Franklin Matters

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Senior Center - Men's Group

Men's Group - Senior Center at Franklin, originally uploaded by shersteve.

What is social media all about?

That was the basic question. These gentlemen now know a little bit more about being social in the Internet world. It is not much different from meeting at the Post Office or barbershop and chatting with your neighbors. The biggest difference is you don't have to walk (or drive) to either the Post Office or the barbershop when it is open for business, you can go to the Internet, go to Facebook at any time during the day.

The notes I prepared for them to take away are as follows:

The two best books to start with

The Cluetrain Manifesto by Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, David Weinberger
Trust Agents by Chris Brogan, Julien Smith

Tools to start with
1 - A Google account
provides email, RSS reader, alerts, photo place (Picassa), video place (YouTube), blogs (Blogger)

2 - Facebook http://www.facebook.com/
3 - Twitter http://twitter.com/
4 - LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/

Blogs to read

Seth Godin: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/
Mark Hurst: http://goodexperience.com/
Tom Peters: http://www.tompeters.com/

Steve Sherlock: http://steves2cents.blogspot.com/ and http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/

The three step process for social media

Listen
Learn
Leverage

My thanks to Ken Norman for arranging this. My thanks to my current boss for allowing me to keep this prior commitment.

"The average person knows very little"

With only seven candidates for seven open positions on the School Committee, there is no competition. And yet, the School Committee controls half the Franklin town budget. They are responsible for the education of over 6,000 students and are the largest Town employer.

Aside from the National School Board Association's plugs for what the organization does, the brief video does make some excellent points on what the School Committee members should consider.

This was posted on the NSBA site here

seniority or performance?

Good questions raised by Dr Scott McLeod in this posting on the use of seniority or performance to retain teachers when faced with layoffs.

Teacher layoffs: Should seniority rule?

from Dangerously Irrelevant by dr.scott.mcleod@gmail.com (Scott McLeod)

Monday, October 19, 2009

Time to clear the drains!

Time to clear the drains.
Time to clear the drains.

This is a mantra that could be done as a parody of the old Dunkin Dounts commercial.

The wet weather is knocking down the leaves and clogging the storm water drains.

Yes, this is an "after" picture. I had already used my wet running shoes to clear this drain.

Financial Planning Committee Report - updated

The updated and "final" report from the Financial Planning Committee is on the agenda for the Town Council meeting Wednesday.

You can review (or download) a copy of the report from the Town website here.

Town Council - 10/21/09 - Agenda

A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
– October 7, 2009, Regular & Executive Session

B. ANNOUNCEMENTS

C. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS

D. CITIZEN COMMENTS

E. APPOINTMENTS
Disability Commission, Public Land Use Committee

F. HEARINGS

G. LICENSE TRANSACTIONS

H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS -
1. Presentation to Outgoing Council Members
2. Financial Planning Committee Final Report

I. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS

J. LEGISLATION FOR ACTION
1. Resolution 09-67: Acceptance of Covenant-Lakeview Terrace
2. Resolution 09-68: Acceptance of Gift – Franklin Senior Center

K. TOWN ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT

L. OLD BUSINESS

M. NEW BUSINESS

N. COUNCIL COMMENTS

O. EXECUTIVE SESSION
– Negotiations, Litigation, Real Property, as May Be Required

P. ADJOURN

In the News - new trash option

It was mentioned during a Town Council meeting earlier this year that with the contract for trash pickup expiring, the Town was looking at a "single stream' option. Additional details can be found in this article.