June 10, 2013 BOS Meeting

June 10, 2013 BOS Meeting

Another well run and well attended meeting. Good job Kenn! The fist two agenda items went quickly.

Janet Morrison from North County Land Trust explained the conservation restriction fro 66 acres at Dwelly farm. Three acres will not have a conservation restriction in case the Town needs the three acres of prime agricultural soil for an agricultural restriction. The land at TDC for an elementary school may encroach on the cornfield on Crow Hill. An agricultural restriction on the land (3 acres) at Dwelly farm may be needed to satisfy the state, so the elementary school can be built. At the next BOS meeting Ms. Morrison will be back with the paperwork for the conservation restriction on the 66 acres. 

The request from the Highway superintendent to transfer $900 from highway expense account to the mechanic salary account was approved to go forward to the Advisory Board.

DRAFT STM articles-

Kenn Robinson read each DRAFT warrant article in order. Each was discussed after it was read. The first 5 articles are routine housekeeping articles to close the books on FY 13. It is estimated that there will be $300,000 in certified free cash once approved by the DOR.

Article 6 is an identical to Article 51 that was passed over at the ATM in May. It seeks to create a new bylaw –Article LV – Municipal Water Department.

It is the hoped that this bylaw, if adopted by Town meeting, will be reviewed by the Attorney General, which will provide clarity and avoid a costly lawsuit that TMLWP attorney is threatening.

NewsFlash – Templeton is still in Worcester County!!

Article 7 seeks to provide the water department a partial budget with which to operate until a STM in the Fall. 

If Article 6 passes,  article 7 will provide a limited water budget and allow the BOS to sign the water department warrants after July 1, 2013, as well as give the Attorney General time to review the new Bylaw LV – Municipal Water Department….because the Water Department will have an appropriation.

Article 8 – This article is identical to the STM article in March brought forth by Dave Smart. This article generated much discussion…. Some in favor, some against. Former selectman (did he vote as a BOS member on Chapter 93 Acts of 2000?) and water department foreman Randy Brown (projected to enjoy a 14% wage increase) asked that this article be read again. NewsFlash – Templeton is still in Worcester County!!

Article 9 is to settle up an unpaid bill from a prior year.

At 7:15 discussion began about the lack of an appropriation for the Water Department. Kenn gave a good synopsis of the background that has led up to the current situation.

BOS position – lack of an appropriation for water department = no BOS signature on warrants.

Chairman of the Advisory Board, Wil Spring gave an extensive outline of the numerous requests for a detailed line item budget from the manager of the TMLWP. The Adv. Board chairman was looking for the same level of detail that had been provided in prior years.

In attendance was the TMLWP attorney Jack Ferriter, the author of Chapter 93 Acts of 2000. Seems real eager to sue the Town of Templeton. Ferriter believes the original intent of Chapter 93 Acts of 2000 would not necessitate the town meeting approval for the water department budget. In other words, we have been doing it wrong all this time! Rest assured the BOS has “an awful lot of protection” if we sign off on a warrant with no appropriation.

Town Counsel, Paul DeRensis, also spoke. He compared Town Counsel opinion to that of an umpire, and he has called this a strike – BOS can’t sign if there is no appropriation.

I guess it comes down to who do you believe – the author of a flawed piece of legislation[part of the INVESTIGATION S623, that is sitting in Judiciary awaiting a hearing] who is eager to sue the town OR Town Counsel who crafted the proposed bylaw LV to resolve the issue without huge legal expense. Do you believe an attorney who threatens expensive litigation at a public meeting that YOU the taxpayer and ratepayer will have to foot the bill for? A lawsuit brought forward by the Water Department who can ill afford the expense of a lawsuit as they are currently running a $65,000 deficit; handing out big raises, AND DOUBLING YOUR SERVICE CHARGE!

NewsFlash – Templeton is still in Worcester County!!

Paul DeRensis stated there are two ways to resolve this:

1.   Submit a detailed water budget to Adv. Board for consideration and approval at STM

2.    Pass an article (Article 6) to make Chapter 93 Acts of 2000 clear.

The BOS has provided a similar solution with STM articles 6 and 7. These articles buy time to have the proposed bylaw reviewed by the AG’s Office; avoiding an expensive legal battle where everyone loses!

Discussion came up about “communication”. Why weren’t these proposed articles disseminated before last night’s meeting? Because the BOS follow the Open meeting law. There was no prior discussion on these articles before last night’s meeting. The discussion took place at the meeting. These articles were not voted on last night. They will be voted on at the BOS meeting on Wednesday night at 6:00 p.m.

NEW BUSINESS-

The BOS voted to send a letter to the Templeton Fish & Game for the Summer swim program. Doug mentioned the new rules governing public swimming programs.

A number of appointments were made with more to come on June 24^th.

Poll workers and a vacation request were approved.

Technology update –

The BOS voted to send a request for expense of a new server to the Advisory Board. The server at 690 Patriots Rd is limping along, with not much time left before it finally goes.

Virtual Town Hall should be up and running by July 1. Negotiations are taking place for VTH to provide e-mail for the town.

MRPC is looking for information in Templeton about walking trails. They are working on updating local trail maps. Please contact the town coordinator at 978-939-8801 if you have any information about walking trails in Templeton.

Upcoming meetings were announced.

Planning Board Hearing  6/11/2013 @ 6:30

BOS    6/12/2013  @6:00

Cemetery Commission   6/13/2013 @ 6:30

Advisory Board 6/19/2013 @ 6:30

PRE-TOWN @ 6:00

BOS 6/24/2013  @ 6:30

ELECTION June 25, 2013 NRHS GYM

STM June 27, 2013

My opinions…supported by FACTS ! ! !

Julie Farrell