Hello Folks’
I’d like to thank you all for participating in Templeton’s political process, all though I wish we were writing to you for more constructive and positive purposes. For those of you who do not recall I am Selectman Robert Mitchell and I am writing because I remember many things about our town governance. I remember the clique that brought us the landfill debacle and those that supported it against the town’s best interest and wishes. I remember the freedom of information request I made
to the last board and coordinator and the aggravation I went through at the Secretary of State’s office to get a simple legal bill. Of course that bill indicated that the past coordinator and one selectman thought it was all right to spend from the towns legal fund for a petition that was put forth as a citizen and rate payer. I also remember the DOR report and the fact that the last board thought it appropriate to disregard this report after the DOR and those interested in the report left the building. Perhaps some only recall that there was a report and don’t remember that the DOR felt impelled “to comment on the operation of town government when the chairman and the coordinator are spouses’. Perhaps they don’t remember that when this occurs “it is inevitable that as town business is discussed and options reviewed that decisions are made solely by the chairman and the coordinator” and that other viewpoints are not part of the decision making process and issues are not vetted in the full light of day” and that “Overall this is not a healthy situation”. Yes folks our failure to remember this bit of wisdom simply moved the problem after the last election from the board of selectman and made it quite apparent at the building committee. I remember the environmental site analysis that appears to have been done without any thought of protecting the wellbeing and safety of the town’s citizens and employees. I remember the fight to get the loan application and the building committee’s failure to provide that documentation.I also remember that this committee has consistently failed to provide accurate and meaningful numbers to the citizens or put any of their numbers or meeting minutes on the town website. With people telling citizens the reason the override is needed is for roof repairs because the state upgraded the load bearing code shouldn’t the breakdown of costs be on the web town web site. The numbers I have show the roof costing only $ 224,000 $62,000 for more engineering fee $ 63,000 an OPM (owners project manager) that we were not supposed to need when the project was put forward and $140,000 for a geo thermal heating system. For these reasons I can no longer believe the 252 Baldwinville road project is or ever has been vetted in the full light of day and believe it may have reached the criteria needed to be considered a boondoggle.
For those unfamiliar with this term I googled it on line and got the following: The term "Boondoggle" may also be used to refer to protracted government or corporate projects involving large numbers of people and usually heavy expenditure, where at some point, the key operators, having realized that the project will never work, are still reluctant to bring this to the attention of their superiors. Generally there is an aspect of "going through the motions" – for example, continuing research and development – as long as funds are available to keep paying the researchers' and executives' salaries. The situation can be allowed to continue for what seems like unreasonably long periods, as senior management are often reluctant to admit that they allowed a failed project to go on for so long. In many cases, the actual device itself may eventually work, but not well enough to ever recoup its development costs.
Though I remember much more about the past performance of our town governance there isn’t much that made me happy so I’ll move on to the positive changes that have occurred since I was elected. First of all we have the most intelligent and civil chairman of the selectmen this town has seen in a long time and I applaud Julie Farrell for her fortitude when it was necessary to close meetings to public comment to prevent a small clique from turning one of our town meetings into a circus. We also have new attorneys who hold hours at town hall where folks can get answers in person without having their questions skewed or the opinion interpreted by the coordinator the selectmen or anyone else. We also have a new and experienced town coordinator who understands budget restraints and is from outside town so can be fair unbiased and impartial.
For those who don’t know me or just “don’t recall” I am your average middle aged middle class worker that repairs high speed, multifunction machinery. When I get called on to repair a machine that is not functioning properly (Poor quality or performance) I get out the blue prints (constitution, bylaws, policies) and talk to the operators (citizens) to find out how the machine should operate. I then try to identify the malfunction and begin the process of changing parts. The way I see it our town government was not functioning properly was not user friendly and certainly wasn’t working for the citizen. Therefore I worked to change the parts (chairman lawyers coordinator) that I felt would most improve the performance of our local government. I’m not quite sure why the clique of recall folks are displeased with this or why they do not think this is in the towns best interest but I do know that there is still one part of our town government that needs replacing and since I do not recall I will certainly remember to go out to vote in May for more honest open and civil government. Thank you for your time and consideration
Sincerely Yours
Robert C. Mitchell
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