Franklin Matters: FM #172 - How Your Town Government Works (audio)

Monday, September 30, 2019

FM #172 - How Your Town Government Works (audio)

FM #172

This internet radio show or podcast is number 172 in the series for Franklin Matters.

This recording shares the “How Your Town Government Works” event. This was a non-partisan event sponsored by the Franklin Democratic Town Committee at THE BLACK BOX. It was held on Wednesday, September 25, 2019.

Current members of Franklin’s town government spoke about their areas of expertise:

Tom Mercer, chair of the Town Council, provided an overview of the town government — its parts, their interrelationships, their purposes and personalities. He also moderated the forum.
Jamie Hellen, Franklin Town Administrator, explained how his office oversees the day-to-day implementation of town government and works together with the School Dept on matters of mutual interest
Anne Bergen, chair of Franklin’s School Committee, and Sara Ahern, Superintendent of Schools, will discuss education, the largest single part of the town budget.
Joe Halligan and Tony Padula, sit on the Planning Board. They spoke on the Board's role in the town's development and administering the zoning bylaws.
Melanie Hamblen, a member of the Town Council, spoke from her point of view completing her first two year term. She shared stories highlighting citizen initiatives that brought changes to Franklin.

Without further ado, here is the audio recording including the Q&A session following the presentations (approx 1hour and 45 minutes).

Note: there was no presentation document used. Several members of the panel did highlight sections of the Town of Franklin web pages which was shown on the large screen and viewed by the audience. Questions were repeated to ensure all could hear. The event was recorded via microphones but the microphones did not serve as PA’s for the session. You shouldn’t have trouble hearing the recording.

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If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.

I hope you enjoy!

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