Town Council - Agenda - 1/21/09

A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

B. ANNOUNCEMENTS

C. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS

D. CITIZEN COMMENTS

E. APPOINTMENTS - School Building Committee

F. HEARINGS

G. LICENSE TRANSACTIONS –

H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS - Snow & Ice Budget - DPW

I. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS

J. LEGISLATION FOR ACTION

1. Resolution 09-02: Declaration as Surplus and Available for Disposition (Leasing) and Authorization therefore of a Portion of Town-Owned Land at 40 West Central Street
2. Resolution 09-03: Authorization to Expend Funds in Excess of Available Appropriations – Snow & Ice

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

This agenda can also be found on the Town web page here

The Green Reel: "King Corn"

The Green Reel: a series of films for sustainable living will be shown on Sunday evenings this winter beginning January 25th.

What: King Corn

When: 7:00 PM on January 25, 2009

Where: Agudas Achim, 901 North Main St, Attleboro or directions here

Free and open to the public. For more info: 508-695-2389

read more about the film King Corn here

Sponsors:

Agudas Achim
Crystal Spring Center
Simply Keep It Local
Oak Knoll Wildlife Sanctuary
Citizens for a Sustainable Local Economy
Murray Unitarian Universalist Church
Green Committee of First Universalist Society of Franklin
New Dawn Earth Center
Oake Knoll Ayrshires
Franklin Area Climate Team
White Barn Farm
St Mark's Episcopal Church-Foxboro

"we encourage their interest"

According to CNN exit polls, of the 18- to 29-year-old voters, 66 percent of them cast their ballots for Barack Obama in November. And although a majority of students at Franklin High School are not of legal voting age, that minor detail has not stopped some from taking a sincere interest.

"Even though you can't vote, you can still make a difference," said junior Zachary Woodward.

He and classmate Sara LaFlamme recently started up a Young Democrats club at the school and held their first meeting last Thursday.

"I've always considered myself a Democrat," said LaFlamme. "But this election really caught my attention because the two (Democratic) candidates were a woman and a black man. Those are huge steps right there."

She and Woodward went through a number of issues at the meeting, ranging from the economy to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and presented the Democratic standpoint of each.

"I really see this club as a portal through which we can channel our ideas," Woodward told the 11 students present. "Just because we can't vote, we still know what's important."

Tina Leardi, a U.S. history teacher and the club's adviser, stressed that a person doesn't have to agree with all Democratic policies to identify with the party.

"I think (the club) is a really good idea," she said. "Kids should be reading the papers, watching the news, and forming their own opinions."

Read the full article on how the interest in politics has risen amongst high school students in the Milford Daily News here

Schools - capital priority list

By Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff

GHS

Posted Jan 19, 2009 @ 12:05 AM

---

FRANKLIN —

While the townwide Building Committee assesses which buildings are in most need of repair, the School Committee wants to send a strong message that renovating Franklin High School should take precedence.

Facilities Manager Michael D'Angelo made a list of 25 capital projects that need to be done in the school district, with a total cost of $4.9 million.

"The number one priority is not on this list, and that's Franklin High School. Everything on this list should take a backseat to moving forward with Franklin High School," said Chairman Jeffrey Roy.

Read the full article in the Milford Daily New here.

This was part of the live reporting from the School Committee meeting on 1/13/09

You can view the video of this discussion on the town website

FM #28 - This week in Franklin, MA

This is #28 in the Franklin Matters series of podcasts. This one focuses on what happened this week in Franklin with key points from the School Committee meeting, the Franklin Area Climate Team, the Financial Planning Committee, and the FINCOM meeting of January 6th.

Time: 11 minutes, 40 seconds



MP3 File

This podcast for Franklin Matters is number 28 in the series. In this edition, I’ll focus on what you should know about what is happening here in Franklin, MA as we begin 2009.

From the School Committee meeting 1/13/09, there was a very good presentation on the high school arts program and how it is bringing art into the community. Art teacher, Mike Caple was accompanied by two students, Rachel Nault and Madison Weber, to make the joint presentation.
You can view the presentation on web now. The School Committee meeting was streamed live over the internet. This was the third town meeting to be broadcast this year. You can go to the video archive and view the meeting in its entirety or specific sections according to the published agenda. The link is on the town web site and will be included in the blog post that accompanies this.

Continuing with the SchCom meeting, Peter Light. previously announced as the interim principal for Franklin High, was announced as the permanent replacement during the meeting Tuesday evening. You should recall that Pam Gould had tendered her notice to leave Franklin to take the Asst. Superintendent of HR position in Plymouth. I would have liked her to stay here, she was doing so well. Given the choice to move up and on or stay, I do agree with her choice. I wish her well.

Peter has done well in dozen years he has been here in Franklin. I expect he will make a great principal for the high school. He knows the community. He has the willingness to listen and the drive to do good things.

How did he move from interim to permanent so quickly? While not explicitly stated, it was acknowledged that Peter was a finalist for the principal position in Needham. Reading between the lines, I think it was better to make him permanent, to keep him here rather than run the risk of losing him.

Wednesday evening, along with about 25-30 others, I viewed the documentary “Kilowatt Ours” at the Franklin Library. This was the fourth and final of the Energy $ense series sponsored by the Franklin Area Climate Team. Information on the prior sessions is available on Franklin Matters. There is a special link on the right hand column under Important Links. Look for “FACT – Energy $ense Series”.

At the library, I picked up a flyer for “The Green Reel – 2009 Winter Film series”. There will be additional details on this series of 5 films to be published on Franklin Matters. The first film is “King Corn” to be shown at Agudas Achim in Attleboro on January 25th.

Thursday evening the Financial Planning Committee got together to review the status on the report they are pulling together. The various sections of the report were covered in detail in my “live reporting” notes already posted on Franklin Matters.

The draft report will be previewed with a focus group, followed by a town wide open forum. The date remains to be determined for this forum but I would encourage you to stay tuned. As soon as it is available, this is one forum we should all participate in. The budget details for the short term outlook for Franklin will be critical points to understand.

When someone like Rebecca Cameron says:

”It finally hit me how much we are dependent upon the state”

I think this is a break through moment.

Rebecca sits on the Finance Committee and has insights into the details of the Franklin budget process that many of would like to have. She now is part of the group developing this long term plan for Franklin. I have said before that the work this group is doing is going to be critical to what Franklin does in the short term and longer term. The information they have gathered and are about to share should create a better understanding across the Franklin community of what the real issue are.

One key point on the operation of the Fire Department was captured during the Finance Committee meeting on January 6th. Chief McCarraher was answering questions from FINCOM members as he reviewed his capital budget plan. One question was why not outsource the ambulance services. The answer the Chief gave is important to understand how smartly the Fire Department has created its staffing plan and how efficiently they do utilize their resources. Let’s listen to this clip from the meeting:

... insert clip ...

The Fire Department staffs a minimum number to provide a first response and calls in off-duty resources when there is a fire. He had 10 folks regularly on, needs fifteen for a fire when it occurs. In the meantime, he uses the extra time of the fire staff to answer ambulance calls for which they are reimbursed. Very smartly done. Can’t be much more efficient than that. If you don’t follow this line of thought, please be sure to talk with the Chief, or send me an email or comment.

To quickly recap this segment, we talked about

• live streaming for town meetings
• the high school art in the community program
• Peter Light the new principal at the high school
• the efforts of the Franklin Area Climate Team
• finally the Financial Planning Committee
  

There is a whole lot going on in Franklin, please try and stay current with what is happening. If you have good news or insights you would like to share, please leave a comment or send me an email.

----- -----

This podcast has been a public service provided to my fellow citizens of Franklin, MA

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The musical intro and closing is from the Podsafe Music Network
Jon Schmidt - Powerful Exhilarating Piano Music

School Committee video available

The video broadcast of the School Committee meeting Tuesday January 13th is now available on the Town web site here

You can also view the complete January meeting archive here and then select the meeting you would like to see.

"We can ride this out"

Music venues of all sizes are tightening their belts as well. The Amazing Things Arts Center in Framingham and Circle of Friends Coffeehouse in Franklin report a 20 percent drop in fall and winter ticket sales.

"What we're also seeing is that people are waiting longer to buy tickets," said Circle of Friends volunteer organizer Jake Jacobson. "It's understandable because people are afraid of losing their jobs."

For Circle of Friends, a small, well-respected, volunteer-run operation that does not rely on donations, the consequences are manageable. Equipment purchases are being put on hold.

Read the full article on how non-profit arts organizations are coping with the downturn in the Boston Sunday Globe West section here

The next concert at the Circle of Friends Coffeehouse is scheduled January 31 featuring Vance Gilbert and Ann Heaton

"The project will not cost the town anything"

By Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff

GHS

Posted Jan 18, 2009 @ 12:41 AM

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FRANKLIN —

Building a multi-purpose bike path from Franklin State Forest to Palmer is going to require a lot of time, passion, and help, but it's legwork that Franklin bicyclists are ready to put in.

On Jan. 14, the Franklin Odd Fellows along with representatives from the Masonic Order, Army Corps of Engineers, Grandtruck Trailblazers, Conservation Commission, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Bellingham Lions Club, and other local bicyclists and nature lovers formed "Friends of the Bike Path Committee" to begin discussions on creating Franklin's portion of the bike trail.

The trail will replace unused rail bed, starting in Franklin, and weaving through 15 towns including Bellingham and Blackstone, to Palmer and back to Southbridge and Sturbridge. In Franklin, the railroad splits at Cottage and Union streets, with the inactive part of the line beginning at Grove Street.

Read the full article about the proposed bike/exercise path in the Milford Daily News here

The group welcomes volunteers and meets again on Wed., Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. at the Odd Fellows Lodge. They will talk about how to present their case for developing the path to the town.

"average rate of municipal health care cost increased 13 percent"

BOSTON - Rep. James E. Vallee, D–Franklin, support plans to file legislation this month to remove union veto power over cities and towns seeking to save hundreds of millions of dollars by joining the state health insurance plan.

"Cities and towns need our help and I am committed to doing all I can to help my communities weather the current fiscal crisis," said Vallee. "I believe these changes will help communities save money by allowing them to join the state health insurance plan. The cost savings to communities is tremendous."

Read the full article on the cost saving measure online at Wicked Local here

"I think we're very detail-oriented"

Nothing too fancy or too complicated. But at the end of the day, it nets positive results.

"We're not about athleticism," said the 6-foot-5-inch Spencer. "Whoever works harder is going to win the game."

Added Dean, "We're not about flash. We're about getting it to the open guy."

Read the full article on the Franklin High School boys basketball team in the Boston Sunday Globe West section here

"you just have to do it"

Municipalities often budget low for snow and ice cleanup because, unlike with most other accounts, they can spend in the red and make up the difference later in the year.

But even in Franklin, where the Town Council had hiked its snow budget from $551,000 to $694,000, Public Works Director Brutus Cantoreggi said Thursday he was near the limit.

"I've spent about $550,000 so far," he said. "But one of my salt sheds is empty, and it costs $150,000 to fill, so I'm gone."

Plummeting fuel prices have been a boon, some public works directors said, but road salt is still proving to be a budget-buster. In Franklin, the price jumped from $54 a ton to $75 this season. That means it costs about $30,000 each time Cantoreggi sends a fleet of trucks to put down a layer of sand and salt across town.

"Labor costs are about the same. It's just the salt," he said. "It's been a very busy winter."

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here

NewBCamp - find out about blogging, podcasting, Twitter, etc.

It's been almost one year since the inaugural NewBCamp took place and there's another one coming up in Providence.

What is NewBCamp?
It is a gathering of people interesting in learning and sharing about the new social media tools; blogs, podcasts, video blogs, Twitter, etc.

What is in it for me?
If you are interested in learning about these tools, then this is the place for you. The focus is on the new user (i.e. newbie or NewB). You won't feel lost, you will be amongst those who are learning from those who are willing to share.

What does it cost?
It is very reasonably priced at only $10. Less than a movie!

What are the details?

When:

February 8, 2009 - 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM

Where:

Johnson & Wales

Pepsi Forum
8 Abbott Park Place
Providence, RI 02903

There's also a brand new website http://www.newbcamp.com . Explore the site, add comments and pages to the wiki, and sign up to give presentations!

NewBCamp is brought to you by two organizations - Free Geek Providence and SofT ICE at Johnson & Wales.

If you would like additional information, please feel free to contact me. I will be there at the Welcome/Registration Desk.

Patrick J. Carney

Patrick J. Carney, 22 of Franklin died January 15 in Brigham & Women’s Hospital Boston after a six month battle with cancer. He was the son of Joseph and Kim (Wilcke) Carney of Franklin.

Read the full set of information on the Xaverian Brothers web site here

Chicago - "Share My Inauguration"

Since I started following the students at Worcester Academy and their effort to cover the inauguration, I have also found that there is a group from Chicago:

FOLLOW THEIR JOURNEY
Twenty-four Chicago inner-city 5th and 6th graders will witness Barack Obama’s historic inauguration. Dubbed the DC 24, the students from Frazier Preparatory Academy, a pre-K through 6th grade elementary school, will also tour area universities and monuments during their four-day adventure.

Along the way, they’ll chronicle their journey and share their impressions through a series of blogs and vlogs. Traveling with the students is Tara Settembre, one of LA’s best known bloggers, who will coach the DC 24 on blogging and vlogging.

You can view the DC 24 web site here.

"It finally hit me how much we are dependent upon the state"

By Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff

GHS

Posted Jan 16, 2009 @ 12:27 AM

---

FRANKLIN —

With the economy plunging even further into a recession, the town's long-range fiscal planning committee that had been prepping for a financial windstorm is now bracing for a hurricane.

"When we started in August, we were $2 million short. We're praying now it's only going to be $2 million short," said group member Rebecca Cameron, a Finance Committee member.

The council-appointed group, charged with preparing a long-range financial plan, anxiously awaits Gov. Deval Patrick's news, expected in two weeks, enumerating what state aid he will cut.

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here

You can also review my "live reporting" notes from the meeting here

Financial Planning Comm 01/15/09

The live reporting posts covering the Financial Planning Committee meeting of Thursday 1/15/09 can be found here:

• Live reporting - Financial Planning Committee (con...
• Live reporting - Financial Planning Committee

Live reporting - Financial Planning Committee (cont'd)

6 - Financial planning (Roche)
handout from Jim, includes listing from S&P listing the ten things for public finance that are characteristics of good planning. Franklin does in fact do all these ten things.

Top 10 List

1. An established rainy day/budget stabilization reserve
2. Regular economic and revenue reviews to identify shortfalls early
3. Prioritized spending plans and established contingency plans for operating budgets
4. A formalized capital improvement plan in order to assess future infrastructure requirements
5. Long-term planning for all liabilities of a government, including pension obligations, other post employment benefits and other contingent obligations would be optimal and allow for comprehensive assessment of future budgetary risks
6. A debt affordability model in place to evaluate future debt profile
7. A pay-as-you-go financing strategy as part of the operating and capital budget.
8. A multi-year financial plan in place that considers the affordability of actions or plans before they are part of the annual budget.
9. Effective management and information systems
10. A well-defined and coordinated economic development strategy

The source for this listing is the S&P article found here

add vital signs and trends, i.e. stabilization fund in 2003 vs 2010 stark difference.

7 - FAQ (Kelly)
summarizing from over all the sources, the questions that have been raised.

trying to provide a quality of life for all members of the community

is a student with and IEP considered a SPED student? or are they categorized separately

8 - Financial Terms (Nutting)
if the state would allow we would do these things
the capital budget
the debt and narrative
the FAQ draft should also be answered from the town figures

discussion on setting up the focus group to review the draft of the report

what is the date for the deliverable? then set the date for the focus group

Feb 5th to internally review the draft
Formalize the draft by the 29th
Focus group on March 5th

half the group gets the report before hand, half gets it upon the entry
will get feedback on presentation simplicity

Live reporting - Financial Planning Committee

Attending: Roche, Bartlett, Cameron, Hardesty, Nutting, Wilschek, Kelly, Ogden, Trahan, Zollo
Absent: Whalen

Meeting opens

Working listing of action items to pull the presentation together (numbered listing that follows)

add self-help items - average person working in lieu of taxes provides about 8000 hours of labor to help the DPW, library, etc.

Report Category
1 - Assumptions (Cameron)
wrote out from the budget draft that Jeff had put together earlier

Outline format to tell the story so those who won't be able to read and understand the table of numbers will get the gist of what is occurring.

Rationalization will be key, a range of 3-5% on one number may not have the same effect on the budget that another number could have a range of 2 - 2.5% and have a significant effect.

Justification for the numbers, i.e. what is the driving factor, health insurance, or lane changes per contract.

Formatting is not important at this time, it is more important to get the content section down.

2 - Benchmarking component (Whalen)
comparison of Franklin to other towns, comparison of Franklin within, i.e. trends
looking to identify the appropriate peer group for Franklin
explain why some towns that some would think would be comparable are not in the report
need good rational for what is included and what is excluded

simply need to demonstrate that the town is responsible, that there is no obvious low hanging fruit

3 - Financial Model/Sensitivity Analysis (Hardesty)
doesn't want to re-do the numbers just yet as the numbers are so much influx at this time, the approach will be the same, will just update with the actual numbers when they become available.

How to enhance revenue or reduce costs with things that can be done easily
For the gap beyond that, this would then list out the choices
taking a layered approach, baseline (level 1) plus (level 2) listing the assumptions that drive the changes

4 - HR Matters (Trahan)
Done with Wayne and Jeff, handout provided with summary
85-90% of the town employees are unionized
the unions have been cooperative in negotiations, the raises have been very reasonable

include the post retirement underfunded liability as an assumption and foot note, unless legislation changing this, it is reportable but would not effect the planning for our time line

5 - Revenue/Expense Enhancements (Zollo)
Will have something formal for the committee next time, a top ten list or a growing total and show the growth over the past and going forward. How far back do we want to go? For credibility, go back at least as far as Jeff. Current management is striving to be efficient. Proposed to go back as afar as 2001. Maybe not the full ten or fifteen, show at least the significant ones.

Appendix listing can show them all, but the top list would cover the 80/20 rule. Factor in the inflation and show what it could have been versus what it is today.

There are two kinds of savings, cuts and efficiencies. Trying to color each to show how they contributed.

Worcester Academy Inauguration project

Thanks to my daughter for the tip, here is an example of a local high school project using social media to report on and record their experiences of the upcoming inauguration.

Their blog can be found here.

This is a sample video posted to YouTube and their blog, recorded with a Flip camera





Way to go Worcester Academy!

"everything that's simple we've already done"

Last spring in Franklin, residents voted against a $2.8 million override, after approving a $2.7 million tax increase the year before. This year, a financial plan committee is preparing a three-year projection to better prepare for the town's fiscal needs. An initial draft should be available by early next month, according to the Town Council's vice chairwoman, Deborah Bartlett.

Bartlett wouldn't rule out the possibility of an override request, saying, "I don't think we're thinking that far ahead yet." However, "it's hard to know, with everything so volatile at this point," she said. "I think people are scared . . . and we don't know how they will feel about committing to more money than they're currently committing."

It's clear that revenues in Franklin will once again fall short of expenses, Bartlett said, and "without more money, we're not going to be able to provide the same level of service as today."

Officials are searching for ways to consolidate services and save money, but "everything that's simple we've already done," she said.

Read the full article in the Boston Globe West section here