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Tuesday, May 5, 2015
TeamFitness: Summertime Student Special
Monday, May 4, 2015
Live reporting: Finance Committee - Budget Hearing - May 4
Present: Dowd, Conley, Fleming, Smith, Bertone, Huempher, Dewsnap (approx 7:15)
Absent: Dufour, Aparo
Nutting, Gagner, Dacey
Absent: Dufour, Aparo
Nutting, Gagner, Dacey
Monday
(Dept #) (Dept name) (page number of budget book)- 300 School Dept C-1
highlights of the school budget can be viewed in the presentation doc from last week's School Committee meeting
$113M spent in FY 2015
$56,950,000 = 2.4% increase over FY 2015
net increase of 4 teachers overall
- 5 teachers shifting from elementary due to declining enrollment
- 1 to go to the high school
- 2 each to go to Remington and Annie Sullivan to eliminate the split teams there
- adding 3 math specialists (part time) to elementary to assist with the new math program introduced
- adding one ELL specialist to assist with non-English language learners
no one losing a job, there are other opportunities and transfers within the district
Franklin's enrollment is an anomaly for most studies due to the movement in/out of the community. Looking at all sources available for the data, including births from the Town Clerk to indicate the school population several years down the road.
increase in high school some of which was students within Franklin returning from private schools but a good portion was simple move ins to the district
The substantial Federal grant we get is to support students with disbilities. If it ever went away, there would be a major outcry. It has not decreased, the goal is to cover 100% of the costs and it has not gotten to that. It was as high as 40% of the costs but it is not that now.
Cost for active employee health insurance is covered with the School budget, the costs for retired health insurance is covered by the Town's budget. All the same plan, same benefits.
if any questions, the FinCom can contact Maureen or Miriam.
- 390 Tri County C-2
Tri-County will need capital, they are working to develop a capital plan
Franklin makes up about 8% of the students at Tri-County
two ways to manage their building needs, one absorb in the budget and passed to the communities equally; if major, then through the MSBA and a debt exclusion would be needed coordinated among the communities
overall the Tri-County population is down as well, North Attleboro is the other large sending community to Tri-County
- 395 Norfolk Aggie C-3
an estimate based upon some estimates on how many students will participate
- 630 Recreation F-9
Ryan Jette, Recreation Director
in process of obtaining and fitting out the new building
service based organization
rely heavily on the participation to support the program
self-supporting, personnel services and expenses
reach about 8,000 with the programs
clerical staff added to handle the registrations, etc. for the program
no firm date yet on when the move would occur
scheduled a 21e environmental review, tentative closing date in July
town hall sale might get pushed a little to Aug/Sep to help minimize impact
may suspend some of the programs being run out of the building
every one has been notified
will increase some fees to help offset the cost of the new building
new programs coming online along with participation each year
summer camp is increasing
joint coordination with Medway working well
Choate Park camp well received
has help increase our program participation
each year seems to be getting better and better
- 210 Police B-1
Chief Semerjian, Kevin Ryan who does all the finances for the department
some time this year we'll be looking at a deputy chief position, there are funds in the budget but the head count is not added
we came in at just below 2% increase over last year
the community is lucky and it makes my job easier we have so many good folks working for us
no budgets include salary or cost of living increases yet
anticipating any retirements?
not really, the senior would be looking at several years before that
folks would reach max step with 5-7 years of hire
would need to look at viable deputy candidates, from among the lieutenants
no net new hires, backfilling vacancies
grant money restrictions are coming more so now than before
I see that as a challenge coming up with some of those 'extra' funds
the department is pretty fluid
we have no diversity in the department, the last woman left
you heard of the changing demographics in Franklin but it will not happen over night; how do we do that with the minimal turn over we have?
we are 50% of the district by call volume, we haven't looked at the staffign numbers yet, what are we going to run at, we might save some money but we are planning on breaking even initially
- 293 Parking Meter B-31
looking to have the Council eliminate the meters sometime during the fiscal year, we'd still have the parking officer, etc.
Linda Darling, new assistant to Susan Gagner, Comptroller
Old business
none
New business
Council will vote on capital plan Wednesday
might ask for $10K for an OPEB study, may ask for it at the Thursday meeting
the study would be turned around in 30 days or so
maybe have an informational session on OPEB in the fall when it is quieter
get the Trust here, maybe the actuary (although it is not cheap)
motion to adjourn, passed
Should there be High Stakes Testing for Kindergarteners???
Do you have a child in kindergarten? Or one beginning kindergarten in September?
Either way, you might want to schedule to participate in this information session sponsored by the Massachusetts Teachers Association and the Franklin Education Association (the union representing Franklin's teachers).
Child care will be provided. Register in advance to ensure you have coverage.
While good teaching practice involves assessment of students, the TS Gold Assessment given in Kindergarten is extensive and unwarranted. This test has put a great deal of stress on both students and educators and takes a tremendous amount of time away from good teaching practice.
Teachers using TS Gold process have to spend precious class time documenting the personal achievement of students and uploading it to a private companies website.
For more information about the impact of this assessment, please come to a meeting sponsored by the Massachusetts Teachers Association and the Franklin Education Association to be held May 12, 2015.
This meeting will happen at the Alumni Restaurant (Function Room) 391 East Central Street Franklin MA from 6:00 to 8:00 Pm. Childcare will be provided.
Please email CSingleton@massteacher.org to RSVP that you will be attending.
What is TS Gold?
From the MA DESE webpage:Teaching Strategies GOLD is an assessment system for children from birth through kindergarten designed to help teachers: observe and document children’s development and learning over time; support, guide, and inform planning and instruction; identify children who might benefit from special help, screening, or further evaluation; and report and communicate with family members and others. Teaching Strategies GOLD also enables to teachers to (1) collect and gather child outcome information as one part of a larger accountability system and (2) provide reports to administrators to guide program planning and professional development opportunities. Teaching Strategies GOLD addresses the following Developmental Domains: (1) Social-Emotional, (2) Physical, (3) Language, (4) Cognition, (5) Literacy, (6) Mathematics, (7) Science and Technology, (8) Social Studies, (9) The Arts, and (10) English Language Acquisition.
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| screen grab of MA GOV webpage on the TS Gold assessments |
Franklin is currently assessing only 2 of the domains listed as part of a pilot. The individual assessments take the kindergarten teachers away from time spent teaching the class. The State has not yet decided what will happen with the program next year. The more people know about the program, the better the decision should be to either continue or discontinue the assessments.
For additional information on this program, explore the state webpage
http://www.mass.gov/edu/birth-grade-12/early-education-and-care/mkea/#description
Franklin Library: Author C.E. Zaniboni - May 7
Author C.E. Zaniboni is coming to the Franklin Public Library on Thursday, May 7 at 6:30pm.
From Zaniboni's website:
Some of the content was shared from the Franklin Library page here
http://franklinpl.blogspot.com/2015/04/author-ce-zaniboni.html
From Zaniboni's website:
"ICED AT MIDNIGHT is a murder mystery that is appealing to a wide range of readers with down to earth old Maine characters in real life situations with typical dialogue of the region. The protagonist is a real laid back kind of guy who finds himself deeply immersed in an unusual murder in his hometown. As the novel progresses he finds out who his friends really are with a surprising twist concerning the dead young FBI agent with a carrot in his ear and why he was in Gammil’s Point, Maine."
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| Author C.E. Zaniboni - May 7th |
Some of the content was shared from the Franklin Library page here
http://franklinpl.blogspot.com/2015/04/author-ce-zaniboni.html
Rock the House III - May 7 at THE BLACK BOX
You are invited to a fundraiser for State Representative
(and Franklin Downtown Partnership member) Jeff Roy!
(and Franklin Downtown Partnership member) Jeff Roy!
Thursday, May 7, at The Black Box, 15 W. Central St.
For a suggested contribution you can enjoy great music and fun with
Jeff and "Ben Gardner's Boat"
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| Rock the House III - May 7 at THE BLACK BOX |
This was shared from the Franklin Downtown Partnership page here
FHS girls softball team drop double header
From Hockomock Sports we find that the FHS girls softball team dropped a double header on Sunday to Bridgewater-Raynham.
Franklin, 4 @ Bridgewater-Raynham, 7 - Final
Softball
Franklin, 0 @ Bridgewater-Raynham, 9 - FinalFranklin, 4 @ Bridgewater-Raynham, 7 - Final
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Finance Committee does the detailed work to understand the FY 2016 budget
The first of the series of budget hearings was held last Thursday evening. The budget hearings continue this week with meetings on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. If necessary, there is also one more meeting currently scheduled for Monday, May 11.
The Finance Committee will conduct their vote on the budget after hearing all the details on each department. The vote will likely come on Thursday evening and worse case on the meeting for May 11.
The published schedule of the meetings is shown below. The large budget items are in bold. These major departments cover most of the budget with schools accounting for half of the total town spending. Note that the total school spending is more than the total town amount. You can see the details of that in the school department budget reviewed last week and posted here.
The department budget is review by the Town Administrator and in many cases comes forward as is. There are cases where the Town Administrator will recommend either a higher or lower amount. You can view the details in the voting document. There is a column for the FY 2015 budget (what the Town is operating under now), the department request, the Town Administrator recommendation, and then the Finance Committee recommendation. The last number is proposed and could be changed during these budget hearings.
As noted, the Finance Committee conducts their budget hearings and then votes to recommend a budget for the Town Council to review. The Council will spend two nights in a budget hearing but as has been happening recently, the second night is a formality. Unless an unresolved question from the first night needs to be addressed, the Council votes on the budget.
The budget needs to be balanced and approved by June 30 so when July 1 arrives, the Town can operate. The key to balancing the budget is what revenues are being used (recurring or one time?, fee increases or not?) and where are the expenses prioritized?
Budget Presentations:
Action Items:
The budget hearing voting document can be found here
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_Admin/budgets/FY%2016%20Budget/voting%2016.pdf
The revenue side of the budget can be found here
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_Admin/budgets/FY%2016%20Budget/REVENUES.pdf
My notes from the first budget hearing can be found here:
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2015/04/live-reporting-finance-committee-budget.html
The published agenda for the future budget hearings can be found here
Monday
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_FinanceAgendas/Agenda%202015-05-4
Tuesday
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_FinanceAgendas/Agenda%202015-05-5
Thursday
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_FinanceAgendas/Agenda%202015-05-7
The Finance Committee will conduct their vote on the budget after hearing all the details on each department. The vote will likely come on Thursday evening and worse case on the meeting for May 11.
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| Franklin Municpal Bulding - site of the budget hearings |
Why so many meetings?
The Finance Committee takes time to talk with each of the department heads. They get into details of the operations, what changes are planned for and of course, the budget dollars needed. The Town Council in recent years has skipped this detailed discussion to speed up their meetings. They do have a two night budget hearing but realistically if you want to really find out what is in each departments budget, watch the FinCom meetings.The published schedule of the meetings is shown below. The large budget items are in bold. These major departments cover most of the budget with schools accounting for half of the total town spending. Note that the total school spending is more than the total town amount. You can see the details of that in the school department budget reviewed last week and posted here.
What is the budget cycle?
The budget is put together by each department and consolidated by the Town Administrator and Comptroller starting about October each year. The capital requirements are reviewed and the 'free cash' is allocated to meet as many of the requirements are possible. Some of the capital budget is up for Town Council vote this week (May 6th). A small portion of 'free cash' about $400,000 is held in reserve for contingencies and then allocated before the end of the fiscal year (June 30th).The department budget is review by the Town Administrator and in many cases comes forward as is. There are cases where the Town Administrator will recommend either a higher or lower amount. You can view the details in the voting document. There is a column for the FY 2015 budget (what the Town is operating under now), the department request, the Town Administrator recommendation, and then the Finance Committee recommendation. The last number is proposed and could be changed during these budget hearings.
As noted, the Finance Committee conducts their budget hearings and then votes to recommend a budget for the Town Council to review. The Council will spend two nights in a budget hearing but as has been happening recently, the second night is a formality. Unless an unresolved question from the first night needs to be addressed, the Council votes on the budget.
The budget needs to be balanced and approved by June 30 so when July 1 arrives, the Town can operate. The key to balancing the budget is what revenues are being used (recurring or one time?, fee increases or not?) and where are the expenses prioritized?
- Will there be an increase in road repairs? Not likely in this budget.
- Will there be an increase in personnel? Yes, on both the town and school side.
- Will there be an improvement in services? No, it is being talked of as a 'level service' budget.
Monday
(Dept #) (Dept name) (page number of budget book)- 630 Recreation F-9
- 210 Police B-1
- 293 Parking Meter B-31
- 300 School Dept C-1
- 390 Tri County C-2
- 395 Norfolk Aggie C-3
Tuesday
- 510 Health E-1
- 520 Public Health E-7
- 155 Information Tech A-25
- 541 COA E-8
- 543 Veterans E-17
- 161 Town Clerk A-28
- 164 Elections A-31
- 691 Historical Comm F-11
- 192 Facilities A-39
Thursday
Budget Presentations:
- 177 Planning A-35
- 610 Library F-1
- 220 Fire B-13
- 225 Regional Dispatch B-24
- 422 DPW D-1
- 424 Streetlights D-17
- 440 Sewer Enterprise H-2
- 450 Water Enterprise H-9
- 434 Solid Waste Enterp H-16
Action Items:
- FY 16 Operating Budget Vote
- OPEB Actuary funding
The budget hearing voting document can be found here
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_Admin/budgets/FY%2016%20Budget/voting%2016.pdf
The revenue side of the budget can be found here
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_Admin/budgets/FY%2016%20Budget/REVENUES.pdf
My notes from the first budget hearing can be found here:
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2015/04/live-reporting-finance-committee-budget.html
The published agenda for the future budget hearings can be found here
Monday
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_FinanceAgendas/Agenda%202015-05-4
Tuesday
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_FinanceAgendas/Agenda%202015-05-5
Thursday
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_FinanceAgendas/Agenda%202015-05-7
Franklin, MA: Town Council - Agenda - May 6, 2015
A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
– April 1, 2015, April 15, 2015
B. ANNOUNCEMENTS
– This meeting is being recorded by Franklin TV and shown on Comcast channel 11 and Verizon channel 29. This meeting may be recorded by others.
C. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS
D. CITIZEN COMMENTS
E. APPOINTMENTS
– Conservation Commission - William Batchelor
F. HEARINGS
G. LICENSE TRANSACTIONS
- Table & Vine, Inc. – Annual Wine & Malt Package Store - New License – 7:10 pm
- Gill N Sidhu, LLC – Chinese Mirch - Change of DBA- 7:10 pm
- British Beer Company – Change of Manager- 7:10 pm
H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS
- Purple Heart Presentation
- Cable TV
- Culture District
I. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS
J. LEGISLATION FOR ACTION
1. Resolution15-17: Amending the Senior Citizen Property Tax Work-Off Abatement Program
2. Resolution 15-18: Acceptance of Gift – Council on Aging
3. Resolution 15-19: Appropriation - Fire Truck Stabilization Fund
4. Resolution 15-20: Appropriation – Athletic Fields Capital Improvement Stabilization Fund
5. Resolution 15-21: Appropriation – Capital FY 15
6. Resolution 15-22: Appropriation - Sewer Enterprise Capital FY 15
7. Resolution 15-23: Appropriation – Water Enterprise Capital FY 15
8. Resolution 15-24: Authorization to Issue Request for Proposals – Pond Street Property
9. Resolution 15-25: Authorization to Issue Request for Proposals – Pond Street Property
10. Bylaw Amendment 15-747:Amendment of Service Fee Rates – Solid Waste and Recycling – 1st Reading
K. TOWN ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT
L. OLD BUSINESS
M. NEW BUSINESS
N. COUNCIL COMMENTS
O EXECUTIVE SESSION
P. ADJOURN
The set of documents released for this meeting can be found here
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_CouncilAgendas/2015%20Complete%20With%20Documents/05062015.pdf
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| Franklin Municipal Building, Town Council meets on the 2nd floor |
"It needs some tender, loving care"
A large field of runners took part in the Franklin and Bellingham Rail Trail Committee's road race Saturday morning. The fifth annual event is held to raise money for the development of a trunkline trail.
The race consisted of multiple events, with a 1.5-mile or 3.5-mile walk and a five-mile run.
Committee Vice Chairman Mark Kaplan said the race changed somewhat this year.Continue reading the article here
"It was previously a 5K race - this is the first year it's been five miles," he said. "It was really (Chairman) David (Labonte's) push (to change the race) - there are a lot of 5Ks out there."
http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20150503/NEWS/150509021/1994/NEWS
For more about the Franklin Bellingham Rail Trail Committee visit their webpage or find them on Facebook
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| parking for the SNETT can be found on Grove St |
For complete results of Saturday's race
http://www.coolrunning.com/results/15/ma/May2_5thAnn_set2.shtml
Arts Happen Here!
The title of this article is the tag line for the Cultural District Committee, as they work toward the establishment of a Cultural District in Franklin. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts established a process through which cities and towns may apply for Cultural District status. The Town of Franklin Cultural District Committee in the process of applying for Cultural District status and one step in the process is the Franklin Cultural Festival, which is scheduled for July 29 to August 2, 2015.
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| Franklin Cultural Festival - Arts Happen Here! |
When Anita Walker, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Cultural Council, visited Franklin in November 2013, she noted that, “A cultural district is a specific walkable area in the community with a concentration of cultural buildings and activities. Cultural districts aim to attract artists and cultural enterprises to the community, encourage business and job development, establish tourist destinations, preserve and reuse historic buildings, enhance property values and foster local cultural development.”
This summer, the Cultural Festival will focus its efforts throughout downtown Franklin and beyond, including Dean College, the Franklin Public Library, the Town Common, and the Horace Mann Middle School. The activities will be clustered each day to increase the walkability of the proposed cultural district while simultaneously highlighting the activities and events in the performing arts, the fine arts and the culinary arts.
The next meeting of the Cultural District Committee is scheduled for Tuesday, May 5 at 7:00 PM at THE BLACK BOX. For more information, contact the Cultural District Committee via email at FranklinCulturalDistrict@gmail.com.
"we just didn’t do the job today”
Josh Perry, Managing Editor of Hockomock Sports writes:
There was little that Franklin coach Lou Verrochi could say after the game. His team had gone from leading at halftime to losing by eight goals at home against a potential tournament opponent.
“We imploded,” he said. “The third quarter, they just came out like gangbusters and we didn’t match their intensity and it hurt us. We just didn’t rise to the occasion the way that I thought we would.”
Franklin held a 5-4 lead heading into the break, but BC High outscored the Panthers 10-1 in the second half to pull away for a comfortable 14-6 victory. Senior Jack Vail and freshman Eric Civetti each scored a pair of goals, but it was not enough for the Panthers.
Verrochi explained, “I thought we had a good first half and we told them what we had to do on the slides because that skip pass in the crease was killing us. We made those adjustments, but we just didn’t do the job today.”
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| Kyle Filbert (24) and Jack Vail (14) share a smile after Vail scored one of his two first half goals. The Panthers struggled in the second half and fell to BC High. (Josh Perry/HockomockSports.com) |
Continue reading the full article here
http://www.hockomocksports.com/blog/franklin-implodes-in-second-half-against-bc-high
Senator Ross: April 2015 State House Update
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