis provided by the Advisory Board indicates a total overpayment to
the conservation agent from FY’08 – FY’12 of $22,801.28
There
were a number of incidents, which contributed to the overpayment of $22,801.28.
The personnel policy was not followed. Votes were taken at the BOS level to
enable this mismanagement/misuse of funds to occur. The largest change occurred
when the Conservation agent was hired at a rate outside the grade for that
position. The extra money for the position was funded from one of the
conservation accounts…not the salary account.
FY08
$15.85
FY09
$23.32
FY10
$23.32(45 weeks) $19.97 (8 weeks)
FY11
$19.97( 12 weeks) $23.32 (33 weeks) $19.97(8 weeks)
FY12
$20.47 (53 weeks)
The
information above illustrates the need for a change in procedures. One
recommendation from the advisory board may be to delegate oversight of day to
day and weekly payroll issues to the Town coordinator. The other recommendation
is that the town coordinator review all hires to ensure the new hires are
working and hired at the correct pay grade and step.
My
opinions…supported by FACTS ! ! !
Julie
Farrell
Thank you Julie this is what I have been saying for years and this is why I have been asking for an investigation. But you and Jeff B were the only selectmen that would listen to me. This mismanagement as you call it - I call it Stealing! plain and simple. this was all done by Shaun Grimley JoAnn Burdin Gerry and Carol Skelton. and everybody thought I was a nut. Now under the Chairman George Andrews the ConCom is again running rogue - He alone approved the minutes of the concom's Nov. meeting not the commission I will post the email I received.
ReplyDeleteIt makes you wonder what came and went across the desk of the Con Agent's desk when these "raises" were happening. This guy signed off on a lot of things, I wonder who else woud have benefitted by paying himm so well.
ReplyDeleteI had met Mr. Macki, when he was the conservation agent in FY08, just before he left. I thought he was a good person, and did a good job. I seriously doubt that he would be a party to this kind of scam. This stuff can not happen again. It only goes to prove, the tax payers need to be aware of what goes on, and hire the people who will do a good job. The people that took part in this scam, should be held accountable. I am not sure it will happen, but there is one thing I do know, Pauly was 100% right. Look what he went through!! Not only was he embarressed, and made a fool of, the Gardner News let the world know all about it. Lets see how the paper handles this news. Don't hold your breath. Maybe I should drop this tidbit on Mark H., just to see what he does with it. What do you guys think? Bev
DeleteWill there be any attempt to recoup any $$? Is it possible?
ReplyDeleteI don't think it will be possible to recoup any $$$. The BOS voted on a few of these pay changes for the agent. Not the big jump in from 2008 to 2009...but after the failure at town meeting (May 2010?)to raise the Conservation agent's pay to Grade 10, the BOS voted to place him at grade 6 max. It was and is a mess.
ReplyDeletePauly was and is 100% right. I think the best we can do at this point is to make sure it will never happen again. Maybe the investigation by the Attorney General will look into it.
Bev is was not done when Bob Maki was there it was done when they Shaun G and JoAnn B hired David Koonce. Koonce was the one that got all the money
ReplyDeleteOnce again, all of this information was/is contained in th minutes of various boards, select board, personnel board, the one that use to meet at 8:00 am, the con com. Look for minutes beginning in November 2007. look at personnel and selectmen. I was able to walk into the town clerks office, ask for the minutes binders and sat a table and read through until I found the information, requested copies and paid for them with virtually no waiting. There was a letter to editor about this, I made some blog entries and I even brought up the fact at a selectmen meeting back in 2011, August or September, this was when the selectmen were going through the very unnecesary "hearing" concerning then town coordinator carol skelton. If one looks at the May, 24, 2010 selectmen meeting minutes, you will see carol skelton making the argument to set a salary amount for the con com agent "on an emergency basis" I never did get an answer to my question of what the emergency was. The agents pay was rigged so he was paid above grade and step at which he was hired, when the article was amended to remove grade change for con com agent, I guess someone was afraid to have to tell the agent his pay was going to go from over $20 per hour back to $15.85. My point was the agent went into town meeting a grade 6, he came out of town meeting a grade 6, what was the emergency? What had happened was Pauly found the error and tried to correct it, he was lied to, he got mad, kept trying to get it fixed, kept trying to get his question answered and that is one of the reasons this blog came to be. The crooks had been doing these things for so long, they thought they could get away with it, maybe some even thought this is how it is done, as in if you do things wrong for so long, pretty soon it becomes the norm. This is one of the issues that got me to run for selectmen. One interesting fact, at least to me, at the time Templeton was looking for a con com agent, Whinchendon was also looking for an agent, it was brought up at one meeting by Shaun Grimley, D. Koonce was hired in Templeton in February and hired in Winchendon, Templeton Police chief Dave Whitaker was on the Winchendon con com at the time. The selectmen denied my request for a copy of the resume of David Koonce, Carol Skelton and Bob Columbus even smiling and chiming in "we can't talk about resumes" as if it was a joke when I asked why I had been denied Koonces resume from Templeton but was given it from Winchendon. Same town council in both towns, same agent, same resume, one town gives it out, one town says it is not for public release, even with the law saying a resume will not be withheld. Yes, it was quite the system in Templeton in the good ole days of Skelton & Skelton.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I get it, or a least some of it. The Con Agent was paid above the proper grade. But I still don’t know WHY they went to such great lengths to pay him again and again above his initial level. Who was to profit beyond the actual agent? What did the Con Agent sign off on that the ole gang would want signed off on? I find it hard to believe that the Gang did this just because he was a great guy. People do not follow rules when there is something to gain, something. Why else would they push so hard to keep this guy around and paid well. Did Gerry get his property that abuts the golf course zoned in a certain way that somehow involved the Con Agent? Wetlands not marked? Hazardous waste site overlooked? There was some motivation by the gang. Got any ideas?
DeleteIts pretty simple folks . The former con-com agent was a idiot !!! He was just the front man for Shaun Grimley and Joanne Burdin . The more difficult they made the wetlands protection act sound the more money they ALL MADE . GET IT NOW ?
DeleteI appreciate the efforts of Pauly and Julie and Jeff and Bob Mitchell bringing to light all of these issues that have plagued our town for years. If this incident and others had not been brought front and center, I probably would have never paid attention to town politics and remained in the dark as to how my tax dollars were used. So, from this awful abuse of power comes some good. Now I have learned how town politics works, I've learned all about MGLs and bylaws and will pay closer attention to every step town officials take. These types of illegal actions will not happen again with me and many others paying careful attention to town business. Now, we need to push the town to get their personnel policies in order and appoint someone to oversee that ALL the rules are followed by ALL departments. I think it should be a priority and we need to hold all accountable parties to completing these tasks. Anyone that has cheated the tax payers should hang their head in shame for what they have done. Unfortunately, I think some may be either too "stupid" or egotistical to do so.
ReplyDeletehmmm let's see, John Brook's donated land was determined to have to much spagma moss so no school could be built there. Yes Mr Kounce was involved in this. now we all know that the Skelton crew wanted a town hall built before a school or a senior ctr or anything else. Oh yeah and guess who signed off on 252 Baldwinville Rd. having no wetland issues - Mr Kounce (just go out back of 252 Baldwinville Rd to see wetlands). and if you remember Mr Kounce was the one giving the senior center the run round for months and months. Hope this explains some.
ReplyDeleteIt is a sad day when you and I come to realize how badly we have been treated by the people we put in office to run our town. There is no shame, these people pushed the limits, as far as they would go. If it wasn't for Pauly, who knew he was right, and was not about to back down, their games would still be going on. To do to the people in their own town, the things that are only coming out now, it is enough to make me shake my head in disbelief. Ok, we have to get through this and go on. I have to tell you, even as bad as our financial state is, the best thing we as a town, ever did was hire Mr. Ritter. He has worked so many hours just to get the selectmens office in shape. He has so much knowledge, I'm telling you we lucked out big time. We won't have those huge legal bills, because he knows so much. We have started working on up dating the town's Personnel Policies, plugging the holes, and trying to make things run right. The goal is to make sure every one is treated right, and to make sure we never have the things done, the way they were done in the past. I promise what we come up with will be a great improvement. It is important that we see the bright side. Things will get better, we have alot of people with that as a goal. Bev.
DeleteMr. Ritter is the best thing to happen to Templeton in a very long time. He brings professionalism to the town business. We should bring back the "Thank You Mr. Ritter" signs again as we truly should be thankful to him.
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