\documentclass[12pt,titlepage,a4paper,twoside]{article}
\include{packages}

\graphicspath{{$inputDir$/img/}}

\renewcommand{\thesection}{}
\renewcommand{\thesubsection}{\arabic{section}.\arabic{subsection}}
\makeatletter
\def\@seccntformat#1{\csname #1ignore\expandafter\endcsname\csname the#1\endcsname\quad}
\let\sectionignore\@gobbletwo
\let\latex@numberline\numberline
\def\numberline#1{\if\relax#1\relax\else\latex@numberline{#1}\fi}
\makeatother

\title{$title$}
\newcommand{\subtitle}{$subtitle$}
\newcommand{\wordcount}{$wordcount$ \xspace}
\author{Some Author}
\date{2018-01-01}

$if(wordcount)$
    \include{header-footer}
$endif$

\begin{document}

$if(wordcount)$
    \input{title}
    \tableofcontents
$endif$

\thispagestyle{empty}
\cleardoublepage
\setcounter{page}{1}

\setlength{\parskip}{1em}

\titlespacing*{\section}{0px}{0px}{0px}
\titlespacing*{\subsection}{0px}{0px}{0px}

$body$

\end{document}