From time to time, in particular around the budget period, reference is generally made to Franklin Public Schools having to support "unfunded mandates." I managed to find a listing of such compiled by the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. The series of posts on State Education Mandates can be found here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/03/state-education-mandates-part-1.html
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/03/state-education-mandates-part-2.html
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/03/state-education-mandates-part-3.html
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/03/state-education-mandates-part-4.html
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/03/state-education-mandates-part-5.html
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/03/state-education-mandates-part-6.html
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/03/state-education-mandates-part-7.html
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/03/state-education-mandates-part-8.html
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/03/state-education-mandates-part-9.html
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/03/state-education-mandates-part-10.html
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/04/state-education-mandates-part-11.html
Franklin, MA
Providing accurate and timely information about what matters in Franklin, MA since 2007. * Working in collaboration with Franklin TV and Radio (wfpr.fm) since October 2019 *
Monday, May 10, 2010
FM #67 - Week Ending 5/9/10
Let's take about ten minutes to review what matters in Franklin, MA as the week ends May 9, 2010.
Time: 10 minutes, 30 seconds
MP3 File
Session Notes:
This internet radio show or podcast
Number 67 in the series for Franklin Matters.
Let's take about 10 minutes to review what matters in Franklin, MA as this week comes to a close on Sunday May 9th.
In this session I'll cover the Planning Board meeting on Monday and the Finance Committee meetings on Tuesday and Thursday as they conducted their budget hearings. I missed reporting live from the Town Council meeting on Wednesday. I did catch up to the meeting via the video on demand archive and will cover the highlights from that. To close, I'll do a brief outlook at the week ahead
The Planning Board continued the hearing on Van Roon Chiropratic. Citizens presented a petition with 175 signatures objecting to the special permit. If approved, the special permit would increase traffic at least by 64 trips to handle the patient in/outs to the office on a road too narrow for such volume and already under pressure from the existing traffic near intersection (RT 140).
They also continued the hearing on the Big Y although this seems closer to approval, the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting should be interesting.
The Crossways Church application for 282 Summer St was approved.
The posts with the details of the Planning Board meeting can be found here:
The Finance Committee held two budget hearings this week to get into the details of each departments requests.
The details for the Tuesday meeting can be found here
The details for the Thursday meeting can be found here:
I chimed in on the Milford Daily News website to provide details in answer to some commenters questions:
One said the Police department was overstaffed due to the presence of four officers on the i495/King St construction site. I responded:
Another asked about the time line for the override this year and the high school renovation project. I responded:
As I did catch up to completely view the Town Council meeting from Weds 5/5, I was heartened to hear the last seven minutes, especially during the Council Comments.
Chair Scott Mason addressed Council McGann's (who was absent Wednesday's meeting) comment during the prior meeting (Apr 28th) that he (McGann) would bringing forth a presentation on Town waste. Scott requested Jeff Nutting to allocate time on the agenda to have this covered; “this presentation, if there is anything to it, needs to be addressed before the override.”
Councilor Vallee said "there is no waste in this town"
The meeting adjourned and as the meeting video ends Councilor Vallee is heard to say, "If they do find anything, they won't find much I'll tell you."
I suggest that you spend a few minutes to hear the last seven minutes of the Town Council meeting yourself. This should help to address some of the negative comments .
follow this link to the on demand video
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=xEUq0k5hUv%2bZhhtWPwnXlA%3d%3d
This week will be a busy one.
Momday, the Finance Committee closes their budget hearings
Tuesday, the School Committee meets
Wednesday, provides a real opportunity to make a choice with three events running at the same time.
Inthe Council Chambers, Downtown Revitalization Project (corrected, should be Third Floor, Training Room) (The next EPA meeting on the 24th is scheduled for the Council Chambers, I got them mixed up)
In Room 205 Financial Planning Committee
At Tri-County, EPA will hold a public hearing on storm water mitigation changes that could require the communities of Franklin, Bellingham and Milford to spend up to $70 million to reduce phosphorus in storm water before it reaches the Charles River.
I'll go with the EPA hearing at Tri-County.The Downtown project should be on cable and I can catch the replay. The Financial Planning meeting will be 'lost' but such is life and tough choices. Even with the correction for the Downtown Project to be held in the Training Room on the 3rd Floor, I'll still go with the EPA meeting. Bigger amount of money involved!
What will you do this week?
As I close this session this week, let me remind you that
If you like what I am doing here, please tell your friends and neighbors
If you don’t like something, please tell me
Thank you for listening!
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 music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission
I hope you enjoy!
Note: email subscribers will need to click through to listen to the audio recording
Time: 10 minutes, 30 seconds
MP3 File
Session Notes:
This internet radio show or podcast
Number 67 in the series for Franklin Matters.
Let's take about 10 minutes to review what matters in Franklin, MA as this week comes to a close on Sunday May 9th.
In this session I'll cover the Planning Board meeting on Monday and the Finance Committee meetings on Tuesday and Thursday as they conducted their budget hearings. I missed reporting live from the Town Council meeting on Wednesday. I did catch up to the meeting via the video on demand archive and will cover the highlights from that. To close, I'll do a brief outlook at the week ahead
The Planning Board continued the hearing on Van Roon Chiropratic. Citizens presented a petition with 175 signatures objecting to the special permit. If approved, the special permit would increase traffic at least by 64 trips to handle the patient in/outs to the office on a road too narrow for such volume and already under pressure from the existing traffic near intersection (RT 140).
They also continued the hearing on the Big Y although this seems closer to approval, the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting should be interesting.
The Crossways Church application for 282 Summer St was approved.
The posts with the details of the Planning Board meeting can be found here:
- Live reporting - 282 Summer St (Crossways Church)
- Live reporting - Big Y (348 E Central St)
- Live reporting: Van Roon Chiropractic
- Live reporting - Planning Board - general business...
The Finance Committee held two budget hearings this week to get into the details of each departments requests.
The details for the Tuesday meeting can be found here
- Live reporting - Facilities
- Live reporting - Technology
- Live reporting - School Committee budget
- Live reporting - Planning and Community Developmen...
- Live reporting - Elections
- Live reporting - Town Clerk
- Live reporting - Board of Assessors
- Live reporting - Board of Health/Health Services
- Live reporting - debt stabilization
- Live reporting - Finance Committee
The details for the Thursday meeting can be found here:
- Live reporting - animal control, Tri-County
- Live reporting - Recreation
- Live reporting - Library
- Live reporting - parking meters
- Live reporting - Police
- Live reporting - Senior Center
- Live reporting - Finance Committee
I chimed in on the Milford Daily News website to provide details in answer to some commenters questions:
One said the Police department was overstaffed due to the presence of four officers on the i495/King St construction site. I responded:
The police working in the construction zone at the i495/King St intersection are working detail duty. They are off-police hours. They are paid by the contractor for their hours of duty. The money goes to the Town, the Town pays the police, and Franklin actually makes some money on the deal. About $16,000/per year as a net income from all the police detail per the discussion at the Finance Committee budget hearing on Thursday evening, May 6th.
Another asked about the time line for the override this year and the high school renovation project. I responded:
The override vote on June 8th will provide funds for the operating budget, the annual expenses of the daily operations for Franklin beginning July 1. The high school renovation project will generate a debt exclusion for a specific period. The dollar amount and the period remain to be determined by the State. According to Jeff Nutting's update at Town Council meeting on April 28th, the debt exclusion vote would come around Nov 2011. The construction could begin in 2013 and the actual increase in our taxes would not hit until 2015.
According to the Financial Planning Committee or long term planning report, Franklin faces a shortage of $3m for 2011 (hence the override) a shortage of $5.5 M for 2012, a shortage of 7.0 M for 2013, a shortage of 8.3 M for 2014. So even if this override passes, yes, there could very well be more overrides in our future.
We have spent too many years cutting. We need to increase revenues period. Some of that will be generated by the empty and underutilized industrial/commercial space. Some of that should come from the pockets of Franklin taxpayers.
As I did catch up to completely view the Town Council meeting from Weds 5/5, I was heartened to hear the last seven minutes, especially during the Council Comments.
Chair Scott Mason addressed Council McGann's (who was absent Wednesday's meeting) comment during the prior meeting (Apr 28th) that he (McGann) would bringing forth a presentation on Town waste. Scott requested Jeff Nutting to allocate time on the agenda to have this covered; “this presentation, if there is anything to it, needs to be addressed before the override.”
Councilor Vallee said "there is no waste in this town"
The meeting adjourned and as the meeting video ends Councilor Vallee is heard to say, "If they do find anything, they won't find much I'll tell you."
I suggest that you spend a few minutes to hear the last seven minutes of the Town Council meeting yourself. This should help to address some of the negative comments .
follow this link to the on demand video
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=xEUq0k5hUv%2bZhhtWPwnXlA%3d%3d
This week will be a busy one.
Momday, the Finance Committee closes their budget hearings
Tuesday, the School Committee meets
Wednesday, provides a real opportunity to make a choice with three events running at the same time.
In
In Room 205 Financial Planning Committee
At Tri-County, EPA will hold a public hearing on storm water mitigation changes that could require the communities of Franklin, Bellingham and Milford to spend up to $70 million to reduce phosphorus in storm water before it reaches the Charles River.
I'll go with the EPA hearing at Tri-County.
What will you do this week?
As I close this session this week, let me remind you that
If you like what I am doing here, please tell your friends and neighbors
If you don’t like something, please tell me
Thank you for listening!
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 music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission
I hope you enjoy!
Note: email subscribers will need to click through to listen to the audio recording
"you can take that step with more confidence"
It's a difficult time for anyone, but with a Job Search Jam Session this Friday, the quest for employment will become a little less lonely.
"By the end of the session, you should have more knowledge, more confidence and more contacts, so when you go make the next step in your job search, you can take that step with more confidence, more skill and maybe that additional network connection to take you where you want to be," said event organizer Steve Sherlock.
From 1 to 4:30 Friday afternoon, Sherlock invites "the laid-off, employed but looking to do something different and underemployed looking to get a full-time spot" to the Job Search Jam Session - a networking event that provides tools and contacts to those on the job hunt.
Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here:
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x1773730419/Job-jam-aims-to-promote-networking
You can register here:
http://jobsearchjamsessions.eventbrite.com/
Note: You can pay via PayPal or credit card in advance or select "show other payment options" to reserve your ticket and pay at the door. Either way, your reservation will help us plan for the amount of people to expect that day.
Franklin Citizens Rail Trail Committee Meeting - Agenda
Proposed Agenda for May 11, 2010
Location: Franklin YMCA 45 Forge Hill Road
Start Time: 7:30PM
I. Call to Order / Introductions of New Attendees
A. Introduction of new attendees
B. Review of minutes of previous meeting
C. Approve previous meeting minutes
II. Report from our representative from DCR
A. Eagle Scout Kiosk Project
III. Membership Committee Report (Denison, McKeown, Sawyer)
A. Committee to report on membership activity
IV. Report from Finance Committee (Rossetti)
A. Report from Treasurer
V. Report of Fund Raising Committee (Sawyer)
A. Report on fund raising activities
a. Report on Raffle Ticket Sales by Carl Svendsen
b. Report Road Race Committee prep by Dave Labonte
VI. Report from Grant Writing Committee (if any)
A. Extend committee with more members & participation
VII. Unfinished Business
VIII. New Business
A. Need volunteers to work on the 2nd edition brochure
IX. Set Date & place for Next Meeting and Adjourn
The Franklin Citizens Rail Trail Committee website can be found here
http://www.franklinrailtrail.org/
Franklin, MA
Location: Franklin YMCA 45 Forge Hill Road
Start Time: 7:30PM
I. Call to Order / Introductions of New Attendees
A. Introduction of new attendees
B. Review of minutes of previous meeting
C. Approve previous meeting minutes
II. Report from our representative from DCR
A. Eagle Scout Kiosk Project
III. Membership Committee Report (Denison, McKeown, Sawyer)
A. Committee to report on membership activity
IV. Report from Finance Committee (Rossetti)
A. Report from Treasurer
V. Report of Fund Raising Committee (Sawyer)
A. Report on fund raising activities
a. Report on Raffle Ticket Sales by Carl Svendsen
b. Report Road Race Committee prep by Dave Labonte
VI. Report from Grant Writing Committee (if any)
A. Extend committee with more members & participation
VII. Unfinished Business
VIII. New Business
A. Need volunteers to work on the 2nd edition brochure
IX. Set Date & place for Next Meeting and Adjourn
The Franklin Citizens Rail Trail Committee website can be found here
http://www.franklinrailtrail.org/
Franklin, MA
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Town Council - 05/05/10
The collection of posts on the Town Council meeting held Wednesday, May 5th and reported on by viewing the on demand video archive can be found here:
Town Council: Franklin Recreational Advisory Board...
Town Council: Spilka, Vallee update
Town Council: road repair funding
Town Council - hazard mitigation
Town Council: Legislation
Town Council: Closing items
Franklin, MA
Town Council: Franklin Recreational Advisory Board...
Town Council: Spilka, Vallee update
Town Council: road repair funding
Town Council - hazard mitigation
Town Council: Legislation
Town Council: Closing items
Franklin, MA
Town Council: Closing items
Old business
Powderly - update requested to families where elderly have deferred taxes, the rate is small and following what Franklin pays, but jumps up after a brief period to 16%. The incentive for the family is to pay it off quickly.
New business
Vallee - street opening bylaw, working very well, it is well enforced
if a company opens a street so far, then they should pave curb-to-curb
The MMA has sponsored some legislation that has been pending for 30 years (per Cerel)
Can we get a letter for the Council to sign to send to our legislators to request action on this?
Councilor Comments
Mason - addressing Council McGann's (who is absent tonight) mention at last meeting (Apr 28th) about bringing forth a presentation on Town waste, requesting Jeff to allocate time on the agenda to have this covered, this presentation if there is anything to it, needs to be addressed before the override.
Vallee - "there is no waste in this town"
as the meeting breaks, Vallee is heard to say, "if they find anything, they won't find much I'll tell you."
To hear the last seven minutes of the Town Council meeting as summarized above, follow this link to the on demand video
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=xEUq0k5hUv%2bZhhtWPwnXlA%3d%3d
Franklin, MA
Powderly - update requested to families where elderly have deferred taxes, the rate is small and following what Franklin pays, but jumps up after a brief period to 16%. The incentive for the family is to pay it off quickly.
New business
Vallee - street opening bylaw, working very well, it is well enforced
if a company opens a street so far, then they should pave curb-to-curb
The MMA has sponsored some legislation that has been pending for 30 years (per Cerel)
Can we get a letter for the Council to sign to send to our legislators to request action on this?
Councilor Comments
Mason - addressing Council McGann's (who is absent tonight) mention at last meeting (Apr 28th) about bringing forth a presentation on Town waste, requesting Jeff to allocate time on the agenda to have this covered, this presentation if there is anything to it, needs to be addressed before the override.
Vallee - "there is no waste in this town"
as the meeting breaks, Vallee is heard to say, "if they find anything, they won't find much I'll tell you."
To hear the last seven minutes of the Town Council meeting as summarized above, follow this link to the on demand video
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=xEUq0k5hUv%2bZhhtWPwnXlA%3d%3d
Franklin, MA
Town Council: Legislation
J. LEGISLATION FOR ACTION –
1. Resolution 10-20: Authorization to Transfer A Portion of Franklin’s Excess Sewer Capacity At Charles River Treatment Plant to Towns of Millis and Bellingham
2. Resolution 10-21: Appropriation – Snow and Ice Deficit
1. Resolution 10-20: Authorization to Transfer A Portion of Franklin’s Excess Sewer Capacity At Charles River Treatment Plant to Towns of Millis and Bellingham
A good way to increase funds in the Sewer/Water enterprise account and reduce the annual expense as well as our share of the capital renovations being planned
We have excess capacity of 1.2M gallons per day and would still have excess after this to over future growth
motion to approve - passed 7-0
2. Resolution 10-21: Appropriation – Snow and Ice Deficit
went over the budget as expected, slowly building the budget up to the working average
motion to approve - passed 7-0
3. Resolution 10-22: Appropriation – Election Expenses
$10,000 requested to cover the special override election on June 8th. This election is totally funded by Franklin as opposed to other state and special senate elections where we get some reimbursement from the State.
motion to approve - passed 7-0
Note - Items 3 and 4 went before the Finance Committee on Tuesday 5/4/10 and were approved by a 9-0 vote. According to the video, Jeff Nutting remembered the vote as 8-0.
Franklin, MA
3. Resolution 10-22: Appropriation – Election Expenses
$10,000 requested to cover the special override election on June 8th. This election is totally funded by Franklin as opposed to other state and special senate elections where we get some reimbursement from the State.
motion to approve - passed 7-0
Note - Items 3 and 4 went before the Finance Committee on Tuesday 5/4/10 and were approved by a 9-0 vote. According to the video, Jeff Nutting remembered the vote as 8-0.
Franklin, MA
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)