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Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Why I signed the L+W Citizen Petition


By Julie Farrell

 

I believe the time has come to address the harm that the enactment of Chapter 93 Acts of 2000 has caused the Town of Templeton. I signed this citizen petition for a number of reasons.

Citizen Petition Light and Water 

 

To see if the town will vote to authorize the Board of Selectmen to seek Special Legislation as set forth below: provided, however, that the General Court may make clerical or editorial changes of form only to the bill, unless the Board of Selectmen approves amendments to the bill before enactment by the General Court, and that the Board of Selectmen is hereby authorized to approve amendments which shall be within the scope of the general public objectives of the petition, or take any other action thereon or in relation to.


 

   An Act Authorizing the Board of Selectmen in the Town of Templeton to Act as Light and Water Commissioners

 

Section 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 21 of chapter 41 and section 56A of chapter 164 of the general laws, or of any general or special law to the contrary, the board of selectmen of the town of Templeton shall be authorized to act as light and water commissioners and shall exercise all of the powers and duties of a light and water commission as set forth in the general laws. 

 

Section 2. Upon effective date of this act, the terms of the incumbent members of the light and water commission of the town of Templeton shall be terminated and the elected light and water commission abolished.

 

Section 3. This act shall take effect upon passage. 

 

The ramifications of the enactment of Chapter 93 Acts of 2000, still affect the Town of Templeton. Please review the Timeline for Chapter 93 Acts of 2000. There is reasonable doubt that process used to combine the Light and Water department was not done properly. The November STM Article 8, asks for an investigation into Chapter 93 Acts of 2000. It is important that the town is aware of the correct process for combining two departments.

 

 

Communication-

If this citizen petition is successful, communication between the water department and every other town department would be greatly enhanced. Issues of replacing water mains under newly paved roads could be discussed and planned for in a manner that would benefit the town and by extension the taxpayer/ratepayers. Situations like the paving of the roads in East Templeton or the Baldwinville road reconstruction/ water main dilemma could be avoided.

 

Interdepartmental cooperation would be improved avoiding situations like the “soil testing” expense for the Senior Center.

 

Requests for an explanation and report of multiple water main breaks, like those experienced on July 14, 2012 should not take over six months and incredible delays.

 

The audit of the wind turbine should not take over 2 ½ years to complete. The audit is a necessary tool to calculate depreciation and the “pay back “ period. The audit would be a helpful tool in calculating a maintenance cost for the turbine, since it is not insured and is out of warranty.

 

Legal Issues –

The following invoices were obtained by public record request.

 


 


 


 


 

The July invoice from Doucette & LaRose is itemized for a total of $2,430. The September and October invoices from Doucette & LaRose are not itemized. The September bill from Ferriter & Scobbo is still itemized for a total of $1,306.50 for legal opinions regarding the water budget.

 

A good question to ask the Light and Water commissioners: “Why did you sign off on an invoice that provides no detail?” The claim can be made that the invoices from Doucette& LaRose were for legal opinions to pursue litigation against a selectman, possibly the same selectman mentioned in the July invoice.

 

Finally -

It is my hope that the successful passage of this citizen petition will lead to greater accountability from the Light and Water department management. If the BOS act as Light and Water commissioners, the meetings would abide by the open meeting law and should be televised.

 

Discussion and action could take place to combine the water and sewer departments so that one bill for both water and sewer charges would be issued….as has happened in the past. Combining the billing for water and sewer would reduce costs for both departments. Discussion and answers might be forthcoming regarding the $4.00/ month service fee for the light department and the $28/quarter service fee for the water department. In the Light commissioner minutes of August 3,1999 indicate the intent was to keep the combined billing for water and sewer. The November 7, 2000 and December 5, 2000 Light Commission minutes indicate cooperation and a willingness to work with the sewer commission.(See Timeline for Chapter 93 Acts of 2000.)

 

Meaningful discussion and action could take place to formalize the PILOT payment from the Light department, as is recommended by the DOR Report. At this point in time I don’t believe the Light department should be “sold off”. A discussion/hearing to debate the merits of retaining the municipal light department will never happen unless there is a change the governing body.

 

I believe it is time to put MUNICIPAL back into the Templeton Municipal Light and Water.

 

My opinions…supported by FACTS ! ! !

 

Julie Farrell

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