Thursday, January 26, 2017

Franklin Library: Patron Appreciation Day

Patron Appreciation Day at the Franklin Library on Friday, January 27. 

Music by Jamie Barrett at 3:30 PM.






http://www.franklinma.gov/franklin-public-library/bulletins/patron-appreciation-day

https://twitter.com/JamieBarrettGTR/status/824010493975285760

http://franklinpl.blogspot.com/2017/01/patron-appreciation-day-friday-january.html


License your Dog today. New easy online registration!

ViewPoint Cloud is the vendor whose software is being used by the Town of Franklin for their online dog licenses and future expansion to include other online transactions. ViewPoint published this article on their company blog about the work they are doing with Franklin.

"Franklin’s vision for customer-service means rising to meet the expectations of residents in a digital age. While staff at the counters are friendly and knowledgeable, Town Hall is only open from 8am-4pm. To Hellen, providing better government services looks a lot more like what you’d expect from Google or Amazon. 
“The world’s operating in a global, 24/7 environment, and people are conducting business at all hours of the day. My hope is in the very short-term we can transition our little place in the world, Franklin, MA, into a 24/7 storefront. We want people to expect that out of government, and we want to deliver on it. When someone says, ‘oh shoot I need to license my dog and today’s the deadline,’ we want that service to be a Google search away. We want to be a one stop shop for people’s questions and services,” explains Hellen. 
With this idea in mind, Hellen and other department heads agreed that updating their permitting system was an important step in providing citizens with greater access to government services.

Continue reading the article online
http://viewpointcloud.com/blog/case-studies/franklin-ma-changes-paradigm-government-service-epermitting/


License your Dog today. New easy online registration!
https://franklinma.viewpointcloud.com/

License your Dog today. New easy online registration!
License your Dog today. New easy online registration!

FHS wrestling dominates Mansfield, boys hockey tops Foxboro



"On Wednesday, the Panthers were recognized for their impressive season, which includes only one dual meet defeat to Marshwood (Maine) in a tournament in Merrimack, N.H. over the weekend.
 
Mass Wrestling named Franklin the top team in the state, across all divisions, and the Panthers went out on Wednesday night against Mansfield in the James Albertini Gym and showed why they are so highly regarded. 
Franklin won the opening eight weight classes of the dual meet, four of them by pin and another by tech, and lost only two of the 14 matches on its way to a comprehensive 59-8 team victory. With King Philip losing to Oliver Ames in another of Wednesday’s dual meets, the Panthers also clinched at least a share of the league title with one dual meet remaining. 
“I told the kids that we have a target on our backs,” said Franklin coach Carmine Collace about the message before the meet against the Hornets. “Teams are going to come out and wrestle us hard and they’ve got to step up. If they want to remain the No. 1 team in the state, then you’ve got to wrestle tough and they did.”

Continue reading the wrestling recap by Josh Perry online
https://hockomocksports.com/franklin-wrestling-dominates-at-mansfield-clinches-share-of-title/

Additional photos from the wrestling match can be found here
https://hockomocksports.smugmug.com/20162017/Winter-201617/Mansfield-Franklin-Wrestling-1/

Ian Bakalars won his match at 113 pounds by pin, as Franklin rolled to a big win over Mansfield and clinched a share of the Kelley-Rex dual meet title. (Josh Perry/HockomockSports.com)
Ian Bakalars won his match at 113 pounds by pin, as Franklin rolled to a big win over Mansfield and clinched a share of the Kelley-Rex dual meet title. (Josh Perry/HockomockSports.com)


Boys Hockey = Franklin, 6 @ Foxboro, 0 – Final

Girls Hockey = King Philip, 5 @ Franklin, 0 – Final

https://hockomocksports.com/wednesdays-schedule-scoreboard-012517/


Via the Twitterverse


















MassBudget: Tools to understand the MA state budget proposals



MassBudget  Information.
  Participation.
 Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center  Democracy.


Tools for Understanding State Budget Proposals 

Tomorrow the Governor will kick off state budget season by releasing a detailed Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 budget proposal. The Governor's proposal begins an important process of determining what we as a Commonwealth hope to do together through our government, and detailing how we will pay for those things. Key subsequent steps in the process:
  • In April, the House will debate and approve its FY 2018 budget proposal.
  • In May, the Senate does the same.
  • In June, a joint House/Senate conference committee reconciles differences between these two budgets.
  • The final budget plan, which requires the Governor's signature, will ideally be completed by July 1st, the beginning of FY 2018.
Since the state budget is often the most important policy document of the year, our team at MassBudget works hard to produce the following resources to helping you stay informed and engaged in the public debate. We hope you find them useful!

Budget Monitors
Shortly after each major budget release, we produce a written Budget Monitor that analyzes major proposals across a range of key areas (e.g. education, transportation, health care, revenue). As soon as they're written, we send Monitors out to our email list and post them on our website. Here is our 
FY 2018 Budget Preview, which lays out major fiscal challenges entering the upcoming fiscal year. And here is a link to our Budget Resources page which includes our Monitors from previous fiscal years.

 
Budget Browser 
Our Budget Browser, which we will update shortly after release of the Governor's FY 2018 spending proposals, is a user-friendly online tool where you can track all state spending back to FY 2001. You can drill down to individual programs (called line items) or look at clusters of programs that support similar activities (e.g. Child Welfare). You can adjust for inflation so that comparisons over time make sense, and you can generate your own tables and graphs.

Each line item of the Browser has a "Proposals" tab, where you can compare each of the FY 2018 proposals as they are released.
Please go here to learn more about the Budget Browser.

 
Children's Budget and Jobs and Workforce Budget
These two web tools are similar to the Budget Browser in that they track state funding for programs in these areas--state programs related to children and state programs that support jobs and workforce training. But they go an important step further by also including written program descriptions and links to other useful resources for more detail. These tools are also updated during the budget season.

                 
   
We also have resources on our website that look specifically at Massachusetts taxes. Among these resources, we recently published a paper that looks at special interest tax breaks which cost the state $1 billion in 2017, and another that looks at the economic effects of tax reforms that would generate revenue to invest in education and transportation.     
                                             
Finally, do not hesitate to reach out directly to any of our analysts, who are the true experts behind each of these great resources. You'll find contact information and their respective research areas on our website's staff page.

The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (MassBudget) produces policy research, analysis, and data-driven recommendations focused on improving the lives of low- and middle-income children and adults, strengthening our state's economy, and enhancing the quality of life in Massachusetts.

MASSACHUSETTS BUDGET AND POLICY CENTER
15 COURT SQUARE, SUITE 700
BOSTON, MA 02108
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Sent by nberger@massbudget.org in collaboration with
Constant Contact

Reminder: Franklin Art Association - Meeting - Feb 1

Adam O’Day
Adam O’Day
The Franklin Art Association will meet on Wednesday, February 1, 2017 from 6:30 to 9:00PM at the Franklin Senior Center, 10 Daniel McCahill Street in Franklin. 

Refreshments and social time will begin at 6:30 followed by a short business meeting and a demonstration by Adam O’Day, a contemporary multimedia artist working from studios in Abington and Medford.

Meetings are free and open to the public. For more information log on to www.franklinart.org.

Multimedia Painting, Hadley Street by Adam O'Day
Multimedia Painting, Hadley Street by Adam O'Day


"some in the Legislature want to see the law curtailed"

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin:

"Voters on Election Day chose to legalize recreational marijuana by a seven-point majority. But now the ultimate fate of the vote is in the Legislature's hands. 
Given some of the bills filed by the deadline last Friday, it could change dramatically. 
Over the next two years, legislators will have the option of signing into law more than 30 bills related to legal pot. The proposals range wildly, from repealing the law entirely to expunging every offense related to the drug. 
Fifteen bills filed by state Sen. Jason Lewis dominated the news cycle on the Friday filing deadline. But the breadth of proposals introduced for this next legislative session suggest that the law voters ratified and the one we end up following could be very different."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20170125/medical-marijuana-changes-could-be-coming

Sunrise Montessori School: Preschool & Kindergarten Open House

Preschool & Kindergarten Open House
Saturday, February 11, 2017 from 11am to 1pm
Sunrise Montessori School
31 Hayward St.
Franklin

Free event. The public is welcome to learn about our Montessori preschool and kindergarten programs.

Website: www.MySunriseMontessori.com

Contact: Karen Roeber, Director at 508-541-8010 or Director@MySunriseMontessori.com

Preschool & Kindergarten Open House - Saturday, February 11, 2017 from 11am to 1pm
Preschool & Kindergarten Open House - Saturday, February 11, 2017 from 11am to 1pm