February 22 Selectmen's Meeting
Interim School Supt. Steven Hemman was the first speaker at the BOS meeting. Dr. Hemman outlined changes in the budget process. The school budget is currently $640, 699 dollars short. Total budget will be $20.1 million dollars which include the contracts for the new superintendent and high school principal.In a drastic change from the past few years, the school committee will answer questions about the NRSD budget on the floor of the Annual Town Meeting in May! Hold onto your wallets!
In other news - the Community Compact Grant has been accepted by the Commonwealth. A $5,000 grant for long term financial planning will proceed with the help of MRPC. Regionalizing of town services will also be a focus of the grant. Possibilities include the schools and the town working together for long term financial planning. Hold onto your wallets!
A public hearing was held regarding the acceptance of a trailer for the Ahimsa Haven animal shelter. All inspections have been completed. The lease agreement between the Town and Ahimsa Haven will be amended to reflect this addition. The trailer will house unvaccinated cats.
Flexible spending accounts for town employees are now operational. This is an optional benefit for Town employees to set aside pre-tax money for medical expenses.
The "Complete Streets" program was discussed by the highway superintendent Bud Chase. One possible project discussed was to place a sidewalk on Wellington Rd along the north side with granite curbing. There was some concern raised about the the amount of land for a sidewalk by Sonia White's property.
A tour of Scout Hall is planned to assess what to do with the building. A Scout Hall committee was formed and appointed until June 30, 2016 to determine whether or not to move Scout Hall.
(What ever happened to using Community development grants for East Templeton? Has the Town applied for more federal funding to continue these improvements?)
The "Abandoned House " initiative is moving forward. There are 80 abandoned homes in Templeton.
Water Department Special Town Meeting - March 21st!
More on this later! Hold onto your wallets!
Is there no end to what the "school people" want ?? It is time for them to trim their budget like the other departments in this Town have had to do. Don't forget that last year we were told the good people in this Town had paid more than their share every year, even though we were told that we had not !! With the debt from the new school, who is going to buy a house here ?? It is my feeling that there will be more than 80 empty homes in this Town. People with Town water need to attend the special Town Meeting the Water Dept. is going to have. I looked at the Report and all that was reported about the Latter Hill tank, was that it needed painting inside and out. So where did it say we needed a new tank ?? More money out of your pocket, I am sorry to say.
ReplyDeleteAs we were told the state said our target share has changed and Templeton will pay more and Phillipston will pay less.
ReplyDeleteIf i could ask Bernie Heneiy to make a call to the state and see what the people there tell him about the formula. To find out weather it has anything to do with the Monty tech costs or if the amount is what we were told and not as we in the past were told to believe.
So hows your sidewalks condition?
ReplyDeleteBEV a better question would be when did the TMWP get the do or else notice GM Driscoll told us he got. When asked about the other 37 million needed to upgrade the water infrastructure he said when the money was available they would do what they can. So by admission they are reactive and not proactive until the mandated things hit the fan of management. With the rust content higher every day and the lack of anything being done about it they hire the people who just told them this needed to be done but the report doesn't say when just will be needed to be done within the next 20 years.
The report is the same for the tank on south road and that tank is 7 years older.So my question to the water General and superintendent was why replace the newer tank?
Will we be right back to do the tank on south road. No Ron stated the tank on ladder hill or Johnson ave was in much poorer condition and it's a better deal to replace it with a concrete type that requires no painting inside ever. Exterior only if the looks are in apparent need, due to mold or other issues. So when will the south road steel tank need the new "mandated" paint and renovation that cost as much as a new tank be needed? If one were to go the the water improvement report a very big File on the left side of the blog page under the DOR report and go to page 2-13 you will see the answer i asked for and was side stepped on.
Last painted on 2001 and its now 2016 so if my calculator works we need to do the same dance we are doing now in less then 5 years. Funny how a team of 2 couldn't muster the balls to say that would be needed so soon. Would it be a better deal to do the both at the same time and have a chance to get a better deal 2 for the price when the bids are done? Do we follow the same obtuse path they follow now or be proactive and at least get the storage tanks updated and be done with it. The management judgement is hard to figure. This topic came up over the summer last year. While at a meeting when they were going to spend over a 1/2 million to paint in and out the tank because the state told them they had to. I asked would it be a better deal to replace the tank due to the end of it's useful life would only get the town another 20 years use. HA!HA!HA!
Like school kids thought it was a funny thing to ask and laughed at me.Three commissioners one general manager and 1 superintendent thought it was not the thing to do. I guess they may have had a brain fart and now found out about a big big loan they could suck us into. At least Tom of the Light dept knew where the reasoning i brought with my question came from. Maybe he got them to think about the idea.
So when do you think they will be back looking for the same thing again for the same problem they know about now? The cost of the improvement report was expensive and the cost of the usda loan work done by the same company i would bet is also.
How much?
who bid on the study and the usda loan application. Tighe&Bond did the work!
Good question to ask JD.
That info should be on file with the "auditing authority"= the Board of Selectmen
Did did I hear right ? A concrete tank ?. So I think they are pourus? So what is making those any better ?. "A round and around we go. Where we will stop , no body knows!,"
DeleteDriscoll said if we didn't comply with the state request to "repair" or replace it the state could step in and take over the towns water department. Further more we could loose control of the operation of it.
ReplyDeleteGOOD!
THEY CAN HAVE A CRACK AT IT!!!
They can fix it all up and we will have lower rates ta boot.
First they will see how come a system in so bad of shape in need of 38 million has been managed.
Who will have to answer to that question and when should a pay cut be put in place?
If your asked a question and the answer is when the amount of money in revenue get to the point they can do what reports recommended needed be done.
No answer there as we give as much as any other water department in the state gets.
Short of a few we pay rates only seen by a very few towns of the 351 there are.
WHY?
At this point with no plan at all it's like putting fences around the tanks and leaving the gates wide open.
The state should take it over!
VOTE NO.
WE have no control anyway.
We saw that when the meeting over their water budget hit the wall and they paid their lawyer big bucks to slap our town around.
Is there a mandate to repair or replace the tanks?
This tank was last cleaned and inspected in November 2012by Underwater solutions.
The report showed us then it is structurally sound but is in need of both interior and exterior coating. November 2012!
They knew then and put it off till now so the stuff in your house filter is brown with rust like mine.
Top price for low quality is not a well managed department at all.
Complain about the water and the price or it will be more of the same.
Where we stop nobody knows.
If the state takes over they will do the 38 million and send a bill.
We will be able to cut the staff and a new system will save a bundle on water main repairs from the get go.
All the money saved can pay for the upgrades and the quality will also go up.
This isn't Flint Michigan why are we in a mess like we are?
Look to the left of the page and blame chapter 93 acts of 2000.
Another special town meeting outcome.