At the sparsely attended Annual Town Meeting held on Saturday, May 14th, it became rapidly apparent to those few residents in attendance, that the majority of the Templeton Board of Selectmen were woefully unprepared for the the Annual Town Meeting.
Article 1 - Consent Agenda :
1A Reports of Town Officers-
The 2015 Town Report has errors and omissions. the 2015 Town report does NOT contain town salaries, NRSD salaries, a report from the accountant nor a report from the treasurer/collector containing the town bonds and indebtedness. A handout was available at the meeting with some of the town salaries.
The Town Report is the historical record for the town. Fortunately, the people in attendance voted to reject the 2015 town report until it is complete. The former chairman of the board of selectmen, John Columbus, pointed out that the errors were caused by previous boards of selectmen. However, it must be pointed out that the incomplete 2015 town report was drafted, printed and approved while HE was chairman of the board of selectmen.
1B Reports of Town Committees- no discussion, passed. No reports made.
1C Revolving Funds - Article passed at 10:01 am. Passage includes a Revolving fund $100,000 for Veterans Benefits and Highway Department Fund $5,000.
The next contentious article was Article 3 Fiscal 2016 Financial Transfers. The Advisory Board/ Committee submitted a substitute motion to split the last transfer $27,000 from town fuel to $11,000 to Town Accountant Audit and $16,000 to Selectman Office expense. The Advisory Board/Committee also commented on the number of transfers during this fiscal year - OVER 45 transfers totaling over HALF A MILLION DOLLARS! During discussion, a question was asked about a $5.00 transfer to a salary account. Long story short, employees can not be paid out of two separate accounts; it appears that is a criminal offense. So another substitute motion was made by the BOS to transfer the tree warden salary to the highway superintendent account. Article passed at 11:04 am. Bottom line figure for the article was $76,642 and increased to $79,142 and all transfers will be made in a non-criminal fashion.
Article 4 - FY 2017 Operating Budget & Salaries of Town Officials
The Advisory Board/Committee made a substitute motion for town meeting to accept the Advisory Board/Committee's budget. Selectmen Budget $13,672,536 Advisory Board budget $13,698,402
After much discussion about what would be discussed. Town Meeting voted to discuss the Selectmen Budget.
During discussion about which budget was going to be discussed, limited discussion occurred about a few budget items.
TEMPLETON SELECTMEN JEOPARDIZE PUBLIC SAFETY
During discussion about discussion about the budget, the Fire Chief salary line item was discussed. The Advisory Board figure $80,500 The Selectmen's figure $70,000. During this discussion, it was divulged that Fire Chief's contract may or may not be renewed, but the Selectmen felt $70,000 was enough in that line item.
What some selectmen may not comprehend is that our current fire chief is not only a strong chief, but he is a highly credentialed and a highly qualified paramedic.
If a highly credentialed and a highly qualified PARAMEDIC fire chief is not appointed and running the Fire department on July 1, 2016 then the ambulance service itself is in jeopardy. Not only will Templeton lose ALS ambulance service and all the $$$$ from that service. It will lose the ambulance service itself. There will be NO $$$$ coming in for the Fire Department/Ambulance --Receipts Reserved for Appropriation Account.
The cash cow will be gone. Without the $$$ from the Fire Department/Ambulance service, there won't be enough money to fully fund the fire department side of Fire/EMS...and as an added bonus the selectmen jeopardize the public safety of every resident in Templeton.
TEMPLETON SELECTMEN JEOPARDIZE PUBLIC SAFETY
Why would the Selectman trash a program that has been built for the last two years, gives the public protection and is a eyelash from contributing financially to the town ?? With no income from Templeton Municipal Light, or from the industries we once had, the burden falls on the Tax payer. Yes on you. As it stands right now, if anyone has a problem, a heart attack, or accident, they do not need to waite for Woods to show up to provide life saving care. With the Fire Chief gone, the Selectmen throw away your protection and the income the Town desperately needs.
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