Interesting Legal Situation

This is the e-mail thread exchange while the motions for the STM meeting were under review by our town counsel, attorney Paul DeRensis. I am very impressed with our town counsel; he really cares about good town governance. His expertise has prevented the town from exacerbating more than few problems. Last night’s STM meeting was Attorney DeRensis’ 1,156^th town meeting.

Templeton government is a work in progress. Our new town counsel is part of a team helping Templeton to recover from years of mismanagement. Our new management team includes: Fred Aponte, accountant; Dan Keeney, treasurer; Jeff Ritter, coordinator. Working together with established department heads, the town is making progress to address the fiscal mess left behind. Hopefully, last night’s STM will clean up the remainders of that mess and the town can set the tax rate.

With new people in management come new ideas. One of those ideas:

“On Mar 5, 2013, at 8:44 AM, PDeRensis@aol.com wrote: Jeff:

Yes its "legal". In a democracy, the citizens of the town have a right to decide issues.

In order for the citizens to be able to make decisions, the questions for them to decide have to be presented to them in a legal form. Having citizens vote illegal or useless items defeats democracy. In helping format ballot questions, or town meeting articles or town meeting motions, those in office are only helping make the democratic process work; such help does not mean "endorsement" of the ballot question, article or motion. While governmental funds cannot be spent to advance an election issue, money must be spent on the mechanics of elections to provide for the opportunity for ballots to be cast.

Therefore, most governments authorize and request their legal officers to help pose the questions for decisions. However, to be clear, some governments do not, and if Templeton is one of those that does not, that tradition should be respected unless or until the BOS, the town coordinator or the Moderator starts a new tradition. “

To be clear, I understand Chris Stewart’s concern regarding setting a precedent. If a precedent is to be set, it should be discussed and debated at an open BOS meeting. Change is difficult, but sometimes very necessary. The wording of the motions is not the same as the wording of the articles posted in the warrant; that is a change for the Town of Templeton. Many towns use this procedure for wording the motions. More changes will be made. I’ll try to keep you posted.

My opinions…supported by FACTS ! ! !

Julie Farrell