Town Administrator Search Committee - Nov 14, 5:45 PM

Town Administrator Search Committee 

Wednesday, November 14, 2018 - 5:45 PM

Municipal Building

355 East Central Street

2nd Floor, Room 205

Agenda

This meeting may be recorded.

1. Human Resources Director Karen Bratt - Review search process to date
2. Consider candidacy of the Deputy Town Administrator
3. Consider process for qualified candidates
4. Next meeting

This is a meeting of the Franklin Town Council Sub-Committee; under the Open Meeting Law, this subcommittee is a separate "public body" from the Town Council. Therefore, unless the Town Council has separately noticed and posted its own meeting, Councilors who are not members of this subcommittee will not be permitted to speak or otherwise actively participate in this meeting, although they may attend and observe. This prohibition is necessary to avoid the potential for an Open Meeting Law Violation.

This was shared from the Town of Franklin page
http://www.franklinma.gov/sites/franklinma/files/agendas/town_administrator_search_committee_meeting_agenda_11-14-18.pdf

For reference - The Role of the Town Council
http://www.franklinma.gov/sites/franklinma/files/uploads/role.pdf


From Article Four of the Town Code   https://ecode360.com/14797436

Section 1 - Appointment and qualifications

4-1-1
The Town Council, by a majority vote of its full membership, shall appoint a Town Administrator who shall administer and implement the directives and policies adopted by the Town Council. The Council shall fix the Administrator's compensation within the limits of an appropriation adopted for that purpose. The salary, benefits, and terms and conditions of employment and the procedures for dismissal shall be negotiated between the Town Council and the Administrator.

4-1-2
In seeking candidates for the Administrator's post, the Town Council shall advertise in appropriate professional journals and other suitable publications as deemed necessary. The Town Administrator need not be a resident of the town at the time of appointment but shall establish residence within the town within one year following appointment, unless the town council shall waive such residency requirement. If a resident of the Town, the successful candidate shall have held no elective town office for a period of one year prior to appointment.

4-1-3
The Administrator shall be appointed on the basis of educational, executive and administrative qualifications and experience, including at least a bachelor's degree in an appropriate field of study from an accredited four-year college or university. Professional experience shall consist of at least three (3) years of full-time, compensated service in town or town administration or related administrative activity.

Town Administrator Search Committee - Nov 14, 5:45 PM

Live reporting: to Closing

11. TOWN ADMINISTRATORS REPORT Detective Zimmerman in Master program much appreciated
12. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS none
13. COUNCIL COMMENTS Pellegri - lost 2 lovely ladies both former election workers looking for the younger ones to step forward Nutting four vacancies in Fire Dept but civil service list doesn't come out until Dec so the fulfillment likely wont' happen until March Harvest Festival on Saturday Jones - FEF fund raiser with Harlem Wizards - Nov 16 tickets are on sale Dellorco - shout out to M Belloti Kelly - 11 - 4 PM downtown Harvest Festival
14. EXECUTIVE SESSION	None Scheduled
15. ADJOURN motion to adjourn, seconded, passed via roll call 9-0

Live reporting: New Hires and Introduction of New Administrators

2. Guests / Presentations 
a. New Hires and Introduction of New Administrators – Dr. Ahern

New hire listing
https://www.franklinps.net/sites/franklinmaps/files/uploads/new_hire_list_8-28-18.pdf

new administrators, principals and assistant principals

new administrators; principals and assistant principals introduced by Dr Ahern

Franklin Residents: The Town Hall Elevator is currently shut down until further notice for repairs

The Town Hall Elevator is currently shut down until further notice for repairs. 

 If you need accommodations please contact the Town Administrator at 508-520-4949

Franklin Municipal Building, 355 East Central St

This was shared from the Town of Franklin page

http://www.franklinma.gov/home/news/town-hall-elevator-currently-shut-down

Annual Report 2017: Town Administrator

The Annual Report is compiled and published each year to be ready for voters to obtain at the November election. A PDF copy is also posted online and available for viewing our downloading. I'll highlight some key sections from the current report over the next week or so.

The following is a text representation of the printed page 16-17 (actually 23-24 of 264)


"ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TOWN ADMINISTRATOR

The Town Administration works with the Town Council together to support the quality of life of our residents. We are diligent in balancing the budget and keeping an eye on the Town’s future needs and maintaining its assets.

Accomplishments in FY 17 include:

Renovation and expansion projects for the Library and Senior Center are completed.

The defective playground at DelCarte Recreation Area was replaced with a new modern playground at no cost to the Town.

We continue to support the Cultural District and are in the process of forming a Cultural District Committee. We’ve begun the process of creating an Agricultural Commission in an effort to support the area farms.

We’ve begun the process for upgrading the streetlights to LED.

We worked with the purchaser of Glen Meadow Apartments and with the addition of the 287 apartments to our Subsidized Housing Inventory, we are now over 10% with 11.89% of our housing stock considered affordable by State law.

We continue to update the Town’s website and information technology. Agendas and Minutes of all
boards and committees are now web-based and can be found on the boards and committees’ pages on our website. You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube for up to the minute information and happenings. Visit our website at www.franklinma.gov.

Personnel
New Human Resources Director, Karen Bratt replaced retired HR Director, Stephanie McNeill Lutz.
New Assistant Treasurer Collector, Kerri Bertone was appointed in September of 2016.

Other
The Town Administrator’s Office is the Passport Acceptance Facility in Franklin. You can apply for your passport here by appointment on Monday, Wednesday or Friday.

Our goal is to deliver high quality customer service while keeping costs under control. There will be difficult challenges to our budget in the coming year; but you can be assured that the Town Administration and Town Council will work together to solve budgetary issues.

It is my pleasure to submit the annual report of the Town Administrator for your review, and please feel free to write, e-mail, or stop by with any questions, concerns, or comments.

Respectfully submitted,

Jeffrey Nutting,
Town Administrator"

The playground equipment was replaced by the manufacturer at no cost to the Town

You can find the online copy at the Town of Franklin webpage
http://www.franklinma.gov/town-clerk/pages/annual-reports

and specifically for 2017
http://www.franklinma.gov/town-clerk/files/town-annual-report-2017-revised

The Life of Reilly hosts Town Administrator Jeff Nutting

The Life of Reilly and Friends is regular Franklin TV show featuring Reilly Deforge, Tyler Afonso and Lilly Deforge. Other friends do appear from time to time in the episode.

This one features an interview with Town Administrator Jeff Nutting




You can more episodes on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC77c2YnSqVp2UAcIUZ97Pvw

The Life of Reilly hosts Town Administrator Jeff Nutting

Annual Report 2016: Town Administrator

The Town Administration works with the Town Council together to make improvements to the quality of life of our residents. While we are diligent in continuing to balance the budget and practice fiscal prudence, we also keep an eye on the Town’s future needs and maintaining its assets.

Accomplishments in FY 16 include:
• Requested the Town Council to transfer 17 acres of land behind the High School to the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust for the purpose of building new senior housing. The project will take approximately 5 years to complete.
• The Town began the legal process to bulk purchase electricity rates through a Municipal Electric Aggregation program, expected to be in place for winter 2016.
• Renovation and expansion projects for the Library and Senior Center were started and should be completed in 2017.
• The Library was temporarily moved to 25 Kenwood Circle during construction and is open regular hours. The Senior Center remains open during construction.
• The downtown revitalization project, after almost a decade, is complete. Two-way traffic is in effect in the downtown area on Emmons, Main and East Central Streets. The project has numerous public benefits including new sidewalks, new and better pedestrian friendly streets and many beautification elements. The parking meters have been removed to add free parking downtown. New parking regulations have also been established.
• We have also supported the creation of a downtown cultural district.
• Additional improvements were made to the DelCarte property by investing $100,000 to remove the invasive weeds from the pond, helping restore the ecosystem to its natural habitat.
• We added new holiday lights to the Town Common holiday display.

Personnel
Chief of Police, Stephan Semerjian, retired in June 2016 after 39 years of dedicated service to the Franklin Police Department. The Town hired a new Chief of Police, Thomas J. Lynch who took over July 1. New Deputy Police Chief James Mill was also appointed.

The Town Administrator’s office restored a Deputy Town Administrator position by hiring Jamie Hellen to help begin succession planning for the wave of retirees facing the town government. Among other things, Jamie has developed a citizen engagement program, utilizing new technology, including Twitter, Facebook and You Tube to enhance the flow of public information to the citizens.

The Town Administrator’s Office continues to be busy as the Passport Acceptance facility. You can apply for your passport here with an appointment on Monday, Wednesday or Friday.

We continually strive to provide high quality customer services at the lowest possible cost to the tax payer. With continued pressure on our budget, there will be challenges ahead. The strong leadership of the Town Council and the dedicated staff will respond to every challenge.

It is my pleasure to submit the annual report of the Town Administrator for your review, and please feel free to write, e-mail, or stop by with any questions, concerns, or comments.

Respectfully submitted,

Jeffrey Nutting,
Town Administrator

Town workers clearing brush along the connector between Chestnut and Pleasant Sts

Download and read the full Annual Report for the Town of Franklin FY 2016

http://franklinma.gov/administrator/files/franklin-2016-town-report

Prior year annual reports can be found

http://www.franklinma.gov/administrator/pages/annual-reports

Annual Report - 2105: Town Administrator

"It continues to be my honor to serve the Town Council and the citizens of Franklin.

Under the leadership of the Town Council over the years we continue to try and improve the quality of life for our residents while maintaining a balanced budget, fiscal prudence and a look towards the future. Fiscal year 15 showed no signs of letting up on improving our community.

So, what have we done this year?

The list of improvements in FY 15 are many including the new High School, road and water main improvements, purchase of open space, adding a playground at Fletcher Field, a sidewalk on Panther Way, selling the old municipal building for commercial development, making zoning changes in accordance with the Master Plan, seeing the downtown project get underway, funding the design of sidewalks for Pleasant and Chestnut Streets, working to spruce up the Rail Road stations, and reducing the trash fee.

Since the Town Administrators Office assumed the duties of the Passport Office things are hopping, you can now get your passport here with an appointment on Monday or Wednesday and Friday.

All this is accomplished with hard working volunteers and a great staff of employees in all departments We continually provide high quality services and the lowest possible cost to the tax payer.

As I look to the future there are many challenges but if history is any lesson, the strong leadership of the Town Council and great staff will respond to every challenge.

I want to make note of the retirement of my Secretary, Dianne Blanchard. She was an exceptional employee, dedicated to serving the citizens of Franklin. I wish her well in her retirement.

As always, I want to thank the employees of the Town of Franklin. It is my pleasure to come to work every day with such dedicated and hard working people who do their best for the citizens of Franklin.

Jeff Nutting

It is my pleasure to submit my annual report for your review, and please feel free to write, e-mail, or stop by with any questions, concerns, or comments.


Respectfully submitted,

Jeff Nutting
Town Administrator"

-----------

"Prior to November 1 of each year, the Town Clerk shall cause to be prepared and made available to the inhabitants of the Town an annual report for the preceding fiscal year which shall include: the annual Town budget, the reports of all Town officers, the records of all Town Council bylaw amendments and resolutions, an abstract of births, marriages and deaths, and the wages, salaries, or other compensation of all Town employees." [Added 5-2-2012 by Bylaw Amendment 12-681]

http://ecode360.com/10432729?highlight=annual%20report,reports,annual,report#10432729

Shared from the full and complete PDF version of the Town of Franklin Annual Report for 2015
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_Clerk/annual/2015report.pdf

Additional information from the Town Administrator can be found on his webpage
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_Admin/index

Live reporting: Closing

L. TOWN ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT
local aid proposed to be cut at State level

restoration company worked quickly, will be working off hours and weekend
to continue repairs
thanks to the Fire and Police for their response

happy thanksgiving

Bissanti - one particular name (Mike Ellsworth) was johnny on the spot, an unsung hero of the system; everybody works together in those situations and that is good to see

M. OLD BUSINESS
none

N. NEW BUSINESS
When Powderly was here, she was working on a booklet on the services available
might also be good to have on the website, where is it?

Bissanti - is there an update on the RFP's
one came in at 10:40 (after the deadline, 10:30) and is disqualified


O. COUNCIL COMMENTS
Padula - we working on a house over on Howard St, really appreciate the folks there, great people

Pfeffer - open house of affordable housing on Saturday, lottery in Dec, applications do soon


Q. ADJOURN
motion to adjourn, passed 8-0

Annual Report 2012: Town Administrator

Each year we try to improve the quality of life for our citizens. During tough economic times we have to scale back our goals but we all remain committed to customer service and high ethical standards.

We continue to live within our means. This year we passed a budget with no layoffs for the first time in several years. There will be challenges in coming years, but we will continue to meet those challenges the only way we know how, head on and with our goal of providing the best service we can.

So, what have we done this year?

Downtown Improvements to Emmons, Ray, Dean, and Depot Street Parking Lot, funded by a $1,000,000 PWED Grant, were completed this past fall.

Franklin has its own dog park thanks to the ingenuity of 13 year old Hayley Goulet and her Cap Stone Project for school. Hayley had help from the Franklin DPW, Random Smile Projects, friends and relatives and many donors to get the project done but the final home is at Dacey field on Lincoln street and is a great asset to the Town of Franklin and a very busy place.

The Solid Waste and Single Stream Recycling System continues to be a huge success. In fact this year we reduced the curbside collection fee from $220 to $204 for a 65 gallon container and added the option of using a smaller 35 gallon container and paid off the Totters three years ahead of schedule.

I was proud to appoint Stephan H. Semerjian to serve as Police Chief of the Town of Franklin. Stephan was the Town’s former Deputy Chief and a lifelong resident of Franklin.

On the economic development front, our Planning and Community Development Department held its 2nd Economic Development Summit titled “Business Expansion and Retention through Workforce Development”
Hosted by Tegra Medical.

We also sought to spur economic activity by declaring “Biotechnology Uses Overlay Zoning Districts” in the Pond St. Grove Street and Financial Way Areas. These are areas where certain businesses will be encouraged and will be allowed “by right” and therefore entitled to a speedier permitting process.

We continue to review our Town Bylaws to ensure they are fair and reasonable while protecting the interest of all of our citizens.

The Town Council voted funds to make repairs to Dams 3 and 4 at the DelCarte Property. Staff is working on submitting a grant application for the property that the house sat on for a recreation park.

With help from our citizens we formed a Master Plan Committee to explore the current Master Plan last adopted in 1997 and to develop an action plan for future development and to come up with goals and objectives for the Town Council and the Planning Board as we face a different future in 2013 and beyond and to identify the key issues that the Town will be facing.

The Town Council voted to transfer the responsibility of Public Access Cable TV to a Cable Access Corporations formed by a group of volunteers. We can look forward to expanded services in the near future.

Probably most important of all, the citizens voted to approve a Debt Exclusion for a new model high school in March of 2012. This came after hours and hours, months, and months of work from the School Building Committee, the School Committee, the Town Council and many, many volunteers who took the time to get the word out to educate the public and anyone who would listen on the merits of the project. Congratulations to all involved.

As always I want to thank the employees of the Town of Franklin, it is my pleasure to come to work every day with such dedicated and hard working people who do their best for the citizens of Franklin.

It is my pleasure to submit my annual report for your review, and please feel free to write, e-mail, or stop by with any questions, concerns, or comments.

Respectfully submitted,

Jeff Nutting
Town Administrator


from the Town Clerk Annual Report page, this comes from the 2012 Annual Report
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_Clerk/annual/

Franklin, MA: Express Line - v2 #1

The Express Line, the newsletter from the Franklin Town Administration has just been published. You can read it here:

Franklin Ma Express Line Volume 2 Issue1


You can subscribe to receive your own copy directly to your inbox here:
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/subscriber-news

Franklin, MA

We are all serving a life sentence

The School Dept posts a "thought for the day" on a white board as you come to the top of the stairs on the 3rd floor at the Municipal Bldg.

The quote from Thursday was a good one and well worth stopping for the moment it took to snap this photo.


"We are all serving a life sentence and good behavior is our only hope for a pardon."



Franklin, MA

Franklin, MA: Customer Service commitment

Jeff Nutting, the Franklin Town Administrator, has posted the following customer service commitment on the Administrator's page on the Town website (PDF):


Franklin MA Customer Service

Franklin, MA: Express Line #10

The current edition of the Franklin newsletter "Express Line" is now available:

Express Line 10

You can subscribe to receive your own copy via email here:
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/subscriber-news


Franklin, MA

Filing deadline for physical property damage is May 28

The administration announced yesterday that Bristol, Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk and Worcester counties are eligible for both physical and economic injury disaster loans.  Small businesses and most private non-profits in Franklin are only eligible for economic injury loans. 

Up to $200,000 in disaster loans is available for homeowners to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate, and up to $40,000 is available to qualifying homeowners and renters to repair or replace damaged personal property.  

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here

The Small Business Administration website is https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela

Franklin's new "Express Line"

Subscribe to the Town News to receive an email update at least monthly.

This is what the first issue looks like:

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

You can subscribe to the Town's newsletter via this link

Live reporting - Administrator's report

K. TOWN ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT


Thanks to everyone's patience, the roads that were to be paved, have now been, some stripping remains.


The first newsletter has been sent out via email. You can sign up at the Town Administrators web page.


Live cable show available for on-demand viewing on the H1N1 virus update.

Live reporting - Administrators Report, and close

Nutting - the contract for the downtown project have been received here, signed and returned to the state. We are waiting now for the authorization to proceed. It will take a lot of input from a number of folks to do this project.

We did get the million dollar PWAT (sic) grant to aid in the downtown effort.

The work at King St/RT 140 was completed to help the turn across the from the new Walgreens

Jeff read a letter of thanks for the TIF from a business that did receive one for his relocation to Forge Park.

Initial meeting with Bellingham, Milford on storm water management to ensure that the regulations have a similar standard. We are concerned about the financial implications for local businesses. We have asked to meet with our state representatives. All Town property would be subject to this. Huge cost and implications that we will work for over the next many years.

We were approved for our third Economic Development site.

Q - How much does a plan cost, not even the work itself?
A - This is being developed from the EPA, etc. to reduce the amount of phosphorous input to the Charles River. If your business is sitting on ledge that is one thing as opposed to another sitting on sand. It will be expensive. It is a difficult take to take 50% of the phosphorous out.

Q - What can we learn from Milford's water problem.
A - It can happen anywhere. We can prevent it but try to mitigate it. We get all of our water from wells not surface water. We can isolate water or sections within the town. We have experience. We do have fencing and locks around all of our water points. We have major improvements to our infrastructure with pipe replacement. we do perform inspections everyday of the year. We have a computerize monitoring system, 24 hours a day an alarm will go off if something is not right in the system. We treat all ground water as it comes in. At the end of the day, you're 24-36 hours. We can use the reverse 911 to communicate to all 10,000 households within 30 minutes.

Tom Doak arrived during Jeff's update.

Counselors comments:
Bartlett is not running again for Town Council. She struggled with decision but her schedule won't allow her to commit to deliver 100% of what she thinks she would need. If you think you can contribute to a town position, please consider doing so.

Motion to executive session, not to return to open session
motion passed 7-0

Administrator's Message - Sep 17, 2008

A Message from the Administrator

Before you know it, fall will turn into budget season. Next year’s budget continues to hold many challenges. The Town Council has appointed a special adhoc committee to look at the next 3-5 years and try and predict the town’s fiscal plight. The committee plans to hold public hearings and ask for citizens’ input into the age-old question of services versus taxes. While we have been blessed with very generous amounts of state aid over the last 15 years, (thank you Representative Vallee) we cannot rely on the State for the same commitment in the future. Our choices are: ask the legislature to allow for local option taxes, change the tax laws to escape the over reliance on the property tax, or ask the citizens to increase their commitment above the Proposition 2 ½ limits allowed by law. I can already hear folk’s saying, “What about living within your means?” “Why can’t the town live within the revenue available?” “Why do you always ask us for more money?” Well, we can live within our means if you want a lot less “local government”. I have pointed out many times that we don’t control the cost of energy, health insurance premiums, or pensions. Collective bargaining, public bid, prevailing wage laws, and unfunded mandates all drive up the cost and size of government and make it difficult to control costs. There is little support for regionalization of services or consolidation of governments. Federal and State education mandates drive up the cost of education. Also, we can’t ignore our aging infrastructure. We have to update the nearly 40-year-old high school and some of the other schools, the Library needs repairs, and our roads and sidewalks constantly need repairing and updating.

There are no easy answers. We hope for citizens’ input. As we struggle to define the balance between taxes and services, we reach out to the citizens to give us their opinions and help us to decide what is best for all. This is your government. We need your participation at public meetings and hearings and on every Election Day. Your quality of life, protection of property values, and commitment to the next generation is in your hands. Please don’t sit on the sidelines. Watching on TV, reading newspapers, commenting on blogs & websites is fine, but your local government is a “contact sport” and we need to see you and hear you. We ask for your participation in defining what kind of community that you wish to belong to. Please call, write, visit or email me with questions and comments.

Sincerely,
Jeff Nutting
Town Administrator

“As we must account for every idle word, so must we account for every idle silence” – Benjamin Franklin.

Administrator's Message - Jan 6, 2009

A Message from the Administrator

What do you get for your property tax dollars and municipal fees? Some may say “not much” I think you get a great community to live and raise a family. The schools provide high quality public education and serve as the hope for the next generation. We have first class public safety departments, an effective and hard working DPW, a wonderful Library, a nice Senior Center that assists our older generations and an overall high quality of life.

In recent years we have begun to upgrade the water and sewer systems and have paved many poor roads along the way. We built or expanded three schools in the last 12 years, replaced the fire station, DPW garage, senior center, municipal building, and added recreational fields. I know that some citizens think if we did not make those improvements we would not have fiscal problems, but I can tell you we would still be struggling to make ends meet. We are not much different than other communities. Fixed costs rise faster than revenues. In response, we have cut the work force and reduced services.

The solid education system, great municipal services, and nice facilities all help protect your property values. It is hard to believe it when the property values are declining, but over the long run it will prove to be true. We will continue to look for ways to squeeze tax dollars and still provide quality services. It sure looks like we are all going to be caught in a financial struggle for awhile. The good news is we have been down this road before. It is no fun, but usually things right themselves over time. The State government has been able to help us out through tough times in the past, but they are facing an uphill battle without a new revenue source to meet their obligations.

If the state government cannot help financially, they can provide local government more control over our destiny. Changes to the laws that govern health insurance, pensions, bidding requirements, and laws governing employee issues are among a few areas that would help us over the long run. We will work closely with our elected representatives and senators to craft reforms that are fair and effective. It will not be easy but challenging times bring opportunities to address difficult challenges.

Those changes will not help us with the anticipated financial problem we will face in fiscal year 2010. In recent times we have been cutting budgets and services or looking for more tax revenue. I anticipate that FY 2010 will be not different. I will do my best to keep you informed of all the issues as we approach next spring and the annual fiscal dilemma.

Respectfully,
Jeff Nutting

Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning. ~Benjamin Franklin