Franklin Matters

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Live reporting - Finance Committee

Present; Cataldo, Rivera, Meserve, Huempfner, Quinn, Cameron, Texieria, Feldman, Roche, Goldsmith
Absent: 1 open spot (Meare resigned)

Holding off on replacement pending the charter review where it would be reduced to 9 members instead of the current 11.

Brief review on the changes in the open meeting laws.

Minutes to approve
April 27, 2010 (budget hearing) - motion to approve, passed 10-0
May 4, 2010 (budget hearing) - motion to approve, passed 10-0
May 6, 2010 (budget hearing) - motion to approve, passed 10-0
May 10, 2010 (budget hearing) - motion to approve, passed 10-0 as amended (one figure referenced 48 million, when it should be 48,000.)

Transfer from Debt Stabilization to DelCarte, $140,000
needed for engineering design and permitting to start the detail design work on the property
two of the dams have been registered per state requirements
fix a couple of dams, remove a couple, all designed to reduce phosphorous input to the Charles River
Full cost of repairs will be covered later with grants, in-kind work and potential debt coverage

Where does this leave us with debt stabilization account?
We really don't need to any longer, could have removed it during the budget process but it came up to late
Our debt is going down to a low 3 percent (below the 3.5 percent threshold)

What are potential liabilities if we don't do this work?
The dams are registered. There probably wouldn't be a whole lot of impact unless there was a major flood condition. If there was only one pond, the amount of phosphorous input to the Charles River needs to be reduced.

What is the Open Space fund for?
Yes, we do have one, it is for the purchase of or improvement of land purchased. Since this land was gifted, we can not use the fund to improve this particular land. If we did by some other property, i.e the DelCarte house itself, then those funds can be used to improve that land. We would have to change the legislation to use the open space funds for the 130 acres. It was special legislation for the town created in 2001.

What is the total projected cost?
About 1.3 million.

What about the grants?
Grants go in a cycle, we will look to see if any other them can cover in this case. Maybe get the Army Corp of Engineers to help us, or in-kind work. We'll look at every and all possibilities to get this work done.

Is this a bondable project?
Yes, that is an option if we can not come up with the other sources.

Timeline?
About 6 months of design work, look to the remainder no earlier than June
Would we like to have a shovel in the ground next fall, yes. But we don't have the money. We don't have to bond this for twenty years.

Motion to transfer $140,000 from Debt Stabilization Fund to Del Carte, passed 10-0

Franklin, MA

Let's start a community garden in Franklin

The Boston Globe has a cover page article on local campuses that are growing food to help the students with their learning and well as their health.
http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2010/09/07/student_gardens_provide_food_for_mind_body/

Franklin has already established some raised garden beds and is looking to expand upon that start to get into a community garden.

There is an effort afoot to start up a community garden in Franklin! This is your chance to get in on the ground floor. The first planning session will be held on Wednesday at 7:00 PM at the Franklin YMCA. No gardening experience is necessary.

The Growing in Franklin website can be found here
http://www.franklincommunitygardens.org/

Related posts on raised gardens and the community garden effort can be found here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/06/hi-ho-hi-ho-update-on-raised-gardens.html

http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/04/franklin-raises-garden.html

http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/06/franklin-ma-food-pantry-garden-bed.html

Franklin, MA

Picturing America and Taking Pictures around Franklin

1 - The National Endowment for Humanities has created a new initiative Picturing America.

NEH also wishes to recognize the following organizations and individuals for their support of the program:

The Institute of Museum and Library Services; the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Head Start, the Department of Defense Education Activity, and the National Park Service have helped to extend the reach of Picturing America.

Explore the website here: http://picturingamerica.neh.gov/

2 - Public photography day is coming up Saturday, Sep 11, 2010

An idea is in the works by a few people. What we are hoping to accomplish is a peaceful mass photo get together from Coast to Coast City to City Town to Town across Canada and anywhere else to bring attention and awareness to the fact that public photography is not a crime and photographers are not criminals. Lately, in different parts of the world, photographers are being detained and sometimes arrested under the guise of ‘suspicious behaviour’ merely for photographing in public. Photographers are just people with a pastime, a hobby or a job and photography is the means in which we express ourselves.

Details on the photo shoot for Saturday can be found here:
http://publicphotography.org/the-shoot-is-this-saturday-september-11-2010/

Franklin, MA

In the News - Dean College

Students move in to Dean College

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Joe O'Connell/Daily News staff

Franklin, MA

Things don't always go as planned

Spending sometime in today's classroom environment would be rather interesting for most folks. Especially for those who claim to "have had 30 or more kids in their class and they did alright." Teaching in those days is considerably different from today.

There has been an increase in standards,
There is more of a requirement to teach to the test
The students themselves are all post-Sesame Street

Coach Brown reflecting on a lesson plan that didn't work writes:

In the end, the lesson provided a decent idea of marginal analysis. But it was clear that the lesson had little flow, was veering off track on every opportunity, and became a greater bane than a benefit to class time. Was a total failure? No, not by a long shot. But by this point I want a certain vibe and flow to my class, and this new lesson didn’t provide that. So it was a disappointment that I want to change before I teach it again in January to my next semester of Economics. Hey newbs, even ten years in things will not always go as planned. Get used to it and change it for next time. You won’t have much time to mope about the negativity. The next class begins in 7 minutes.

Bold for my emphasis. Read the full posting here:
http://ukiahcoachbrown.blogspot.com/2010/09/clunk.html

Read more of Coach Brown here:
http://ukiahcoachbrown.blogspot.com/

Franklin, MA

Monday, September 6, 2010

What does the recession look like?

The percent of unemployed by county across the US shown as time progresses from Jan 2007 through May 2010 becomes quite the staggering picture.

You can view another version of this here
http://cohort11.americanobserver.net/latoyaegwuekwe/multimediafinal.html

Against this background, the need to network, learning and sharing what those in the job search have experienced becomes all the more important. If you are unemployed, or know someone who is, let them know that the Job Search Jam Sessions can provide help. The event will be held in Hopkinton on Friday, October 1. The cost is only $7.00. Tickets can be purchased with credit card or paid at the door. We do strongly encourage registration so that the proper amount of food for the breaks and lunch can be planned for.

What are the Job Search Jam Sessions?
Across five time slots, there will be up to eight sessions offered. You'll be able to pick and choose what you need for that moment in time on your job search. The specific sessions will be finalized on Friday, Oct 1 to meet the needs of the participants. Stay tuned into this site to keep up with what sessions will be offered.

The schedule outline has been prepared.
If you'd like to suggest a session, you can do so here.

By the end of the day, the Job Search Jam Sessions will provide you with the information, the connections and/or the inspiration to reach the end of your job search successfully.

Event management for Job Search Jam Sessions 2 powered by Eventbrite

If you want to pay at the door, please click on the "Show Other Payment Options" link to register. This will give us a good count to plan for the food.

More information about the Job Search Jam Sessions can be found here:
http://jobsearchjamsessions.blogspot.com/

Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to view the document

Franklin, MA

Facts at a Glance: Jobs and the Massachusetts Economy on Labor Day 2010

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Noah Berger
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nberger@massbudget.org

(617) 426-1228 x102

Tom Benner
Communications Director
tbenner@massbudget.org
(617) 426-1228 x100

Facts at a Glance:

Jobs and the Massachusetts Economy on Labor Day 2010

September 5, 2010

Labor Day 2010 will be a challenging day for working people across America. The nation is in the third year of a terrible economic crisis, one that has claimed a larger percentage of US jobs than any other recession since the Great Depression.

Here in Massachusetts, the painful effects of the economic crisis are being felt daily, particularly by residents with lower levels of education. At 9.0 percent, the overall unemployment rate in Massachusetts does not trail the national rate by much.

At the same time, the picture in our Commonwealth is somewhat less bleak than that which we see in most of the rest of the nation. While in Massachusetts we have lost 2.8 percent of the jobs that we started the recession with, that is less than half the rate of job loss of the nation as a whole (5.9 percent) -- and a better performance than most other states. Wages also have held up better in Massachusetts than in most states.

A new fact sheet, Facts At a Glance: Jobs and the Massachusetts Economy on Labor Day 2010 is available at www.massbudget.org or by clicking here.

See MassBudget's Budget Browser to explore Massachusetts state budgets from Fiscal Year 2001 to the present, as well as budget proposals offered by the Governor and the Legislature.

MassBudget provides independent research and analysis of state budget and tax policies, as well as economic issues, with particular attention to the effects on low- and moderate-income people.

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