Team Player ?
Please read from the bottom up.
From: J Driscoll [mailto:jdriscoll@templetonlight.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2014 9:34 AM
To: Holly Young
Cc: Dana Blais (snowfighter4@verizon.net); Gregg Edwards; Chris Stewart
Subject: RE: Pilot Payment
Holly,
Yes I will be attending if nothing more than to address the problems with the Town’s ATM warrant articles #11 and #12.
I see that there is still a PILOT article even though there will not be a PILOT paid to the Town in FY15. Perhaps this is the manner by which they allow the Town to accept any sum of money from the Light Plant towards the funding of a town project of the Selectmen’s choosing? I have just never seen it done this way. Nobody has responded to our letter of April 3, 2014 extending the Light Plant’s offer to fund said project, so I don’t know what their intentions are. I do know that this town no longer has enough money to even hang onto a part-time wiring inspector so they have effectively put a moratorium on any electrical work being done legally in Templeton. If the Light Plant were in such dire financial straits we would jump at the chance that the letter of April 3, 2014 would have given us to get more “in the black”.
Similarly, nobody has responded to our letter of January 17, 2014 either requesting that the water budget be removed forthwith form the Town’s ATM warrant. The water budget article should not even be on the warrant because the funds to operate the enterprise are not in any way appropriated by taxation (like the sewer budget is). This is a non-binding vote and a lot of town meeting attendees were confused last year along with a lot of our water customers as to why 141 voters in a town of about 5,000 registered ones can halt the water department’s operations. This is unfortunate, we thought that the Massachusetts DOR letter would have cleared up the issue and the fact that the public now knows that the Town cost the water department $7,500 in legal fees last year over this water budget’s presence on the town meeting warrant. That being said, I would really like to know who came up with the $1,407,378 figure for FY15 because they didn’t get it from anyone here; at least not for this fiscal year. Actually, this looks like the water budget figure from FY13’s annual town meeting warrant. If the Light or Water Plant had tried to mislead voters in such a way it would be considered fraud, and rightly so.
Templeton Water has not had their FY15 water budget approved by the Commission yet, but I know the figure will be more than $1,407,378. I anticipate passage of our water budget here by the Commission sometime in May, notwithstanding any other crises that unfold.
John M. Driscoll
General Manager
Templeton Municipal Light and Water Plant
86 Bridge Street, P.O. Box 20
Baldwinville, MA 01436
Phone (978) 939-5323
Fax (978) 939-4309
From: Holly Young [mailto:hyoung@templeton1.org]
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2014 3:13 PM
To: J Driscoll
Subject: Pilot Payment
Hello John;
I was asked by the Board to invite you to our next meeting on April 28, 2014, which begins at 6:30 p.m. We will be discussing the Pilot payment. Please confirm whether you will be attending.
Thank you.
Holly
Holly A. Young,
Senior Legal Administrative Assistant/Notary Public
Templeton Selectmen's Office
email: hyoung@templeton1.org
Phone: 978-939-8801
Fax: 978-939-4065
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May 5, 2014
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Our Light and Water manager mentions the 141 votes that held up the water budget, if my memory serves me correctly and it often does not weren't there just 86 votes that ratified Ch 93 Acts of 2000 at town meeting? Ch 93 Acts of 2000 is bad legislation that was sold to the town as what I believe to be a scam for friends and family. Ch 93 Acts of 2000 needs to be eliminated and water needs to go back to the town like every other town in the State of Massachusetts accept maybe Littleton. When people take the time to look closely at what Ch 93 Acts of 2000 really is and how poorly it works for the town as a whole it is really a no brainer to repeal this piece of stupidity.
ReplyDeleteMost of the information on the passage of Chapter 93 Acts of 2000 is available on the left hand sidebar of this blog. Please read the information and educate yourself on this issue. It is NOT going away.
ReplyDeleteWhile at this point in time a DPW is not feasible, Templeton's future should include a DPW. Advocating for a DPW is not a vendetta. It is good governance. It is a good business practice that many other towns have in place to share resources across departments.
Advocating for a DPW, does not mean selling off the light department.
Please inform yourself on this issue by reading the material available on the sidebar.
Go to Templeton light.com and you see Templeton Municipal Light & Water plant, which offers it's departmental services to.... then go to a selectmen meeting and ask if the Templeton Light department uses the town of Templeton's tax ID number in the financial dealings. Then go to MGL c164, section 56 and read it. It will state near the general manager is to go when summoned to the mayor, city council, selectmen and or light commission if there is one to report the indebtedness of the city or town. So why does this commission and general manager seem to think they are so separate from the town? If their revenue is on the low side, where will the money for a PILOT come from? Perhaps from the same revenue account they took funds from to build the building on Bridge street back in 2002 / 2003. It is the annual town reports where the light department came to town meeting for 1.5 million dollars to build a new 12,000 sq. ft building but the lowest bid was 1.9 million dollars (figure sound familiar) Perhaps it is time for the selectmen to push for the separation of the light and water department then move the water dept. in with the sewer dept. which would give a sound and practiced method to collect past due sewer bills (by shutting off water) then look into selling the light dept. off to a public utilities company and gain instant new growth in Templeton (new revenue) then an annual increase in property taxes with no baggage, as in retirement, health insurance, weekly warrant and payroll, less accounting costs to the town but most important, revenue. Is it simple and easy, no, but it is not that hard and it makes sense. Compare electric rates in Templeton with surrounding cities and towns that have say national grid or any other company. Check on tax revenue to any town or city that has public utilities rather than a municipal dept.
ReplyDeleteGeez why don't they just use the money to repair Dana Blais's sewer line that is leeching into the ground. Anybody else and the water would have been shutoff to the building.
ReplyDeleteWhile on subject of money, maybe Templeton could have a land use clerk and eliminate the positions such as conservation clerk ( approximate 5hrs week) clerk at cemetery, clerk at building and clerk at planning board. According to 2012 annual town report, total combined salaries for those positions; $57060.00. Perhaps have one land use clerk at $25,000.00 per year working 25 hours a week and taking phone messages and information for all 4 departments. Not a popular move and not good putting people out of work but since it is not the responsibility of the tax payers to employ everyone and if the selectmen are serious about lowering employment costs as much as possible while being responsible and providing services, this could be a way to do all of that while saving some tax dollars, at least for the time it takes to get Templeton on sound financial footing. This is something I had thought about and Police Chief Dave Whitaker asked me about as we chatted about the town budget back in March 2014. Dave commented to me that if all the depts. had to cut 2 - 5%, what about these positions being cut or combined.
ReplyDeleteMr. Driscoll and his band of merry men, Light and Water Commissioners, are not going down easy. There was a different atmosphere to the Light and Water meeting we attended this month. Driscoll's leg was not shaking the room. It is apparent that they feel secure in their position that they owe this town nothing, and have no fear of the BOS or it's ability to get them to contribute their fair share. The arrogance of these people who think they are free to ignore law is beyond me. Credit has to go to their legal counsel for setting this board up legally, to the point that in their way of thinking we, yes you and I, do not own the Templeton Municipal Light and Water Department any longer. As my husband told me one night after a Light and Water Meeting, the Commissioners are hiding something from the rest of us. Why would the whole crew be there that night, as the meeting ended with a shouting match, telling us we do not own the Light and Water Departments any longer ? The arrogance of the Commissioners to think that the people on the BOS, can not manage any money they would give the town, so they would want to do a project for the town with their money !! Oh please !! Give me a break !! We are responsible for the debt occured by the Water Department, so as I see it we need to approve their budget, wether John Driscoll likes it or not. Bev.
DeleteOn the web page of Templeton Municipal Light & Water Department, there is a financial statement that includes language that states Town of Templeton Light plant & subsidiary. So someone tell me again how Templeton does not own the Templeton Municipal Light & Water Department? Also on the MMWEC web site (Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company) it has Nicholas J. Scobbo jr. as MMWEC General Counsel. I believe this is attorney who Templeton Light uses. My question is does Templeton Light get a discount rate because Templeton Light belongs to MMWEC? Sean Hamilton is also listed as a director of MMWEC.
ReplyDeleteNo ! Jeff the man charges the town light dept.$375.00 per hour to conference call with the other lawyers he hires for them. And no we do not have a contract with him on file. He also is on the board at our coop with princeton.I think he is called a clerck?
ReplyDeleteWhat a tangled web the electricity we recieve goes through. The price we pay for our power is higher than we are being led to believe. The high school/middle school pays 180,000.00 per year and has a eye poping history when looked at closely. The meter readings over a 13 month period had the same amount on 3 different months. A little odd i thought. The school system gets no reduced power bill costs for having the wind turbine in the track area. Other schools get energy rebates to change lights and furnace upgrades but we get none of these due to the fact we are a Municipal light department. The thought the General manager would think a Pilot would not be paid this time and not talk about a formula is nothing short of a retaliation for the voters in this town exercising their former rights. The worst thing in my book is the commission lets this happen.
The PILOT is a payment in lieu of taxes, for those of you that are new to the blog. A PILOT is a way for the Templeton Municipal Light Company to pay their fair share, as companies like these are not taxed by the town. The PILOT payment should be looked at just like you and I look at our tax bills. This should be a payment that they should have budgeted for, not a sum of money they feel they can send the town just to keep us quiet. As we do not use the barter system, I'll give you two chickens and a pig toward my bill, so the Light and Water Departments need to come up with the money to pay their fair share. This is something that they have not done in a very long time. Bev.
DeleteThis is pure BullShit. This man has NO right to DICTATE to the taxpayers of Templeton how they must handle OUR INTERNAL FINANCES.
ReplyDeleteThis MAN, has NO say in how Templeton decides their electrical destiny. He has NO say in how Templeton decides OUR destiny. He is an INTERLOPER. He MUST be opposed.
His judgement has put our light department behind on revenue and his way of hiding it is to stir up confrontation. The commissioners meeting is more a bash Templeton and every other board and department they can every chance they get.
ReplyDeleteIf you like that i guess vote back in Dana for 3 more years. If you don't think that is right for our town to put up with vote Dana out. He has fostered this and will expand if not removed. I have given the people of Templeton a clear choice and now it's up to them. This is the first time a General manager has been allowed to act this way and it should have never been allowed to happen. This behavior is not as a commission should act against a town. Why are the books short when they charge us close to what the other's charge. I think he is filling the lawyers pockets every time he gets a chance.Just so everyone knows the water department superintendent now knows how to thaw a frozen pipe. That took him 25 years to figure out. So he knows how the next time when that happens again.They don't know how much it cost for 1 frozen pipe on south main street but when i find out I'll be sure to let the people know.They dug a hole large enough to put a trailer truck in and only needed a 8' opening to do the job right. I guess they are doing on the job training at our expense.
The problem with that is the commission thinks they did a good job.
Are they that out of touch?
Out of touch, may be a way to look at our Light and Water Commissioners. After all, wasn't it our friend Dana that said poor people make 60,000. a year. Don't they wish ! When speaking to these men at the first meeting of the Light and Water Commissioners our group attended, we found some pretty sad opinions about the public they serve. When speaking about the question of providing a lower rate or discount for people on disability, the fear of the Commissioners was that these people would take advantage of the situation, (leave the air conditioner on with the windows open), or that there may be too many people that were low income, to provide these people with any type of discount. It would simply cost the company too much money. It was like pulling teeth to get these people to put their information on line, or to get them to place their meeting times where the public could find them. In the end they finally improved their web site, and many of the rebates that we asked about were already provided to the town through MMWEC, even though our Commissioners were not aware of these facts. My main reason for attending these meetings was to ask about the pilot payment the Light Company pays the town. I will not forget what Mr. Driscoll told us, If they give us more it would come out of our pocket. Sorry that is not how it is supposed to work. Bev.
DeleteNo PILOT/Tax paid will be a hole in our budget again. How will the town be able to pay the electrical bills for town offices and schools when the PILOT tax is not going to be paid like it always has been. I think the game he is now playing is very poor judgement. So much for buying into the nuclear power having a stabilizing affect on our bills. From what i have read it looks like the plans are to hire more help and not rely on our town employees to help out in times of needs.If there is ever another day like last years multi main event Templeton is in more trouble at a higher cost.
ReplyDeleteOur gifted general manager and commission has done a thing right again for Templeton. We now have posted on the TMLWP website the new rates. Billing us effective 1-1-2014 rates are now posted.
ReplyDeleteTime to compare how we are being done right by them over there.
The General manager did not know the rates were not posted as information on their website.WHY NOT?
The commission did not know the rates were not posted as information on their website. WHY NOT?
I asked the question at the last meeting and now there up.
I guess you need a new commissioner who wants thing transparent.You know without forcing it out of them.
You won't need to force it out of me like we have to from DANA. I'll see to that day ONE!
Join the other 610 and vote for a better commission to represent us and Tempeltons future light and water business.
Over 971 people wanted change the last election and did not vote to re elect edwards.
That tells me people want a change and now it is up to you to make that change.
VOTE SMART!