Mondays LTE

What just happened at town meeting in Templeton? To the Editor: 6/10/2013

John M. Driscoll General Manager, Templeton Municipal Light & Water To the Editor: On May 14, the voters attending the first night of the 2013 Templeton Annual Town Meeting voted against Article 12, by a margin of 141 to 118 on a hand count. Article 12 on the town warrant was for a town vote to approve or reject Templeton Water’s FY14 operating budget (Templeton Water provides public water to about 2,200 customers in town, which represents roughly 60 percent of the town). On March 12, 2013, about two months earlier, the Templeton Water Commission voted unanimously to approve the FY14 budget presented to them by the general manager to operate the water department. So, in March, a $1.4 million FY14 water budget is OK and in May it is not. What just happened? The Templeton Water Commission of three is made up of elected commissioners, each serving revolving three-year terms which necessitates an election each year. Once elected, this commission has the sole authority to approve or reject in part or in whole the water department’s operating budget presented to them by the manager. On Feb. 11, 2013 the general manager of Templeton Water gave a copy of its approved FY14 operating budget to the Templeton Advisory Board consisting of 20 line items. The Advisory Board then requested a more detailed budget than what the general manager had given the Water Commission, so a second more detailed one was given to them on March 11, 2013, now consisting of 44 budget line items. The Advisory Board, still not satisfied, requested a third budget with even more detail. At this point, neither the Water Commission nor the general manager had received any feedback from the Advisory Board on any of the 44 budget line items, only requests for more detail. On March 25, a budget template file in spreadsheet form was sent to the general manager by the Advisory Board to be filled out. This new file had within it 74 budget line items spread across five pages. The general manager stated that he would get this file updated and back to the Advisory Board “as soon as possible.” Previously, on March 12, the Templeton Municipal Light and Water Plant received copies of six different citizens’ petitions to be discussed and voted on at the Annual Town Meeting on May 14, which would all, if successful, have detrimental effects on Templeton Light and Water ratepayers. In addition to the normal daily tasks completed, the general manager now had to mount a legal defense for the light and water departments against these petitions. So Templeton Water did not have enough time prior to May 14 to provide the third version of its FY14 water budget to the Advisory Board, so the Advisory Board recommended a no vote on the $1.4 million water budget, so the voters voted no on the $1.4 million water budget, 10 minutes after which the general manager was told by town counsel in the school hallway that come July 1, 2013, Templeton Water was “all done.” All done providing water to people? No, just “all done” getting its employees and vendors paid, because the selectmen plan to stop the payment of all water warrants on July 1 in the absence of a yes vote on Templeton Water’s FY14 operating budget. How is this going to work? It isn’t. The selectmen and the Water Commissioners will meet on June 10 to discuss a resolution to this potential disaster of no water being provided to Templeton and no water personnel to provide it. Templeton Water’s advice to the selectmen in this case would be simply to continue processing Templeton Water’s payroll and vendor warrants like it has been quite efficiently since the 1950s. Why fix it if it’s not broken? John M. Driscoll General Manager Templeton Municipal Light & Water 1 st submission Water Budget from Water Dept 2nd submission from Water Dept Water Dept info from Advisory Board