Templeton Highway Department Excavator;
May 4, 2015 election results: Yes: 270 No: 399
May 16, 2015 Annual Town Meeting: Selectmen make no motion for their article!
Now, what is the need for an excavator? Templeton highway has no real responsibility to dig for any water lines as Templeton Water has separate funding for their operations and separate elected commissioners. I don't believe the Templeton highway has any real expertise for sewer lines and since we have separate elected sewer commissioners, I believe they can and should take care of that item, so what is the real need for an excavator? From the words of at least one member of the Templeton highway dept., the bigger need over there is for trucks to plow snow and to maintain the roads we have. Any argument that the Town has to have an excavator to do road work is misleading at best, the most important item needed is funding, as in money, from which contractors can be used and are used to repair roads, to include repair and or replace drain basins. It will be interesting to see what the selectmen chose to do, especially the newest member.
Jeff Bennett
funding, as in money, from which contractors can be used and used. I guess the money is found or are the contractors lost?
ReplyDeleteI hope the people who support the use of chapter 90 money know enough to not give it all to contractors who are at best overpaid. People voted no for a override at the poles and many know the work the highway dept does with the excavator.
Why would they make a motion at ATM?
Some day Jeff Bennett will see the whole story and then tell the whole story.
That may be some time as useing this blog unlike for what his father used was not free.
If Jeff had a real story why not the Gardner news?
The Highway has helped the sewer/water and many other departments.Just the Senior center alone would come close to paying for the equipment. Thats only half the story your not told. It's all about the money and to throw it away with contractors is way more expensive by far.
If there is no need for a new Excavator why would the old one be so worn out?
Look at the tar at the highway barn area. Not much chapter 90 money used there,it could be. Building upgrades?
Better safer equipment equals less chance of a accident/accidental death of a town employee. Hard to argue the money isn't there to purchase whats needed when that is what the chapter 90 money is for.
Another part of the story could be that contractors only get paid when they are used and there are no maintenance costs, no fuel cost, no repair costs, no benefit costs which last a whole lot longer than contractor costs. Drive by the town highway barn and look at the trucks, do you see black dump bodies or do you see rusted ones? Better safer equipment, yep, the town could certainly use better trucks before they need a new excavator. so we will see what happens tomorrow night. real story??? so no real stories are posted here on this blog, interesting. It looks like there are 398 others in Templeton who do not think they need an excavator. rather than a single use piece, a smarter move would be for a rubber tire backhoe. Again, the water dept. is suppose to fund all costs from receipts, like the sewer dept., which can be explained under MGL concerning enterprise funds so why would or should taxpayers spend more to help pay for things that are already funded thru receipts. Perhaps if Templeton highway did not buy equipment thru snow & Ice and road money, the debt exclusion for equipment would pass. So why does Templeton highway use some road money (chapter 90) and put some kind of end enclosure on the salt storage areas so the road salt does not get wet and freeze up, as in take care of what you have first. And Dave, you can lock me out of this blog any time you want and you know it.
ReplyDeleteThe request for an excavator for the highway dept. that was placed on the ballot was not pulled out of thin air.
ReplyDeleteThe request for an excavator came from the Capital Plan. The Capital Plan was discussed and adopted by the Board of Selectmen. The original plan was to go out for a capital bond and start replacing the old beat up highway and cemetery equipment as wells a few cruisers. Templeton needs a bond rating for that to happen. Without a bond rating, the request for an excavator was placed on the ballot.
The ballot question got shot down. The need for equipment still exists. The only option left to purchase equipment for the highway department is to use Chapter 90 money. The Board of Selectmen vote to approve the use of Chapter 90 money for the repair of roads, engineering or to purchase equipment.
if this issue is near and dear to your heart and/or wallet, please attend the selectmen's meeting tonight...6:30 pm...East Templeton.
The excavator request came from the highway dept. to the capital planning committee. Now if you do not have a bond rating and your position is you cannot borrow money without a bond rating, why bring the question forward to begin with. Next is what would the greatest need be right now for the highway dept.? Would that be something that is used almost every day or something that is used on fewer occasions? Reading on the world wide web and speaking with a field service tech from Caterpillar, I looked for the reason (s) for pin and bushing failure on loaders, the number one reason given is lack of grease and maintenance. My next thought is could the last election result be from some people who were / are still bothered by the use of road money used to buy equipment. Speaking on Cemetery, as I was driving thru Winchendon, I observed the mowing being done at one cemetery by the use of convicts, people who are serving time in jail that are used by many communities to do many chores. Could that be a way to keep the commons and cemeteries looking nice without the need to hire seasonal workers at an additional cost to taxpayers. The only option left is not just the use of chapter 90 monies, there are other ways to obtain good useable equipment. From my view, anyone who regularly states how bad and worn out their trucks are, which go out on the roads almost daily but goes after an excavator first looks kind of foolish.
ReplyDeleteif we don't have an excavator we need a backhoe so if i had a choice on which one is the best for the department if you are digging the excavator hands down is the best !! but for all around utility use the backhoe hands down !!excavator is used for digging and grading only !!backhoe can dig /grade /load trucks/plow snow !!! so which is better for a cash strapped town ?
ReplyDeleteIf we buy them a backhoe will they junk the excavator,probably not
ReplyDeleteIf we buy them a backhoe, will they junk the backhoe like they did to the excavator?
ReplyDelete