Pre-Town
Meeting Feb. 27th
At
last night’s Pre-Town meeting, the Advisory Board met to discuss and to vote on
the articles for the Special Town meeting. The meeting was held in the Kiva.
The warrant
for the STM contains 6 articles. The Advisory Board voted on 5 out of the 6
articles. The Advisory Board did not vote on the Light and Water citizen
petition – Article 6. The Advisory Board voted unanimously to recommend FOR the
first 5 articles.
Article 1: Seeks to reverse a vote
that was taken at the May ATM. The vote to use $163,100 2008 MEMA Reimbursement
Account to fund town charges was found to be improper by the DOR. (This money
should have gone to “Free Cash”; been certified as “Free Cash: then it could be
used to fund the operating budget) As a Town we need to rescind this vote so we
can set the tax rate.
Article 2: If Article 1 passes, the
Town must come up with a way to cover the $163,100 shortfall – in the last
quarter of this fiscal year. The Treasurer was on hand to present
a plan to cover this shortfall. This plan uses every dime of Stabilization
money as well as adjusting local receipts to cover the $163,100 shortfall.
The
alternative to the plan presented by the Treasurer (and endorsed by the BOS) is
to cut into departmental budgets that have already been pared to bare bones or
to take money from public safety budgets.
No
one wants to “zero out” Stabilization accounts. The Town needs to set the tax
rate to generate income coming into the town. The Town will be able to use the
$163,100 next year once it has been certified as “Free Cash”. AT the ATM in
May, the voters can decide if the want to replenish Stabilization with this
money.
To
complicate matters, the Town has $222,766.62 in the bank credited to
“Stabilization”. Unfortunately, until the Town can correct issues with its
accounting and those corrections are approved by DOR, that “extra money” can’t
be used.
Article 3. Rescinds the vote taken
last November to expend money from the Sewer Enterprise Fund. The DOR will not
set the tax rate unless this vote is rescinded, because the DOR insists the
funds in the Sewer Enterprise Fund be reconciled, before they will certify the
figures. The $135,000 appropriation was to test the sludge in the lagoon
Article 4. This article is a transfer
of money between Highway Department line items.
Article 5. This article is to place
permanent agricultural/conservation/forestry restrictions on town-owned land in
exchange for state-owned land on Crow Hill in order to site an elementary
school.
Article
6. 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.
No recommendation was made on this article by
the Advisory Board, as is the case with Citizen Petitions.
My opinions…supported by FACTS ! ! !
Julie Farrell
Another letter to the editor in todays paper, this one "from" Gregg Edwards. He really cant believe they are that great over there. I just lost all respect I always had for Gregg
ReplyDeleteIt is bad enough that this letter is so full of down right lies and threats to scare people. I don't think Greg knows the truth, if it hit him in the face. This is the culture on Bridge Street, and nothing is going to change until the commissioners and JD are gone. Bev.
DeleteAll in favor of Article #3. This money should not be flushed down the toilet for expenses that the town is not responsible for. Under the User Charge Regulations adopted by the town and the 1974 Contract Erving is the responsible party for these tests and other expenses as well. Sewer Commissioners need to stand their ground on this issue.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 9:30A.M., the sewer commissioners should stand their ground, but I don't think they will. They are afraid of EPA, and their threats. Bev.
DeleteWhy was Bubba there? I am amazed he has the balls to show his face at any town meeting as he is one of the guilty parties that made the financial mess the town is now facing. And, yes, he did report to Echo Hill afterwards.
ReplyDeleteAlso of note, only 2 selectmen attended this meeting. Thank you to Virginia and Julie for taking the time to do their job and attend. Not sure why the other two weren't there. Maybe they had good reasons for not going. Was there a basketball game last night? Well, I hope these two think really hard about their role and responsibility as a selectman before they decide to run again for re-election.
On a positive note, I am extremely encouraged of the fact that the team of Mr. Ritter (Town Coordinator), Mr. Keeney (Treasurer) and Fred Aponte (Accountant) are working tirelessly to straighten out all of our financials and are working closely with the DOR in order to get us back on the path of accurate and responsible record keeping. I do not know that the citizens of Templeton really understand how screwed up our books and accounts are. But, with this team of professionals working on it, we'll have brighter days in the years to come. THANK YOU to them for all their hard work.
It looks to me like the people who work for the town are going to get hit again. This is not right. If we had any decent people running the Light and Water Dept. they could help the town out. That is all we asked for, a little help! All of these departments have given enough already. If the state has to come in and take the town over, they will sell our biggest asset! Guess who that is? Then the boys will wish they had not been so stingy. Bev.
Deletefinally there gonna sell the school
Delete