Jeff: state aid will be very lean next year
Jim: they might also repeal the income tax
Jeff: that would be a disaster and relatively easier to deal with
Doug: if level service would lead us on a trajectory that would endanger us with accreditation
Wayne: we are already on probation for the high school facility, we are notifying them of the teacher cuts which may change that status. The school committee was notified of this.
Jim: come from with a level service budget beginning
Doug: two options, really. one with level service, two what would we propose to cut to maintain the budget within the level allowed.
Jeff: this is the potential menu, one or more of these scenarios will get us to the number
Gwynne: if you cut some number from roads, what does that mean for me. If you could say that the work on Daniels instead of being completed in 2009 would be completed in 2012, that might be more meaningful. That is just an example.
Doug: even loosing 17 teachers tells most folks nothing
Jeff: we had 50 police officers in 2001 and we have 42 today. Did you see that? It is really hard to show that to the average citizens.
Wayne: in 2002 I had 500 teachers, this year we have 430 with 350 more students. This is more easily shown
Rebecca: it would be easier to tell the school story, everyone either has someone in the schools or knows someone with one in the schools. this is a family town
Wayne: only 33% of the households have children in the school system
Doug: it has to be more than numbers on paper, it has to be the "so what does it matter"
Jeff: I have asked the department heads for that, it doesn't need to be much but it needs to be at least a bullet item
Gwynne: are there examples from other towns where there were cuts in police and fire and the crime rate rose, etc.
Deb: I don't know that I need to justify every police or fire person when it is a town problem.
Doug: maybe some standard, in response time for police and fire; accreditation for the schools, etc. and by those standards, the metrics could be shown where Franklin relates. What are the metrics we could use?
Jeff: there is no long term answer, there is either more taxes or less services in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Every once in a while we may skip a year of the Legislature is generous. There is a minimum level of education required by the law. If you want to maintain the minimum, then other services will be cut to maintain the level.
Deb: some solutions may come out of this, that I my hope
Steve: I hope so
Deb: why can't the inventory of the school library books be counted as part of the town library? if it requires major changes, where do we go to start that process.
Shannon Zollo arrived late
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Live reporting - process discussion
Present:
Doug Hardesty, Steve Whalen, Rebecca Cameron, Deb Bartlett, Jim Roche, Gwynne Wilschek, Shannon Zollo (late)
Not Present:
Matt Kelly, Roberta Trahan
Adjunct members present:
Jeff Nutting, Wayne Ogden
Discussion on charter for group.
Discussion on the minutes for meetings of June 11, July 10, August 7.
Motion made an approved by unanimous vote to accept minutes.
Discussion on how to gather information on the budget
Jeff is meeting with the Town department head next week to finalize their planning contribution to the discussion. They are developing a model with historical numbers and forecasts based upon known items and capital requirements.
Jim suggested 2 departments per meeting and 1 for the school department
starting with the current budget with additional color explanation with some outlook
A modest increase for me maybe different than someone else would be looking at
The school department took the hit this year that no other Town departments did.
Jeff: need to look at staff assumptions, wage assumptions, student population, High School renovate or replacement, energy assumptions... these type of items need to be looked at
Everyone tends to forget that the schools lost 20 plus positions and the override passed.
The library had a budget several years ago of 900,000. This year they are at 700,000.
Wayne: can provide the information according to the questionnaire Jeff sent to the department heads. I would refer to get a little more guidance to bring the appropriate info to the table.
Steve: I can appreciate that your situation is different and maybe you do need a little more guidance.
Jeff: you need at least a baseline for last year and this year, then the committee can build upon that the assumptions and models to determine what it would look like.
Rebecca: Within 2 1/2, there is very little room.
Jeff: if you stay within the 2 1/2, we need to keep it simple and outline what it would take to stay within.
Rebecca: people don't understand what the details are.
Steve: how do we bridge the gap to get a good discussion when you bring the numbers to the table
Deb: I don't want anyone to bring forth a budget number that would further degrade the level of town services.
Doug: we don't have to make the decision, we need to outline the range of options upon which someone can make a decision
Doug Hardesty, Steve Whalen, Rebecca Cameron, Deb Bartlett, Jim Roche, Gwynne Wilschek, Shannon Zollo (late)
Not Present:
Matt Kelly, Roberta Trahan
Adjunct members present:
Jeff Nutting, Wayne Ogden
Discussion on charter for group.
Discussion on the minutes for meetings of June 11, July 10, August 7.
Motion made an approved by unanimous vote to accept minutes.
Discussion on how to gather information on the budget
Jeff is meeting with the Town department head next week to finalize their planning contribution to the discussion. They are developing a model with historical numbers and forecasts based upon known items and capital requirements.
Jim suggested 2 departments per meeting and 1 for the school department
starting with the current budget with additional color explanation with some outlook
A modest increase for me maybe different than someone else would be looking at
The school department took the hit this year that no other Town departments did.
Jeff: need to look at staff assumptions, wage assumptions, student population, High School renovate or replacement, energy assumptions... these type of items need to be looked at
Everyone tends to forget that the schools lost 20 plus positions and the override passed.
The library had a budget several years ago of 900,000. This year they are at 700,000.
Wayne: can provide the information according to the questionnaire Jeff sent to the department heads. I would refer to get a little more guidance to bring the appropriate info to the table.
Steve: I can appreciate that your situation is different and maybe you do need a little more guidance.
Jeff: you need at least a baseline for last year and this year, then the committee can build upon that the assumptions and models to determine what it would look like.
Rebecca: Within 2 1/2, there is very little room.
Jeff: if you stay within the 2 1/2, we need to keep it simple and outline what it would take to stay within.
Rebecca: people don't understand what the details are.
Steve: how do we bridge the gap to get a good discussion when you bring the numbers to the table
Deb: I don't want anyone to bring forth a budget number that would further degrade the level of town services.
Doug: we don't have to make the decision, we need to outline the range of options upon which someone can make a decision
Town Council Mtg Summary - 9/3/08
The summary of reports concerning the Town Council meeting of 9/3/08
TOWN COUNCIL - Agenda - 9/3/08
- Live reporting - Administrators report, Councilor ...
- Live reporting - Parking study
- Live reporting - presentation on DP&CD
- Live reporting - Zoning bylaw
- Live reporting - rezoning bylaw moved to 2nd Readi...
- Live reporting - Resolutions approved
- Live reporting - Street opening bylaw
- Live reporting - Town Council - 9/3/08
TOWN COUNCIL - Agenda - 9/3/08
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Live reporting - Administrators report, Councilor comments
Nutting - provided an update on the real story at the Horace Mann complex, a leak not an explosion caused the problem.
Making steady progress on the Norfolk water issue, hopefully we'll get a check at the cut off date so hopefully all things will end well.
Reviewed cell phone usage, reduced minutes by over 6,000 per month.
Old business:
Doak - web site
Nutting - next meeting
New business:
Bartlett - ridership increase if GATRA makes the accomodations
Councilor Comments:
Whalen - Supt resignation, got a wide variety of responses from the town residents. I worked closely with him over the previous months on the override campaigns. When I read his resignation, I was sympathetic. When you deny that person the resources to pursue their talent and interests, then this is not a surprise. I hope we figure out a way to reverse course.
Mason - On the Supt resignation since it was brought up, basing his resignation on the belief that the citizens have backed away from education is stupid and an insult. I don't know of a Franklin voter who voted no intentionally to give up on education.
Pfeffer - also had some negative comments on the resignation
Making steady progress on the Norfolk water issue, hopefully we'll get a check at the cut off date so hopefully all things will end well.
Reviewed cell phone usage, reduced minutes by over 6,000 per month.
Old business:
Doak - web site
Nutting - next meeting
New business:
Bartlett - ridership increase if GATRA makes the accomodations
Councilor Comments:
Whalen - Supt resignation, got a wide variety of responses from the town residents. I worked closely with him over the previous months on the override campaigns. When I read his resignation, I was sympathetic. When you deny that person the resources to pursue their talent and interests, then this is not a surprise. I hope we figure out a way to reverse course.
Mason - On the Supt resignation since it was brought up, basing his resignation on the belief that the citizens have backed away from education is stupid and an insult. I don't know of a Franklin voter who voted no intentionally to give up on education.
Pfeffer - also had some negative comments on the resignation
Live reporting - Parking study
2,088 striped parking spaces available
additional unstriped 2 hour parking spaced
77,8 believe there are problems with parking
There is a perception that there are problems when with a little walk there are available spaces available. Can we increase the spots in specific areas? How else can we help to address the perception?
Rarely are more than 80% of the metered spaces utilized.
Bartlett - is there still discussion amongst the businesses to improve the walking within the downtown?
Taberner - while there was good discussion before, I am not sure that has been a current discussion. There is no consensus on a resolution to parking.
Whalen - There is good news on the availability of spaces. It may just be an awareness campaign that is needed.
Taberner - if the town does go down the road of bricks and mortar we should only go forward with businesses as a partnership to share the expense.
additional unstriped 2 hour parking spaced
77,8 believe there are problems with parking
There is a perception that there are problems when with a little walk there are available spaces available. Can we increase the spots in specific areas? How else can we help to address the perception?
Rarely are more than 80% of the metered spaces utilized.
Bartlett - is there still discussion amongst the businesses to improve the walking within the downtown?
Taberner - while there was good discussion before, I am not sure that has been a current discussion. There is no consensus on a resolution to parking.
Whalen - There is good news on the availability of spaces. It may just be an awareness campaign that is needed.
Taberner - if the town does go down the road of bricks and mortar we should only go forward with businesses as a partnership to share the expense.
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