Monday, June 10, 2013

Mondays LTE

What just happened at town meeting in Templeton?
To the Editor: 6/10/2013
John M. Driscoll
General Manager, Templeton Municipal Light & Water

To the Editor:

On May 14, the voters attending the first night of the 2013 Templeton Annual Town Meeting voted against Article 12, by a margin of 141 to 118 on a hand count. Article 12 on the town warrant was for a town vote to approve or reject Templeton Water’s FY14 operating budget (Templeton Water provides public water to about 2,200 customers in town, which represents roughly 60 percent of the town). On March 12, 2013, about two months earlier, the Templeton Water Commission voted unanimously to approve the FY14 budget presented to them by the general manager to operate the water department. So, in March, a $1.4 million FY14 water budget is OK and in May it is not. What just happened?


The Templeton Water Commission of three is made up of elected commissioners, each serving revolving three-year terms which necessitates an election each year. Once elected, this commission has the sole authority to approve or reject in part or in whole the water department’s operating budget presented to them by the manager.

On Feb. 11, 2013 the general manager of Templeton Water gave a copy of its approved FY14 operating budget to the Templeton Advisory Board consisting of 20 line items. The Advisory Board then requested a more detailed budget than what the general manager had given the Water Commission, so a second more detailed one was given to them on March 11, 2013, now consisting of 44 budget line items. The Advisory Board, still not satisfied, requested a third budget with even more detail. At this point, neither the Water Commission nor the general manager had received any feedback from the Advisory Board on any of the 44 budget line items, only requests for more detail.

On March 25, a budget template file in spreadsheet form was sent to the general manager by the Advisory Board to be filled out. This new file had within it 74 budget line items spread across five pages. The general manager stated that he would get this file updated and back to the Advisory Board “as soon as possible.” Previously, on March 12, the Templeton Municipal Light and Water Plant received copies of six different citizens’ petitions to be discussed and voted on at the Annual Town Meeting on May 14, which would all, if successful, have detrimental effects on Templeton Light and Water ratepayers. In addition to the normal daily tasks completed, the general manager now had to mount a legal defense for the light and water departments against these petitions.

So Templeton Water did not have enough time prior to May 14 to provide the third version of its FY14 water budget to the Advisory Board, so the Advisory Board recommended a no vote on the $1.4 million water budget, so the voters voted no on the $1.4 million water budget, 10 minutes after which the general manager was told by town counsel in the school hallway that come July 1, 2013, Templeton Water was “all done.” All done providing water to people? No, just “all done” getting its employees and vendors paid, because the selectmen plan to stop the payment of all water warrants on July 1 in the absence of a yes vote on Templeton Water’s FY14 operating budget. How is this going to work?

It isn’t. The selectmen and the Water Commissioners will meet on June 10 to discuss a resolution to this potential disaster of no water being provided to Templeton and no water personnel to provide it. Templeton Water’s advice to the selectmen in this case would be simply to continue processing Templeton Water’s payroll and vendor warrants like it has been quite efficiently since the 1950s. Why fix it if it’s not broken?

John M. Driscoll
General Manager
Templeton Municipal Light & Water
1 st submission Water Budget from Water Dept

8 comments:

  1. WHOOEEEE!!! Check out those RAISES !!! 9%+ 10%+
    14%+ What the hell is going on here?
    ARE YOU KIDDING ME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  2. Down hear on the lower forty we'll be lookin between the cushions for more change to pay the bills.

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  4. When asked about the rumors in town about a 14%pay raise i was told no laughted at and told it was only a 1%1.5% and 2% raise. By the commissioners general manager.
    Shaould be a very interesting meeting. They do things right over there abd only tell the truth?

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  5. I was also told management has not got a raise in 3 years.
    These are facts supported by audio recording. Soon to be posted on this Templeton information blog.
    Proudly posted i might add. Time for another letter to the editor also to let people know what a bunch of bullshit the letter in our water bills is.!

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    1. Well, well, now you have seen part of the picture, Give me a break, it seems that the clerk /secretary, making $43,271. a year could have given John D. a hand, so the paperwork could have been turned in on time. It would have been done very quickly, seeing every thing is on the computer already. I think our friends at Light and Water, did not want to let you people know about the raises their people received, because of the response they would get. So now you know, the cat is out of the bag, so you may wonder what you get for your money? Well, there was never a answer to why we have had so many water main breaks. Good overtime $$, ching, ching! All of this money going out, and the rest of the town workers starve! Now I think that is wrong. To spend as much as you can as a department, raises, trucks, vehicles for the administration people to ride in, in style. (a hybrid, give me a break) All the while, they will make sure that they pass on every dime they spend, on lawyers, trying to keep the people, and town officials, from having any say in how they do business, to you and me. If this is what you want from the people who should be working for you, fine, just sit back and don't say a word. I know this is wrong! I went to the Commissioners, naively thinking they would help the town. Never mind helping the town, they did not have any interest in helping any of the elderly, or people in need. Since the 70's we have been a part of EMWIC, and the people in this town could have had help with a number of rebates, and other programs. Did the Light people ever tell you? They know about these, but never sent notices to the people who could have benefited from these, the most. The letter from John D. is a joke! I do not think it is funny. Maybe this is ENOUGH's way to get back at the town. Who wrote it? Sure sounds like PQ?? Try to make the meeting tonight. This is my opinion, like Dave I have gone to every meeting for the past two years. There needs to be a change. My opinion, Bev.

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  6. My oh My, not even in DEC's heyday when we were making money by the trailer truck load did we get those kind of raises. I was clearly in the wrong business.
    I guess Dana was right when he said "we do things right over here"

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  7. When i read this LTE i wonder how many outright lies it has in it. It tends to be a pattern with the L+W show to say what people need to hear to further their agendas. One is to keep the lawyers fund flow at a high amount.It only takes a short time to get the truth out and after the last atempt to get rid of the commission more people understand what it is. This isn't about just a budget but the process the L+W show take and the arrogance they use. The way the people are treated and answers that don't add up are the proof and will be brought to the forfront.

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