Well people of Templeton, we did a good show of numbers at Monday night's meeting March 26, 2012 selectmen's meeting. But, yes I said but, we still were not allowed to really-really voice our opinions and suggestions on issues. First the police chief gave a warning about the meeting to us taxpayers about our behavior during meetings or "you will be asked to leave". Well in my opinion chief Whittaker should have addressed the "hostile members of the board of selectmen", about their obligation to us taxpayers. As a "note", Jeff Bennett trying to explain to the people on an override and mentioned a couple of not so good decisions from the present board of selectmen. The whole room lit up,
as in layman's terms, we know who Bennett is talking about. But how do you shame the shameless? The shame is, most of us that were present know how those members got there, recall, recall, recall, also Pete Kasper calling Dennis O'Brien stupid when he, Dennis walked into the meeting. A lot of people laughed but I overheard one lady say Pete was out of order for what Pete said, well lady, how much of out of order was O'Brien calling us taxpayers stupid at a public meeting, O'Brien will never live that statement down. Like a lot of other comments Mr. O'Brien made. Julie Farrell tried to address the board and the public, and Columbus put a stop to her speech about 40 seconds worth, not 3 min. All us people in the crowd noticed a hostile mood of the board members to our left of Chris Stewart. Do you people need a better explanation in layman's terms who I am talking about? Put down the override it's about time the town listens to the taxpayers and should be allowed to be told - on paper the cuts in services that would be lost, verbal cuts don’t fly with me and my opinions in layman's terms. We the taxpayers see what's going on in Templeton and in my opinion only one selectmen is on us taxpayers’ side, right? Let's do some layman's terms scare tactics, highway department if you only have five men to do a job make a schedule, other words don't have five guys doing what can be done with three guys and so on. Cutting services won't hurt most of us people in Templeton we and I am "speaking" get it speaking for many can live well without the services that have been put on our backs because of a handful of helpless people expecting something for nothing. Example highway department when you plow snow in my shoveled driveway, send a man out with a shovel and cleanup what you plowed into my driveway, does that sound familiar Bud Chase. Mr. O'Brien that is a “stupid" request by the taxpayer don't you think? Example Police Department chief Whittaker, is right, if you don't want a $32,000 police cruiser, let the department rebuild the oldest cruiser for $12,000 it's going to last just as long as a brand-new cruiser with a three-year guarantee. Don't forget we only have 72 road miles in Templeton, so no matter what happens on patrol with the new cruiser or rebuilt cruiser, help is only a few minutes away and everyone knows how SH happens. Nothing is a perfect fix, nothing. As far as other services that the police provide, is just a natural thing. Please chief Whittaker don't ask for any inground swimming pool if you get a new police station. Example Sewer department don't raise rates for services just to show off and give the town back big bucks to balance the budget. Or create issues just to "blow the money and now show a balanced budget" I am talking in layman's terms these are all questions or/answers to a lot of problems in town and has been for many years. Municipal water Department how come the water department is broke whoops, that is what I heard through the grapevine. It's the first time I heard that answer, is it true? Is the water department spending more than they should? I'll wait on any answer, good or bad. But please say the truth, no bogeyman answer. Templeton Light department how come that plant is so effective and has plenty of extra money, all nice equipment, a nice work environment, oops, as far as I know about the work environment, it always looks good to me, after SH left the building, you know like "Elvis" has left the building. I admit I don't know everything about all the works of Templeton but I do know about the dirty politics of Templeton. So how about it taxpayers do you want to add any questions or answers to my blog. Do it "as anonymous" no one will know the identity of the sender. Just be honest about what you ask, what you tell about all the wrong doings, people will get nervous and start stumbling like they have been. I wonder what Mullins is thinking when he is faced by all the people in the audience knowing what he did in Winchendon and the reason he and Perini resigned their jobs. Just a question that came to my mind when chair Columbus asked where my letter for an investigation was? My letter was read in public, a copy was given each selectmen and 100 copies were passed out to taxpayers on my blog, our police department has a copy, the state police has a copy, so what's the beef is someone afraid of the investigation? In my opinion about 10 to 12 people should be afraid of an investigation. The investigators don't have to lie about anything. Everyone knows about the ex-House Speaker spending eight years in federal prison. Most people watch the news and read the newspapers. Well enough of that about corruption. So if these stories don't get the attention of all the taxpayers nothing will. After all is said and done in my opinion if you taxpayers got any extra money could you float me a small loan until after blueberry season?
Thanks for reading my opinions
No disrespect to the Chief but he should not be speaking for the selectmen. They are using him as their pawn in my opinion because they know that he has more respect from the people than they do. He is a resident of Winchendon? He should be addressing the issues in his own town and speak only about his department in our town. Once again no disrespect. Do we really need 2 officers at a selectman's meeting? When we as taxpayers do not have enough money to balance our budgets at home we do not go to our friends and ask for $$ to fund us, we start cutting, first, ALL unnecessary spending then we go back and cut some more, after the second round of cutting we continue sacrificing until we reach our goal. I may be wrong but I think that the Town can cut more. I do not believe the seasonal workers they voted to rehire last night are really a necessity. I might be wrong but think we could get by with less or without. So the streets don't get swept until August! Who cares? We are working on balancing the budget. Ballfield need to be mowed? Any volunteers? Not until the selectmen start listening to the taxpayers and watch how they spend $$ foolishly as in on K&P will the townspeople go along with their recommendations. Look at the mess they have gotten the town into. Yes times are bad but our selectboard is even worse. The recall was retalliation for letting CS go and for not "letting the people speak"? Was letting CS go a bad move for the Town of for GS, CS, their friends and family? Now what is up with our new coordinator? Is he not meeting the needs and expectations of the town? Townspeople appear to be supporting him, why not the selectmen? It is one thing to "let the people speak" and another thing to hear and act upon what they are saying with more than an okay thank you.
ReplyDeleteI am in a quandary right now folks. There have been so many suggestions in these comments and blogs about how to make this town more efficient by looking at the gaps in each department, getting rid of those who are not giving a full day/week, or, dropping the pseudo services that are not fulfilling their objectives. How is this information getting to the budget table? I heard on the street that 20% across the board is now 30%. Are you kidding me right now? What does that do to the people who ARE giving 100% and more? We will lose more people like Tammy, etal. who can get better jobs elswhere because they deserve it. Stop the MADNESS now! We cannot let Mr. Ritter go too. Obviously, the brainiacs were not able to do it as fast as they thought and that's why they have Exec. Sessions to discuss strategies. Who is advising them of the law? Was there a lawyer in the last exec session? Are we paying for that? May cannot come soon enough for me.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that has happened that takes a mere $25,000.00 out of the budget, (approximately as it is a little bit more, like $259.00) and this does not affect services or anyones job. Deb Dennis leaving the selectmen office, her salary for that position stays in the general fund and she starts at the treasurer office at entry level which equates a $5,900.00 salary savings without cutting service or someones salary. Going forward, we should look at cutting things like the amount spent on annual reports, put it on the web, print inhouse a set number of copies, nothing fancy, how many people actually read them? Have it available online and save 2 grand without cutting a service. Stop the core service of sweeping streets and save the fuel expense, police chief issue directive, no officers going to gardner to buy coffee and save wear n tear and fuel, close all town buildings on Friday. The town clerk is open only half day, assessors in the field. Close one fire station, Gardner only has one station. Can people complete training online rather than traveling to and from and save the mileage? Some petty sounding things but they do add up. Perhaps if chairman of board spent more time on budget and less time with lawyers trying to figure out a way to get rid of coordinator, the selectmen could come up with some solutions.
DeleteThankyou again Jeff. All of the above makes sense, but, are you the lone ranger convincing the others? I honestly doubt they are reading anything on this site objectively. If anonymous letters were sent to the Board, would they be taken seriously? Probably not. How can "Citizens 4 Templeton" get through without being accused of heckling at meetings?
DeleteJeff
Deleteyou cant close 1 fire station it will affect everybody's home owners fire ins cost we suppose to have two stations and 3 fire engines and a ladder truck according to ISO i will get the exact # i just have to find the most recent report and yes Gardner does only have one but they also have a full time dept. if we close one station to keep ins cost the same we need a full time dept staffed 24 hours a day 7 days a week there is no cost savings there
I am not in favor of closing a fire station either. Is it possible to bill homeowner's insurance companies for fire services? Police on the other hand I think we can make some cuts there possibly.
Deletemikec, yes the insurance service organization gives iso rate numbers, 1 = best and 10 = worst and I have not found Templeton's number yet. But everything needs to be considered and looked at from how much we pay for fuel to how much we spend for a box of cleenex (as in taxpayers) Should taxpayers even be buying cleenex for offices is another question. TP is one thing, but we are talking barebones here. We do need certain things to run this business called Templeton, but it just may be, ALL take a 10% cut in salary for the year, 100% for elected salaries minus say town clerk who would get the 10% cut then look very hard at expenses as in paper, pens etc etc. Seasonal workers can be rotated in 12 week increments so no cost to taxpayers in unemployment insurance increases and keep hours under a level so no benefits which equals costs to town (taxpayers) that we can just not have this year. Street sweeping is one of the things that is not "core" as required. Stop putting sand on roads in winter and you do not have to sweep it up later or dig it out from drain basins. Use 100 % salt, which does cost more up front but is cheaper on the back end. Plow more, use less salt and save money on fuel, labor and wear n tear. Mikec, this is one great thing about blog, we talk, put forth ideas and no one is yelling or preventing you from finishing a thought and no need for police expense. Appreciate the input, keeps me on my toes which is good since I/the board is suppose to work for you, not against you. Thank You for your efforts and please keep me posted when I goof.
Delete1 believe we have a 5/9 ISO rating which means in the hydrant district we have a 5 rating and outside the district it is a 9 rating. i know in the past the firefighters had taken a 1 year pay cut to save the town money and to prevent any cuts to the service that the dept provides. not one firefighter does this for money they put tons of free time to help improve there skills to help you all .just like this Saturday at the otter river sportsmen club we had a great day of training and all it cost the town is some fuel we were there form 7 30 am to after 4 pm all the guys had taken time away from there family's and jobs to better them selfs to help you all when it comes the time .this is a tough department to take money away from most of these guys donate so much free time to the town to help you all just my opinion
DeleteI agree. There are many more places to cut than the Fire Dept. & provide for the safety of our Firemen who put in their time to keep us & our Homes safe!! So important to have their needs met to give us all peace of mind that if we have an emergency they will be able to respond in a timely matter. This is where time, equipment & trained personnel is of the essence!! Please look elsewhere to cut expenditures. Many other good suggestions I have seen thus far.
DeleteOk lets all stop beating up on the fire dept Hee Hee seriously folks the fire dept is not the problem - Afforable Housing, Concom, planner- do you people know that the employees at 2 school st, 4 elm st and 690 Patriots rd all offered to clean their own offices/bathrooms so we could get rid of the cleaners at $13,000 per year - but Bob C told the employees (very nastily) that he would make that desision.
DeleteWell BC (& I don't mean before Christ) is one of the biggest problems we have right now. He may not think he is JC but seems he is thinking even higher of himself. God maybe?? Anyway, that "power" went right to his tiny head. He has little guy syndrome like all the other dictators of this world. Being chairman of rhe BOS does not mean that you are the boss of the town in "general" Now it's my time for a hehe Pauly. LOL
DeleteAt the last BOS meeting, there was a lot of talk for the department heads about not wanting to lose “core service”. Can someone please explain to me, what are the core services in Templeton?
ReplyDeleteThe Police Chief and Highway Department Supervisor both said in their conversation, “I’m not threatening anyone… or …that’s not a threat”, it may not have been a threat but it certainly was a scare tactic. The way the discussion came off was that, we NEED this override to balance the budget and keep the core services in place. It was disturbing that not once did the certain majority of the BOS ever talk about cuts from the budget that could and should be made. Pauly has brought up, many times, that there IS waste in the town’s budget. Do we need an Affordable Housing Director? There’s a cut right off the top. Do we need a Conservation Agent? Can we hire a contractor based on need versus a full time salary? I am sure that there are positions in town that can be eliminated. This has not been addressed in a thoughtful way by the majority of the BOS. The soon to be Superintendant of the schools was smart to look at the absolute needs of the school system and cut the waste, her former job and a position that could be contracted out.
The time for the status quo is gone. The taxpayers in Templeton are waking up to the reality that surrounds them. We may need to have an override, but let’s make damn sure that the fat has been cut off first.
Core services are Police Fire Highway but also the financial Depts Assessors Tax Collector Treasurer
ReplyDeleteWe could do a lot of cutting of the Light & Water Dept, Police & other retirement funds that are in place here. Are their jobs important? Yes, but so are the rest of ours (if we still have one) which most don't come close to the salaries they are getting. Look back at the DOR report that found that most people in Templeton only make approx. $23,000 per year not $70,000, 80, 90 or $100,000+ benefits that some enjoy!! That goes for the school dept., too!! The rest of us have to fund our own retirement accounts, if able to do that at all now. Some were fortunate enough to get those great paying jobs when the economy was better but times have changed for everyone. Also, those jobs were their choice so don't try to make the rest of us "worship" you for something you get well paid to do!! They set up those Humongous Salaries & Bennies years ago & now the full brunt of what that means is catching up with us. I think it is time for everyone else to fund their own retirement & health ins. accounts, as the rest of us have foot most of our own expenses. We CANNOT afford a lot of these people who are NO better than the rest of the hard working population. It is time for a REALITY check for those who had a wonderful career here & are now floating by on TONS of money for doing nothing but causing trouble for the town while most of us work day & night to give them a paradise retirement in addition to the super salaries they got already. Get SS like the rest of us have to & fund a 401K with your financial planner. The majority of us don't have that luxury of being able to put any money into any future prospect. We are struggling to make ends meet each day!! It is also time to leave the New town coordinator in place. He is doing a good job & is young. There is no need for a 70+ year old to still be holding that post when jobs are so scarce these days. I do Not believe in discriminating against anyone based on their age but it appears that there is MORE than enough money that is going to those few with their cushy retirement plans that they do NOT need any more money from us. That is my opinion. Also, I think this whole situation is being looked at on the surface as a tit for tat game when it may actually be something much bigger than we even imagine. I think there are players that are not residing in this town that are pulling a lot of strings here besides K&P. I don't know for sure but that is my strong opinion. I think that we may be being looked at for the big cities usage as a dumping ground or something else we don't see. Years ago I know there were people who wrote to several investigative news agencies & they wouldn't touch any issues here in Templeton. At first they would be very interested & then after looking into (whatever it was they looked into) they would come back with a response that it was not something that they were interested to pusue because it was too Big for them??? What is too Big for them?? That is what many of us are wondering? Why do some people want to control Templeton so badly? Just some more questions that need to be answered. All my opinions!! Thanks Pauly, as ever a great blogspot to sound off!!
ReplyDeleteI have a question or comment regarding the summer positions. I understand that there were 47 applicants, 15 interviewed and 4 selected. The same 4 that were hired last year. i also have heard that they collect unemployment benefits after the summer. at least 2 of the 4 are elderly men who are also receiving retirement benefits (that could be a substantial retirement if they worked at the papermill and postoffice). it seems to me that the town could be saving money if they did not offer any benefits to these employees. when someone collects unemployment, in the long run, the town is paying for it. there are alot of young adults (over 18 in order to operate equipment) that could use the extra money over the summer to help with college expenses and also would not be collecting unemployment all winter. i'm assuming (and correct me if i am wrong) that if they are collecting unemployment, then they most likely are also getting other benefits from the town - this is an expense the town does not need. they can hire young adults with no benefits - the kids would not be looking for benefits, just extra money for the summer. offering benefits does cost money!
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