Thursday, April 23, 2009
Live reporting - Financial Planning Committee - 4/23/09
fuel assistance
Seniors, veterans, all it takes
Is one phone call with Bob
To get it started
What is a sherku?
Call Bob who?
You can call Bob Fahey at the Franklin Senior Center. He and I had a good fact filled conversation on Wednesday and I'll have more to write about the assistance he provides guidance on for Franklin's seniors and veterans over the next several days.
For other sherku celebrating this National Poetry Month you can visit quiet poet here
School cuts put libraries in danger
Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:
Things you can do from here:
- Subscribe to Boston Globe -- Globe West using Google Reader
- Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites
10th Annual Charles River Earth Day Clean Up
David Dobrzynski is the site supervisor for the Bellingham/Franklin/Medway/Millis/Norfolk portion of the Charles River Watershed for this event and would be happy to sign up anyone who would like to pitch in with this effort.
David will be manning the volunteer sign in site at the Whole Foods Market in Bellingham, MA beginning at 9:00 AM. People interested in volunteering can drop by and get an assignment for a specific area that needs to be cleaned up.
Full details about this event can be found at: http://www.crwa.org/cleanup.
"I want to change their way of thinking"
Marina Smoske, an eighth-grader at Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public School, looks and sounds no different than any other 14-year-old.
She is energetic, beautiful and loves theater. She can't wait to join other kids who know all the lyrics to musicals at Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick where she has been accepted. She is just crossing her fingers, praying that she'll get the scholarships she needs to attend her dream school.
And she definitely knows what she believes - she's got strong opinions and enjoys expressing them.
But Smoske is different than most of her peers: She was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism, , at age 4.
Autism is a developmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction, problems with verbal and nonverbal communication, repetitive behaviors or narrow, obsessive interests, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Web site.
Read the full article about Marina's effort in the Milford Daily News here
Concerned about Franklin's Finances?
Concerned about Franklin's Finances? GET THE FACTS
Long-Range Financial Planning Committee
Monday, April 27th
7 PM Horace
Mann School
(Mercer Auditorium)
IT’S TIME WELL SPENT
Cafe Dolce - Music - Sat 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
John Kinney
Café Dolce
Café Dolce is featuring John Kinney April 25, 7:00 - 9:00 PM. Come and listen to acoustic music inspired by Dave Matthews, Jack Johnson, Ray LaMontange, and many more!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Rain barrels discounted for Franklin residents
Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:
Brutus Cantoreggi, director of Public Works, has announced New England Rain Barrel will be holding the annual rain barrel sale.
Orders may be placed until May 8, 2009. Pick up day is Wednesday, May 13 at 150 Emmons St. from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Rain barrels will be offered to Franklin residents at the retail price of $72.50 , instead of the regularly price of $119.95, by The New England Rain Barrel Company.
The rain barrels are made from 55-gallon blue plastic recycled containers. The barrels have a 6-inch diameter inlet opening covered with a screened louver to keep insects and debris out. The barrels have two brass spigots, one to connect a hose for watering and the other for overflow. They feature a 5-foot hose with a shutoff valve. Multiple barrels can be linked together for additional capacity.
To contact New England Rain Barrel, call 877-977-3135 or log on to www.nerainbarrel.com.
Things you can do from here:
- Subscribe to Wicked Local Franklin News RSS using Google Reader
- Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites
Google has a powermeter?
How much does it cost to leave your TV on all day? What about turning your air conditioning 1 degree cooler? Which uses more power every month — your fridge or your dishwasher? Is your household more or less energy efficient than similar homes in your neighborhood?
Our lack of knowledge about our own energy usage is a huge problem, but also a huge opportunity for us all to save money and fight global warming by reducing our power usage. Studies show that access to your household's personal energy information is likely to save you between 5–15% on your monthly bill, and the potential impact of large numbers of people achieving similar efficiencies is even more exciting. For every six households that save 10% on electricity, for instance, we reduce carbon emissions as much as taking one conventional car off the road (see sources and calculation).
Read more on the Google Energy Information site here.
"You can see signs of progress"
It's been four years since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, but it is still near to the helpful hearts and minds of members of the Methodist churches in Franklin and Framingham.
On Sunday, church members reflected on their fifth trip to help rebuild homes in Pearlington, Miss. This time, 18 members, college-age through seniors, and three who now live in Rockville, Md., ventured south, and were happy to find progress is finally being made, said the Rev. Sandra Bonnette-Kim, pastor of the Framingham First United Methodist Church.
"It was both good and bad. It was nice to see some developments: Road constructions were being done and bridges were being fixed. The whole town was getting taken care of," she said.
Read the full article about the local assistance being provided to Katrina victims in Mississippi in the Milford Daily News here
"We're going to cross our fingers and hope this works"
A clerical worker in the assessing department and a building inspector will be laid off this year due to the budget crunch, Building Commissioner David Roche and Head Assessor Kevin Doyle reported while presenting their budgets to the Finance Committee last night.
Town Administrator Jeffrey D. Nutting also told the Finance Committee next year's budget funds 10 fewer municipal positions than this year's budget. That does not include schools, and does not necessarily mean all 10 are layoffs, as some may be retirements that won't be filled.
"It's going to be a stretch, but they're going to do the best they can to do business as usual," said Nutting.
Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here
Read all the live reporting posts from the same Finance Committee meeting here
Finance Committee 04/21/09
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Live reporting - final items
Next two budget hearings
April 28th - Tuesday (Planning, Police, Recreation, Fire) (not on cable/web, in training room on 3rd floor)
April 29th - Wednesday (in Council chambers and broadcast via cable/web)
Live reporting - Controller, Legal
Financial services, fixed asset update is done with an outside consultant. It is an annual expense and done at the end of the year.
Legal
Up to 2002, the Town used outside council. When Jeff came in, he thought it would be better to have that service in house. Cost avoidance is done by awareness and on-going training. The bylaws and town regulations have been re-written over time to ensure the best legal position.
Mid-to-late 80's this budget line items was quarter million dollars. Effectively, the process of having our lawyer in-house saves us money.
Live reporting - Insurance, Town Council, Town Admin, Finance
Folks should be aware of the MA General law in this area. If the Town has no prior knowledge of the pothole, the Town has no obligation to pay the claim against it. If they do know of it, and fail to fill it, they are liable for up to $5,000.
Insurance of $315,000 was approved.
Town Council
There is no budget line item for payroll as the Town Council is a total volunteer effort. Contrary to what some folks believe, they Town Council does not get paid for what they do.
Town Administrations
Budget cut on training and travel.
Some items shifted to other departments.
Finance Committee
The one annual training will be held at Tri-County in October. That will save some expenses this time.
Live reporting - Human Resources
"We don't control the pensions at all." - Jeff Nutting
"Once you were more than 20 hours a week, then you are in the pension system." That is a county decision.
"They have a fiduciary responsibility to manage their funding."
Health Insurance
Retired Teachers were moved from the State plan to move it to a local control. They have saved $400,000 from the peak of 1.4 M in FY 07.
"It did have a significant savings. The retirees did have angst but are now a very satisfied group." Stephanie McNeil
"The employees have been excellent in changing co-pays to save premium dollars... It is a constant on-going analysis every year." Nutting
The active plans increased 2% and the retired plans dropped about the same so it was really more of a flat (i.e. no rate increase) budget.
Any change in co-pay is a negotiation item with all 13 unions.
Medicare
Audited the payroll records in detail to review classifications.
The experience rating (i.e. accidents) and a competitive rate recently bid has produced savings in this area this year.
Unemployment
Driven in good times and bad by the school system. The requirement of new teachers to become certified has created some turnover for those teachers on a regular basis.
There is some exposure in this area as the school budget is not finalized and the number of teachers that may be laid off is not known. We did well last year with the 42 teachers that were laid off about 20 of them got jobs right away.
The employee benefits budget of over $7 million was approved.
Live reporting - Town Clerk, Assessors, Building
The Assessors budget was approved. There will be a reduction of one clerk in this department. It may affect window service at the Municipal Building but the forms and information generally required is available from the Town website.
The Building Inspectors budget was approved. There is a reduction of one inspector in the FY 10 budget. An inspector brought on and trained during FY 09 is being let go. The approaching risk is that when the economy picks up the permitting process may grow in volume. If the volume increases, there could be risk of not reviewing a permit within 30 days. If the permit was not reviewed within 30 days, it is automatically approved. That is the risk. The contingency is to use the existing employees to cover the permits and take away from window service available hours. At some point an increase in permit volume will require additional staffing to return.
The overall Town budget is down 10 full employees from FY 09 to FY 10.
LIve reporting - Finance Committee 4/21/09
Full listing of attendees not available due to viewing the meeting via cable.
This is the second of the FY 10 budget hearings.