Friday, July 10, 2009

3rd Thursday - July 16th

On Thursday, July 16th, the Franklin Downtown Partnership presents its monthly Third Thursday event. Hosted in July by Rick’s Restaurant and Salon Sorella, and sponsored by Middlesex Savings Bank, the event will feature Obi’s Boys performing timeless and traditional bluegrass favorites, along with ice cream, giveaways, and open houses by Franklin Downtown members.

Salon Sorella will give away free beach balls and sun awareness sample packs, and will hold a free drawing for sun-safe airbrush tanning. Artbeat, the Creativity Store, will offer free face painting and balloons from 4:30 to 6 pm, along with lemonade and cookies. Sarapaan is holding an open house at their new location next to CafĂ© Dolce, and Emma’s Quilt Cupboard & Sewing Machines will preview their broad selection of Christmas fabric, samples, and decorations.

In addition, Pretty is Pink will offer 20% off all Vera Bradley purchases along with bubbly and treats, and Jane’s Frames will host an artists’ reception featuring local artists James McCue and Robert Collins. Bob Collins will discuss the compositional elements of landscape, as well as how and why artists design landscapes while he works with acrylics on canvas. Refreshments will be served.

Franklin Downtown Partnership, Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering greater vitality in the downtown commercial district and to serve as a vehicle for public policy discourse. The Partnership sees Franklin’s downtown as the heart of the community. The Partnership’s mission is to lessen the burden of local government through public improvement activities, which combat community deterioration, preserve the historic downtown character and educate the public about the architecture and history of the area. The Partnership office is located at 9 east Central Street. For more information you can contact Executive Director, Lisa Piana at (774)571-3109 or at downtown.franklin@yahoo.com

Middlesex Savings Bank, a $4.0 billion financial institution, is one of the largest independent community banks in Massachusetts. Headquartered in Natick, the bank has over 600 employees in 25 towns and offers a full range of personal and business financial services.

Live music at Cafe Dolce

From BJ, Dave, and Lisa at Cafe Dolce comes the following info:

Join us this Friday, July 10th from 6pm-9pm as Cafe Dolce once again proudly presents Patrick "the Piano Man" Durkin (http://www.patrickdurkin.com) playing live music in our Cafe! All who were in attendance at last week's performance seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed this lively evening of music and dance, and we hope you will stop by tomorrow night!

In addition, this Saturday, July 11th fom 6:30pm-8:30pm, Cafe Dolce presents The Underground Cats (www.theundergroundcats.com), a high energy and very unique Rock n' Roll Band!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Long term planning report

Did you ever review the Financial Planning Committee's report?

Did you miss the Information Forum held on April 27, 2009 in the Mercer Auditorium at Horace Mann?

There is no time like the present then to catch up to this important report. You can find the report in the details of my live reporting from the presentation and discussion on April 27th.

You can also view the 2 hour and 12 minute session on the Town website.

This topic is important to understand. The financial issues that Franklin faces will not go away anytime soon. The Town Council will finalize the FY 2010 budget either on July 15th or an August meeting. The Finance Committee has already approved the hotel and meals tax which will help Franklin obtain a new source of revenue. The revenue gained will not solve our problems. The revenue is estimated to be less than $500,000 per year but every bit helps.

The School Committee meeting on July 21st will finalize their budget for this year. What will be the final number of teachers cut this year?

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

"We have a great revenue opportunity"

Milford Daily News
Posted Jul 08, 2009 @ 12:38 AM

FRANKLIN —

At Town Administrator Jeffrey D. Nutting's urging, the Finance Committee last night unanimously voted to recommend Town Council spend $500,000 to renovate the new historic museum.

Nutting suggested the council transfer $50,000 from the Senior Center Building account, use $50,000 from hotel tax revenue, and $400,000 from the sale of the former Four Corners School.

Read the full article about Tuesday's Finance Committee meeting in the Milford Daily News here

Town Council Mtg 07/01/09

Delayed reporting via a review of the video archive on the Town website

----

Attending
: Whalen, Mason, Valle, Bartlett, Feeley, Pfeffer, Doak, Zollo
Missing: McGann

----

recognition for the Veterans Memorial Committee
Bob Fahey, Bob Gannon, Ken Norman, Charles Oteri, Steve Williams, Robert (Brutus) Cantoreggi, Dave Roche, Franklin DPW, Franklin Garden Club

----

Charter Commission Report

Presenting: Paul Cheli, Michael Walker Jones, Larry Benedetto

A question from Deb Bartlett on the comparison between the information supporting the recommendation of changing the Town Treasurer from an elected position to an appointed position versus the lack of similar information for the Town Clerk sparked a long discussion that eventually still did not answer her question. Would the commission add information so that the folks reading the report could come to a valid understanding of the duties of the Town Clerk?

The discussion instead resulted in the Commission members pledging several times that the current elected officials perform outstandingly well for Franklin. The fact remains that once elected, there is nothing written anywhere that actually requires them to perform their duties or furthermore to allow either the Town Administrator or the Town Council to take corrective action prior to the next election.

The discussion revealed that while there is substantial information about the technical requirements, qualifications and state certifications for the Town Treasurer, there are not similar items for the Town Clerk. Hence the recommendation for the Town Treasurer to be changed to an appointed position and the Town Clerk to remain as an elected position.

These and other items in the Charter Commissions report will now be the subject of a new sub-committee to work the report into a format (primarily adding the legal language required) for the report to be submitted to the State Legislature. Assuming the Legislature votes to accept the recommendations, then the citizens of Franklin would then be required to vote to accept the recommendations before they actually became law. According to Jeff Nutting at the meeting, this could be more than a two year process.

One other item of significant discussion was staggering the terms of the Town Council and School Committee. I encourage you to view at least this section of the Town Council meeting. The segment lasts just over an hour but it is well worth understanding the positions and arguments pro/con. These items will help determine Franklin's future.

You can view the Town Council meeting in the video archive here

You can review the full detail of the Charter Commission report (PDF) here

The Milford Daily News got around to writing about this portion of last week's meeting with an article today here

Shades IN Place - Ribbon cutting - 7/16/09

The United Regional Chamber of Commerce is organizing a ribbon cutting event at Shades IN Place, 76 Grove St., Franklin on Thurs., July 16 at 11 a.m. The ribbon cutting marks the grand opening of Shades IN Place new showroom. Established in 2006, Shades IN Place is a custom window treatment installation company that also offers a "Shop At Home" service. The business is owned and operated by Roger Magalhaes.

The United Regional Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit, business support organization serving the communities of Attleboro, Bellingham, Blackstone, Foxborough, Franklin, Mansfield, Medfield, Medway, Millis, Norfolk, North Attleborough, Norton, Plainville, Rehoboth, Seekonk, and Wrentham.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Town Council archives

My notes from the Town Council meetings held during 2009 can be found here


The notes from Council meetings during 2008 can be found along the far right column of Franklin Matters.

The video archive on the Town website has many meetings readily accessible here. You can pull up the meeting and choose to watch the whole meeting or skip to specific sections of the agenda.

School Committee Archives

My notes from the School Committee meetings from 2009 can be found here

In the right column on Franklin Matters, you can find the meeting notes for the School Committee meetings during 2008.

The video archive on the Town website has many meetings readily accessible here. You can pull up the meeting and choose to watch the whole meeting or skip to specific sections of the agenda.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Sunday Schedule

Sunday July 5
1-7 p.m.: Everything open
1- 2:30 p.m.: Parade
3-7 p.m.: Children's activities
3-5 p.m.: Interfaith music concert
6 p.m.: Franklin Idol winners announced
7 p.m.: Closing ceremonies (Raffle drawings and lowering of flag)