In the Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter School parking lot, or as many would refer to to it, the former St Mary's School parking lot. Off Pleasant St, near the corner of Man St in Franklin.
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It's time for Franklin to become more transparent with its taxpayers about the annual financial windfall inappropriately known as "free cash."
Free cash is the extra money left over after the city balances its budget every June 30. It's revenue that Franklin collected from taxpayers but didn't spend. The free cash amount for the fiscal year that just ended is rumored to be nearly $3 million, although whether the official figure will be disclosed and discussed before the Nov. 8 municipal election remains to be seen.
We are somewhat bewildered by Ed Cafasso's recent Letter to the Editor (Oct. 14) titled "Free cash: Franklin's best-kept secret." Let's start with the title of his letter and the use of the word "secret." Franklin's free cash policy is anything but secret. Anyone can go to franklin.ma.us, enter "free cash" in the search string and be delivered a trove of information about Franklin's free cash, including the policy itself, historical amounts, etc. Further, each and every Finance Committee meeting cites the current amount of free cash as part of its publicly posted agenda.Read the rest of the Council's letter here: http://www.milforddailynews.com/archive/x804699069/Bewildered-by-free-cash-concern-in-Franklin#ixzz1bPNclpbo
An email alert arrived to confirm that the culvert on Partridge St is being repaired as planned.
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2011/10/live-reporting-action-items.html
Road Closure Alert ..... Partridge St, between Dover and Harborwood, will be closed to through traffic for construction from Monday October 24 through Thursday November 10.
The Town Council had voted approval of the funds to do the work at their meeting on October 5th. Notes from that part of the meeting were reported live and can be found here
For the second year, Franklin High School will open its doors to adult walkers in the community who wish to escape the impending cold and slippery sidewalks. Walkers will be able to accumulate mileage despite inclement weather or dark sidewalks.
The Community Walking Partners program is offered through Lifelong Learning and begins on Monday, November 7, 2011 and ends on Wednesday, April, 11, 2012. The program is free.
Walking will be available on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays from 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM, except when school is closed for holidays or snow events.
For safety reasons, no bikes, skates, skateboards are allowed in the school.
Interested walkers should enter the Franklin High School through the H-wing door and stop at the Lifelong Learning/Adult Education office, sign in, and receive a lanyard, which will identify the walker to school personnel.
For more information, please contact the Franklin Adult Education office at 508-541-2100 x 3178 or email adulted@franklin.k12.ma.us.
"I allocated the budget based on that answer," Powderly said. "If that answer was incorrect, I believe that if the chair of the School Committee is present for the question, he has the responsibility to fix the misperception."
Roy, the chairman, said discussion about potential teacher raises began in January and that he had a presentation, with slides, prepared for the Town Council at that meeting in June, had they asked him that question.
"I did not hear that question. No one on the School Committee answered that question," said Roy, who quoted the minutes and video of that meeting in saying he did not think the discussion was about the school budget. "No one asked a single question of anyone on the School Committee."
Roy defended the raises, saying they were swapped for a promise from the union to negotiate without pre-conceived demands in the next contract, and to work on changing the salary table, which drives automatic teacher raises that he said the town can no longer afford.
Franklin Town Council Vice Chairman Stephen Whalen said snow removal could be a good use for the money. Whalen cautioned that it should not be used for operating expenses or to pay salaries.
"I kind of cringe when we get unexpected sources of funding from the state or any other entity," Whalen said. "I think it fuels the belief among some voters that whenever there's a shortfall in the operating budget, money will be quote-unquote found. It's very difficult to predict when the Legislature may throw a bone like this to the town."
"Never before has man had such capacity to control his own environment, to end thirst and hunger, to conquer poverty and disease, to banish illiteracy and massive human misery."~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy, before the UN General Assembly
Join Oxfam America and make this World Food Day, Sunday October 16th, a cause for celebration and action! When we sit down to dinner every day, rarely do we realize that our meal depends on a global system that involves people both next door and across oceans. This World Food Day, Oxfam America is teaming up with allies across the USA and around the globe to encourage people to take a simple yet profound action. We’re asking you and thousands of others to dedicate your Sunday Dinner on October 16th to a conversation about where your food comes from, who is behind its cultivation and how we can make the food system more just and sustainable. Just click on www.oxfamamerica.org/worldfoodday We are all tied to a global food system that is broken. Yet there is a strong and growing movement of individuals and organizations working to repair and improve the system. In a world facing the challenges of the current famine in East Africa, constrained land and water, and an erratic climate, one of the best ways to combat global food insecurity is to invest in farmers and remove the barriers that limit their productivity. Creating this awareness is what a World Food Day Sunday Dinner is all about.
"It's good to get new ideas in there," said Sean Donahue, a 23-year-old first-time candidate for School Committee. "You have people who have been there for a really long time. I think it's just good to have new people, coming in with those new ideas."
The full seven-member School Committee is up for election, with five incumbents running for their seats plus three fresh faces, as is the full nine-member Town Council, which has six incumbents running with six candidates who did not serve on the council in this last, two-year term.
Three people are running for the two open seats on the Board of Health, only one of whom is an incumbent, all three incumbent constables are vying with two potential newcomers for their positions, and Jim Dacey, who has been the town's treasurer-collector for the past 12 years, has an opponent in former Planning Board member Mark Denommee.
"There could be so much gained from having a new voice," said Denommee, who added that having someone in a position for such a long time "leads to some sort of complacency. We need a new set of eyes and a new set of ears in the Town Hall of Franklin."