Sunday, September 20, 2015

The politics of Templeton

We have a playground grant, we don't have a grant. We have $300,000.00 to spend, we don't have $300,000.00 to spend. We are getting $110,000.00 for snow &and ice, no, we're only getting $30,000.00 for snow & ice. We have a budget line item CMMT, but that is for training rather than professional certification, which the law says that is what it is for, certification and professionalism. The Town books for FY 2015 are all correct and on time, Wait, perhaps the FY Town books of FY 2015 are not so good after all. Templeton is due certified free cash as soon as the Town books are audited, no, free cash for Templeton will be available with only a balance sheet. Templeton certified free cash will be available in November - December, no, early in calendar year 2016, no, ah it will be available.....when ever, if ever. Perhaps the best thing to say is we have no free cash and we cannot count on it or anticipate it at all. If and when we ever get any, good, no great, then put it all in a rainy day fund, just in case there is another financial mis-step again.

Now, about that excavator for Templeton. It is over $25,000.00 so did it need to go out to bid? Did it go out to bid? Was the excavator bought with chapter 90 money? Is it going to be paid for with chapter 90 monies? I have to ask is it legal to buy it any other way without first having a Town meeting with a debt exclusion question. The Massachusetts General Law covering chapter 90 road money states equipment can be bought out of chapter 90 money. An article at Town meeting contains a sentence with regards to allow the Board of Selectmen to buy equipment out of chapter 90 money. Now the question is, if the selectmen now try to pay for the excavator without using chapter 90 money, is that legal? It has the appearance of by passing town meeting by the Board of Selectmen, in my opinion. I am not so sure the Board of Selectmen or the Town Administrator can trans fer money from the Planning Board or any other account in the amounts reported in The Gardner News. I wonder where the spokesman for the Templeton Highway department sits on this one?

I was sitting at the selectmen meeting where Board Chairman John Columbus stated before the vote that a no vote on the excavator was a no vote on road projects. I also have the article from The Gardner News where the same John Columbus said  the Town had to be run by the book. I have to wonder what book he was referring to? The one where the selectmen try to transfer money at the end of the year, then someone points out the law concerning the amounts allowed and the time frame involved. Then there is the two special Town Meetings, of which only one was needed if the law had been looked at prior. If Town counsel had been asked or the easiest method, which is call the division of local services, which costs nothing directly from the incorporated Town of Templeton. In my opinion, that long lost bank account with $110,000.00 should not even be in any conversation regarding spending until we are told and shown what account is it, what was the money originally for and has that reason been met?

Now, if the books are not complete, still in bad shape, the tax rate may be late, whatever, I believe the residents should be told. I do not believe the goal of building confidence will be met by being political with information and then have it go up in flames. If anything goes bad this time around, it sits squarely on the Board of Selectmen, Since the election of 2014, the selectmen have given the Town Administrator the authority to do just about everything, but the responsibility lies at their feet.

There are certain documents that are suppose to be completed by September 30 and a simple request for copies of those items will tell the story.

Jeff Bennett

26 comments:

  1. I wonder where the spokesman for the Templeton Highway department sits on this one?
    Sorry i'll need to sit this one out! I'll be busy looking to replace my again old "worn" out boots with new safer ones. Getting new glasses and planning my next vacation time that i EARNED. This Blog it seems,may have lost it's way and it could be time for a new one you start up Jeff. As we all see in the past changes are not what they should have been but could have been if blogs are use a little better.

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  4. How to pay for the excavator is important. There is a STM coming up in November. Who knows? Maybe there will be a vote to transfer money to pay for the excavator? It could happen.

    I think the timeline for the audit and the eventual restoration of Templeton's bond rating is too aggressive. Global financial markets are in flux. The Fed didn't raise interest rates. Something's brewing.

    Correcting the books for FY 13, Fy 14 and Fy 15 is just the first step. The betterment accounts need review as well. Like the playground grant, don't go spending money until it is in the bank. The "$120,000" bank account could be a betterment account "unaccounted for".

    Better yet, keep an eye on all of Templeton's Municipal Obligations.

    As for the blog, don't like it...don't read it!


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  5. I disagree with you DO as I believe the problem with the blog is that people are afraid to put up comments because of what others will think of them. What people are most concerned with as humans is being liked I know this is not one of your concerns or mine but I believe it is true. The second biggest concern of people is being right something that can be elusive when all you can do is give your opinion on blogs such as this. The third biggest concern of people is their freedom which is lower on the totem pole than being liked or being right. There are very few people who will speak out for their freedom I hope to continue that voice even if others do not understand what it is I am doing. Here is the bigger picture.
    This is from The Nexus of Evil.

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  6. It became apparent that since the day I was born (1958), the reality of my very existence had been indirectly controlled and dictated by a conspiratorial group of super rich and powerful individuals, working behind the scenes, manipulating the events which shaped all our lives, creating chaos all around, causing reactions from the unsuspecting majority, which then in turn enabled them to advance their nefarious agenda, by responding with their `ready made` solutions. Solutions carefully designed to advance the imposition of a Global State.

    By making diabolical use of the Hegelian Dialectic, these conspirators have slowly but surely brought us all to the point of no return. With the much vaunted and somehow expected `Swine Flu` epidemic acting as thesis, and the world wide mandated vaccination programme and the resulting mayhem as antithesis, the desired synthesis could well be the dialectical catalyst which inaugurates the Luciferians long held dream of a New World Order; Global solutions for global problems!

    The decision is ours now. Do we simply acquiesce? Do we go quietly into the night? Do we stand or do we fall?

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  7. Can you tell me DO how many in Templeton would put this type of opinion on a local blog for all to read? Just my opinion.

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  8. The swine flu is just one example of the Hegelian Dialectic there are many more including 9/11, WWII, WWI ect. ect.

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  11. My opinion may be "out of this atmosphere" but they are consistent since the beginning of this blog back in 2011. I have tried to make the point that many of our problems can be traced back to "the love of money" and the central bank "the fed" that was created in 1913. Many people don't get where I am coming from but hopefully an understanding will come upon the readers as time goes on. I thank you DO for putting up your opinions as I believe you are not alone in what you speak.

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  12. This blob is important. It brings information you will not find any other way. Do is stupid, you have no idea how much work it is to keep the blog running, and Dave has done a good job. Huff and puff spent time trying to hurt the blog enough for people to stop reading it, and it has been nice with him gone. I do not think beating up the highway guys for what they have gained as their benefits along with their pay does anything but cause hard feelings. If they get a excavator or not is a decision to be made by our selectmen. If they raise their hands, people will know they are awake and it will answer a question asked to me by a fellow towns person, "Do they know anything"? Yes, they know a question was asked, how they answer it will answer the question Will the Town get a excavator ? The biggest job the blog can do is give the people of this Town the information they need to make good decisions about the new elementary school. How much the taxpayer will pay, and what the town will receive from MSBA is not etched in concrete but will become clearer as time goes on. These are the things that the blog will provide as a service from what I can see. Any questions or comments will be welcome. This is my opinion, as always. Bev.

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  14. Watch it Bev. TJ could be looking in to check the spelling and grammar.
    This "blob" is important?
    Nice to see H+P still can't keep away.
    People have to wonder how many nick names one peep can use to keep hidden fron the truth?
    Last chance or you join the H+P crowd in the morning.
    Poof!

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  17. Not hard to miss who you will never know.
    Few play as many and try to make it a show.
    Those faceless with no ID "so sad"

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  20. do is good. huff is not. the people who screwed this town up do NOT appear on this blog. they don't have the balls to!!! do should stop hiding behind his mothers apron strings and let us know how he is. I love most of his ideas!! huff is wrong!! the people who scrowed this town up , are not on this blog. one ran for office a few years ago and got 40%!! that would be40% bob. another ran a few years ago and finisher LAST of 4 that ran!!! that would be the former light co. head. we need the blog that pauly gave us. this ain't it !!!!

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  21. As for the blog, don't like it...don't read it!
    Better yet if you don't like it this way,the way "pauly" wanted it changed i can use the other option he gave me to shut it down.
    Maybe the blog without a comment would serve this town better?

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    1. In a play ? Oh I know, playing Puff The Magic Dragon, when you should be acting like a Selectman !!

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    1. The blog is only as good as the people who have information to share, or have good ideas or comments. Pauly wanted corruption to come to a end, and for the most part it has. The idea that the evil doers will be hung from the ash trees in the common will not come true. It is true that one of the Town's biggest assets was snatched away, under the noses of the town's people. That can only be fixed by the people in this town. Until then time will pass, and the people will pay more and more. Did you get calls offering solar ? Funny that when you let the company that called, know you are in Templeton, the caller suddenly said he is sorry, he can not offer you a deal because you have a Municipal Light Company. Is that a benefit of having a Town Owned Company ?? Maybe we should ask the Templeton Country Store's round table favorite Tom.J. How did that deal come to him ? What about the other people in Town ?

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