live reporting - Tax Classification Hearing

F. HEARINGS
Tax Classification Hearing – 7:10 PM

The documents associated with the tax rate hearing can be found here

http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_CouncilAgendas/2013/1231113.pdf

reference to the booklet shown by Ken Norman, the documents contained in the booklet are found in the link above.

Kevin Doyle, Director of Assessors

Ken Norman, Chairman - Board of Directors

Chris Feeley, John Neas

discussion on single vs. split tax rate, most communities inside the 128 beltway

the single rate is the fairest given the disproportionate groups residential vs. commercial industrial

Bissanti - a dual tax rate is burdensome upon the businesses, businesses have left communities for that

the high school building raised the taxes about $48 dollars on the average

My personal notes: this simpler quicker presentation was not very informative. If folks have seen this before, it is a minor rate change. If people have not seen this before, then they don't get much info in this forum.

Live reporting: Town Council - Dec 11, 2013

Present: Feldman, Padula, Mercer, Vallee, Pfeffer, Jones, Bissanti, Williams
Absent: Kelly


A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

B. ANNOUNCEMENTS
This meeting is being recorded by Franklin TV and shown on Comcast channel 11 and Verizon channel 29. This meeting may also be recorded by Franklin Matters.

No meeting Dec 18th, next meeting Jan 15th


C. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS
none

D. CITIZEN COMMENTS
Mark Ellis - Franklin Elks
regarding flags on Main St for veterans funerals
offering to keep tradition of putting the flags up
will take down and store, coordinate with the funeral homes


E. APPOINTMENTS
none

(three minute recess)

Senior Center: parking lot expansion making progress

The plans for expanding the Senior Center by finishing the second floor are underway. There is money being set aside in a Senior Center Stabilization Fund to help with the cost of the completion. The additional space would bring more people so the parking at the Senior Center would need to expand. Franklin jumped on the chance to purchase the property next door to provide space to do so.

The property purchase was authorized earlier this year and the house was just recently demolished. The before and after photos are below.

From October - the 'before' picture

Beaver St house purchased by Franklin

From this past weekend - the 'after' picture

Now an empty lot on Beaver St

Some time in the future, the Town Council will need to approve the plans and funds for the parking lot expansion work.

For Lifelong Learning Spring is coming soon

An update from Lifelong Learning:

Lifelong Learning constantly works in the future, as well as the present. By that I mean that we are always working on learning initiatives for the upcoming semester and year, as we implement other programs/courses on a daily basis. 

Yesterday we finished editing the Adult Education and Community Learning spring brochure. The brochure will be mailed to residents of Franklin, Bellingham and Wrentham. It includes a number of traditional offerings: Volleyball, Basketball, Yoga, Zumba, Language, Photography, Writing, Dance and more. Additionally, it features new courses offered in collaboration with businesses from Franklin and the surrounding communities: Kettlebells for Women with f.i.t. of Bellingham, Wine and Chocolate Tasting with Franklin Liquors and Green Mountain Chocolates, IPAs -- Hoppy Ales with Pour Richards, and Ladies Snowshoe/Trek and Ladies Light Hike with Nanci Cahalane and held in Foxboro.

We are in the process of receiving course proposals for the Summer Programs. Faculty and staff are proposing courses for students from kindergarten through grade 12. Their creativity and dedication make the Summer Program an enriching experience for all involved. Watch the Franklin Public Schools website in mid-January for registration information. 

Lifelong Learning is a department within the Franklin Public Schools. The leadership provided by the Superintendent of Schools, Ms. Sabolinski, is critical to the success of this department. Her leadership reinforces and supports the mission and purpose of Lifelong Learning.

As always, please contact us with any questions: lifelong@franklin.k12.ma.us.

This was posted to the Lifelong Learning website here
http://lifelonglearningfps.blogspot.com/2013/12/tuesday-december-10-2013.html

Voices of Franklin: NDAA - What Would Nelson Mandela Do?

Rich Aucoin included me on this email:

Question: Are your elected officials doing what Nelson Mandela would do on NDAA's indefinite detentions? 

Are they honoring their constitutional Oaths of Office by standing up for equal justice and due process under the law? Or are they violating the sacred trust we placed in them to protect our most basic civil rights? 

Please take two minutes to read PANDA Massachusetts' latest news letter below.

Share Tweet Forward to Friend NDAA: What Would Nelson Mandela Do? Courage is not the absence of fear; it is inspiring others to move beyond it. -- Dr. Nelson Mandela Nelson Mandela's bold political activism changed the world. His willingness to challenge the unjust policies of his national government reminds us of the bravery and personal sacrifice that gave rise to our own nation. By standing up against unequal justice in South Africa, Mandela set a timeless example for all of modern humanity. But let us remember that the very ideas and actions that made Nelson Mandela a human rights icon also once resulted in the U.S. branding him a terrorist. That's right, prominent political figures in the United States branded peace negotiator Mandela a "terrorist" for his justice activism. And yet now we are expected to believe that the U.S. government is somehow infallible when it does such branding today. Under the 2012 NDAA, anyone branded a terrorist, including American citizens, can be presumed guilty and imprisoned for life based on accusation alone, deprived even of the kind of sham trial that Mandela was given in Apartheid South Africa. So it is ironic that over the next week we will be hearing American politicians of every political stripe gushing with pride and praise for Dr. Mandela's resistance to tyranny. It begs the question: how many of these politicians would have defended Mandela's belligerent acts against the state when he was actually committing them? How many would have locked him up and thrown away the key without due process, NDAA-style? What Would Mandela Do? Based on what we know of Nelson Mandela's political activism and the terrible price he paid for it, it is easy to know which side he would take on this question of defending equal due process rights vs. allowing indefinite detentions. Our peaceful grassroots movement to lawfully block NDAA detentions thus provides a useful litmus test for determining who in Massachusetts politics truly possesses Mandela's moral convictions  - and who doesn't. From his career after prison, we know that politician Mandela would not agree with public officials who sit by idly and accept NDAA's injustices; those who claim it is someone else's job to stand up for basic rights, not mine. So let us see who in Massachusetts politics has taken a stand against NDAA. Congressman Jim McGovern has been the strongest leader so far. Besides working tirelessly in Congress to end NDAA's indefinite detention provisions, he has also written in support of PANDA's civil rights advocacy to restore due process at the local level. And to their credit, every other member of the Massachusetts delegation has at least voted to repeal NDAA's unconstitutional sections. At the state level, Representative Ryan Fattman is another elected official standing up for the right of trial by jury. He supports PANDA's pending State House legislation blocking NDAA detentions in the Commonwealth and has urged town leaders in his district to pass local anti-NDAA resolutions. At the local level, the people of Webster and Oxford have successfully blocked NDAA, blazing the trail for civil rights leaders in other Bay State communities. Dr. Jill Stein of the Green-Rainbow Party has spoken out against the NDAA, as have numerous organizations, such as the ACLU of Massachusetts, the Worcester Tea Party together with Occupy Worcester, the Libertarian Association of Massachusetts (LAMA), the Massachusetts chapter of Veterans for Peace (VFP), the Bill of Rights Defense Committee (BORDC), American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and others. It is time for Massachusetts legislators and local officials to do what Nelson Mandela would do. Contact your local and state officials. Tell them to join the people of Massachusetts in restoring the Right of due process. Share Tweet Forward to Friend Please forward this newsletter to friends and family.  Get involved! Click here to sign up for PANDA Newsletters www.pandaunite.org www.ndaa2012.us www.fb.com/pandaMA1776 MA@pandaunite.org Copyright © 2013 PANDA Massachusetts, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you are a member of the PANDA Massachusetts State Team. Our mailing address is: PANDA Massachusetts Northfields Neighborhood Salem, MA 01970 Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences

Local Musicians Give Back

LAME-Aid

Milford, MA – There's a handful of local musicians who are looking to make a difference in the local area and they call themselves LAME.  But that's a good thing… you see, LAME stands for for Local Area Music Ensemble.  LAME was conceived after local musicians Lou Miano, Tim Galvin, Eric Milot and Ligor helped Ray Auger and his acoustic partner Justin Redden record their original song Bucket of Beer.  "We decided that this kind of collaboration might be a fun thing to do on a regular basis so we started working on songs that, individually, we never had a chance to finish writing or recording on our own", says Auger.  "It's two fold… making great music with a great group of local musicians while enjoying some social time with friends during the process."

LAME has recently expanded its membership to 15 while recording a special song for the holiday season.  Do They Know It's Christmas, was a charitable effort recorded in 1984 by Band-Aid to help to raise money for relief of the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia.  The song featured a who's who of the music community at the time and can still be heard on the radio during the holidays.  "We thought that this would be a great song to recreate to help draw awareness to folks in need in our local area", explains Jim Ligor.  So LAME's friends were recruited and over the course of 2 months a local version of the song was recorded.  It was decided to sell the single for $5 with all proceeds benefiting the Daily Bread Food Pantry in Milford with services Milford, Hopedale and Medway and over 900 people.  "Music brings people together and opens hearts and ears.  We are hoping that we can do a lot of good with this effort", says Auger. 

Do They Know It's Christmas? by LAME-Aid can be purchased online on WMRC's Steals and Deals Marketplace at www.wmrcdailynews.com, at the WMRC Studios, Rubber Chicken Comics in Bellingham and other local businesses.  For more details about CD locations, LAME, LAME-Aid and Do They Know It's Christmas visit LAME's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/milfordlame.

Tax rate hearing set for Town Council meeting

The Milford Daily News reports on the tax rate hearing scheduled for the Town Council meeting Wednesday evening at 7:00 PM.

Councilors must decide whether to keep a single tax rate, adopt a split rate or shift a portion of the tax levy from residential to commercial, among other things. As of now, residential properties share about 79 percent of the levy, leaving commercial and industrial properties with 20 percent, according to a memo sent to the council from the Board of Assessors. 

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the second floor council chambers at the Municipal Building, 355 East Central St. Before the council votes, director of assessing Kevin Doyle is expected to brief councilors on the status of residential and commercial values. 

The single tax rate for fiscal year 2013 was $14.34, up from $13.73 in fiscal year 2012. The increase reflected a slight drop in the average value of residential properties, as well as passage of a Proposition 2½ debt-exclusion tax override to help fund the new Franklin High School, expected to open in the fall of 2014.

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x915451414/Franklin-Town-Council-to-set-fiscal-year-2014-tax-rates-Wednesday#ixzz2nA6ZomVk

You can find the full package of documents released for the meeting here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2013/12/franklin-ma-town-council-agenda-dec-11.html