Franklin Public Library: Whalemobile and Storytime Fiesta

Two programs are scheduled for the Franklin Library today. Whalemobile at 10:30 AM and Storytime Fiesta at 1:00 PM

Franklin Public Library: Whalemobile

Franklin Public Library: Storytime Fiesta

This was shared from the Franklin Library page
https://franklinpl.blogspot.com/2018/04/april-vacation-programs-at-franklin.html

“We are pleased to promote our values in the communities we serve”

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin:

"Direct Federal Credit Union is offering a $3,000 scholarship for a 2018 graduate of Franklin High School, with an application deadline of April 30. 

Scholarship recipients will be selected based on personal essays that demonstrate the use of one of Direct Federal’s values in their everyday lives: Drive, integrity, resilience, engagement, competence and teamwork. 

“We are proud to offer $3,000 to a graduate of Franklin High School. Over the last couple of years we have received many great applications and we encourage all students at Franklin High School to apply this year,” said David Walsh, director of community relations at Direct Federal Credit Union. “We are pleased to promote our values in the communities we serve.”

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20180417/direct-federal-credit-union-offering-scholarship-for-franklin-high-students

https://www.direct.com/

Live reporting: Finance Committee - Budget Hearing #1 - 4/17/18

Present: Dufour, Dowd, Conley, Huempfner, Weich, Fleming, Moses, Smith, Dewsnap 
Absent:  none


Fiscal 2019 budget document (160+ pages of good reading)
http://www.franklinma.gov/sites/franklinma/files/news/fy19_complete_budget_fincom_with_page_numbers_0.pdf

1. Call to Order
2. Public Comments none
3. Approval of Minutes motion to approve, seconded, passed 9-0
4. FY 2019 Budget Presentations:	Dept.	Tab
overview provided by Jeff Nutting See the budget doc for the details proposing to use the budget stabilization account this year, without making dramatic changes; Board of Health and Inspection being merged, using an outsourced contractor to do the inspections with almost $2M in the bank, you don't go ask citizens for more money you can't just have a one year fix, that is not sustainable Veterans	543	Human Services
Council on Aging	541	Human Services
Inspections	240	Public Safety
Health	510/525	Human Services
ZBA	176	General Government
Planning/Conservation	177	General Government
Assessors	141	General Government
Treasurer/Collector	147	General Government
Comptroller	135	General Government
Human Resources	152	General Government
Facilities	192	General Government

Veterans - Dale hired via arrangement with County although working here in Franklin

got some clients to get employed and as they did, they dropped off the roll

VA benefits get reimbursed at 75% rate

Veterans walkway, funding by selling bricks through VFW

walkway along the common near the war memorial end

Council on Aging -Karen Alves

$200K funded by Town but grants and other funding sources also provide the services for the seniors

asking for 7 hours for health services nurse

housing, fuel assistance and social needs are the three top drivers

dozens of homeless folks over the last several years

Open House Saturday - Apr 21 from 10 to 1:00 PM

Inspections - Gus Browm

will combine Planning, Health and Building to actually provide better service

Fire Dept - Capt Gary McCarragher

new deputy coming later this year

increased call volume by 9.5%, first Q another 5%

more calls through 3/4 than we did 5 years ago

hence a lot of pressure on the system, back to back to calls

mutual aid then needs to help, which drives up the average response times

we need an additional level of supervision to help provide support

we were dealing with a meth lab, a medical emergency and another call

training when there are no calls, it can be handled, with our call volume it gets challenging

vehicle maintenance is increasing, may need another vehicle to reduce that

14 employees with less than 5 years experience, another 5 to be replaced soon

5 hours out of 24 he can't respond due to the system is already busy

minimum staffing now at 9 when we should be at ten

working on wellness program to help avoid injuries and injury rates

60% of retirees retire on a line of duty injury; not good

did request an additional 8 firefighter/EMTs to help with response times, injury avoidance and reduce the mutual aid calls

would take an override to provide the support and sustain it

Board of Health, budget down $19K due to staff reduction (re-alignment mentioned above)

typo page 85 of the budget doc the Administration and FinCom are using

Planning and Community Development, Bryan Taberner

minor corrections being applied to the numbers

due to toner replacement plan, some adjustments are being made to dept budgets to reflect the changes

Assessors, Kevin Doyle

no real changes, COLA increase and nothing more

incorporated update to the mapping for 911 system

Treasurer/Collector, Chris Saldini

anticipate hiring a deputy collector later this year, to keep succession plan going

Controller, now a Finance Director (no longer a Controller)

HR, 

personnel replacing Stephanie, added money for physicals for new hires

schools do their own hiring and physicals (on their budget)

Facilities, D'Angelo - can't be here tonight but can come next week

new bid of contract for electricity now 10 was 7 cents

Water/Sewer

preventive maintenance software implemented

90% of our electricity comes from solar, most of the schools are or will be LED liaghting

couldn't get to 20% reduction from baseline, could only get to 19.5% as we were already efficient

approx 1700 lights in town, will do in chunks of 100-200 at a time

awaiting NationalGrid to reconcile the data to put the final plan in place

DPW - wage increase due to collective bargaining

snow and ice increase planned, award from State on water system

last year was the first year in over 20 with an increase in personnel (2)

within months of updating the pavement management plan (likely June)

likely a presentation to Council when ready

without March the snow/ice budget would have been good, up about 200K over budget

Street Lights	424	Public Works
DPW	440	Public Works
Enterprise	450	Enterprise
Tri-County	390	Education
Norfolk Aggie	395	Education
Employee Benefits	910	General Government
Liability Insurance	945	General Government
Debt Service	710/750	General Government
Town Council	111	General Government
Town Administrator	123	General Government
Finance Committee	131	General Government
Legal	151	General Government
Central Services	196	General Government
Animal Control	292	Public Safety
Historical Commission	691	Culture and Recreation
Memorial Day	692	Culture and Recreation
Cultural Council	695	Culture and Recreation

Enterprise accounts (Water/Sewer, Trash)

rate increases coming, Charles River assessment increasing and primary driver

bond authorization likely coming in May for wells 3/6 approx 17M expense for the repairs required

water meter replacement is more about equity for everyone, could have an individual variance but globally it should not be material

$4 increase in trash budget

Tri-County - assessment

based upon student enrollment, with October's enrollment

will be looking for an increase sometime to help repairs for the roof, HVAC, etc.

did go to MA School Building but did not get approved

Employee Benefits - 

pension up 8-9% to catch up on funding schedule

health costs only a 4.5% increase, helps a lot this year

Insurance Health Advisory committee gets all the credit on keeping the reductions to the minimum

town active, all town and school retirees are covered by this Town line item; school cover their active employees with their budget

68/32 split for supplemental insurance

45 cities/towns in GIC (of the 351 in MA)

Debt Schedule

high school doesn't affect the general fund as it is debt excluded

library debt to increase next year but others come off, so we'll have some debt capacity

Town Council

mostly MMA dues and some professional development

Town Administrator, increase only due to wage adjustments

FinCom, mostly advertising, budget books, etc.($1500) $0 on one page (an error to be fixed)

Legal budget

also includes money for labor attorney, arbitration, etc.

all collective bargaining expires at end of this fiscal year

Central Services

postage, copiers, toner, etc.

Animal Control

long standing agreement with Bellingham for this splitting coverage

Historical Commissin

hoping for part-time staff at some point for technical storage help

Memorial Day

mostly for the flags

Cutural Council

ArtWeek coming up this month, easy and small increase with great potential returns

what are the next big projects?

recycling center will be an item once the state land transfer takes place

will need to file a capping plan; est $3M (swag)

police station, addition and renovation sometime

dispatchers will have left

water is the biggest one (paid for by the water rates)

sewer - Beaver St intercepter the big one

eventually roofs will need to be replaced

maybe an opportunity to buy some land

you can borrow money for roads but you're really just chasing your tail with interst esxpense

motion to adjourn

Franklin, MA: Finance Committee - FY 2019 Budget Hearing #2 - April 18, 2018

Wednesday, April 18, 2018 

at 7:00 PM 

Franklin Town Hall

2^nd Floor Council Chambers

	AGENDA
1.    Call to Order 2.    Public Comments 3.    Approval of Minutes 4.    FY2019 Budget Presentations:	Dept.	Tab
Recreation	630	Culture and Recreation
Library	610	Culture and Recreation
Town Clerk	161	General Government
Elections	164	General Government
Fire	220	Public Safety
Police	210	Public Safety
Dispatch	225	Public Safety

This was shared from the Town of Franklin page
http://www.franklinma.gov/sites/franklinma/files/agendas/finance_committee_agenda_4-18-18_revised.pdf

The Town of Franklin Budget page  http://www.franklinma.gov/town-budget

Franklin, MA: Finance Committee - FY 2019 Budget Hearing #2 - April 18, 2018

Franklin resident struggles with Lyme disease. Can you help?

Jackson (Jack) Montgomery is young man from Franklin who has been fighting a battle with Lyme disease. A GoFundMe page has been created to help with the costs of this fight for health. The article  linked below provides additional details about his diagnosis, medical care to date, and the deep debt incurred by his parents to provide medical care. 

Jack's family has recently identified a new course of treatment that could provide a significant improvement in his quality of life; however the cost is quite significant. And you can help!

https://www.gofundme.com/jmontgomery

"Despite his illness, Jack has persevered academically. He is one of the hardest working individuals you could imagine. This affable young man is adored by his peers; and their parents too! Jack graduated from Franklin High last year and has an impressive academic and leadership record:

• 4.0 GPA weighted
• 4 Year Active Peer leader, headed committees
• 3 year class representative in student government
• President of French National Honor Society
• 3 Year peer mentor
• 3 Year worker of freshman high school experience
• 5 AP classes

Every donation helps get Jack closer to the treatment he needs."

https://www.gofundme.com/jmontgomery

Franklin resident struggles with Lyme disease. Can you help?

Review of Town Council Procedures - Apr 18 - 6:00 PM

The Town Council subcommittee looking to update the procedures that govern a Town Council meeting are scheduled to meet Wednesday, April 18 at 6:00 PM

The current procedure document marked up with the proposed changes can be found online and copied here for convenience

http://www.franklinma.gov/sites/franklinma/files/agendas/review_of_town_council_procedures_committee_meeting_4-18-18.pdf

or  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1N_eoieiXhFWPiaSSLtWo_01VDTXmLRA0

Review of Town Council Procedures - Apr 18 - 6:00 PM

Franklin Newcomers and Friends to host Jeff Nutting May 2

The Franklin Newcomers and Friends Club will host Franklin Town Administrator Jeff Nutting as our speaker. He'll update us on what's going on in town and he'll answer your questions. This is always one of our most popular meetings as it's very informative. Please join us for our monthly meeting at 7:30 PM, Wednesday, May 2 at Restaurant "3". To accommodate our speaker, we're meeting a week earlier than usual.

We invite any resident of Franklin, or a surrounding town that doesn't have a Newcomers Club, to join us at "3" Restaurant, 461 West Central Street, Franklin. Complimentary appetizers and beverages are provided and a cash bar is available. This is our last regular meeting of our calendar year.

We typically hold our meetings the 2nd Wednesday of the month, September through May. Additionally, we hold many fun and varied events to stay connected throughout the year. Look for us on Meetup.com, Facebook and our website, www.franklinnewcomers.com, to see what events we have coming up.

Franklin Newcomers and Friends to host Jeff Nutting May 2