Some Notes From the 8/8/16 Selectman's Meeting

Some Notes 

From the 8/8/16 Selectman's Meeting

Some highlights from last night's meeting:

There will be a Special Town Meeting in the Fall on October 20, 2016 at 7:00 pm pending availability of the school and the moderator. Bring your calculators for those salary amendments!

There were two presentations last night. The first by Suzanne Owen from the General Code company. If hired, General Code would work with the town and town counsel to organize and verify our town bylaws. Total cost $9,999 could be split over a few fiscal years. This process is lengthy, but would result in a cleaner and streamlined set of by laws without conflicts between bylaws and state  codes. 

The other presentation by Dave Crispin of BCS Group concerned the master plan for Pine Grove cemetery. The master plan for this cemetery would cost about $65,000. In Templeton there is a need for cemetery expansion. The selectmen took this information under advisement.

The selectmen formally voted to appoint Carter Terezini as interim town administrator for 120 days to be paid $1,000/week for a 3 day work week.

The selectmen voted to hire a new part time police officer, Jim Hakala.

The selectmen voted to hire Cindy Kennedy as a 10 hour/week assistant for the cemetery department per town meeting authorization.

The process to hire a fire chief was discussed. The interim  town administrator, Carter Terezini, will select 3 top candidates with 2 backups. Interviews will take place in at a public meeting on August 24, 2016 at 6:00 pm. Questions will not be allowed from the audience. 

Hardwick Winery was successful in obtaining their 2 day liquor license for the Templeton Arts and Crafts Fair to be held  August 20th and 21st.

Budget Concerns - Instead of calling the salary increases "raises" the selectmen decided to call them " salary adjustments". One possible way to fund the FY17 shortfall in selectmen's budget is to use the money set aside for the FY 17 OPEB contribution. More discussion to follow at the Wednesday Selectmen's meeting.

In breaking news!... The schedule A WILL be filed on time this year! Was it filed on June 28, 2016  last fiscal year?

The warrant for the September 8, 2016 primary was approved.

There will be early voting in Templeton, more on that later.

An updated policy on public records requests was discussed at length. The draft will be posted to the website. The selectmen will vote on the policy at their first meeting in September.

Old Business - Jeff Bennett inquired about the progress being made on the FY 15 Annual Report which was missing reports from the accountant and the treasurer and collector among other things.

The accountant will not be able to update the report for the Annual report until the audits have been completed. The data that is put into the Schedule A may not be accurate.

New Business- Much discussion about the chalkboards in Templeton Center as well as the handrails. John Haley is willing to remove the chalkboards and in return will create framed pieces of the chalkboards for auction to raise funds for Templeton Scholarships. He will keep a portion of the chalkboards for personal use. Concerns about this proposal - possible asbestos in the back of the chalkboards; proper procedures for disposing of excess or surplus public property.

Dennis O'Brien asked the selectmen to look into the lawn or lack thereof in front of the Boynton Public Library.

Diane Haley Brooks asked if there were a water ban in Templeton?

 

As of July 25, 2016 The Mass DEP seems to think so.

Anyhow, moving right along -Another question was asked under New Business 

What is the process for obtaining an Incidence Report from Dispatch?