"people shouldn't be critical of spending capital funds on the building"

If approved by Town Council, most of the funding - $400,000 - would come from the sale of the former Four Corners School, another $50,000 would come from the Senior Center building account, and the remainder from new hotel tax revenue.

By law, all funds received by a town from the sale of capital assets, such as Four Corners, can only be used for other capital expenses, not operating expenses, officials said.

Read the full article about Franklin's efforts to renovate the museum in the Milford Daily News here

"Forge Park as a priority development site"

"The stronger the message we send out to the business community that you can get both streamlined permitting and possibly tax incremental financing (a prerequisite for larger tax breaks from the state), the better for attracting folks," Nutting said.

Read the full article about the priority development effort in the Milford Daily News here.

3rd Thursday - July 16th

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

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

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

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

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

Live music at Cafe Dolce

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

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

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

Long term planning report

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

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

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

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

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

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

"We have a great revenue opportunity"

By Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff

Milford Daily News

Posted Jul 08, 2009 @ 12:38 AM

---

FRANKLIN —

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

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

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

Town Council Mtg 07/01/09

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

----

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

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

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Charter Commission Report

Presenting: Paul Cheli, Michael Walker Jones, Larry Benedetto

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Town Council archives

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

• Town Council Mtg Smry 01/07/09
• Town Council Mtg Smry 01/21/09
• Town Council Mtg Smry 02/04/09
• Town Council Mtg Smry 02/11/09
• Town Council Mtg Smry 03/04/09
• Town Council Mtg Smry 03/18/09
• Town Council Mtg Smry 04/01/09
• Town Council Mtg Smry 04/15/09
• Town Council Mtg Smry 05/06/09
• Town Council Mtg Smry 05/20/09
• Town Council Mtg Smry 06/03/09
• Town Council Mtg Smry 06/10/09
• Town Council Mtg Smry 06/11/09

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

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

School Committee Archives

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

• School Committee Mtg 01/13/09
• School Committee Mtg 01/27/09
• School Committee Mtg 02/10/09
• School Committee Mtg 02/24/09
• School Committee Mtg 03/10/09
• School Committee Mtg 03/24/09
• School Committee Mtg 04/14/09
• School Committee Mtg 04/28/09
• School Committee Mtg 05/12/09
• School Committee Mtg 05/26/09
• School Committee Mtg 06/09/09
• School Committee Mtg 06/23/09

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

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

Finance Committee archives

My notes from the Finance Committee meetings for the FY 2010 budget hearings can be found here

• Finance Comm 04/16/09
• Finance Comm 04/21/09
• Finance Comm 04/29/09
• Finance Comm 05/05/09

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

Financial Planning Committee archives

Feel free to utilize the archives here.

The long range plan produced by the Financial Planning Committee is available on the Town website in two versions: the Executive summary is here (PDF) and the full report is here (PDF).

My notes from the Financial Planning Committee meetings earlier this year:

• Financial Plng Comm 01/15/09
• Financial Plng Comm 02/05/09
• Financial Plng Comm 02/19/09
• Financial Plng Comm 03/05/09
• Financial Plng Comm 03/12/09
• Financial Plng Comm 03/26/09
• Financial Plng Comm 04/02/09
• Financial Plng Comm 04/23/09
• Financial Plng Comm 05/27/09
• Focus Group Collection

Sunday Schedule

Sunday July 5

1-7 p.m.: Everything open

1- 2:30 p.m.: Parade

3-7 p.m.: Children's activities

3-5 p.m.: Interfaith music concert

6 p.m.: Franklin Idol winners announced

7 p.m.: Closing ceremonies (Raffle drawings and lowering of flag)

4th of July - Schedule

Children's Day

9 a.m.: Road race registration

10 a.m.-10 p.m.: Everything open

10 a.m.: Children's road race

11 a.m.: Adult road race

11 a.m.-7 p.m.: Children's activities

12-12:45 p.m.: Jamie Barrett performs

12:45-2 p.m.: Okey Dokey DJ

2-4 p.m.: Franklin Idol under 14

4-6:30 p.m.: Franklin Idol 15 and up

7-10 p.m.: Corvairs

Happy 4th of July

I wish you all a most happy and safe 4th of July.





Thanks to Spell with Flickr

Celebrating Franklin

Why reprint the Administrator's messages from September 2008, January and February of 2009?

Did you read them the first time they were published?

Maybe not.

Did you read them now?

Hopefully.

As we get into the 4th of July weekend, "celebrating Franklin", let's look around us and see what is we really are celebrating.

Let's also take some time to think about how we want to continue to live here.

• What services will we dig into our pockets to pay for?
• What services can we afford to live without?

The Town budget used to support the 4th of July. For many years local folks took it upon themselves to create the parade, party, and fireworks. The latest iteration of the 4th of July committee has no under taken a year round fund raising effort to maintain this traditional celebration.

Other services around Town are supported by other similar organizational efforts of people passionate enough to continue a "tradition". These organizations raise money in a variety of methods but ultimately, we, the citizens of Franklin do contribute. The Town can raise money via taxes and other fees, or the organizations can raise money from our contributions. We ares still supporting what happens here.

The long range plan produced by the Financial Planning Committee is available on the Town website in two versions: the Executive summary is here (PDF) and the full report is here (PDF).

Please take time during this wonderful weekend to review the reports.

Please make time in the coming months to make you participation in Town Council, School Committee and other important meetings more of the "contact" sport that Jeff mentioned. Show up.
Put in an appearance (or two).
Become informed.

There will be an election later this year to select Town Council and School Committee. There will likely be a special election in 2010 to consider an override to provide additional funds to support the day-today operations of Franklin that we are celebrating this weekend.

Do not let a day go by without becoming more informed.
Your vote will count.

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.

Franklin 4th of July - Event Schedule

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:

Franklin 4th of July celebration schedule

via Wicked Local Franklin News RSS by GateHouse Media, Inc. on 6/25/09

The town's 4th of July Celebration Committee is gearing up for the town's annual Independence Day festivities on the town common, which begin next Wednesday and run through July 5. Below find the schedule of events.

Wednesday July 1

6-10 p.m.: Booths (optional) and rides open; Okey Dokey DJ.

Thursday July 2

6-10 p.m.: Booths and rides open (no children's entertainment)

7-1o p.m.: Local youth bands

10 p.m.: Fireworks at Franklin High School, Oak Street (Rain date: Monday, July 6)

Friday July 3

10 a.m.-10 p.m.: Everything Open

10 a.m.: Children's parade at town common

11 a.m.-7 p.m.: Children's activities

12-2 p.m.: Okey Dokey DJ

2-5 p.m.: Random Play

5:30-6:30 p.m.: Okey Dokey DJ

7-10 p.m.: Digger Dawg

Saturday July 4

Children's Day

9 a.m.: Road race registration

10 a.m.-10 p.m.: Everything open

10 a.m.: Children's road race

11 a.m.: Adult road race

11 a.m.-7 p.m.: Children's activities

12-12:45 p.m.: Jamie Barrett performs

12:45-2 p.m.: Okey Dokey DJ

2-4 p.m.: Franklin Idol under 14

4-6:30 p.m.: Franklin Idol 15 and up

7-10 p.m.: Corvairs

Sunday July 5

1-7 p.m.: Everything open

1- 2:30 p.m.: Parade

3-7 p.m.: Children's activities

3-5 p.m.: Interfaith music concert

6 p.m.: Franklin Idol winners announced

7 p.m.: Closing ceremonies (Raffle drawings and lowering of flag)

CHILDREN'S ACTIVITIES

Friday July 3: Children's parade at 10 a.m., Parrot Lady at 11 a.m., Lunch with Elmo at 12 p.m., SpongeBob Craft at 1 p.m., Cinderella Story at 2 p.m., Photo with Elmo at 3 p.m., Creature Teachers from 4-7 p.m.

Saturday July 4: Children's road race at 10 a.m., Photo with SpongeBob at 11 a.m., Lunch with Cinderella at 12 p.m., Story with Elmo at 1 p.m., Franklin Idol (under 14) 2-4 p.m.; Princess Photos, 4 p.m., Dinner with Super Heroes, 5 p.m., Snow White Story, 6 p.m.

Sunday July 5: Parade, 1-2:30 p.m., Regal Reptile from 3-5 p.m., Super Hero Phohtos at 5 p.m., Snow White Craft at 6 p.m., Franklin Idol winners announced at 6 p.m.

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Concerts on the Common

Beginning Wednesday, July 8th, Concerts on the Common will be held.

There will be a program for children from 6:00 PM to 6:30 PM followed by the concert from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM.

The full schedule of musical performers can be found on the Town website (PDF)

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