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Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to view the document
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Franklin Connection - Senior Center Newsletter
The April Franklin Connection, the Senior Center Newsletter is now available here or on the Town website.
Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to view the document
Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to view the document
Transliteracy - a new opportunity
Interesting points made on how the library should consider changing its mission are raised this brief video.
Read the full posting here.
What do you think? Should the library charter change from literacy to transliteracy?
Note: email subscribers will need to click through to view the video on Franklin Matters.
Franklin, MA
Read the full posting here.
What do you think? Should the library charter change from literacy to transliteracy?
Note: email subscribers will need to click through to view the video on Franklin Matters.
Franklin, MA
Hold the date - May 14th
Do you recall our effort last year to bring the unconference to the unemployed and underemployed? We ended up canceling the LaidOffCamp due to insufficient registrations. We have learned from that experience and are giving it a second try.
We have a good location:
The St John Evangelist Parish Center in Hopkinton, MA. It is great space for up to 200 and best of all, free for us to use. As we are a non-profit and all volunteer group, any proceeds from the event will be donated to the Church.
We have a date!
Friday, May 14th from 1:00 PM to 4:30 PM
We have a new event name:
Job Search Jam Sessions
The name says we are all about the "job search". We are looking for collaboration, learning and sharing from each other on this road to the next stop in our career. You have some tips and tricks from your experience. I do. Bob does. Marilyn does. Everyone does. Let's come together in an open space facilitated set of sessions.
We have a new website:
http://jobsearchjamsessions.blogspot.com/
Stay tuned for further announcements. We should have the registration page active by the end of this week. In the mean time, hold the date on your calendar - May 14th!
Franklin, MA
We have a good location:
The St John Evangelist Parish Center in Hopkinton, MA. It is great space for up to 200 and best of all, free for us to use. As we are a non-profit and all volunteer group, any proceeds from the event will be donated to the Church.
We have a date!
Friday, May 14th from 1:00 PM to 4:30 PM
We have a new event name:
Job Search Jam Sessions
The name says we are all about the "job search". We are looking for collaboration, learning and sharing from each other on this road to the next stop in our career. You have some tips and tricks from your experience. I do. Bob does. Marilyn does. Everyone does. Let's come together in an open space facilitated set of sessions.
We have a new website:
http://jobsearchjamsessions.blogspot.com/
Stay tuned for further announcements. We should have the registration page active by the end of this week. In the mean time, hold the date on your calendar - May 14th!
Franklin, MA
Franklin, MA: Design Review Guidelines
Continuing the series on the Franklin, MA Planning process:
The full guideline document can be found on the Town website here (PDF). Note: it is a large document and will take sometime to download.These design guidelines have been prepared to assist business and property owners in protecting and enhancing the design character of commercial and industrial areas in the Town of Franklin. This handbook is the result of a collective effort by Town officials, members of the Design Review Commission (DRC) and the local design community, and planning consultants. Its guiding principles are based on a general belief that high quality of design and construction contribute to enhance the economic vitality of business districts, and improve the overall quality of living.
The guidelines will be used by the DRC as a basis for the review and approval of new projects, improvements, and additions to existing buildings. They are also intended as a source of helpful information and ideas for owners, designers and builders.
This document is divided into five parts:
- Part I describes the general purpose and contents of the handbook and includes brief recounts of the Town’s historic background, and the history of the design review process. It also summarizes the process and requirements for application for design review and approval.
- Part II contains site and building guidelines of general application, organized by topics.
- Part III contains site and building guidelines that specifically apply to downtown Franklin, the commercial corridors outside of the downtown area, or “big box” development. These guidelines are to be applied in addition to the general guidelines listed on Part II.
- Part IV focuses on signage and sign requirements.
- Part V includes appendices with further information and resource materials.
In the News - flooding
As water poured over a closed Populatic Street yesterday, Eknaian and her husband, Jack, were forced to row to their Populatic Street cottage - which had about 5 feet of water in the yard.
"We always have problems when it rains two or three days steady - all year round," Eknaian said.
Flooding not as bad as expected
Franklin, MA
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Live reporting - Financial Planning Committee
Present: Whalen, Hardesty, Nutting, Zollo, Sabolinksi, Mason, Rohrbach, Bartlett, Morrison, Cameron (late)
Absent: Roche, Trahan
Meeting opens
Agenda -
1 - Whalen added several columns to pull in the students and teacher populations for the communities already being compared to
Teacher salary ranks higher than others but that is and has been a deliberate choice of the School Committee to ensure that the best teachers are here.
Hiring teachers in specific subjects like Chemistry, Physics, Science, Math, Biology and Special Education have tended to be higher cost because of the demand and experience for their skill set.
Still need to look into Wrentham, Southboro and other communities were they are not K-12 districts.
According to the DESE numbers, Franklin is now under the State average in all 11 categories tracked at the state level for per pupil spending
2 - Moving to the forecast numbers
use 5% for the municipal interest rate for the model, 20 year term for the debt service for the high school
might have some start in 2012 but realistically it should be 2014-2015
We'd need to take say 5 million for the architect, there would be a small impact to the tax payers for that, then a year or so we'd take some for the construction schedule, maybe 20, then 30 and roll it all up. The shovels wouldn't go into the ground right away and then it would take time to finish.
On the state aid forecast, there are three plans - best case, moderate, worst case. Discussion around assuming 0%, moderate a 3% drop, worst case a 5% drop (for 2013, with 2014 flat)
Chapter 70 is formula driven
Our purpose is to forecast what is reasonable and likely, it may not be accurate but who knows what it really will be.
There is also the economic factor, it may simply continue down due to the state not figuring out their economic problems
Will need to adjust the local receipts as they are primarily excise taxes and not likely to increase as drafted, more likely to remain flatter and then gradually increase
Local receipts are income based - building permits, license fees, etc.
likely to be flat this year, next and then increase gradually
Property tax should be adjusted to show more of a difference between best case and worst case
Discussion on how to handle the deferral, can't really change the number because it was forecasted and shown previously. Not changing the number so that it matches the prior report, should make it easier to handle the updates via footnotes or a reconciliation report.
As a long-term planning group we want to provide a baseline and reasonable assumptions for the forecast, we can't be changing the numbers every time there is a new hunch or change in the numbers.
2012 and beyond, salary assumption is for historical rate of growth
There is virtue in picking the historical average, it is defensible and everyone can "get it". What other numbers could be used would be open to much more speculation.
The bottom line in the whole report is that business as usual is not sustainable here in Franklin.
When you weigh in Hopkinton, Medfield, Sharon and Hudson they are the only ones where their performance is close to our results. The teachers are compensated well. We are spending our bang for the buck on student performance (i.e. MCAS) which we will see in our housing values.
Current contracts are running 2-3 percent over three years. Everybody seems to be getting at least one zero. In years past, everybody got 7-9 percent over three years. Not now.
Even if we assume no raises, there is still a deficit to be dealt with. The problem is bigger than salary increases.
Policy of Council is to spend 3.5% of the general fund revenues. So as the general revenues increase according to the forecast, then there would be a corresponding increase.
Doug will update the numbers based upon the discussion and send around an update.
3 - Override question
2 councils have endorsed the long term plan
The "O" word is such a sensitive issue
The report has established credibility (the numbers this year are close to accurate)
Spell it out that the prior recommendations have been unable to avoid further deficits.
The alternative this year should be a consideration for the citizens to make a choice between cuts and an increase.
Need to open the door for the discussion, presenting the facts
Get to a multi-year strategy for 2011 and beyond
Need to mitigate the financial risk of being #1 in State Aid and 28th in terms of local revenue generated amongst our peer communities.
4 - Target for report update at Apr 28th Council meeting
Jeff provides budget update at Apr 7th Council meeting
When to schedule the Finance Committee review? Should include them as a preview on the report before going to the Council.
Discussion on scheduling another meeting before the 28th, 14 or 21st possible, chose not to schedule a meeting for now. Can schedule one if necessary.
Franklin, MA
Absent: Roche, Trahan
Meeting opens
Agenda -
- Whalen update on his analysis with additional columns added
- Review forecast
- Override question
- Meeting schedule
1 - Whalen added several columns to pull in the students and teacher populations for the communities already being compared to
Teacher salary ranks higher than others but that is and has been a deliberate choice of the School Committee to ensure that the best teachers are here.
Hiring teachers in specific subjects like Chemistry, Physics, Science, Math, Biology and Special Education have tended to be higher cost because of the demand and experience for their skill set.
Still need to look into Wrentham, Southboro and other communities were they are not K-12 districts.
According to the DESE numbers, Franklin is now under the State average in all 11 categories tracked at the state level for per pupil spending
2 - Moving to the forecast numbers
use 5% for the municipal interest rate for the model, 20 year term for the debt service for the high school
might have some start in 2012 but realistically it should be 2014-2015
We'd need to take say 5 million for the architect, there would be a small impact to the tax payers for that, then a year or so we'd take some for the construction schedule, maybe 20, then 30 and roll it all up. The shovels wouldn't go into the ground right away and then it would take time to finish.
On the state aid forecast, there are three plans - best case, moderate, worst case. Discussion around assuming 0%, moderate a 3% drop, worst case a 5% drop (for 2013, with 2014 flat)
Chapter 70 is formula driven
Our purpose is to forecast what is reasonable and likely, it may not be accurate but who knows what it really will be.
There is also the economic factor, it may simply continue down due to the state not figuring out their economic problems
Will need to adjust the local receipts as they are primarily excise taxes and not likely to increase as drafted, more likely to remain flatter and then gradually increase
Local receipts are income based - building permits, license fees, etc.
likely to be flat this year, next and then increase gradually
Property tax should be adjusted to show more of a difference between best case and worst case
Discussion on how to handle the deferral, can't really change the number because it was forecasted and shown previously. Not changing the number so that it matches the prior report, should make it easier to handle the updates via footnotes or a reconciliation report.
As a long-term planning group we want to provide a baseline and reasonable assumptions for the forecast, we can't be changing the numbers every time there is a new hunch or change in the numbers.
2012 and beyond, salary assumption is for historical rate of growth
There is virtue in picking the historical average, it is defensible and everyone can "get it". What other numbers could be used would be open to much more speculation.
The bottom line in the whole report is that business as usual is not sustainable here in Franklin.
When you weigh in Hopkinton, Medfield, Sharon and Hudson they are the only ones where their performance is close to our results. The teachers are compensated well. We are spending our bang for the buck on student performance (i.e. MCAS) which we will see in our housing values.
Current contracts are running 2-3 percent over three years. Everybody seems to be getting at least one zero. In years past, everybody got 7-9 percent over three years. Not now.
Even if we assume no raises, there is still a deficit to be dealt with. The problem is bigger than salary increases.
Policy of Council is to spend 3.5% of the general fund revenues. So as the general revenues increase according to the forecast, then there would be a corresponding increase.
Doug will update the numbers based upon the discussion and send around an update.
3 - Override question
2 councils have endorsed the long term plan
The "O" word is such a sensitive issue
The report has established credibility (the numbers this year are close to accurate)
Spell it out that the prior recommendations have been unable to avoid further deficits.
The alternative this year should be a consideration for the citizens to make a choice between cuts and an increase.
Need to open the door for the discussion, presenting the facts
Get to a multi-year strategy for 2011 and beyond
Need to mitigate the financial risk of being #1 in State Aid and 28th in terms of local revenue generated amongst our peer communities.
4 - Target for report update at Apr 28th Council meeting
Jeff provides budget update at Apr 7th Council meeting
When to schedule the Finance Committee review? Should include them as a preview on the report before going to the Council.
Discussion on scheduling another meeting before the 28th, 14 or 21st possible, chose not to schedule a meeting for now. Can schedule one if necessary.
Franklin, MA
Notice the new menu?
Maybe I am longing for spring to really arrive. Yes, April showers bring May flowers but did March need to drown us? Anyway, I am trying out some of the new features available for this Google blog.
Did you notice the new menu?
Located just below the header "Franklin Matters".
You'll now see a series of pages available to get to specific sections quickly.
I hope this works better for you.
If you have any suggestions, please feel free to send me an email at shersteve@gmail.com
Did you notice the new menu?
Located just below the header "Franklin Matters".
You'll now see a series of pages available to get to specific sections quickly.
- The "Home" link will get you back to the top page from where ever you are.
- The "Welcome" page will house the audio slideshow I did to help you navigate around the page. (Yes, I'll need to update it now that I have added this menu.)
- The "Why Franklin Matters?" page combines why I do this as a public service with my disclosure posting.
- The "Weekly podcast" page will get you to the Franklin Matters Weekly podcast posts. It should be easier to find a particular week there. All the details are still here but mixed with all the other posts.
- The "Meeting Notes 2010", "Meeting Notes 2009", and "Meeting Notes 2008" do the same thing for each calendar year. They provide the link to each meeting or event that was reported on.
- The "Important Links" brings above the fold easy access to other key links.
I hope this works better for you.
If you have any suggestions, please feel free to send me an email at shersteve@gmail.com
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