TempletonAdvisory Committee members voted to ask two committee members to draft a formal request to the Select Board and state Rep. Jonathan Zlotnick for earmarked funds to support the town's senior services. The committee instructed April and Jackie to prepare a note to the Select Board and a letter to Zlotnick requesting roughly $41,000 for the coming year, with similar amounts proposed for two additional years.
The request would cover two main items, committee members said: floating staff hours to increase the senior center manager's on-site time and a covered carport for vehicles used to transport seniors.
Committee members said current staffing and funding leave the senior center's manager with fewer hours than needed. "The manager's position remained in fiscal year '26 at 19.5 hours a week," Jackie said, noting the position's hourly rate was recently increased but the hours remain limited. Jackie described prior approvals for up to 175 floating hours in past budgets and said that, at $19 an hour, 175 hours would cost about $3,325.
Committee members also described safety and operational problems with clearing snow from vans and other vehicles used for senior transportation. Jackie said a carport priced earlier this year at $37,600 would include top and side protection; she said combining the floating hours and the carport would put the first-year request in the low $41,000 range. "If we requested the floating hours and the vehicle carport, we're right around $41,000," she said.
The committee chair framed the proposal as a realistic, modest earmark request: Rep. Zlotnick typically considers requests in the $50,000 to $125,000 range and must survive gubernatorial review, the chair said. Members discussed asking for the funds across three years so the town would have multi-year stability while working to build longer-term budget solutions and local fundraising. "We could ask for monies over a 3 year period," one member said; others warned multi-year one-time money only delays structural funding questions.
What happened: Advisory members voted unanimously to ask April and Jackie to draft the recommendation letter to the Select Board and the letter to Rep. Zlotnick and to submit the draft to the advisory chair for signature and transmission.
Why it matters: Committee members said the town's senior population is large and growing, that the senior center serves hundreds weekly, and that limited hours and an uncovered vehicle area hinder services and volunteer drivers. Members noted the formula grant previously used to pay some staff time is not adequate to sustain needed hours while also funding capital items like a carport.
Next steps: The two drafters will prepare a letter and the advisory chair will circulate it for signature; the committee asked for the letters to be ready for Select Board consideration before the end of the calendar year if possible. Jackie said she will also submit a capital request separately for the carport in case the earmark request is not awarded.