You can visit Franklin Matters Weekly and subscribe via email or RSS feed.
The summary for the past week is found here
http://franklinmattersweekly.blogspot.com/2011/10/week-ending-oct-16-2011.html
Showing posts with label weekly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weekly. Show all posts
Monday, October 17, 2011
Weekly summary
There is a weekly summary available. If you want to stay up with the news in one weekly dose, instead of the daily dose, you have this option.
You can visit Franklin Matters Weekly and subscribe via email or RSS feed.
The summary for the past week is found here
http://franklinmattersweekly.blogspot.com/2011/10/week-ending-oct-16-2011.html
You can visit Franklin Matters Weekly and subscribe via email or RSS feed.
The summary for the past week is found here
http://franklinmattersweekly.blogspot.com/2011/10/week-ending-oct-16-2011.html
Monday, April 11, 2011
FM #92 - Week ending Apr 10, 2011
Let's spend a few minutes reviewing what matters in Franklin, MA as the week comes to a close April 10th.
Time: 5 minutes, 58 seconds
MP3 File
Show Notes:
This internet radio show or podcast is number 92 in the series for Franklin Matters.
We'll look back at the week that was as it comes to a close Sunday Apr 10 before getting to the outlook on the week ahead.
As we mentioned last week, the Finance Committee was scheduled to meet on Tuesday. With the budget book not scheduled to be ready until the end of April, the meeting was canceled. The FINCOM budget hearings have been scheduled for May 2, 3, 5, 9 and 10. The calendar on Franklin Matters has been updated accordingly.
The Milford Daily News ran an article on this updated schedule and in the article stated:
So be it.
The Town Council met this week and spent time on the public hearing for the Nu-Style building which is getting closer to demolition and clean up than ever before. Several of the councilors created great sound bites on how long it is taken to do this. Jeff Nutting has the best comment in response:
My notes showed he said something like
http://www.franklincommunitygardens.org/
My full set of notes from the Council meeting can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/04/town-council-040611.html
As for town meetings this week
The School Committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, Apr 12. As we record this on Sunday, the agenda has not yet been posted.
The Long Range Financial Planning Committee is scheduled to meet on Weds. They are likely to pick up the discussion on the questions that they drafted as ones to be answered.
Earth Day comes Saturday. The DPW will set up at Beaver Pond to coordinate the clean up efforts of as many want to volunteer.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/2011-earth-day-april-16th-at-beaver.html
---- ---- ----
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help.
How can you help, you ask?
If you have an interest in writing about something that matters in Franklin, please let me know.
As always -
This feedback loop is important. Thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visitFranklinmatters.blogspot.com/
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!
Franklin, MA
Time: 5 minutes, 58 seconds
MP3 File
Show Notes:
This internet radio show or podcast is number 92 in the series for Franklin Matters.
We'll look back at the week that was as it comes to a close Sunday Apr 10 before getting to the outlook on the week ahead.
As we mentioned last week, the Finance Committee was scheduled to meet on Tuesday. With the budget book not scheduled to be ready until the end of April, the meeting was canceled. The FINCOM budget hearings have been scheduled for May 2, 3, 5, 9 and 10. The calendar on Franklin Matters has been updated accordingly.
The Milford Daily News ran an article on this updated schedule and in the article stated:
Town Council Chairman Scott Mason said the budget deficit probably will not be as bad as the $4 million to $6 million councilors predicted last year. He said he does not expect the council to seek an override this year.http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/04/does-not-expect-council-to-seek.html
So be it.
The Town Council met this week and spent time on the public hearing for the Nu-Style building which is getting closer to demolition and clean up than ever before. Several of the councilors created great sound bites on how long it is taken to do this. Jeff Nutting has the best comment in response:
My notes showed he said something like
”We have been trying to take care of the environment and minimize the Franklin tax dollars in the process.“The good news from the Council meeting was their action to create a “Community Gardens Committee.” Five members were appointed all from the group that has been working on this for the past several months. This is a great step forward. The King St Memorial Fields will be the site for about 40 raised bed gardens to be set up in May. You can follow the events on the website
http://www.franklincommunitygardens.org/
My full set of notes from the Council meeting can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/04/town-council-040611.html
As for town meetings this week
The School Committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, Apr 12. As we record this on Sunday, the agenda has not yet been posted.
The Long Range Financial Planning Committee is scheduled to meet on Weds. They are likely to pick up the discussion on the questions that they drafted as ones to be answered.
Earth Day comes Saturday. The DPW will set up at Beaver Pond to coordinate the clean up efforts of as many want to volunteer.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/2011-earth-day-april-16th-at-beaver.html
---- ---- ----
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help.
How can you help, you ask?
If you have an interest in writing about something that matters in Franklin, please let me know.
As always -
- If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
- If you don't like this, please tell me.
This feedback loop is important. Thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visitFranklinmatters.blogspot.com/
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!
Franklin, MA
Monday, April 4, 2011
FM #91 - Week ending Apr 3, 2011
Let's take less than 10 minutes to cover what matters in Franklin, MA as the week ends Apr 3rd, 2011.
Time: 7 minutes, 14 seconds
MP3 File
Show Notes
This internet radio show or podcast is number 91 in the series for Franklin Matters.
We'll look back at the week that was as it comes to a close Sunday Apr 3 before getting to the outlook on the week ahead.
With my work on the Board of Directors for the Franklin Food Pantry, I missed the School Committee meeting on Tuesday and caught the highlights via the video feed.
The policy discussions can be found here
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=xRnvQEic8wAn0dx0vhs4uQ%3d%3d
and here
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=aiE5bT6Q1OUbssu1DcVcng%3d%3d
There was a minor change to the 2011-2012 calendar. As New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, school will skip Monday and start on Tuesday. This allows for the holiday to be observed on Monday as most other neighboring community school systems will also do. The revised calendar has been posted and prior versions removed to avoid confusion.
The action items can be found here.
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=Mf21W84bmi2SPafEDvNgrA%3d%3d
Of most interest was the action to accept the proposal on reducing the math graduation requirements to three years. Peter Light gives a good and brief summary of the position and why. Peter's comments occur about 1:01 of the action item segment.
On Wednesday, the School Building Committee meet to hear the first presentation on four options for the renovation of Franklin High. Two of the options are for renovation and two of the options are for building a new school. As the prices are comparable amongst them, the pros and cons will really need to be looked at as the project goes forward.
The next step is for the committee to finalize their options, and decide on a recommendation. This package (three options with one of them a recommendation) will then go before the MSBA where they will make a decision. That decision will then come back to the Franklin voters to approve or reject. If we approve, then the project proceeds with the State contributing something just above 50%. If we reject, the full cost of any resulting project will be borne solely by the Franklin taxpayers. The rejection will have lost our state reimbursement.
The committee is looking to decide by May and get before the MSBA in July which still puts us on the time line for a fall vote. Stay tuned to this one as it develops.
The meeting notes, handouts and photos can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/view/timeslide/1041884019440390619/2011/03/live-reporting-school-building.html
As for town meetings this week
The Finance Committee was scheduled to meet on Tuesday. As the budget book won't be ready until the end of the month, this meeting has been canceled. The budget hearings have been scheduled for May 2, 3, 5, 9 and 10. The calendar on Franklin Matters has been updated accordingly.
The Town Council is scheduled to meet on Weds. The Community Gardens group will be formed as an official town committee. There will be a public hearing on the Brownfields options for the NUStyle property on Grove St. Additional agenda items can be found on the full agenda here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/view/timeslide/9039137695672778386/2011/04/franklin-ma-town-council-agenda-apr-6.html
-----
---- ---- ----
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help.
How can you help, you ask?
If you have an interest in writing about something that matters in Franklin, please let me know.
As always -
This feedback loop is important. Thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visitFranklinmatters.blogspot.com/
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!
Franklin, MA
Time: 7 minutes, 14 seconds
MP3 File
Show Notes
This internet radio show or podcast is number 91 in the series for Franklin Matters.
We'll look back at the week that was as it comes to a close Sunday Apr 3 before getting to the outlook on the week ahead.
With my work on the Board of Directors for the Franklin Food Pantry, I missed the School Committee meeting on Tuesday and caught the highlights via the video feed.
The policy discussions can be found here
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=xRnvQEic8wAn0dx0vhs4uQ%3d%3d
and here
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=aiE5bT6Q1OUbssu1DcVcng%3d%3d
There was a minor change to the 2011-2012 calendar. As New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, school will skip Monday and start on Tuesday. This allows for the holiday to be observed on Monday as most other neighboring community school systems will also do. The revised calendar has been posted and prior versions removed to avoid confusion.
The action items can be found here.
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=Mf21W84bmi2SPafEDvNgrA%3d%3d
Of most interest was the action to accept the proposal on reducing the math graduation requirements to three years. Peter Light gives a good and brief summary of the position and why. Peter's comments occur about 1:01 of the action item segment.
On Wednesday, the School Building Committee meet to hear the first presentation on four options for the renovation of Franklin High. Two of the options are for renovation and two of the options are for building a new school. As the prices are comparable amongst them, the pros and cons will really need to be looked at as the project goes forward.
The next step is for the committee to finalize their options, and decide on a recommendation. This package (three options with one of them a recommendation) will then go before the MSBA where they will make a decision. That decision will then come back to the Franklin voters to approve or reject. If we approve, then the project proceeds with the State contributing something just above 50%. If we reject, the full cost of any resulting project will be borne solely by the Franklin taxpayers. The rejection will have lost our state reimbursement.
The committee is looking to decide by May and get before the MSBA in July which still puts us on the time line for a fall vote. Stay tuned to this one as it develops.
The meeting notes, handouts and photos can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/view/timeslide/1041884019440390619/2011/03/live-reporting-school-building.html
As for town meetings this week
The Finance Committee was scheduled to meet on Tuesday. As the budget book won't be ready until the end of the month, this meeting has been canceled. The budget hearings have been scheduled for May 2, 3, 5, 9 and 10. The calendar on Franklin Matters has been updated accordingly.
The Town Council is scheduled to meet on Weds. The Community Gardens group will be formed as an official town committee. There will be a public hearing on the Brownfields options for the NUStyle property on Grove St. Additional agenda items can be found on the full agenda here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/view/timeslide/9039137695672778386/2011/04/franklin-ma-town-council-agenda-apr-6.html
-----
---- ---- ----
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help.
How can you help, you ask?
If you have an interest in writing about something that matters in Franklin, please let me know.
As always -
- If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
- If you don't like this, please tell me.
This feedback loop is important. Thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visitFranklinmatters.blogspot.com/
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!
Franklin, MA
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
FM #90 - Week Ending Mar 27, 2011
Let's spend less than 10 minutes to review what matters in Franklin, MA as the week closes Sunday, March 27, 2011.
Time: 7 minutes and 32 seconds
MP3 File
Show Notes:
This internet radio show or podcast is number 90 in the series for Franklin Matters.
We'll look back at the week that was as it comes to a close Monday March 28. I missed my window of opportunity to record last weekend and then with the workshop on Monday, lost my alternative time slot, so this will be a two week catch up before we get into what the week has ahead of us.
Tuesday, Mar 15 – The School Committee meeting spent a good deal of time on the high school. First, the visioning exercise that was conducted at the end of 2010 was reviewed. Second, the program of study introduced a proposal to reduce the math and science requirements for graduation. Third, the summer reading program has been under study with a team since 2008 and they are ready to re-launch the program this summer.
The bully policy was brought for a first reading. The task force you may recall had done their study and presented their recommendations, this was the policy group coming up with what would be needed to foster the changes.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/school-committee-031511.html
Wednesday, Mar 16 - The Town Council meeting saw the appointment of a new member to the Conservation Commission, a couple of license transaction, the report from Melanson and Heath on the results of Franklin's audit for the 2010 fiscal year, and lastly the vote to put four utility poles underground on Main St.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/town-council-meeting-031611.html
Sunday, Mar 20 – Franklin's birthday celebration at the Historical Museum
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/franklin-had-birthday-party.html
Monday, Mar 21 – the Downtown Commercial Zoning Workshop was held with a good audience participating.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/live-reporting-downtown-commercial.html
The presentation documents were added to my meeting notes.
Wednesday, Mar 23 - The Long Range Financial Planning committee meeting got into a discussion on what questions they would focus on to answer.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/live-reporting-long-range-financial_23.html
As for town meetings this week
The School Committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday. Amongst the agenda items are recognition of the Hockey Team, There is also the second reading on the bullying policy and assuming no issues, it will come to a vote. The proposal to reduce the graduation requirements for science and math may have gotten complicated with the State announcing on Friday that those applying to State colleges and universities will now require four years of math.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/math-standards-approved-for-state.html
The School Building Committee is scheduled to meet on Weds. It is reported to include the first presentation from the architects on the design options for the high school renovation project.
With the 2012 budget hearings still awaiting word from the House and Senate versions of the budget, Franklin's budget hearings may not get started until late April or May.
So stay tuned to what is happening in Franklin.
---- ---- ----
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help.
How can you help, you ask?
If you have an interest in writing about something that matters in Franklin, please let me know.
As always -
This feedback loop is important. Thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
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!
Time: 7 minutes and 32 seconds
MP3 File
Show Notes:
This internet radio show or podcast is number 90 in the series for Franklin Matters.
We'll look back at the week that was as it comes to a close Monday March 28. I missed my window of opportunity to record last weekend and then with the workshop on Monday, lost my alternative time slot, so this will be a two week catch up before we get into what the week has ahead of us.
Tuesday, Mar 15 – The School Committee meeting spent a good deal of time on the high school. First, the visioning exercise that was conducted at the end of 2010 was reviewed. Second, the program of study introduced a proposal to reduce the math and science requirements for graduation. Third, the summer reading program has been under study with a team since 2008 and they are ready to re-launch the program this summer.
The bully policy was brought for a first reading. The task force you may recall had done their study and presented their recommendations, this was the policy group coming up with what would be needed to foster the changes.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/school-committee-031511.html
Wednesday, Mar 16 - The Town Council meeting saw the appointment of a new member to the Conservation Commission, a couple of license transaction, the report from Melanson and Heath on the results of Franklin's audit for the 2010 fiscal year, and lastly the vote to put four utility poles underground on Main St.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/town-council-meeting-031611.html
Sunday, Mar 20 – Franklin's birthday celebration at the Historical Museum
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/franklin-had-birthday-party.html
Monday, Mar 21 – the Downtown Commercial Zoning Workshop was held with a good audience participating.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/live-reporting-downtown-commercial.html
The presentation documents were added to my meeting notes.
Wednesday, Mar 23 - The Long Range Financial Planning committee meeting got into a discussion on what questions they would focus on to answer.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/live-reporting-long-range-financial_23.html
As for town meetings this week
The School Committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday. Amongst the agenda items are recognition of the Hockey Team, There is also the second reading on the bullying policy and assuming no issues, it will come to a vote. The proposal to reduce the graduation requirements for science and math may have gotten complicated with the State announcing on Friday that those applying to State colleges and universities will now require four years of math.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/math-standards-approved-for-state.html
The School Building Committee is scheduled to meet on Weds. It is reported to include the first presentation from the architects on the design options for the high school renovation project.
With the 2012 budget hearings still awaiting word from the House and Senate versions of the budget, Franklin's budget hearings may not get started until late April or May.
So stay tuned to what is happening in Franklin.
---- ---- ----
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help.
How can you help, you ask?
If you have an interest in writing about something that matters in Franklin, please let me know.
As always -
- If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
- If you don't like this, please tell me.
This feedback loop is important. Thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
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!
Monday, March 14, 2011
FM #89 - Week ending Mar 13, 2011
Let's spend about ten minutes to find out what matters in Franklin, MA as the week comes to a close March 13, 2011.
Time: 10 minutes 6 seconds
MP3 File
Show Notes:
This internet radio show or podcast is number 89 in the series for Franklin Matters.
We'll look back at the week that was as it comes to a close Sunday March 13. Then we will look at what is scheduled for the week ahead.
The Financial Planning Committee met on Wednesday. They completed their review of the prior report and are now busy working on the list of questions that they think should be answered.
The Town Council is one of two stakeholders for this committee. They will reach out to the Council to get their input on the questions to answer to help the Council make their decisions during the budget cycle.
The citizens (and voters) of Franklin are the second of two key stakeholders for the committee. Respectfully, there are some who don't care and there are some who have already made up their minds. Those two groups should not be a primary concern for the committee. The committee should address the needs of those who are looking for information. Those who are looking for accurate information have the interest to listen and make a decision. Providing information that is accurate and reasonably understood is the goal of the committee.
My notes from the meeting can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/live-reporting-long-range-financial.html
I wrote about these three type of audience in what I called my “fire circle story” back in 2005. You have a choice to listen to the audio recording here http://steves2cents.blogspot.com/2006/10/fire-circle-story.html
or read the text here http://steves2cents.blogspot.com/2005/11/fire-circle-story.html
The week ahead of is Sunshine Week. a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Coinciding with sunshine week and building upon the PEW Internet study reported on here last week, I have begun a couple of new avenues.
One – There is a form for you to ask a question about the Franklin budget. Frequent commenters on the Milford Daily News articles about Franklin reference reading the Annual Report and suffering from a heart ache or some other physical malady. They rarely provide specifics as to what in the report is what cased this reaction.
If you have a similar question, you can ask it, and I'll get an answer. If you provide your email address, I'll be able to follow up to ask any clarifying questions as well as provide a direct answer. It is your choice. If you do provide your email, you get the response. If you don't, I can't guarantee a response.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/citizens-against-waste.html
Two – Many of you have a voice on the budget or any number of topics that matter to Franklin. You may not have the time to create your own blog. If you do have time to write a couple of paragraphs, and access to email, your voice can be published on Franklin Matters in a new “Voices of Franklin” section. Your written submission will need to abide by the editorial guidelines found below. You'll also need to be aware that anything published on Franklin Matters is subject to the Creative Commons License 3.0 for USA. Specifically, what is published can be shared with attribution but not for profit. More information about the editorial guidelines and creative commons license are found in the links below. If you would like to clarify something before sending your writing in, you can reach out to me (shersteve at gmail dot com).
Email address to send to franklinmatters.ma.myvoice@blogger.com
Editorial guidelines http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2007/12/comment-policy.html
Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
Three – This is an election year. November 2011 will see an election of the the Town Council, School Committee, and other town positions. I will make the offer now to all candidates for election to have an interview published in Franklin Matters. I did this in 2007 and 2009. The format of the interview preferably would be in text or audio. If you want to do video, I'll consider it as well. Let me know if and when you are interested and we can schedule a mutually convenient time.
2009 offer http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/08/open-offer-to-franklins-candidates-for.html
2007 offer http://steves2cents.blogspot.com/2007/09/franklin-open-invitation-to-franklins.html
As for town meetings this week
The School Committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday. Amongst the agenda items are presentations on the FHS visioning process, program of study, and summer reading. There is also the first reading on the bullying policy.
The Town Council is scheduled to meet on Weds. Amongst the agenda items they have are an action item to put the four utility poles on Main St located between Depot and the Triangle underground.
Coincidentally, on Monday, Mar 21 is a workshop to discuss the proposed zoning bylaw changes for the signs and other building restrictions in the downtown area. This is an outcome of the proposals brought before the Council on Oct/Nov that were not well received. There was too much to cover and it was not clearly presented. The Dept of Planning and Community Development has gone back to the 'drawing board' so to speak, and this workshop should help address some of the issues around the proposals before they are brought forward once more.
---- ---- ----
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help.
How can you help, you ask?
If you have an interest in writing about something that matters in Franklin, please let me know.
We have gradually been expanding the input here to include other contributors in Franklin and will have another announcement soon. There is still room for more, if you have something of interest to share, please let me know.
As always -
If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
If you don't like this, please tell me.
This feedback loop is important. Thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
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 and Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission
I hope you enjoy!
Franklin, MA
Time: 10 minutes 6 seconds
MP3 File
Show Notes:
This internet radio show or podcast is number 89 in the series for Franklin Matters.
We'll look back at the week that was as it comes to a close Sunday March 13. Then we will look at what is scheduled for the week ahead.
The Financial Planning Committee met on Wednesday. They completed their review of the prior report and are now busy working on the list of questions that they think should be answered.
The Town Council is one of two stakeholders for this committee. They will reach out to the Council to get their input on the questions to answer to help the Council make their decisions during the budget cycle.
The citizens (and voters) of Franklin are the second of two key stakeholders for the committee. Respectfully, there are some who don't care and there are some who have already made up their minds. Those two groups should not be a primary concern for the committee. The committee should address the needs of those who are looking for information. Those who are looking for accurate information have the interest to listen and make a decision. Providing information that is accurate and reasonably understood is the goal of the committee.
My notes from the meeting can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/live-reporting-long-range-financial.html
I wrote about these three type of audience in what I called my “fire circle story” back in 2005. You have a choice to listen to the audio recording here http://steves2cents.blogspot.com/2006/10/fire-circle-story.html
or read the text here http://steves2cents.blogspot.com/2005/11/fire-circle-story.html
The week ahead of is Sunshine Week. a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Coinciding with sunshine week and building upon the PEW Internet study reported on here last week, I have begun a couple of new avenues.
One – There is a form for you to ask a question about the Franklin budget. Frequent commenters on the Milford Daily News articles about Franklin reference reading the Annual Report and suffering from a heart ache or some other physical malady. They rarely provide specifics as to what in the report is what cased this reaction.
If you have a similar question, you can ask it, and I'll get an answer. If you provide your email address, I'll be able to follow up to ask any clarifying questions as well as provide a direct answer. It is your choice. If you do provide your email, you get the response. If you don't, I can't guarantee a response.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/citizens-against-waste.html
Two – Many of you have a voice on the budget or any number of topics that matter to Franklin. You may not have the time to create your own blog. If you do have time to write a couple of paragraphs, and access to email, your voice can be published on Franklin Matters in a new “Voices of Franklin” section. Your written submission will need to abide by the editorial guidelines found below. You'll also need to be aware that anything published on Franklin Matters is subject to the Creative Commons License 3.0 for USA. Specifically, what is published can be shared with attribution but not for profit. More information about the editorial guidelines and creative commons license are found in the links below. If you would like to clarify something before sending your writing in, you can reach out to me (shersteve at gmail dot com).
Email address to send to franklinmatters.ma.myvoice@blogger.com
Editorial guidelines http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2007/12/comment-policy.html
Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
Three – This is an election year. November 2011 will see an election of the the Town Council, School Committee, and other town positions. I will make the offer now to all candidates for election to have an interview published in Franklin Matters. I did this in 2007 and 2009. The format of the interview preferably would be in text or audio. If you want to do video, I'll consider it as well. Let me know if and when you are interested and we can schedule a mutually convenient time.
2009 offer http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/08/open-offer-to-franklins-candidates-for.html
2007 offer http://steves2cents.blogspot.com/2007/09/franklin-open-invitation-to-franklins.html
As for town meetings this week
The School Committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday. Amongst the agenda items are presentations on the FHS visioning process, program of study, and summer reading. There is also the first reading on the bullying policy.
The Town Council is scheduled to meet on Weds. Amongst the agenda items they have are an action item to put the four utility poles on Main St located between Depot and the Triangle underground.
Coincidentally, on Monday, Mar 21 is a workshop to discuss the proposed zoning bylaw changes for the signs and other building restrictions in the downtown area. This is an outcome of the proposals brought before the Council on Oct/Nov that were not well received. There was too much to cover and it was not clearly presented. The Dept of Planning and Community Development has gone back to the 'drawing board' so to speak, and this workshop should help address some of the issues around the proposals before they are brought forward once more.
---- ---- ----
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help.
How can you help, you ask?
If you have an interest in writing about something that matters in Franklin, please let me know.
We have gradually been expanding the input here to include other contributors in Franklin and will have another announcement soon. There is still room for more, if you have something of interest to share, please let me know.
As always -
If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
If you don't like this, please tell me.
This feedback loop is important. Thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
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 and Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission
I hope you enjoy!
Franklin, MA
Monday, March 7, 2011
FM #88 - Week ending 3/6/11
Lets take less than ten minutes to review what matters in Franklin, MA as the week ends March 6, 2011.
Time: 6 minutes, 20 seconds
Show Notes
This internet radio show or podcast is number 88 in the series for Franklin Matters.
We'll look back at the week that was as it comes to a close Sunday March 6. Then we will look at what is scheduled for the week ahead.
The Community Gardens group meet on Monday night in the Community Room of Stop & Shop. It is good to see such a group beginning this endeavor.
My notes from the meeting are here
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2011/02/live-reporting-community-garden.html
The FinCom meeting on Tuesday was canceled as expected. The State numbers are too preliminary to begin to work with at this time. The current expectation is that by mid-month there should be some indication as to the range of numbers available from the State to begin planning.
The Town Council held a very brief meeting on Wednesday. I caught the replay via the video on demand in order to participate in the Friends of the Library meeting. It was a very good choice to make. My report is available here.
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2011/03/library-and-friends-clear-air.html
Be sure to review the update on the tax donation status of gifts to the Library. With the standard disclaimer that I am not providing tax advice just information, check with your tax preparer how to handle this with your particular situation.
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2011/03/re-franklin-library-blog-posting.html
The Community Health Council met on Thursday evening featuring an update from Peter Light on the health related activities at the high school. More information on the calendar of events coordinated by the Council can be found here http://www.franklin.ma.us/auto/schools/FPS/CHC/default.htm
Looking ahead:
The Long Range Financial Planning committee meets on Wednesday. The group will likely be continuing to develop its understanding of the financial issues around the Franklin budget.
The Pew Internet and American Life Project released a report that showed:
The full report can be found here:
http://www.pewinternet.org/2011/03/01/how-the-public-perceives-community-information-systems/
---- ---- ----
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help.
How can you help, you ask?
If you have an interest in covering the Planning Board, Conservation Commission and or the Zoning Board of Appeals meetings in Franklin, please let me know.
And as always
Thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visit https://www.franklinmatters.org/
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 and Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission
I hope you enjoy!
Franklin, MA
You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes = search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"
Time: 6 minutes, 20 seconds
Show Notes
This internet radio show or podcast is number 88 in the series for Franklin Matters.
We'll look back at the week that was as it comes to a close Sunday March 6. Then we will look at what is scheduled for the week ahead.
The Community Gardens group meet on Monday night in the Community Room of Stop & Shop. It is good to see such a group beginning this endeavor.
My notes from the meeting are here
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2011/02/live-reporting-community-garden.html
The FinCom meeting on Tuesday was canceled as expected. The State numbers are too preliminary to begin to work with at this time. The current expectation is that by mid-month there should be some indication as to the range of numbers available from the State to begin planning.
The Town Council held a very brief meeting on Wednesday. I caught the replay via the video on demand in order to participate in the Friends of the Library meeting. It was a very good choice to make. My report is available here.
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2011/03/library-and-friends-clear-air.html
Be sure to review the update on the tax donation status of gifts to the Library. With the standard disclaimer that I am not providing tax advice just information, check with your tax preparer how to handle this with your particular situation.
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2011/03/re-franklin-library-blog-posting.html
The Community Health Council met on Thursday evening featuring an update from Peter Light on the health related activities at the high school. More information on the calendar of events coordinated by the Council can be found here http://www.franklin.ma.us/auto/schools/FPS/CHC/default.htm
Looking ahead:
The Long Range Financial Planning committee meets on Wednesday. The group will likely be continuing to develop its understanding of the financial issues around the Franklin budget.
The Pew Internet and American Life Project released a report that showed:
"... government transparency is associated with residents’ feelings of efficacy and empowerment: Those who think their government shares information well are more likely to say that people like them can have an impact on government. It might be the case that signals from government that “we want to be open about what we do” make people think they can take advantage of that openness and influence the way the government operates."This report helps foster the activities that you and I have been taking here. Our engagement on the website,through the weekly and daily newsletters, and on Facebook are helping to encourage Franklin to do more in these areas. Franklin regularly wins an award for for government information sharing but it can still do better. One of the major issues with the budget crisis we face is the lack of trust in the information provided. Increasing the transparency will foster trust.
The full report can be found here:
http://www.pewinternet.org/2011/03/01/how-the-public-perceives-community-information-systems/
---- ---- ----
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help.
How can you help, you ask?
If you have an interest in covering the Planning Board, Conservation Commission and or the Zoning Board of Appeals meetings in Franklin, please let me know.
And as always
- If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
- If you don't like this, please tell me
Thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visit https://www.franklinmatters.org/
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 and Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission
I hope you enjoy!
Franklin, MA
You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes = search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"
 |
| subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters on iTunes |
Monday, February 28, 2011
FM #87 - Week ending 2/27/11
Let's take about 10 minutes to get up to speed on what matters in Franklin, MA as the week comes to a close Sunday, Feb 27, 2011
Time: 10 minutes, 1 second
MP3 File
Show Notes:
This internet radio show or podcast is number 87 in the series for Franklin Matters.
We'll look back at the past two weeks as school vacation comes to a close Sunday Feb 27. Then we will look at what is scheduled for the week ahead.
The School Committee meeting on the 15th before school vacation was a full meeting.
Rep Vallee and Sen Spilka attended to provide an update on the overall budget outlook.
They did arrive in time to see the Franklin Arts Academy presentation which was quite impressive.
The school budget was reviewed and with minor discussion, approved.
While I can understand from the SchCom point of view that they have almost lived with the budget, some on the budget subcommittee more so than the others, and they had spent most of Saturday morning Jan 29th in the budget workshop. But as on that Saturday, the reporter from the MDN and I were the only members of the public, you would think that they would take some time to showcase the budget in this real public forum complete with live video which would be available later in the video on demand archive. But no, they went through it summarily and that is that. Shame on those in Franklin who did not come out to the meeting in person, that was your chance to step up and say something.
I do have links to the budget presentation and to the entire budget book available in the show notes
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/franklin-public-schools-budget-book-fy.html
Kudos to Jim Roche, Finance Committee chair, who did participate in the meeting for the budget discussion.
The notes from the full meeting can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/school-committee-021511.html
The Town Council had a short and relatively uneventful meeting. The meeting notes can be found here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/town-council-021611.html
The only meeting of significance during the school break was the Long Range Financial Planning Committee which did meet on Wednesday, Feb 23. It was a smaller group than normal but they met the quorum requirements (4 of 7). The lower attendance was likely due to the school vacation. There was a special guest, Town councilor Steve Whalen. Steve reviewed his worksheets which had just been updated with Census Data for 2010. The updated data did not change the overall results, Franklin by all measures does get a great deal of quality services for what little it puts out of its own pocket.
Side note – as the documents Steve shared were legal size, I do not have the ready capability to copy them and share them.
My notes from the meeting including highlights from the Whalen updates can be found here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/live-reporting-long-range-financial_23.html
The other significant item that came from the meeting was the revelation that both Whalen and Zollo will not be running for re-election. I have heard this before but there was still plenty of time for them to change their minds. I guess that is not about to happen. So there will be opportunity for folks to run for the Council. It would be good to see some real competition.
And while we are at it, I have no intentions of running. My approach to this situation has not changed, nor is likely to, so you won't have to worry about it. I'll continue reporting on what matters in Franklin. You can review my disclosure statement for the additional details.
Looking ahead:
The Community Garden Committee meets Monday evening at Stop and Shop.7:00 PM 7:30 PM in the community room.
The Finance Committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday. February's meeting you may recall was canceled. The Franklin website does not have an agenda posted but it may be on the Municipal Bldg window and I did not have time to go by and check. The Town Council meeting does not have any financial action items which FinCom would have approved first so not sure what's up. We'll find out Tuesday and not be too surprised if the meeting does get canceled.
The Town Council is scheduled to meet Wed March 2. A new liquor license for a Japanese-themed restaurant opening in the former Piccadilly Pub location is on the agenda for approval.
The Town Council agenda is posted here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/franklin-ma-town-council-agenda-mar-2.html
The Franklin Cafe & Grill scheduled to open soon in the former KFC building on 140 has generated some conversation on the Facebook page. In particular about the sign requirements.
March 2 is also significant for two birthdays – Franklin's own birthday and that of Dr Seuss!
Franklin will hold a party on Sunday March 20th at the Museum to celebrate Mar 2 also with some of the 76 Franklin residents who share the March 2 birthday!
The Commonwealth released data by community for 2001 through 2009 on the senior circuit breaker tax advantages available to them. Franklin does quite well in that there has been an increase each year in the number of filers and in the average credit received. To paint a complete picture, I'd like to know how many are eligible and don't apply?
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/franklin-residents-gain-with-senior.html
The Franklin chapter of the Teenangels were in the news
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/teenangels.html
So as we close this week, welcome back. The snow hasn't gone yet. The budget cycle is getting into high gear in March. The time to be involved is now.
---- ---- ----
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help.
How can you help, you ask?
If you have an interest in covering the Planning Board, Conservation Commission and or the Zoning Board of Appeals meetings in Franklin, please let me know.
And as always -
If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
If you don't like this, please tell me.
Thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
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 and Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission
I hope you enjoy!
Time: 10 minutes, 1 second
MP3 File
Show Notes:
This internet radio show or podcast is number 87 in the series for Franklin Matters.
We'll look back at the past two weeks as school vacation comes to a close Sunday Feb 27. Then we will look at what is scheduled for the week ahead.
The School Committee meeting on the 15th before school vacation was a full meeting.
Rep Vallee and Sen Spilka attended to provide an update on the overall budget outlook.
They did arrive in time to see the Franklin Arts Academy presentation which was quite impressive.
The school budget was reviewed and with minor discussion, approved.
While I can understand from the SchCom point of view that they have almost lived with the budget, some on the budget subcommittee more so than the others, and they had spent most of Saturday morning Jan 29th in the budget workshop. But as on that Saturday, the reporter from the MDN and I were the only members of the public, you would think that they would take some time to showcase the budget in this real public forum complete with live video which would be available later in the video on demand archive. But no, they went through it summarily and that is that. Shame on those in Franklin who did not come out to the meeting in person, that was your chance to step up and say something.
I do have links to the budget presentation and to the entire budget book available in the show notes
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/franklin-public-schools-budget-book-fy.html
Kudos to Jim Roche, Finance Committee chair, who did participate in the meeting for the budget discussion.
The notes from the full meeting can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/school-committee-021511.html
The Town Council had a short and relatively uneventful meeting. The meeting notes can be found here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/town-council-021611.html
The only meeting of significance during the school break was the Long Range Financial Planning Committee which did meet on Wednesday, Feb 23. It was a smaller group than normal but they met the quorum requirements (4 of 7). The lower attendance was likely due to the school vacation. There was a special guest, Town councilor Steve Whalen. Steve reviewed his worksheets which had just been updated with Census Data for 2010. The updated data did not change the overall results, Franklin by all measures does get a great deal of quality services for what little it puts out of its own pocket.
Side note – as the documents Steve shared were legal size, I do not have the ready capability to copy them and share them.
My notes from the meeting including highlights from the Whalen updates can be found here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/live-reporting-long-range-financial_23.html
The other significant item that came from the meeting was the revelation that both Whalen and Zollo will not be running for re-election. I have heard this before but there was still plenty of time for them to change their minds. I guess that is not about to happen. So there will be opportunity for folks to run for the Council. It would be good to see some real competition.
And while we are at it, I have no intentions of running. My approach to this situation has not changed, nor is likely to, so you won't have to worry about it. I'll continue reporting on what matters in Franklin. You can review my disclosure statement for the additional details.
Looking ahead:
The Community Garden Committee meets Monday evening at Stop and Shop.
The Finance Committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday. February's meeting you may recall was canceled. The Franklin website does not have an agenda posted but it may be on the Municipal Bldg window and I did not have time to go by and check. The Town Council meeting does not have any financial action items which FinCom would have approved first so not sure what's up. We'll find out Tuesday and not be too surprised if the meeting does get canceled.
The Town Council is scheduled to meet Wed March 2. A new liquor license for a Japanese-themed restaurant opening in the former Piccadilly Pub location is on the agenda for approval.
The Town Council agenda is posted here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/franklin-ma-town-council-agenda-mar-2.html
The Franklin Cafe & Grill scheduled to open soon in the former KFC building on 140 has generated some conversation on the Facebook page. In particular about the sign requirements.
March 2 is also significant for two birthdays – Franklin's own birthday and that of Dr Seuss!
Franklin will hold a party on Sunday March 20th at the Museum to celebrate Mar 2 also with some of the 76 Franklin residents who share the March 2 birthday!
The Commonwealth released data by community for 2001 through 2009 on the senior circuit breaker tax advantages available to them. Franklin does quite well in that there has been an increase each year in the number of filers and in the average credit received. To paint a complete picture, I'd like to know how many are eligible and don't apply?
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/franklin-residents-gain-with-senior.html
The Franklin chapter of the Teenangels were in the news
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/teenangels.html
So as we close this week, welcome back. The snow hasn't gone yet. The budget cycle is getting into high gear in March. The time to be involved is now.
---- ---- ----
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help.
How can you help, you ask?
If you have an interest in covering the Planning Board, Conservation Commission and or the Zoning Board of Appeals meetings in Franklin, please let me know.
And as always -
If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
If you don't like this, please tell me.
Thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
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 and Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission
I hope you enjoy!
Monday, February 14, 2011
FM #86 - Week Ending Feb 13, 2011
Let's take less than 10 minutes to review what matters in Franklin, MA as the week comes to a close on Sunday Feb 13, 2011.
Time: 7 minutes, 44 seconds
MP3 File
Session Notes
This internet radio show or podcast is number 86 in the series for Franklin Matters.
We'll look back at the week that was as it ends Sunday Feb 13th before looking ahead to the School Committee and Town Council meetings scheduled.
The Finance Committee meeting was canceled on Tuesday, Feb 8th.
The Long Range Financial Planning Committee did meet on Wednesday, Feb 9th.
The Committee added Sue Rohrbach to serve as a liaison to the School Committee and school budget. Sue joins Tina Powderly representing the Town Council and Jeff Nutting representing the Administration.
The committee settled on their individual assignments which were intended to reflect their individual interests and specialties. The assignments are as follows:
1 - Capital expenditures and debt service - John Hogan
2 - Benchmarking and pensions - Graydon Smith
3 - Salary and benefits (excluding pensions) - Orrin Bean
4 - National trends in municipal finance (includes regionalization) - Craig DiMarzio
5 - Schools - Deb Bartlett
6 - Town revenue, public safety, and other - Ken Harvey
7 - Committee communications and deliverables - Doug Hardesty
The bulk of the meeting was spent continuing to review the prior committee's report and much of the discussion involved clarification or background on the numbers or issues reflected in the report. The meeting ended before the committee had finished reviewing the report so some of the time at the next session will continue this effort.
The full set of my notes from the meeting can be found here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/live-reporting-long-range-financial.html/
The budget workshop held one year ago is still a great source of detailed information directly from Jeff Nutting, Susan Gagner and Jim Dacey on the Town side of the budget and Maureen Sabilonski, Miriam Goodman on the School side of the budget. The full workshop was recorded, the audio and worksheets to accompany the recording are all available online here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/01/budget-workshop-collection-12510.html/
Yes, this was a year ago. The numbers may have changed a little but the overall issues for the Town have not and hence this still has great relevance for today.
The other non-meeting major item in the news was the report theft of the historic bell from the Museum. Apparently someone has made off with it, likely to melt it down for the valuable metal.
I don't spend much time doing analysis on the traffic volume for what I publish here. I did want to bring to your attention some of the numbers now that three full years have passed and four January's have been completed. I will continue to focus on bringing as much good content on what matters with the Franklin budget as possible.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/you-find-good-content-here.html
Looking to the week ahead:
School Committee is scheduled to meet Tues Feb 15. As their meeting on the 1st was canceled, I am assuming their budget discussion will be the focus for this meeting. I have included the budget links I previously posted to make it easier to find them.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/franklin-ma-school-committee-agenda_13.html/
The Town Council is scheduled to meet Wed Feb 16. Their agenda is posted here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/franklin-ma-town-council-agenda-feb-16.html/
The budget info for Fiscal Year 2012 can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/01/fiscal-year-2012-budget-information.html
---- ---- ----
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help.
How can you help, you ask?
If you have an interest in covering the Planning Board, Conservation Commission and or the Zoning Board of Appeals meetings in Franklin, please let me know.
And as always -
Thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
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!
Time: 7 minutes, 44 seconds
MP3 File
Session Notes
This internet radio show or podcast is number 86 in the series for Franklin Matters.
We'll look back at the week that was as it ends Sunday Feb 13th before looking ahead to the School Committee and Town Council meetings scheduled.
The Finance Committee meeting was canceled on Tuesday, Feb 8th.
The Long Range Financial Planning Committee did meet on Wednesday, Feb 9th.
The Committee added Sue Rohrbach to serve as a liaison to the School Committee and school budget. Sue joins Tina Powderly representing the Town Council and Jeff Nutting representing the Administration.
The committee settled on their individual assignments which were intended to reflect their individual interests and specialties. The assignments are as follows:
1 - Capital expenditures and debt service - John Hogan
2 - Benchmarking and pensions - Graydon Smith
3 - Salary and benefits (excluding pensions) - Orrin Bean
4 - National trends in municipal finance (includes regionalization) - Craig DiMarzio
5 - Schools - Deb Bartlett
6 - Town revenue, public safety, and other - Ken Harvey
7 - Committee communications and deliverables - Doug Hardesty
The bulk of the meeting was spent continuing to review the prior committee's report and much of the discussion involved clarification or background on the numbers or issues reflected in the report. The meeting ended before the committee had finished reviewing the report so some of the time at the next session will continue this effort.
The full set of my notes from the meeting can be found here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/live-reporting-long-range-financial.html/
The budget workshop held one year ago is still a great source of detailed information directly from Jeff Nutting, Susan Gagner and Jim Dacey on the Town side of the budget and Maureen Sabilonski, Miriam Goodman on the School side of the budget. The full workshop was recorded, the audio and worksheets to accompany the recording are all available online here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/01/budget-workshop-collection-12510.html/
Yes, this was a year ago. The numbers may have changed a little but the overall issues for the Town have not and hence this still has great relevance for today.
The other non-meeting major item in the news was the report theft of the historic bell from the Museum. Apparently someone has made off with it, likely to melt it down for the valuable metal.
I don't spend much time doing analysis on the traffic volume for what I publish here. I did want to bring to your attention some of the numbers now that three full years have passed and four January's have been completed. I will continue to focus on bringing as much good content on what matters with the Franklin budget as possible.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/you-find-good-content-here.html
Looking to the week ahead:
School Committee is scheduled to meet Tues Feb 15. As their meeting on the 1st was canceled, I am assuming their budget discussion will be the focus for this meeting. I have included the budget links I previously posted to make it easier to find them.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/franklin-ma-school-committee-agenda_13.html/
The Town Council is scheduled to meet Wed Feb 16. Their agenda is posted here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/franklin-ma-town-council-agenda-feb-16.html/
The budget info for Fiscal Year 2012 can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/01/fiscal-year-2012-budget-information.html
---- ---- ----
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help.
How can you help, you ask?
If you have an interest in covering the Planning Board, Conservation Commission and or the Zoning Board of Appeals meetings in Franklin, please let me know.
And as always -
- If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
- If you don't like this, please tell me.
Thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
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!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
FM #85 - Week ending Feb 6, 2011
Let's spend less than 10 minutes and get caught up on what matters in Franklin, MA as the week ends Feb 6, 2011.
Time: 5 minutes, 56 seconds
MP3 File
Session Notes:
This internet radio show or podcast is number 85 in the series for Franklin Matters.
We'll start by looking back at the snowy week that was as it comes to a close on Sunday Feb 6th. School got out early Tues, was canceled Wed, and started late on Thu. All due to the weather.
School Committee canceled, so the budget hearing was postponed to their next meeting Feb 15th
Town Council managed a quorum to hold a short meeting on Weds; a couple of appointments were approved, the liquor license manager change for Maguro House was approved, and authorization to spend more than the budget for snow/ice was approved.
At the Council meeting Jeff Nutting provided several updates including a summary of the budget development status. As the entire meeting took only 17 minutes, I have included the link so you can catch the on demand video and view it directly
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=EehmtDrfKKNgo8xk8AQHNg%3d%3d
Library will hold a book sale, apparently the Friends and the Board of Directors are working out the issues that cropped up.
Recreation fee investigation postponed due to health issues with a key person
wasn't going to happen right away anyway, just wanted to get the research underway
Also on the library front, word out of Medway is that they are terminating the sharing agreement for the Library director with Franklin. This is going the wrong way on the regionalization front. This I think is a good case in point as to how hard regionalization is. It is not a silver bullet, it takes hard work to make it work. It does take two to tango. Medway apparently wants their own tune.
Looking to the week ahead:
Finance Committee scheduled to meet Tues Feb 8th
Long Range Financial Planning Committee scheduled to meet Wed Feb 9th
So we have had some snow melt in the last day or so, but we are still covered with plenty and there is more on the way. Be safe, be careful, shovel the fire hydrants in your neighborhood.
----
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help.
How can you help, you ask?
If you have an interest in covering the Planning Board, Conservation Commission and or the Zoning Board of Appeals meetings in Franklin, please let me know.
And as always -
Without this feedback loop, I can not improve this service.
Thank you for listening.
-----
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
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!
Franklin, MA
Time: 5 minutes, 56 seconds
MP3 File
Session Notes:
This internet radio show or podcast is number 85 in the series for Franklin Matters.
We'll start by looking back at the snowy week that was as it comes to a close on Sunday Feb 6th. School got out early Tues, was canceled Wed, and started late on Thu. All due to the weather.
School Committee canceled, so the budget hearing was postponed to their next meeting Feb 15th
Town Council managed a quorum to hold a short meeting on Weds; a couple of appointments were approved, the liquor license manager change for Maguro House was approved, and authorization to spend more than the budget for snow/ice was approved.
At the Council meeting Jeff Nutting provided several updates including a summary of the budget development status. As the entire meeting took only 17 minutes, I have included the link so you can catch the on demand video and view it directly
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=EehmtDrfKKNgo8xk8AQHNg%3d%3d
Library will hold a book sale, apparently the Friends and the Board of Directors are working out the issues that cropped up.
Recreation fee investigation postponed due to health issues with a key person
wasn't going to happen right away anyway, just wanted to get the research underway
Also on the library front, word out of Medway is that they are terminating the sharing agreement for the Library director with Franklin. This is going the wrong way on the regionalization front. This I think is a good case in point as to how hard regionalization is. It is not a silver bullet, it takes hard work to make it work. It does take two to tango. Medway apparently wants their own tune.
Looking to the week ahead:
Finance Committee scheduled to meet Tues Feb 8th
Long Range Financial Planning Committee scheduled to meet Wed Feb 9th
So we have had some snow melt in the last day or so, but we are still covered with plenty and there is more on the way. Be safe, be careful, shovel the fire hydrants in your neighborhood.
----
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help.
How can you help, you ask?
If you have an interest in covering the Planning Board, Conservation Commission and or the Zoning Board of Appeals meetings in Franklin, please let me know.
And as always -
- If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
- If you don't like this, please tell me
Without this feedback loop, I can not improve this service.
Thank you for listening.
-----
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
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!
Franklin, MA
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
FM #77 - Franklin, MA: Mid-term Review
Next year, as you well know, will be a tough operational budget year with a possible high school renovation project on the horizon with a debt exclusion for a sum total uncertain at this time.
The operational and capital needs of the Town are not well understood by the general population.
You can not accept that. If you do, you give into the CAVE people What are the CAVE people? An acronym for Citizens Against Virtually Everything. This a great term that Bill Glynn took back from a conference he attended with other members of the School Committee and School Dept Administration
If we assume perception is reality, and your attendance indicates your level of effort, then there is room for improvement for some of you.
Details for the chart can be found at the following Google document
I understand that there may be very good reasons for missing meetings
You do this because Franklin matters to you for a variety of reasons
Let's assume perception is reality, I recommend you take a series of actions to really help improve the outreach to our community
1) Member of the Council meet at the Senior Center regularly; Bill Glynn held a sit/chat during the summer; need to do something for the remainder of the residents on a regular basis
2) plan for another budget workshop or series of workshops
What of the Long Term Planning Committee?
This group sort of disappeared after the override, it is good to see the group on the agenda for the meeting Wednesday. Maybe we'll find out what is going on
The Finance Committee is getting reduced from 11 members to 9 per the one question that passed on the Charter Changes. They are scheduled to meet in December. How is the change going to be handled?
3) Get out in front of the big issues, be proactive, don't let the void be filled in by others with hearsay, determine the conversation
For the School Committee in particular, I believe your normal year end meeting is scheduled to be held in the training room on the 3rd floor. It is your own review session, I would heartily recommend that you change the location, bring the meeting out into the open, broadcast it, foster the engagement with your community.
I could have done some ratings in a variety of ways. I chose not to do so. It was deliberate. I think you have been able to observe my own actions, you know I don't create screaming headlines. I am not out to sell anything. I am working to share information to create an informed voter. You can help in that effort.
Consider yourself a crew team. The crew team needs all the oars in the water swinging in synch with one another to succeed.
I think you for your service to the community.
I thank you for your time tonight.
As I close this session this week, let me remind you that
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 and Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission
I hope you enjoy!
Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to listen to the audio podcast.
The operational and capital needs of the Town are not well understood by the general population.
You can not accept that. If you do, you give into the CAVE people What are the CAVE people? An acronym for Citizens Against Virtually Everything. This a great term that Bill Glynn took back from a conference he attended with other members of the School Committee and School Dept Administration
If we assume perception is reality, and your attendance indicates your level of effort, then there is room for improvement for some of you.
Details for the chart can be found at the following Google document
I understand that there may be very good reasons for missing meetings
You do this because Franklin matters to you for a variety of reasons
Let's assume perception is reality, I recommend you take a series of actions to really help improve the outreach to our community
1) Member of the Council meet at the Senior Center regularly; Bill Glynn held a sit/chat during the summer; need to do something for the remainder of the residents on a regular basis
2) plan for another budget workshop or series of workshops
What of the Long Term Planning Committee?
This group sort of disappeared after the override, it is good to see the group on the agenda for the meeting Wednesday. Maybe we'll find out what is going on
The Finance Committee is getting reduced from 11 members to 9 per the one question that passed on the Charter Changes. They are scheduled to meet in December. How is the change going to be handled?
3) Get out in front of the big issues, be proactive, don't let the void be filled in by others with hearsay, determine the conversation
For the School Committee in particular, I believe your normal year end meeting is scheduled to be held in the training room on the 3rd floor. It is your own review session, I would heartily recommend that you change the location, bring the meeting out into the open, broadcast it, foster the engagement with your community.
I could have done some ratings in a variety of ways. I chose not to do so. It was deliberate. I think you have been able to observe my own actions, you know I don't create screaming headlines. I am not out to sell anything. I am working to share information to create an informed voter. You can help in that effort.
Consider yourself a crew team. The crew team needs all the oars in the water swinging in synch with one another to succeed.
I think you for your service to the community.
I thank you for your time tonight.
As I close this session this week, let me remind you that
- If you like what I am doing here, please tell your friends and neighbors
- If you don’t like something, please tell me
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 and Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission
I hope you enjoy!
Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to listen to the audio podcast.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
FM #74 Week Ending 10/17/10
Let's take about 10 minutes to catch up on what matters in Franklin, MA as the week ends Oct 17th, 2010.
Time: 10 minutes, 49 seconds
MP3 File
Session Notes:
Let's take less than 10 minutes to review the week ending Oct 17 here in Franklin, MA. So what should you know from the past week?
The School Committee met on Tuesday Most of the night was spent on the high school
Copies of the presentations are posted to Franklin Matters.
Of special interest is this segment of dialog between chair Jeff Roy and Principal Peter Light discussing the effects of the Rachel's challenge event recently held at the high school.
(here is the audio clip from the meeting)
What do we have coming up this week?
The Town Council meeting is Weds. The continuation of the public hearing on the underground utilities will be held. You may recall the initial hearing 9/29. The notice was incorrect in that it left out the section of Main St hence, part 2 this week. While the council did a straw vote last time indicating that they would likely not vote to proceed with putting the utilities underground, the official vote should be this week. The council did vote last time to endorse the change from 1-way to 2-way traffic, there will be additional votes required as there is a by-law change needed before that changes. Oh and the construction downtown will begin during 2011 and complete sometime 2012.
Of most interest this weds will be a series of updates from the DPW
As I close this session this week, let me remind you that
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 and Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission
I hope you enjoy!
Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to listen to the audio podcast.
Time: 10 minutes, 49 seconds
MP3 File
Session Notes:
Let's take less than 10 minutes to review the week ending Oct 17 here in Franklin, MA. So what should you know from the past week?
The School Committee met on Tuesday Most of the night was spent on the high school
- The school improvement plan was reviewed http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=HW0UW7w25OKFIuztz4K2Eg%3d%3d
- The senior project was reviewed http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=Z6iurs7XvBmQeuYTQ5aJIA%3d%3d
- The school discipline process and statistics showing the improvements were reviewed http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=M2eDWWFyvuaKUWPh8tPJnw%3d%3d
Copies of the presentations are posted to Franklin Matters.
Of special interest is this segment of dialog between chair Jeff Roy and Principal Peter Light discussing the effects of the Rachel's challenge event recently held at the high school.
What do we have coming up this week?
The Town Council meeting is Weds. The continuation of the public hearing on the underground utilities will be held. You may recall the initial hearing 9/29. The notice was incorrect in that it left out the section of Main St hence, part 2 this week. While the council did a straw vote last time indicating that they would likely not vote to proceed with putting the utilities underground, the official vote should be this week. The council did vote last time to endorse the change from 1-way to 2-way traffic, there will be additional votes required as there is a by-law change needed before that changes. Oh and the construction downtown will begin during 2011 and complete sometime 2012.
Of most interest this weds will be a series of updates from the DPW
- Winter Road Treatments & Snow Removal
- Franklin Town Common Tree Report
- Report on the new Solid Waste and Single Stream Recycling System
- Sewer System Discussion
As I close this session this week, let me remind you that
- If you like what I am doing here, please tell your friends and neighbors
- If you don’t like something, please tell me
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 and Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission
I hope you enjoy!
Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to listen to the audio podcast.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
East of Shirley at the Harvest Cafe on Sat Sep 11, 2010
The group East of Shirley is one that I have featured as the intro and exit music for the weekly podcast. They have scheduled a gig this Saturday up Rt 85 in Hudson at the Harvest Cafe.
More information on this gig can be found here: http://www.reverbnation.com/show/2988546
Note: now that the summer break is over, I do plan on returning to providing a weekly summary. In case you missed the Jan - June recap you can find it here:
http://franklinmattersweekly.blogspot.com/2010/07/franklin-ma-2010-midyear-review.html
More information on this gig can be found here: http://www.reverbnation.com/show/2988546
Note: now that the summer break is over, I do plan on returning to providing a weekly summary. In case you missed the Jan - June recap you can find it here:
http://franklinmattersweekly.blogspot.com/2010/07/franklin-ma-2010-midyear-review.html
Sunday, February 21, 2010
FM #58 - Week ending 2/21/10
The winter school break is ending, the Olympics are underway, let's just take about ten minutes to keep current with what matters here in Franklin, MA as the week ends February 21, 2010
In this session I’ll go back to cover the Town Council meeting on Wednesday, Feb 10. In particular, their decision to reduce the annual curbside solid waste and recycling fee and implement minor increase to fees for Beaver St and to handle specific large items.
Time: 12 minutes, 48 seconds
MP3 File
Session Notes:
In this session I’ll go back to cover the Town Council meeting on Wednesday, Feb 10. In particular, their decision to reduce the annual curbside solid waste and recycling fee and implement minor increase to fees for Beaver St and to handle specific large items.
Time: 12 minutes, 48 seconds
MP3 File
Session Notes:
This internet radio show or podcast is number 58 in the series for Franklin Matters.
The winter school break is ending, the Olympics are underway, let's just take about ten minutes to keep current with what matters here in Franklin, MA as the week ends February 21, 2010
In this session I’ll go back to cover the Town Council meeting on Wednesday, Feb 10. In particular, their decision to reduce the annual curbside solid waste and recycling fee and implement minor increase to fees for Beaver St and to handle specific large items.
Who would have guessed that reducing the fee to implement a new automated trash and recycling system would generate so much interest?
More than 20 citizens turned out on a snowy evening to participate in the Town Council meeting raising a variety of questions. None of the questions ended up swaying the Council. They voted 5 for – 2 against – 1 abstained (the ninth councilor was absent) to reduce the annual curbside fee from 244 to 233. There is still a proposed action to reduce the fee further to 220 by using some of the solid waste enterprise fund surplus. Per Jeff Nutting, this will come before the Council as part of the regular annual budget discussions.
Franklin Matters contains a number of links around this topic.
The original slide waste presentation of January 20th can be found here:
the questions and answers from the meeting of Feb 10th here:
I summarized my analysis of the pros and cons here:
As I got questions from a couple of Franklin Matters readers, I updated the pros/cons posting to answer those questions (catching a math error of my own in the process):
I also spent time finding information on all the communities referenced in the original DPW presentation on Jan 20th and summarized those links here:
What I'd like to do with the remainder of this update is to walk through the changes that I see my household making when this new system is scheduled to come into effect in July. My household already recycles a good amount. What will need to change is some of the processes around how we currently do our daily activities.
Today's recycling process:
We have a pile for the daily Boston Globe and the weekly Gazette in the family room for ready reference. Sometimes Dolores will see an article that I miss, or I will see one that she'll miss. Having the pile at hand makes it easy to flip back through to keep current. When Saturday morning rolls around, I tie up the bundle with twine and bring it to the garage in preparation for the trash/recycle pick up normally scheduled for Wednesdays.
Dolores also has a box near her desk in her home office for recycling individual sheet paper. I'll add to it with items from the post office delivered mail. A lot of the junk mail and catalogs end up getting recycled. When the box fills, I'll take it to the garage and bundle the papers tying them with some twine.
Cooking tends to generate recyclables. Cereal boxes, 100 Calorie snack boxes, pasta boxes and other cardboard boxes get flattened to go into one of our two recycling containers in the garage. We have the two containers positioned along side the landing for the steps coming from the garage into the house. It has been easy to walk onto the landing, reach over the railing and then drop the boxes into the container below. Yes, you learn to be accurate, otherwise, it is a walk to pick them up.
The same process is used for the yogurt containers, catsup containers, milk jugs, and other plastic or canned goods. For the glass jars and bottles, sometimes I am daring and will attempt a drop (knowing there is something sufficient below to cushion the fall) but most times I do walk down the stairs to deposit them into the container to ensure that the glass does not break.
The kitchen has a trash basket with a plastic bag liner for the remaining trash items. As it fills, the bag is removed, tied up and then deposited into one of two trash barrels in the garage. The barrels are also positioned near the landing. And yes, many times, it is a simple toss of the bag into the barrel with no additional harm or damage done to the contents (or the barrel).
There is an “extra” barrel that we have used for large family parties that currently holds a large black trash bag. It collects the plastic soda bottles that can be refunded for cash. As these bags fill (much less frequently these days as many of us have cut out soda from our diet), they get bound and stacked in the garage waiting for either a bottle drive to contribute to or if the stack gets too large before we find a drive, then one of us will spend some time feeding the bottle refund machines. As the girls were growing up, this was a good thing for them to do and to 'earn' some spending money. Alas, those days are just treasured memories now.
On Wednesday morning, the task of moving the two recycle bins, the bundled newspaper and the trash barrel usually takes at least two trips, sometimes three.
How will the process change with the new automated system?
Not a whole lot fortunately. We'll still pile the papers but I won't have to tie them. Once a week to ensure a good fit into the totter, I'll put the papers in with the other recyclables. Likewise with the box of papers from the home office, we'll save on twine and just add the paper to the totter.
Assuming the totters themselves fit along side the landing in the garage, I'll likely position them there. With the lids up and open (inside the garage there is not much of a risk for wayward animals as the items are already either cleaned or bagged). This will allow for a continuation of the drop over the side process we have for much of the items today. The glass items may still get a walk down to ensure good non-breakable placement.
Come Wednesday morning, it will be two trips, one each with a totter to the edge of the driveway to position them properly. Oh, I”ll also likely need to move one car out of the garage to move the totters themselves. I won't know for sure until I get the real items but given the constraints of the garage as it is, this is likely.
So the Sherlock household will save on some twine purchases (no longer needing to tie the papers together) and will likely have two trips to the roadside instead of three to move the totters down weekly.
I can image those Franklin residents without a garage will need to figure out if the totters will fit in the space their existing trash barrels occupy, or will they require more room?
A recent email also raised the question on how animal proof the totter lids are for those who would be storing them outside, and hence prone to visits from raccoons and other visitors. Maybe the DPW or Recycling Committee has a ready answer for that question.
I think there is still some work to be done to fine tune a “welcome kit” with explanations of each step in the process, there are several good examples from the survey I did of the other the communities.
-
Frequently asked questions, -
the procedure for requesting a different size (either smaller for the potential situation of lower usage) or an additional totter for the larger families. -
The local merchants or locations where the additional trash tickers can be purchased will need to be defined and stocked.
There is plenty of time before the new system is implemented in July. Send your suggestions on how to make this change better directly to the Recycling Committee or to me.
Change can be difficult but with proper planning, change can be managed to provide a good experience.
Looking ahead
The School Committee meets on Tuesday
The agenda has presentations scheduled on the ethics laws, and then the Strategic Plan and district improvement plan update on the school year thus far.
The School Committee also continues it review and update standard policy documents with three more scheduled. The details of each policy to be considered are contained in links on Franklin Matters that will be posted Monday morning with the full SchCom agenda.
.
As I close this session this week, let me remind you that
If you like what I am doing here, please tell your friends and neighbors
If you don’t like something, please tell me
Thank you for listening!
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
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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