a blog from Doug Morrison

This is my personal opinion and I am not speaking on behalf of the Senior Center Oversight Committee.  

I just read the emails between Mr. Driscoll and Mr. Ledger regarding the senior center soil testing.   

Mr. Driscoll did attend the SCOC meeting and we listened to the information he had to present.  I suppose the response could have been interrupted as hostile, but when people are condescendingly blasted with unfounded ANONYMOUS ALLEGATIONS who in their right mind would expect a calm and friendly response.  It is unfortunate that Mr. Driscoll finds it an unbelievable waste of his time to meet with the citizens that pay his salary and finds their input irrelevant. 

Mr. Driscoll had one goal that evening, walk out the door with $900 of the senior citizens money.  He could not or would not answer our questions.  He could not or would not provide any evidence that indicated a need for testing. 

The dirt was moved from the site simply for convenience.  There was and still is no evidence that any contamination exists at the Bridge street site, which is why there were no concerns about moving the dirt.  IF any evidence existed it would have been tested before starting any excavation.  The dirt was taken to Sadies pit, which still is and has been the standard practice of the town for at least the last 50 years.  Since this pit is in one of these protected areas why hasn’t TL&W had the practice of taking material to this site stopped?  I guess contamination was OK with TL&W before April 2012. 

We all remember when the DEP spent millions of dollars testing and replacing the contaminated soil in Baldwinville.  They stopped when the test levels were so low that no risk remained.  Guess what, those low readings were achieved well before reaching the senior center site, again proving that no evidence exists to raise concerns that any contamination exists at that location.

At the meeting I presented Mr. Driscoll with a list of questions and asked him to produce the formal complaint that started this investigation.  Well to this day none of the questions have been answered and no formal complaint has ever been produced.  This complete waste of tax payer funds (testing, employee wages, time spent, etc) is being driven by an ANONYMOUS ALLEGATION. 

I am confident that there is little chance of finding any contamination at the Bridge Street site and a 100% chance that contamination will be found at Sadies.  It is not testing the senior center site that I am against, if any evidence existed that indicated to do so or if a formal compliant with any legitimate concerns existed.  But I am against wasting the taxpayer’s money on this absurd anonymous allegation.  As a tax payer and rate payer I can’t understand how Mr. Driscoll is so far out of touch that he doesn’t understand that paying the $900 is not the issue, having any department paying it with no evidence is the issue. 

As for the remarks/threats regarding the installation of electricity for the new senior center.  The security lights for the donated building were a requirement of the Town’s insurance carrier, not a generous gesture by TL&W.  I expect that the town is being charged for those lights along with all the other street lights, but I have no evidence to prove that.   

The BOS authorized all town departments to assist with the project to keep the cost down.  The light commissioners did approve TL&W to provide labor and expertise to extend the water lines and electrical lines to the building.  The water department side of the house is going the extra mile and providing the labor to bring the lines and conduits all the way to the building, the project is paying for the material.  The light department side is bringing the electrical service to the transformer across the street from the building.  I do not know if it is customary for an electric company to provide a transformer or if the property owner provides the transformer.  I find it hard to believe that those large green transformers serve only one site, and I don’t recall seeing those big green transforms for sale at Home Depot. 

Nonetheless it is truly appreciated that the light commissioners and the TL&W department stepped up to help with the senior center project.  The Friends of the Templeton Elders sent out a town wide survey about 5 years ago and the response that came back was that the town’s people did want a new senior center but did not want to incur a lot of debt for it, and wanted to see local contractors used to keep the money in our local economy.  In order to achieve this it is important that the town use a much internal expertise and resources as possible.  The SCOC seeks and has received many donations which are also helping to keep the cost down.

Mr. Driscoll’s quote at the meeting that “he could CARE LESS IF A SENIOR CENTER IS EVERY BUILT IN TEMPLETON”, was more than unbelievable and a true testament to his arrogance and contempt towards the citizens and rate payers in Templeton, and he should be shown the door forthwith.  The anti senior center accusations were not directed at Mr. Driscoll but at the person making the anonymous allegation.

Contrary to the belief of some, the citizens of Templeton are not stupid and to me this looks like nothing more than another childish political maneuver to cost the town millions of dollars now that the citizens have taken off our rose colored glasses and are no longer willing to accept the lies and crap being shoveled down our throats.

Now a couple of analogies for Mr. Driscoll.

A home owner in a zone II protected area orders some dirt from a landscaper.  Is the truck driver required by law to stop at TL&W before his delivery to provide legal documentation that the dirt is not contaminated?  Is the home owner required by law to spend an additional $900 to test the dirt for contamination before the truck driver dumps the load?  If some anonymous caller from Town (or anywhere for that matter since they are anonymous) calls TL&W and says “I think the dirt that was just delivered to a home owner is contaminated.”  Would this be sufficient cause to give TL&W the right to require a home owner to legally prove their dirt was not contaminated?

Let’s imagine for a minute that ALL of the rate payers in Town stopped paying their light and a water bill until Mr. Driscoll employment is terminated.  I’d bet we see some immediate action.

The SCOC attended a BOH meeting and communicated the same information to them as we did to Mr. Driscoll.  The board ended up coming to the same conclusion that there was not enough evidence to support the need for a test.

The SCOC is meeting about every other Wednesday at 6:00pm at Scout Hall, please check the town web site.  Anyone is welcome to attend.

Doug Morrison a proud citizen of Templeton Massachusetts