Complete Roundabout Rendering, CLICK HERE.
Town Administrator Adam Lamontagne urges residents, both current and prospective, to email him via ALamontagne@templetonma.gov or via phone at (978) 894-2778 Town of Templeton Website
“Moving Mountains In Templeton” – An Interview with Adam Lamontagne
We spoke with Templeton Town Administrator Adam Lamontagne on April 2, 2024 sitting at a conference table in his office. Listen to the interview on any device, CLICK PLAY.
The Town of Templeton is juggling a number of complex projects at one time, many heading towards final completion. From demolishing buildings, repaving roads, creating a new roundabout, to focusing on a possible major bridge project, Adam speaks of the town’s efforts with pride and appreciation for the Templeton team.
We spoke extensively about budget issues. There’s currently a projected shortfall of about a half million dollars which will need to be addressed at Town Meeting.
If you’re interested in listening to the Templeton Select Board meeting of March 27, 2024, you can listen to it here on any device, CLICK PLAY.
Ongoing projects discussed included: 10 Pleasant Street – “We have a demolition revolving account that had to go through a special act of the legislature. Once we created that, we put in enough free cash into that revolving account where we’ve taken down, demolished 10 Pleasant Street. We actually have that out to bid right now. It should be coming in April 17th.” Scout Hall Project – going to completion. Other construction: “The State’s finished up the Rotary project, and we also have multiple bridges the state’s going to be working on.” Templeton was awarded over a million dollars in CDBG funds. “We’re going out to bid for School, Vernon, and Cottage Street in the Baldwinville section of town” Lamontagne spoke of working on a master plan for the Houghton Park project.
We spoke about the number of restaurants in Templeton: “A lot of these places are wonderful places to sit down, have a meal, talk with folks ”
Lamontagne spoke of the challenges of the Main Street Bridge Project: “The town voted to support all the design, and that’s getting completed. It’s going to take us all the way up to 100% design, state review, as well as getting bid-phase services to go out to bid. The challenge is, we don’t have the construction funding at this moment. So the people in town will have a question in front of them for whether or not to go above Proposition 2.5, it’s a debt exclusion, to repair the Main Street Bridge Project, Main Street Bridge for this project. And a lot of people say, well, what’s going to happen? What is it that’s going to take place? And they unlikely think, oh, well, let’s just use the number of bids came in, 3.7 million it comes to, roughly.” With 350k in debt payments dropping off in Fiscal Year 2025, Lamontagne is hoping that the Main Street Bridge Project could fit in after that. Lamontagne’s strategy is to used State Aid to decrease what is needed for the bond.
Lamontagne explained the strategy of replacing water mains proactively before the rest of the East Templeton Roundabout Project was done, “Because the last thing you want to do is have a beautiful rotary and then not have the infrastructure underneath.”
Outlook and Goals for 2024 include: “I would like to see this project completed, when I say this project, the Maple and School Street Neighborhood Improvements project completed, I would like to see the Baldwinville School Apartments get revitalized in that section and provide 54 units to folks in Baldwinville over there. I would like to see the Main Street Bridge repaired and then continue with our Chapter 90 projects.”
Thinking of relocating to Templeton? Because of Templeton Municipal Light, Templeton residents pay about half what others pay for electric.