Rumor has it....
Lies, lies and more lies. How curious is this?
Rumor has it that $140,000 was found in the FY 17 budget, but nobody can talk about it? WHY? Is this how all of sudden consultants can be hired to screw over long time employees?
If there is $140,000 suddenly "found", do you really need to combine highway and cemetery departments? Things that make you go hmm. Why the big secret? Thought this Liars Club was all about Open, Honest and Transparent?
NOT!
Another rumor - a long time employee (assistant treasurer/collector) hours were cut to 19 1/2 hours and benefits taken away! How long has this person worked for the Town of Templeton? Through thick and thin!
Let's take a look at a recent Gardner News article-
TGN article Templeton looks in-house for new fire chief regarding the Fire Chief:
"He said should Hamel not apply for the post or if
he does and is
unsuccessful in being granted the position, that
he would seek to retain him on staff as a firefighter and EMT. He would
then have 24 months to earn the additional certification as paramedic.
Part of the reason he cited for this is that the town does not have a
formal policy regarding reductions in staff.
“It’s the least we can do for an in-house person
whose position is
eliminated,” said Terenzini." There is no honor among thieves!
LIARS! LIARS! LIARS!
How will this situation be any different from what happened to Bud Chase and the assistant treasurer/collector?
LIARS!
I personally believe that Carter is creating future liabilities for the taxpayer. Does anyone believe it's right what they are doing to Bud? Does anyone believe it's not going to be settled in court with Templeton paying.
ReplyDeleteAm I mistaken or did this BOS not want Hamel as Fire Chief??? Now they do?
There will not be a shred of trust left in the taxpayers of Templeton, and that will be for a dam good reason. The worse thing is that people will not know who is a liar and who is not.
DeleteIt does seem to me, it is time to show Carter the door, before he creates more problems, and yes, Bob M, more liabilities for our Town.
DeleteThere is NOT found money. The debt exclusion number was inaccurate and corrected on the tax recap sheet. It was $160,000 not $140,000. Now those funds will have to be part of free cash. I have brought his up before and I have ask for a comparison sheet to be provided for the public. Go look on the DOR at the recap sheet and the. Look at what was presented at town meeting. If I am not mistaken there was one other change that had to be made per the DOR to excise tax (I am going off the top of my head). Please look it up.
ReplyDeleteAs far as asst treasurer collector, I believe that is of her choosing. Please don't speculate. Call someone and ask. I don't like seeing rumors about our personnel on this blog. It's not fair to that individual. Thank you.
Hi Diane,
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect, why hasn't the board of selectmen made the information about the $160,000 public?
This information should be available to the public, but you know how that goes in Templeton -
Please read OPEN? HONEST? TRANSPARENT? NOT!
Could you please identify "the someone" who should be called and asked if rumors are true?
A lot of what is going on is "not fair" to many town employees. How do you think this is going to work out for Mr. Hamel?
I do thank you for trying to have a group of area fire chiefs perform the review of candidates, but again you couldn't get a second to your motion. So now more money is being spent on a "consultant". Money that has not been budgeted. So where is that money going to come from to pay this consultant?
My thought on all these moves and there is a public "history" lesson to back it up. The removal of Bud Chase is a long time in the making, as in 2010. That is when Bud Chase was not going to be reappointed by the selectmen. It was an article in The Gardner News and is on the record by way of selectmen meeting minutes. There was another article in the news that had one selectmen talking about some deal and nothing was going to be done until that particular selectmen was back from a trip to Washington D.C.. In the end, selectmen backing Chase said they would vote to retain the town coordinator if Bud Chase was retained. If Bud went, the town coordinator was also gone. Bud Chase stayed. In 2011, the town coordinator was let go so here we are in 2017 and Bud Chase is run out of town. Nothing will convince me that this is nothing but simple payback. That is my opinion and I do not have nothing "on paper" to prove this other than history, a question from the current chairman of the board of selectmen to me on what I thought about a particular person (can you hear the echo?)This is history repeating itself. Also the financial things happening now were spoken about by the Advisory Committee last year; motor vehicle excise tax, debt exclusion, debt schedule and pay raises that were beyond what the town could afford. Those concerns fell on deaf ears, as people at town meeting voting to not go line item by line item. Now the people have to live with what they wanted. Time to suck it up buttercup. You wanted to keep local dispatch, time to pay for it. You wanted to keep local ambulance service, time to pay for it. Did not want to discuss the spending of upwards of 13 million dollars of your money, time to pay for it. If you want a real laugh, watch Templeton tv channel about highway department doing some things at what looks like Sadie's pit. There are three loaders in the video, 3 ! ! and here I thought Bud Chase told the selectmen, along with Dave Smart, that the two old loaders were worn out and no long any good. Highway needed a new loader, so the selectmen with push from Bud Chase, did not listen to the people and bought a loader out of road maintenance funds. If you are not going to listen to the people, why ask in the first place. Your road in bad shape, don't worry, Templeton highway is spending your road money on toys, that they apparently did not really need. And the merry go round goes round and round.
ReplyDeleteagree Jeff, "same old, same old" I like Caplis's response to the Turtle losing its license, he wants to give them another break after already losing their license and being warned before. Lets not forget, That is the official "Hangout" of the Echo crew
ReplyDeleteSo Jeff forgot to say the people turned down a over ride for the new loader.
ReplyDeleteThe new loader we needed due to the possible failure of the two very old and worn ones!
More of the same half a story from Jeff Bennett's memory.
With the cost of insurance going up for the towns liability and settlements due to previous boards decisions how do we find the money to keep up?
70,000.00 make a echo all over town.
I would think our insurance rates will reflect this over the next few years.
Jeff would also have you believe the 250k over ride request by the highway for road work would be a waste when you can still travel down the roads no matter how bad they are.
The problem with Templeton is the same people keep digging and won't put the shovel down long enough to listen to anything said.
For the highway to rely on the old loaders to load sanders at a moments notice would be what some old BOS people would think is ok.
Were lucky we had people in office that knew better.
The BOS that replaced Jeffs
So Dave Smart is worried about the town's cost for insurance? So lets have town employees push for a switch to GIC which has already been shown to decrease the taxpayer's cost for insurance. Insurance is one thing that is going to keep increasing along with retirement costs. That is why there is now a requirement for cities and towns to begin putting some money aside to cover these future costs. So I guess Dave Smart wants to keep using the "old, worn out" loaders. Old and worn out, so when an accident happens, the lawyers look at this equipment and ask why it is still in use when you have a brand new one. Equipment is either good to go or is worn out and unsafe to be in use. You probably would not need to go for a tax increase on taxpayers Dave, you know, the rate payers, if the almost 200K spent on an un-needed excavator had been spent on the roads. There will be no back n forth argument here. Seems when the "greed feed bag" is on one mouth it is a different story than when it is on say the light department. By the way Dave, I did say the people were asked for a new loader and they said no. It is right up there in black n white. Look in the mirror Dave, you are part of the problem, you are busy trying to get everything you can for highway, but when light department gets anything, you go on a crusade about the rate payers getting hosed. Almost laughable.
ReplyDeleteYour knowledge about the insurance is whats laughable Jeff.
ReplyDeleteWith no guarantee of the plan you will be allowed to get into through the GIC which we looked at why would a member of the committee put people at risk like the former selectmen did. If busy trying to get everything you can for highway is a problem why say it's wrong for a steward to do. It beats the shit out of a bad decision to terminate a employee and settle for 70,000.00 after,so i have heard the town did.
My opinion is if the past selectboards were at fault they should not be part of future problems that get created by the big noses they have.
Again if we are to rely on old ,old equipment and need to in an instance need a loader to go sand the roads we are gambling with the safety of the people who use these roads.
But former BOS members have done just that GAMBLE in my opinion with this towns safe well being.
No we could farm out the roads we rebuild and get the quality we deserve for the money we pay. Or will we get the quality from the contractors we are told we will?
Just ask yourself one question. Has a "contractor" ever screwed you over?
There are as in all parts of life good and bad. Screw-er and honest contractors .
I guess i struck a nerve with our former Selectman who is a contractor.
Not sure if a "when light department gets anything" was a valid thought as if one looks they have it all and last i looked Jeff don't share with the town anymore!
Why not, they could purchase all new equipment for the highway with the amounts they overcharge us and tuck away for what they want.
All the while going deeper and deeper into debt every chance they get.
Ever hear of a mortgage after a 100+ years?
Why debt?