Citizens must participate in government or pay price
To The Editor: 12/24/2013Robert Mitchell
Templeton citizen
To The Editor:
Once again I am compelled to spend time advising the citizens of Templeton to participate in their town meetings. I do not count exercising your right to vote or sign petition papers because someone is your friend as an excuse for participating in the democratic process for it is this mentality that has placed our town in its present predicament.
I was at the last Board of Selectmen (BOS) meeting and am in hopes that the concerned citizens of Templeton will watch the video or get the minutes as parts of the meeting related to the need for a sewer rate payers increase, the need for a two-percent reduction in department budgets, the non-binding vote to separate the water department from the light department and the last part was in regards to the Dec. 12 ‘Letter to The Editor’. There was also a lot of unnecessary and uncalled for carping and finger pointing at the present board that should in no way be held responsible for the situation we are in. They did not purchase the Baldwinville Road white elephant, saddle the town with the long-term debt we now carry, nor did they call for this next bogus election that will cause the town to waste another $5,000 for a five-month position. Most members on the BOS have served less than two years, and the longest serving member on the board, the towns past accountant and the town’s advisory board, have all warned citizens in town meetings that we would end up in the creek we now paddle.
To all the sewer rate payers or citizens that do not think this effect’s them, I will advise you there will be public meetings on this and you should watch the video or get the minutes for the dates as the last I knew the debt from the sewer department was a 25/75-percent split with the town paying 75-percent. I would also like citizens to be aware that the sewer department is holding a substantial amount of money in their enterprise account that I personally do not want to be used to expand services with that split scenario.
In regards to the two-percent reduction in department budgets — I can only hope the school board heard this as their recent actions and inactions has left me wondering whether they are representing the town’s people that elected them or the schools administration. The idea that being told “no” to budget plan A means you should cause the town to waste money on special town meetings and plan B is bring back plan A until voters lose focus, has me desiring a change in membership on that board and I am in hopes that citizens will at least exercise their rights when that vote comes up.
In regards to the nonbinding vote to separate light and water, I will say this — as a private well user, I cannot see how this combination has been good for the town when the sewer department cannot shut off water to delinquent payers and that becomes an issue the town must address. I further believe that combining sewer and water would allow the substantial enterprise money they hold to be used to address all the pipes in the ground. As far as I’m concerned, I believe one department should deal with the pipes in the ground and the other poles in the air, as I have yet to see a bucket truck resolve a water issue.
To address the Dec. 12 ‘Letter to The Editor’. I can only say I believe you printed a self-serving diatribe against those that look at the numbers for the community, by someone that is only making, “a quick calculation” and finds it “news” that rates are online by a company he paid to do a survey (watch the video until the end).
In regards to the upcoming election Jan. 14, I went to the Town Clerk to find out what would happen if no one turned in papers to run, as I just couldn’t see the point in wasting another $5,000 for a position lasting five months as the BOS certainly wasn’t suffering from the resignation. Alas, I was told the election would have to be held anyways as it appears citizens should be allowed to exercise their right to write in Mickey Mouse if they want. I then requested copies of the petition and the signatures calling for the election and didn’t have to wait 10 days, fill out an FOIA request, or pay a ridiculous fee. What a pleasant change from the last regime where citizens weren’t even being allowed to voice their concerns on issues before the BOS voted.
After spending just a few minutes looking at the petition and signatures, it became obvious to me that I had wasted time trying to prevent this waste of the town’s money, as the petition was taken out by a school committee member whom one can assume would like a ‘yes’ vote on the BOS for their next plan A budget.
Perhaps if Templeton citizens do just a little research, attend some town meetings, listen to their advisory board, or at least watch the videos, they will begin to understand that they can participate in their town governance or they will pay the price.
Robert Mitchell
Templeton citizen
Vote Bob Mitchell Selectmen!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure he will help better Templeton!
The 2% reduction has nothing to do with the schools & trying to tie the two together is weak. It has everything to do with poor financial managment & a lack of Treasury oversight from the this Board and the previous ones. As a matter of fact, werent you on one of thosr Boards?
ReplyDeletea 2% reduction from the school budget may have prevented the entire fiasco of this year with regards to the school funding and perhaps the town might not have had to come up with another $551,000.00 for the school. The two are tied together because there is one pool of money and there are two entities using it. This is not unique to Templeton, this is an issue in many cities and towns. One of the biggest problems has been the using of free cash to keep a tax rate suppressed. If you refer to the select board, Mr. Mitchell was on the board until he was recalled and it is on the record what happened next. Once again, if the school had reduced it's budget by 2% rather than increase it by 1.9%, the town would not have had to raise it's tax rate to support the increase in school spending. The two are tied together whether you like it or not. My thought is Huff serves on a board in Templeton. The treasury did not authorize the use of free cash to balance a budget. Look at who would or who did propose to use almost 4 million dollars in free cash to balance a budget rather than propose a tax override over the course of 7 years. The town could almost have the cash on hand for a town hall so puff on that. That is how we see it in da hood.
ReplyDeleteI don't see the need for anyone to hide in plain site, because if you believe what you write, you should sign your name. The fact that Bob was recalled does not mean he did anything wrong. For the newbies to the blog, if you would take the time to research this issue, you would understand the need of some to keep new people off the BOS, at that time. One of the reasons was the need to control the budget, so the real facts of the financial health of the Town of Templeton would not come out. Well the cat is now out of the bag, and that means all of the boards need to come together and work our ways out of this mess. I think ttwwizztedsisstah01440 would not be surprised to find money came not only from free cash, but any account that had a few dollars in it. Bev.
DeleteHA! I have never been on a board in Templeton & never will. I despise small town politics with all its cliques. I just want to see my tax dollars go to where I, & the majority of my fellow taxpayers, want them to go.
DeletePuffy,
DeleteWhat?
Why do you read this blog?
Are you the spokesperson for the Majority?
I read this blog because we actually have selectmen that comment. I havent decided if thats good or bad, but thats for another day.
Deletesom times you gots to splain things more than once. So try this, the fact Mr. Mitchell was recalled was mentioned so h & P and others would realize dat perhaps Mitchell was trying to spose what was going on and dat be reason for recall. If ya don't speak hood', its like this; H&P seems to be trying to raise the issue that Mitchell was on a board that did not supervise treasury good enough when if fact he only served bout 8 months. Dat would be a statement of support fo Mitchell, not a knock. Hey de be lots of small mounts taken from everywhere in the hustle but da reall dollars was the free cash and hope dat clears de air. be a lookin at town reports near de end where a sum of monies from da treasury etc be used to set tax rate by way of assessors. it always be in da same place, at the end of the town meetin' when after 3 days not many peeps be dere and they be tired. now it is santee time, laters
ReplyDeletewhile open town government often ignores the public will , Take Templeton town by laws , section 1 constitute all such articles are encompass in express language as by law even section 17 of the book known as TOWN MEETING TIME is general guideline for all purposes of town meeting excluding " present by laws " this would state that there is a quorum requirement . WHY the need of a quorum because if people do not show up that in it self is a statement or act
ReplyDeletemassvocals
think how these people would be stop vote after vote after vote misinformation after out right mistakes seems they need time to revise and we all have a quorum rule in the town meeting rule book but they refuse to acknowledge YES it right there ? why is this ?
Town government much like religion you force to make a decision your told its your life your force into satiety state by the sin of do or don't or doing nothing
ReplyDeleteyou elected those who satisfy the appetite of those who girdle the uniform desire which is typically
however society only takes in a continuum intensively for this need and that leaving you in primitive nature of " or eles "
never forget enough is measure by revolving
VOTE DIANE HALEY-BROOKS for selectman
ReplyDeletemy vote will count for the first person to earn it and I know mr. mitchel's comiittent to the town he has ...Hell i went to Gansette with him What did The no Name Posters Do??? And my chaleng stands ....Peace In T - Town...out....keep in mind I went to that sKoool...peace agian
DeleteVote Mitchell for Selectman
ReplyDeleteRemember the past to ensure a better future
The nuclear option should never be used.
VOTE DIANE HALEY-BROOKS for BOS don't make the mistake again with Mitchell
ReplyDeletevote Bob MITCHELL-MITCHELL
DeleteMs. Haley- Brooks does not think we pay enough taxes, and Ken Robinson wants to give all of the money we raise and appropriate to the schools, so how will the town run ? On this blog I asked to have an article about Shrewsbury included. I did that because it shows that there are communities that will work together for the good of the town. If you had taken a few minutes to read this article, I was hoping that it would bring up a question in everyone's mind as to what the School Committee is thinking when they behave the way they have ? It is true that we only have so much money to go around, and no one department can take it all. The guys on the highway department have not had a raise in three years, but the schools have handed out raises on a ongoing basis. Is that fair ?? Hell no, but if you have no sense of community you do not care. As a result of the way the town has done business for many, many years, we are once again in a place where we need to come up with a good size chunk of money. There is no going back, but we need to learn from our mistakes. If this financial mess was so confusing to took our accountant half the year to discover, how did the Police Chief expect a member of the Select Board to know what had been going on for over a decade or more. I understand the frustration out town workers are feeling, and no one feels any worse than I do, but the truth is, if we thought we needed more money earlier this year, we would have simply asked for it. I am truly disappointed that the DOR did not put their foot down along time ago to stop the creative accounting from going on, but it may be that they did not know what was going on either. It could also be that they turned a blind eye from what was taking place, with a feeble attempt of warning the people in charge to stop using free cash, stabilization funds, and money from any place they could find it to set the tax rate. Needless to say, no one listened. We are in the here and now, and all we can do is make the best of a bad situation, and hope people will work together to get us out of this mess. These are my opinions, based on the real truth. Bev.
Delete