The Financial Planning Committee last night outlined its mission, putting public education and communication in budgetary matters as top priorities, along with creating a three-year fiscal forecast.
The group was created by Town Council in response to citizens' calls for a long-term financial plan as frustration grew over repeated Proposition 2 1/2 tax override requests. The group was meant to serve as a proactive solution to the recurring fiscal deficits.
"I think education and communication are 95 percent of what our task is," said Councilor Stephen Whalen, a committee member.
"It's a reasonable goal to have a really strong educational component," Whalen said.
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They may be nearly impossible for law enforcement officials to prevent, but if anthrax attacks like those following the 9/11 terrorist attacks happened today, state and local officials say they could deal with the aftermath.
While every city and town in the state has an emergency plan which details information like shelter locations and evacuation routes, in the weeks following the mailing of anthrax to more than a half-dozen news agencies and members of Congress, there was a flurry of activity as plans were updated to include the possibility of a biological attack. At that time, millions of dollars in grants were handed out to improve detection of dangerous agents, including anthrax.
"The protocol we had pre-2001 - we thought this was going to be a once-in-a-lifetime event," said Martin Greene, deputy director of the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services' Hazardous Materials Response program.
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Town Council last night unanimously endorsed the Franklin Veterans Iraq/Afghanistan Monument Committee's proposal to erect a memorial on the Town Common.
The endorsement is subject to the council's final approval of the monument layout, which Veterans Agent Robert Fahey said will not displace existing war monuments.
The names of Lance Cpl. Shayne Cabino, a Franklin youth killed in action Oct. 6, 2005, and Staff Sgt. Robert Pirelli, a Franklin resident killed in action Aug. 15, 2007, will be engraved on a bronze plaque with a statement honoring all those who have served in Iraq.
On the monument's rear face, another bronze plaque will honor those who served in Afghanistan. It would include names of anyone from Franklin killed in action there if that were to happen.
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Despite impassioned pleas to keep the Red Brick School open as a kindergarten, the School Committee last night voted to give the town ownership of the historic building.
Matthew Kelly was the only School Committee member to vote against declaring the school surplus and giving it to the town, and member Ed Cafasso was absent.
This year marked the 175-year anniversary of the Red Brick School, which is one of the oldest one-room brick schools in continuous operation and is on the National Historic Register.
The building may still be used for education under the town's authority, said School Committee member Roberta Trahan. She said two educators have already expressed interest in using it: the Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public School, and art instructor Don Carlucci, who runs the Franklin School of Modern Art.
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