Today, at a presentation at Narragansett School, there was some talk on a new elementary school. A couple of principles said it is not the building that makes a school. Also mentioned was when people move to a new place, the number one question is about the schools. I have to wonder if the tax rate comes into play as well? I would think you could have the newest best schools in the state but if you cannot afford to live there, what good are they?

After all, if you  listen to any news show or read a newspaper these days or listen to people running for president, one of the hot subjects is the debt load for those coming out of college. Then there is the high house hold credit card balances which seems to indicate a large debtor populace. Templeton has to decide how much more debt they wish to take on and how high do they want their tax rate to be. I believe you may soon hear things like the new school financed for thirty years will mean the debt will be spaced over three generations and the current school debt will be paid off in a few years so the new school payment would just take its place rather than see less tax money going out the door in the form of debt payments. I recall being told that the building in the eastern part of Templeton was too old, junk and full of mold, it was no use for anything but as we see, it is still a good basic building, not new or glamorous but useful and functional. One thing is for sure, in November, the people of Templeton will decide if they want to increase their debt load or move to less debt which frees up money for such as road repair.

On another subject, at last nights selectmen meeting, I listened to acceptance of meeting minutes and what I did not see were any meeting minutes with a subject of any votes on how to answer an open meeting law violation complaint. Within the response to the complaint is in part; "The selectmen request...." so I would like to know when did the selectmen meet and vote on that request? Was that request arrived at via email?  There were minutes of a BOS meeting accepted for July 27, 2015 so what does that show? It shows that the selectmen may have met on that day but it does not prove that the meeting was open or available for the public to listen to, as executive session meetings have minutes and audio recorded but the public is not allowed or invited to listen in. There was also a special town meeting held that same evening with a video recording where people speaking can be heard. The selectmen can also expect a second request for public records for an accounting on what one million dollars was spent / how it was spent concerning the elementary school project. since we are told that the financial team are rebuilding the towns books and we will soon have balance sheets for town finance, there should be no problem providing this information. If they cannot or will not, why should they expect more money to spend on this project.


Jeff Bennett