By Julie Farrell
I
believe the time has come to address the harm that the enactment of Chapter 93
Acts of 2000 has caused the Town of Templeton. I signed this citizen petition
for a number of reasons.
Citizen Petition Light
and Water
To see if the town will vote to authorize the Board of Selectmen to seek
Special Legislation as set forth below: provided, however, that the General
Court may make clerical or editorial changes of form only to the bill, unless
the Board of Selectmen approves amendments to the bill before enactment by the
General Court, and that the Board of Selectmen is hereby authorized to approve
amendments which shall be within the scope of the general public objectives of
the petition, or take any other action thereon or in relation to.
An Act Authorizing the Board of Selectmen in
the Town of Templeton to Act as Light and Water Commissioners
Section 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 21 of chapter 41
and section 56A of chapter 164 of the general laws, or of any general or
special law to the contrary, the board of selectmen of the town of Templeton
shall be authorized to act as light and water commissioners and shall exercise
all of the powers and duties of a light and water commission as set forth in
the general laws.
Section 2. Upon effective date of this act, the terms of the incumbent
members of the light and water commission of the town of Templeton shall be
terminated and the elected light and water commission abolished.
Section 3. This act shall take effect upon passage.
The
ramifications of the enactment of Chapter 93 Acts of 2000, still affect the
Town of Templeton. Please review the Timeline
for Chapter 93 Acts of 2000. There is reasonable doubt that process used to
combine the Light and Water department was not done properly. The November STM
Article 8, asks for an investigation into Chapter 93 Acts of 2000. It is
important that the town is aware of the correct process for combining two
departments.
Communication-
If
this citizen petition is successful, communication between the water department
and every other town department would be greatly enhanced. Issues of replacing
water mains under newly paved roads could be discussed and planned for in a
manner that would benefit the town and by extension the taxpayer/ratepayers.
Situations like the paving of the roads in East Templeton or the Baldwinville
road reconstruction/ water main dilemma could be avoided.
Interdepartmental
cooperation would be improved avoiding situations like the “soil
testing” expense for the Senior Center.
Requests
for an explanation and report of multiple water main breaks, like those
experienced on July 14, 2012 should not take over six months and incredible
delays.
The
audit of the wind turbine should not take over 2 ½ years to complete. The audit
is a necessary tool to calculate depreciation and the “pay back “ period. The
audit would be a helpful tool in calculating a maintenance cost for the
turbine, since it is not insured and is out of warranty.
Legal Issues –
The
following invoices were obtained by public record request.
The
July invoice from Doucette & LaRose is itemized for a total of $2,430. The
September and October invoices from Doucette & LaRose are not itemized. The
September bill from Ferriter & Scobbo is still itemized for a total of
$1,306.50 for legal opinions regarding the water budget.
A
good question to ask the Light and Water commissioners: “Why did you sign off
on an invoice that provides no detail?” The claim can be made that the invoices
from Doucette& LaRose were for legal opinions to pursue litigation against
a selectman, possibly the same selectman mentioned in the July invoice.
Finally -
It
is my hope that the successful passage of this citizen petition will lead to
greater accountability from the Light and Water department management. If the
BOS act as Light and Water commissioners, the meetings would abide by the open
meeting law and should be televised.
Discussion and action could take place to combine the water
and sewer departments so that one bill for both water and
sewer charges would be issued….as has happened in the past. Combining the
billing for water and sewer would reduce costs for both departments. Discussion
and answers might be forthcoming regarding the $4.00/ month service fee for the
light department and the $28/quarter service fee for the water department. In
the Light commissioner minutes of August 3,1999 indicate the intent was to keep
the combined billing for water and sewer. The November 7, 2000 and December 5,
2000 Light Commission minutes indicate cooperation and a willingness to work
with the sewer commission.(See Timeline
for Chapter 93 Acts of 2000.)
Meaningful
discussion and action could take place to formalize the PILOT payment from the
Light department, as is recommended by the DOR Report. At this point in time I
don’t believe the Light department should be “sold off”. A discussion/hearing
to debate the merits of retaining the municipal light department will never
happen unless there is a change the governing body.
I
believe it is time to put MUNICIPAL
back into the Templeton Municipal Light and Water.
My
opinions…supported by FACTS ! ! !
Julie
Farrell
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