Templeton advisory committee backs letter supporting HB 3678 and forwards legislative priorities, seeks pilot funding

The Templeton Advisory Committee voted on Feb. 11 to draft a letter urging state lawmakers to support House Bill 3678 and approved sending a prioritized list of legislative requests — including bridge repairs and local pilot payments — to the Select Board and state legislators.

At a public presentation, Select Board member Terry described prior advisory discussion and said the committee wanted the Select Board to forward the town’s support for the bill to Representative Zlotnick and State Senator Susan Durant. "Our recommendation was that the Select Board write a letter...that a large...hundreds of citizens support this bill," Terry said during the meeting. Committee members agreed to draft a letter for review and to have the chair sign it to expedite transmission.

The committee also reviewed a proposed legislative-priorities packet and agreed to highlight five high-priority items to give legislators a focused request list. The five items identified for special emphasis were: $4,000,000 for Main Street (Otter River) bridge reconstruction, $5,000,000 for Hamlet Mill bridge reconstruction, $1,000,000 for restoration of tax-title properties to support affordable housing, $600,000 to reimburse town costs tied to a state project (East Templeton rotary-related water/sewer expenses), and additional pilot payments to the town (discussed below).

Separately, using the so-called Mayor Wu formula as a guide, committee members discussed the town’s potential pilot-payment entitlement for state-owned land and settled on a request that would increase pilot payments by roughly $400,000 above current levels; combined with existing payments this was framed as a request of approximately $600,000. The committee voted to send that request to Representative Zlotnick, State Senator Durant and the Select Board and asked that the advisory chair sign the document to speed delivery.

Procedurally, members moved and seconded drafting the HB 3678 letter and the legislative-priorities packet; both motions were approved by roll call. The meeting record records affirmative votes by the committee chair and multiple members; the committee agreed the letters and the priorities packet should be shared with the Select Board for final action and to help focus legislators’ work during the session.

Committee members said the packet included items they judged achievable given legislative priorities and noted some requests would still depend on state appropriation. The committee asked staff to reformat the priorities document for clearer Select Board review and to circulate an editable draft of the draft HB 3678 letter for the group to finalize ahead of the Select Board’s March 12 meeting.