In our series on what businesses are based in Franklin, here is an email with an offer for help with your human resources needs.
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Monday, March 10, 2014
Price Reduced - How to Hire a Top Performing Salesperson
Sunday, March 9, 2014
RBWA - new term for the day (photo essay)
There is a management practice called 'managing by walking around' or MBWA. When I worked in a distribution center, responsible for the supply and inventory, this was critical to our success. By walking around, I was able to see folks in operations and if they had any questions, I could begin to address them right there on the spot.
For my regular readers, my weekend walks provide me the same opportunity. One to see what is going on in and around Franklin. Two to capture some of the sights so I can practice my photography and be able to share with you what I find. Come along as I do my "reporting by walking around" this time.
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| future home of Franklin TV |
Located on Hutchinson St, the new Franklin TV studios are under construction. There will also be a small garage and studio building added to the property directly behind this one.
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| Nason St playground tree shadows |
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| Nason St playground |
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| Nason St side view of playground |
The Nason St playground is one of the better ones I have seen in providing some shade. There is a balance between sunlight and shade but the Dacey Field playground is not usable when in direct sunlight as the equipment heats up in the sun. The tree shadows (even without leaves) show there is some sun cover available here.
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| Making whoopie |
In addition to the Cake Bar (which also was originally located in this space before moving downtown), Making Whoopie bakes all sorts of decadent whoopie pies. Some big, some small, all delicious!
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| Emmons St building |
The building was the subject of Tuesday's meeting. There will be more discussion before a decision is made. The building was originally a school and renovated to become the municipal building. The Town Council chambers were located in the left section looking at it from here. As one of the prime spots entering downtown Franklin what is will be is a good discussion.
More photos will be shared from my walk on Saturday. As the weather gets better, I'll schedule some time for a you to join me on the walk. We can meet somewhere around town at 9:00 AM and spend some time walking and talking.
Representative Roy Announces Office Hours for March
State Representative Jeffrey Roy (D-Franklin) announced today that constituent office hours will be held in Medway and Franklin for the Month of March on the following days:
Medway – Saturday March 22nd, 9:00-10:00AM, Coffee Sensations – 116 Main St. Medway, MA
Franklin – Thursday March 27th, 9:00-10:00AM, Franklin Food Pantry – 43 W Central St. Franklin, MA
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| Franklin Food Pantry |
Christopher Yancich, his legislative aide, will be accompanying him.
Representative Roy stated that all office hours are open to any residents of Franklin and Medway who may have questions or concerns that they wish to bring to his attention. Walk-ins are welcome; no appointment necessary. He looks forward to hearing from you.
He also invites all constituents to call him at his State House office at (617) 722-2400, stop by Room 134 in the State House, or email him at Jeffrey.Roy@MAhouse.gov.
Make a placeholder: Last walk through of FHS - TBD
via Facebook from Ed Cafasso:
Good morning everyone. As a member of the Building Committee for the new Franklin High School, I wanted to let you know that there are plans in the works to have an open house at the current high school after this academic year ends. Many FHS alumni are hoping for a last chance to walk the halls. As soon as a date and schedule are finalized, I will be sure it's posted here.
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| Beatles mural in H wing of FHS |
Franklin can use your help
May be you have just the background and interest to help on one of the following Committees:
If you are interested in serving on the committee, please complete the form (shown in the link below) and return to the Town Administrator's Office.
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_News/01B2AF2D-000F8513.0/TOWN%20OF%20FRANKLIN%20VOLUNTEER%20FORM.pdf
- Library Board of Directors - Felicia Oti 508-520-4940
- Franklin Housing Trust Fund - Maxine Kinhart 508-553-4886
- Zoning Board of Appeals - Send letter of interest and resume to Town Administrator Jeff Nutting, 355 East Central Street
If you are interested in serving on the committee, please complete the form (shown in the link below) and return to the Town Administrator's Office.
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_News/01B2AF2D-000F8513.0/TOWN%20OF%20FRANKLIN%20VOLUNTEER%20FORM.pdf
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| Franklin Municipal Building |
Summer Camps Around Franklin, MA
Looking for a summer camp in Franklin, MA area? Renata has the answers for you.
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| Summer camps |
Many registrations are open now. Check out her listing of Franklin area summer camps
http://franklinliving.blogspot.com/2014/03/summer-camps-around-franklin-ma.html
Casino Night - Franklin Youth Baseball - Mar 21
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| Franklin Youth Baseball |
Franklin Youth Baseball (FYBO) is holding a Casino Night on March 21.
Tickets are $20 in advance and can be purchased from any board member.
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| Franklin Youth Baseball |
Find Franklin Youth Baseball on the web here
http://www.franklinyouthbaseball.com/
or on Facebook here
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Franklin-Youth-Baseball-Organization/297843190245685
In the News: assault at Dean
Police arrested a 20-year-old man on Friday after receiving a report of a sexual assault at Dean College.
Connor W. Elliott, 20, of 55 Pinewood Road, Plymouth, was charged after police were called by Dean College at 10:55 a.m. to address a report of an assault.
Elliott was charged with rape, indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over and assault and battery, police said.Read the full article here
http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20140308/NEWS/140306694
Note: The MDN website is still experiencing script errors and inconsistencies. While they may be trying to implement a 'paywall', they are having trouble doing so. I will keep the paywall and my readers experience in mind as I think about how to handle this situation.
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Citizen Advisory - Fraud Alert
The Franklin Police Department would like to remind all citizens to be cautious of any phone
calls, mailings or individuals who knock at your door and request that you provide personal
information, data or ask that you send money by any means such as a gift card, debit card, money order or check to any person, entity, business or company that you do not have a personal knowledge of, or a business relationship with.
We cannot stress strongly enough just how clever and deceitful these individuals who are trying to get your money from you can be. They will telephone you repeatedly hoping to engage you in conversation because as long as they can keep you talking they may be able to get you to provide them the information they want.
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| Franklin Police |
Let me give you an example. Franklin Detective's are currently involved in an investigation where, innocently enough, the victim provided Franklin as their hometown. The caller, who had identified himself as an FBI agent in an attempt to gain the confidence of the victim stated that he knew the Franklin Police Chief and provided my name. All of this information is available via computer and was obviously searched while talking on the phone.
This "FBI agent" has repeatedly called the victim back and the caller ID now shows the 528-1212 phone number of the Franklin Police which is also easily done by using computer applications. Again, be very cautious as these callers have no conscience or remorse for what they are trying to do.
They will represent themselves as a representative of a Government Agency, Insurance Company, a Bank, a Law Enforcement Agency, or tell you that you have won a prize or anything else to gain your trust. They are aided by computer applications and programs that will automatically dial phone numbers, screen or disguise who they really are and where they are calling from in an effort to get you to disclose personal information about yourself or to send them money through and untraceable means to an untraceable location.
The bottom line is this. If you have doubts or concerns at all about anyone who calls or otherwise contacts you looking for information or promising you anything that you have no knowledge of hang up the phone and immediately call your local police department.
Stephan H. Semerjian, Chief
To subscribe you can sign up here http://town.franklin.ma.us/subscriber-news
This was also posted to the Franklin Police webpage
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_PoliceNews/01CD9EDC-000F8513.0/Fraud%20Alert%202014.pdf
Spring forward!
Remember to turn the clocks ahead one hour tonight!
The wikipedia page has some good background info on Daylight Savings Time
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time
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| Spring forward one hour |
The wikipedia page has some good background info on Daylight Savings Time
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time
Reach Out For Youth and Families Breakfast
Good Morning Healthy Futures Franklin!
Attached is an invitation to our Reach Out for Youth and Families Breakfast. The Hockomock Area YMCA's annual Reach Out for Youth in Families Breakfast benefits our Annual Campaign. This year's breakfast is on Thursday, March 27th at Gillette Stadium (Putnam Club). I hope you can join me as a guest and hear the powerful stories of our Y's impact and how our number one priority is being there for our community.
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| Hockomock Ymca |
Through our Annual Campaign, our Y supports youth, adults, seniors, and families on a daily basis. Whether a family has been stricken with an illness and finds themselves needing childcare or a sports class to keep the children busy, or an older adult finds themselves looking for a way to connect with others and find social interaction, we are there for all ages. We do not turn away anyone from YMCA services or programs, regardless of their ability to pay. Our Health Innovation Team specifically works with our partner school districts and community groups in increasing physical activity and nutrition and supporting individuals with, or at risk for, a chronic disease through our Healthy Futures Initiative and our Prescription for a Healthy Lifestyle Program. Our Adventures in Respect and Darkness to Light Initiatives are a couple of the other powerful ways in which our Y gives back to our local partners and community members.
In 2013, we gave out over $1.5 million in financial assistance. All of that stayed in our 15 communities, directly helping kids, families and adults that needed it most. This year, our goal is to raise over $1 million as we expect the need in our communities to continue.
I hope you will consider joining me on Thursday, March 27th as we kick off this year's campaign and continue to support our efforts to help even more kids and families through our 2014 Reach Out for Youth and Families Campaign.
Please forward to anyone you think would be interested in joining us at the breakfast and I ask that you either RSVP to me or the email/phone number included on the invitation (realimpact@hockymca.org or 508-643-5278). If you cannot make the breakfast we are having our post event in Franklin at 3 Restaurant on April 1st.
Hope to see you there!
Marissa L. Garofano MPH, CHES
Director of Community Wellness
Hockomock Area YMCA
Library - Book and Bag Sale - Mar 15-16
The monthly Library Book and Bag sale is scheduled for next Saturday and Sunday, Mar 15-16
For additional info on Library events visit their blog here http://franklinpl.blogspot.com/
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| Franklin Library - Book and Bag sale |
For additional info on Library events visit their blog here http://franklinpl.blogspot.com/
In the News: job gains for MA, upskirt law revision
Massachusetts posted its largest single-year jobs gain in 2013 since the dot-com boom of the late 1990s. But it still has an unemployment rate above the national average.
The state’s employers added 55,200 jobs in 2013, the biggest annual gain since 2000 when the economy grew by 95,500 jobs.
But the state also shed 4,500 jobs in January. The state finished January with an unemployment rate of 6.8 percent, according to data released Thursday morning, a drop from 7.1 percent a month earlier, but still higher than the 6.6 percent national average.Read the full article here
http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20140307/NEWS/140307277/1994/NEWS
Governor Deval Patrick on Friday signed a bill passed by the Legislature to close a loophole in state law that the Supreme Judicial Court said made it legal to take cellphone pictures up a woman’s skirt.
“I’m hard-pressed to think that a person doesn’t have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their own clothes,” Sen. Brian Joyce, D-Milton, said after the Senate unanimously passed an amendment sent over from the House that now makes it illegal for someone to photograph the “sexual or other intimate parts” of an unsuspecting person.
“It’s sad and somewhat bizarre that we even have to pass such a law,” Joyce said. “Clearly there are some twisted individuals.”Read the full article here
http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20140307/NEWS/140307275
Note: if the Legislature had craft the previous law properly, the Supreme Judicial Court would not have been in a position to overturn it. It is good to see the Legislature turn around so quickly. They can really accomplish something when they want to.
Friday, March 7, 2014
Upcoming Events in Franklin, MA Area: FRI 3/7/14 - THU 3/13/14
FRI 3/7 6:30pm Art Night Uncorked, Franklin Art Center.
FRI 3/7 7pm Culinary Cabaret, Clarke Center Milford. $75 - tickets available here: www.fpaconline.com
SUN 3/9 1-4pm Antique Appraisal Day, Franklin Historical Museum. 1-3 items, $5 per item.
SUN 3/9 3pm FSPA performs with MetroWest Symphony Orchestra, Framingham. Tickets available here: www.metrowestsymphony.org
TUE 3/11 7:30pm Franklin & Bellingham Rail Trail Committee Meeting, open to public, Franklin YMCA.
7:00pm Finance Committee - FY 2015 Budget Hearing (1st of a series) Municipal Bldg
THU 3/13 7:00pm Finance Committee - FY 2015 Budget Hearing (2nd of a series) Municipal Bldg
For more details on above events click HERE and select the event of interest.
*If you have any suggestions or events for the calendar, please email Renata@BetterLivingRE.com
National Defense Authorization Act: What Would Benjamin Franklin Do?
From Rich Aucoin:
For those interested, below is the text of the speech I delivered before the Franklin Town Council last night.
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What Would Benjamin Franklin Do?
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is routine legislation passed annually to finance US military operations overseas.
But new language was quietly added to the NDAA in 2012 which authorizes Guantanamo Bay-style indefinite detentions on US soil.
The new language is dangerously vague and strongly implies that America is now a "battlefield" in the war on terror and that anyone, including US citizens, can now be denied constitutional protections and be subjected to the laws of war: kidnapped in the middle of the night on accusation alone, hooded, shackled and locked away possibly for life with no right to counsel, no right to face her accuser, no right to a jury of his peers.
So dangerous is this new language that President Obama issued a signing statement promising that his administration would never indefinitely detain Americans under the laws of war but warned that future presidents could do so unless the new language is fixed.
Benjamin Franklin's famous quote comes to mind: "They who sacrifice essential liberty to gain temporary safety shall have neither."
Franklin and the Founders took great pains to guarantee the Rights of due process and trial by jury. They carefully enumerated these Rights in both our state and federal Constitutions to ensure they could never be nullified.
To ensure these Rights would live on forever, the Founders devised a system of checks and balances, a constitutional structure of human "pillars" to uphold the rule of law. All elected office holders, including local councilors like yourselves, were to swear an oath to protect and defend constitutional governance. If at any time state or federal officials failed in their pillar duty, then the local pillars would be a last line of defense, standing by ready to take up the load and save the structure from collapsing. Each of you is a pillar in this system. Each of you bears the duty to stand up when other office holders stand down. Some local officials in other towns have claimed they do not have the authority to uphold constitutional government. But if so, why did they swear to uphold something that they did not have the authority to uphold?
The resolution I will be bringing supports constitutional government by reasserting the Right of Due Process for the people of Franklin, as enumerated in Articles 12 and 18 of our state Constitution and Amendments 5 and 14 of the US Constitution.
Congressman Jim McGovern has voiced strong support for this resolution, helping it win passage in towns like Oxford and Webster. Representatives Jeff Roy (D) and Ryan Fattman (R) have also stood up for this resolution.
Everyone watching this meeting knows how Benjamin Franklin would vote if he were here today. I am asking you to vote how Franklin would vote. I am asking you to honor his legacy. I am asking you to defend both liberty AND security. I am asking you to be a pillar for the rule of law to ensure that our children and their children will inherit the same America that we were blessed to inherit. I am asking you to keep your oath.
The draft resolution can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/03/proposed-resolution-restoring.htmlRead Across America
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| Senator Karen Spilka |
On Tuesday, March 4th, the Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public School in Franklin celebrated Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss' birthday. Teachers and students dressed in red and white and participated in many Dr. Seuss-related activities throughout the day. Various members of the community came to visit and read aloud in classrooms. We are honored to have so many guest readers visit our school and share in our celebration of reading! The event was organized by reading specialist Karen LaPlaca.
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| Representative Jeff Roy |
Guests included: Senator Karen Spilka; Representative Jeff Roy; Officer Chris Spillane of the Franklin Police Department; Town Administrator Jeff Nutting; Mrs. Karen Alves from the Franklin Senior Center; Paul Molla from the Franklin Fire Department; School Committee member Roberta Trahan; Franklin Town Council members Steve Williams, Matt Kelly, Brett Feldman, & Judy Pfeffer; Allison Medeiros from the Franklin Public Library; Raye Lynn Mercer & Nick Paone from FSPA; Don Tappin & Joe Mullen from the BFCCPS Board of Trustees; former Head of School Dr. Kevin O'Malley; founding teacher Mrs. Elizabeth Henderson; & eighth grade teacher Mrs. DiMartino and baby Ryan
More photos can be found at the Charter School website www.bfccps.org.
Franklin Downtown Partnership has a few dates to remember
The Franklin Downtown Partnership has set the dates for this year's events and general meetings.
Contact information for the chairperson for each of the events can be found under the Events tab located on the Downtown Partnership webpage.
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| Franklin Downtown Partnership - 2014 event dates |
For additional information on the Franklin Downtown Partnership, visit their webpage here
http://www.franklindowntownpartnership.org/
Thursday, March 6, 2014
What is the public need?
The 2.5 hour Town Council meeting on Wednesday covered many topics. One of the more contentious was the license application for the 'last' beer/wine license currently available. During the course of the discussion, it was revealed that
For a Town Council looking to foster local business, this decision doesn't make sense. You got to wonder what else might have been in their minds to vote no.
Fortunately, this is not over. There will be a new try for the applicant (assuming they decide to pursue it).
The detailed live reporting notes for the remainder of the meeting can be found here. Given the long meeting Tuesday and last night's long session. I have additional info to post and make available for both the Tue and Wed meetings.
- there are 13 or 16 beer/wine licenses in Franklin (does anyone really know the total?)
- only one is open at this time
- the amount is limited by population and reset with each census count every ten years
- there is some turn over of licenses from time to time due to business (one business could close freeing up the license)
- the open one arose from the Davita Market obtaining the full alcohol license and they gave back the beer/wine license
- the applicant filed their interest in November 2013
- the applicant only came up now due to the meeting schedule and having worked out some details on the application itself
- the applicant has been up for a license before, when the prior beer/wine license was advertised, they were one of three and did not end up with it
- the public need is the primary reason for consideration of the license
- competition (i.e another liquor store across the street is not to be considered, legally)
- the applicant has been operating since 2001
- the applicant did not obtain their license request by a 5-4 vote
- this current license will be advertised, the applicant may re-apply
- the applicant may also appeal the council decision to the state ABC commission
For a Town Council looking to foster local business, this decision doesn't make sense. You got to wonder what else might have been in their minds to vote no.
Fortunately, this is not over. There will be a new try for the applicant (assuming they decide to pursue it).
The detailed live reporting notes for the remainder of the meeting can be found here. Given the long meeting Tuesday and last night's long session. I have additional info to post and make available for both the Tue and Wed meetings.
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| Franklin Municipal Building |
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