|
The United Regional Chamber of Commerce | 42 Union Street | Attleboro | MA | 02703 |
Friday, October 14, 2011
Taste of the Region - Oct 25th
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Library book sale: Sat 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM
The Friends of Franklin will hold their fall book sale this weekend.
In conjunction with the book sale, there will be a collection of dry goods for the Franklin Food Pantry
If you are looking to give something the Food Pantry has on the current needs list, the list can be found here
The book sale will be held at the DPW garage off Hayward St
View Larger Map
In conjunction with the book sale, there will be a collection of dry goods for the Franklin Food Pantry
If you are looking to give something the Food Pantry has on the current needs list, the list can be found here
The book sale will be held at the DPW garage off Hayward St
View Larger Map
Race to Nowhere
The Franklin Public Schools, in conjunction with the Joint Parent Communication Councils of Franklin, is hosting a screening of the film Race to Nowhere on Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 7 p.m.
The film will play at the Mercer Auditorium at Horace Mann Middle School on Oak Street. A panel discussion will follow the screening.
Featuring the heartbreaking stories of young people who have been pushed to the brink and educators who are burned out and worried that students aren’t developing the skills needed for the global economy, Race to Nowhere points to the silent epidemic running rampant in our schools. The film is the product of Vicki Abeles, a concerned mother turned filmmaker, who aims her camera at the culture of hollow achievement and pressure to perform that has invaded America’s schools. As Abeles notes, “it is destroying our children’s love of learning and feeding an epidemic of unprepared, disengaged, and unhealthy students.” The film is a call to families, educators, experts and policy makers to examine current assumptions on how to best prepare the youth of America to become the healthy, bright, contributing and leading citizens in the 21st century. You can learn more about the film athttp://www.racetonowhere.com/.
The event is free and open to the general public. However, those who wish to attend the screening must register online for tickets at http://
The film will play at the Mercer Auditorium at Horace Mann Middle School on Oak Street. A panel discussion will follow the screening.
Featuring the heartbreaking stories of young people who have been pushed to the brink and educators who are burned out and worried that students aren’t developing the skills needed for the global economy, Race to Nowhere points to the silent epidemic running rampant in our schools. The film is the product of Vicki Abeles, a concerned mother turned filmmaker, who aims her camera at the culture of hollow achievement and pressure to perform that has invaded America’s schools. As Abeles notes, “it is destroying our children’s love of learning and feeding an epidemic of unprepared, disengaged, and unhealthy students.” The film is a call to families, educators, experts and policy makers to examine current assumptions on how to best prepare the youth of America to become the healthy, bright, contributing and leading citizens in the 21st century. You can learn more about the film athttp://www.racetonowhere.com/.
The event is free and open to the general public. However, those who wish to attend the screening must register online for tickets at http://
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Finance Committee - 10/11/11
I chose to "follow the money" and attended the Finance Committee (FinCom) meeting on Tuesday evening. It was the first time that the FinCom met this fiscal year. The committee is now nine members (down from eleven) due to the charter change passed in 2009. The committee members were sworn in by the Town Clerk and then set their organization for this fiscal year.
Jim Roche continues as Chair.
Chris Quinn was voted as Vice Chair.
Phyllis Messere was elected Clerk.
Jeff Nutting, Susan Gagne and Jim Dacey participated to help inform the new committee of the various financial process, procedures and issues that the FinCom will be facing.
Several action items were discussed in detail to provide some background for the new members before they voted. The details for the meeting are contained in the following links.
After the meeting, the committee took a new photo to update their page on the Franklin website. The listing of members will also be updated to show the current membership.
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_Finance/index
Jim Roche continues as Chair.
Chris Quinn was voted as Vice Chair.
Phyllis Messere was elected Clerk.
Jeff Nutting, Susan Gagne and Jim Dacey participated to help inform the new committee of the various financial process, procedures and issues that the FinCom will be facing.
Several action items were discussed in detail to provide some background for the new members before they voted. The details for the meeting are contained in the following links.
After the meeting, the committee took a new photo to update their page on the Franklin website. The listing of members will also be updated to show the current membership.
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_Finance/index
"I see growth and I see improvement"
Each of the schools, Remington, Horace Mann, and Annie Sullivan, had similar struggles with their annual yearly progress goals under the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System this past year. None of them met their math or special education and low-income student requirements.
The principals noted that this failure was not a reflection of the school system or their students, but rather somewhat unrealistic goals on the part of the state for high-performing schools like Franklin.
"When you're in a successful district, once you get into that 90th percentile, (it becomes harder)," said Paul Peri, principal of Remington Middle School. Peri added that Franklin is in the top two levels of seven that the state sets.
"The way the formula is set up ... the better you do, the harder it is to reach that goal," said Beth Witcoff, principal at Annie Sullivan Middle School.
Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/archive/x1092316431/Franklin-board-extends-superintendents-contract#ixzz1aYhM5wlZ
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Live reporting - FinCom - Action items and closing
Partridge St Culvert Emergency Repairs - $150,000
funding: raise and appropriate (until the tax rate is set)
already passed by Council
NuStyle - $165,000 - a placeholder for the correct amount
Jeff re-tells the story of the building
hazardous waste site or brownfield, out to bid to demolish the site
bids are being opened on Oct 27th, wants to get the item to the Council in November
once the building is demolished, we can sell the property, maybe make a little, maybe not
this amount is in addition to the $200,000 from the EPA
couple of weeks to sign contract, assuming no bid protest
so maybe in the winter
motion to raise and appropriate, passed 9-0
Roads - $400,000
Funding: raise and appropriate (Hotel/Meal Tax)
don't have enough from other sources to cover our 200 miles of roads
the money in the open space account is sitting there
DelCarte property could be a use for it but the Council has chosen so far not to do so
suggestion to use the current year's new revenue for the purpose of repairing the roads
Daniels and Lincoln are scheduled for a new water line in 2013
master 'road' spreadsheet to be updated now after the construction has been mostly completed on the roads
do have a game plan based upon a 2000 study of the water system
cast iron pipes are really old, mostly in the downtown sections
goal is to do 2-3 miles every year and to eventually replace the entire system over the years
in the long run the only way to overcome this is with a dedicated revenue source, and that is not on the table anytime soon
)Jeff told story on Bellingham got the Pulaski Blvd project over our Pleasant St project (estimated at $9M)
motion to raise and appropriate, passed 9-0
OPEB Actuary Study - $12,500
Funding from free cash
unfunded liability was last estimated at $79M, need the study to find out what it currently
need to set up an irrevocable trust so that the money currently in hand can be invested and generate a good return (another town did an override to bring their fund to fully funded -at $3M per year)
looking also to get the money
motion to approve use from free cash, passed 9-0
Fire Salaries - $85,000
see letter from Fire Chief
vacancy now at a fire fighter position due to the move up of folks to replace the Captain replacing the Chief
when we had 12 guys on a shift, it wasn't an issue to get backfills, now that we have 11 guys on a shift it becomes more critical. Everybody has been around long enough to get the top vacation amount so spread it around and there is someone out all the time
new firefighter gets 20 weeks of training before going to fight a fire
this amount is not the full amount of the Chief's letter, being conservative
firefighting is an insurance policy, it depends upon how big a deductible you want
motion to raise and appropriate, passed 9-0
Transfers
Planning Board salaries - $8,000
Board of Health salaries - $9,000
restoring part-time, non-benefit positions as the work is there and required
the positions had been full-time and moved a couple of years ago to part-time
then the people left so the positions were vacant
two motions to approve transfers, passed 9-0 for both
UnPaid Bills
Prior year bills - from Library/Recreation $716.94 from FY 2012 into prior year budget
motion to approve transfer, passed 9-0
Discussion items
Budget workshop
Open Meeting law - reminders on use of email for discussion (no) can share info but not get into a debate
Finance Committee handbook on CD
Annual meeting of Town Finance Committees (Oct 15th)
staggered terms being implemented, some for one year now
re-opening this year's budget
a joint budget subcommittee meeting
Town Council, FinCom and SchCom will be meeting
more to come on this, nothing to do just now
getting into the budget vs. actual to help prepare
SchCom funding of the teach contract was not one time money, it was recurring funding
Jeff Nutting provided an update on the high school design, now awaiting word from MSBA on size of the school, model school already built four times, can move very quickly
can have designed for approval for Jan 2012, if MSBA approves then
the Council would have 120 days to get a vote to the voters
if missing the Jan timeline, it would slip 2 months as they only meet every 2 months
MSBA would pay about 59% of the total, Franklin would contribute to the remainder
Building Committee about to put up 'frequently asked questions' on Franklin website
another big item on the agenda will be storm water
due to a pending EPA edict, no funding source to take on the work
capital requirements estimated at $75M, likely to be more like $100M
do we establish a storm water utility? how does that work?
the EPA has not yet finalized their regulation, once they do, we'll know the timeline
we have 1600 catch basins, probably cleaned 200
we have killed more trees with printing that the EPA would like
Fiscal 2013 budget around the corner, dept head requests coming in Dec, review in Jan/Feb
State Aid numbers comes in Mar, so we'll know the gap
and can budget accordingly
Long Range Fiscal Planning Committee is looking at roads and OPEB
an engineering study is being done on the dams, could go to bid next spring
has the $1.3M estimate gone up or down, don't know, may now next spring
a big deal but less than the new school or budget or OPEB or storm water issues
3.5% funding available within the budget for capacity to borrow and without asking the voters
if the new school debt exclusion passes, the funding ($1.4M) for that would go into the debt exclusion bucket and we would have more capacity within the 3.5% of our plan
space for DPW as some equipment is currently kept at the high school
Jim Dacey -
opportunity to refund 2 bonds
callable in 2012-2013
opportunity to save about 400,000 in interest cost spread over several years
won't see lot each year, but it does add up to 400,000 over the course of this opportunity
Council needs to approve authorization to refinance
Live reporting - Finance Committee - 10/11/11
Present: L Huempher, P Goldsmith, P Messere, S Dewsnap, T Smith, J Roche, C Quinn, M Dufour, B Feldman (late) - J Nutting, J Dacey, S Gagner
Absent: none
Debbie Pellegri - swore in the committee members present
meeting called to order
meeting being recorded by Franklin Matters
motion to accept minutes of May 2, passed 5-0, 3 abstain
motion to accept minutes of May 3, passed 5-0, 3 abstain
motion to accept minutes of May 5, passed 3-0, 4 abstain
motion to accept minutes of May 9, passed 5-0, 3 abstain
re-organization; to re-elect Chair, Vice Chair and Clerk
Roche, nominated to be Chair - seconded, passed 8-0
Quinn, nominated to be Vice Chair, passed 8-0
Meserve, nominated to be Clark, passed 8-0
Jeff Nutting, Susan Gagner, Jim Dacey - the finance team
B Feldman joined meeting (he got sworn in before coming into the meeting)
$100 million dollar business, call if you have questions
Town Admin submits budget, FinCom makes recommendation, Town Council makes their final decision
Fiscal policies on various matters, one for stabilization fund to be about 5% of budget
getting about 2.5-3 percent interest today, has been more in the past
Jeff provided an overview on the status of the general accounts
"free cash" revenues in excess of those budgeted, and expenses less than those budgeted
averages about 2.7M has been as high as 7M
about 2-3% of budget, it is not free
used for capital budget, some held in reserve (for snow/ice etc.)
don't use free cash to balance the budget
capital budget for recurring expenses like police cars, equipment, etc.
fiscal year, Jul to Jun
Free cash calculated from prior year budget, books closed at June 30th, then certified by State before being used locally
a big chunk is kept for snow/ice, that budget has been bumped up gradually
what gets cut first in the budget, capital?
free cash was used during the 90's to balance the budget, Jeff weaned us off that over 2-3 years after he came in
competing interests with the budget, weigh the choices, is it reasonable and rational?
Absent: none
Debbie Pellegri - swore in the committee members present
meeting called to order
meeting being recorded by Franklin Matters
motion to accept minutes of May 2, passed 5-0, 3 abstain
motion to accept minutes of May 3, passed 5-0, 3 abstain
motion to accept minutes of May 5, passed 3-0, 4 abstain
motion to accept minutes of May 9, passed 5-0, 3 abstain
re-organization; to re-elect Chair, Vice Chair and Clerk
Roche, nominated to be Chair - seconded, passed 8-0
Quinn, nominated to be Vice Chair, passed 8-0
Meserve, nominated to be Clark, passed 8-0
Jeff Nutting, Susan Gagner, Jim Dacey - the finance team
B Feldman joined meeting (he got sworn in before coming into the meeting)
$100 million dollar business, call if you have questions
Town Admin submits budget, FinCom makes recommendation, Town Council makes their final decision
Fiscal policies on various matters, one for stabilization fund to be about 5% of budget
getting about 2.5-3 percent interest today, has been more in the past
Jeff provided an overview on the status of the general accounts
"free cash" revenues in excess of those budgeted, and expenses less than those budgeted
averages about 2.7M has been as high as 7M
about 2-3% of budget, it is not free
used for capital budget, some held in reserve (for snow/ice etc.)
don't use free cash to balance the budget
capital budget for recurring expenses like police cars, equipment, etc.
fiscal year, Jul to Jun
Free cash calculated from prior year budget, books closed at June 30th, then certified by State before being used locally
a big chunk is kept for snow/ice, that budget has been bumped up gradually
what gets cut first in the budget, capital?
free cash was used during the 90's to balance the budget, Jeff weaned us off that over 2-3 years after he came in
competing interests with the budget, weigh the choices, is it reasonable and rational?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)