Friday, October 2, 2020

October 2020 E-Newsletter. Election Info, Department News and More!


The Town Clerk's office is preparing for the November 3rd election. All information can be found on the Town Clerk's website.
Please note: There is a special Town Election being held on December 5th to fill a vacant Town Council seat. Important deadlines are as follows:
  • October 14th: Last Day to obtain nomination papers
  • October 16th: Last Day to file nomination papers
  • October 20th: Last day to withdraw
The Town of Franklin Coronavirus Information Portal is available on our homepage and is updated frequently to provide our residents and business owners with the latest information and resources. Find Franklin specific data under the "Town of Franklin News" tab.
Fiscal Year 2021, 2nd Quarter Real Estate and Personal Property bills will be mailed out October 1st and are due November 2nd.
You can pay online here, or visit the Municipal Building drive-thru during regular business hours. You can also drop payments in the Official Town of Franklin Mailbox (pictured above) located at Town Hall.

Franklin Public Schools is beginning the transition to a hybrid model, starting with K & 1st grade, on October 1st. In order to keep our families, staff and the community informed, we have published a Reopening Website. New information is added as it becomes available. Please check back frequently for updates.
FPS will also be releasing monthly newsletters and School Committee updates. To sign up for these communications, please click the link below.
The Town of Franklin celebrated the retirement of our longtime Senior Center Director, Karen Alves, and welcomed our new director, Erin Rogers. We wish Karen the very best in her retirement and thank her for her years of service to our elder community!


The Curbside Cafe is providing freshly prepared meals, distributed daily at the Senior Center for elders 60 and older.Click to find out how to order!
Curbside Pick up continues at the Library! Find out more on their website!

The Franklin Library is continuing to put out a calendar FULL of fun events for all ages! Visit their website and sign up for the Library Newsletter to stay in the loop!
Stay updated about all the FABULOUS programs happening at our library! Visit their website and/or social media to find out more about the offerings for all ages!
October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
The Franklin Police Department wants all survivors of domestic, and sexual violence to know that there are resources available to help. We made this short video to talk about it, and suggest the following links if you or someone you know needs assistance. New Hope, Inc. and the National Domestic Violence Hotline are valuable sources of information. 
As always, in an emergency please call 911.
Want to know what is happening in town?


Check out the updated (and ever evolving!) Franklin Cultural District Website and find local events, entertainment, happenings, restaurants, organizations and more!
The Newsletter is too long for posting here, visit the Town of Franklin page for the full contents  https://www.franklinma.gov/home/pages/newsletter-portal 

FM #357 School Comm Facility Analysis Mtg - 9/30/20 (audio)

FM #357 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 357 in the series.

This shares part of the Franklin, MA School Committee Facility Analysis SubCommittee meeting that was held on Wednesday, September 30, 2020. The meeting was conducted via conference bridge to adhere to the ‘social distancing’ requirements of this pandemic period.

A quick recap:
  • Where are we? Recall that there was a question asked if the Davis Thayer School could be closed to save money?
  • The Facility Analysis Subcommittee was formed and set up their 5 step process. They are still on step 1. A public information session was held in March (before the shutdown). Another public information session will be scheduled for November, TBD.
  • A demographic analysis was done and handed over to the architects for use in their facility assessment. Oh, the demographic analysis will be redone with the official Oct 1 numbers. It should be of interest for that analysis to see how well the forecast turned out. There would be an update sometime in the future to the Subcommittee (no timeline provided).
  • The work by the subcommittee stopped during the summer after the first preview of the facility report was presented June 11, 2020. Stopped due to the work required by the District to prepare the re-opening plan for all schools in September. Now that schools are back albeit remote and moving to hybrid, there is time for the committee to resume its work.
  •  So the architect report gets presented with the data gathered and analyzed. The five options for consideration were presented. Instead of closing one elementary school, the long term report recommendation is to close the three oldest elementary schools, keeping three elementary schools to feed to one central middle school (yes, closing two other middle schools) all feeding to the one high school.
  • How about that for generating some conversation?
The meeting runs just about 75 minutes, so let’s listen to the meeting of Sep 30, 2020

Audio file =  https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-357-school-comm-facility-analysis-mtg-9-30-20

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The agenda doc, including connection info

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2020/09/facilities-analysis-sub-committee.html

 

My notes taken via Twitter during the meeting are summarized here

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2020/10/facility-analysis-subcommittee-long.html 

 

Photos used in the Twitter thread can be found in the Google photo album

https://photos.app.goo.gl/RB1AXrc4abYTPEm56


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We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial.

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.

How can you help?
  • If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors
  • If you don't like something here, please let me know
Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/

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!

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You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"
 
FM #357 School Comm Facility Analysis Mtg - 9/30/20 (audio)
FM #357 School Comm Facility Analysis Mtg - 9/30/20 (audio)


FHS Golf opens at Attleboro, plays them again Friday

"Congrats @FHSGolfTeam as they start out strong shooting 149 @ AHS. Nolan Norton led the way with a 36. Sandham shot a 37 and Paterson & Hagerty both carded 38s. Back at it Friday at FCC. @FHSSports"

Shared from Twitter:  

The info unfortunately doesn't say they won and no info on the Attleboro scores are available at this time.

FHS Pantherbook image
https://twitter.com/FHSPantherbook/status/1311621856642969607/photo/1

 


 

Watch "Panther News: October 2, 2020" on YouTube

Produced by the Franklin High School TV Production classes 

In the News: "It really is dependent a lot upon what the feds do in terms of us putting together a budget"

 From WWLP.com, we share an article of interest for Franklin

"Senate President Karen Spilka told local officials in her district this week that action on the overdue annual state budget is unlikely to happen in the Legislature until after the November election, a softer target than the more ambitious goal articulated earlier in the week by the Senate’s budget chief of making decisions on how to spend billions in tax dollars by the end of October.

Spilka also said that Gov. Charlie Baker may be planning to file an updated version of the pre-pandemic fiscal 2021 spending plan he put forward in January, which would become the jumping off point for the House and Senate to craft their own budgets for the fiscal year that began on July 1.

“Currently the state budget has been delayed, as you know,” Spilka said, appearing before the Holliston Board of Selectmen and the town finance committee on Tuesday night. “We are waiting on certain factors.”

“We will also know more after the election. If the feds have not done anything with a stimulus package, a second one, before that, we’ll have a better idea as to how to interpret that with the election,” Spilka said, according to a recording of the meeting reviewed by the News Service."

Continue reading the article online


In the News: "Franklin’s Cobi Frongillo makes bid for Town Council"

From the Milford Daily News, an article of interest for Franklin:

"Growing up in Franklin, Cobi Frongillo was surrounded by role models who taught him the value of service, and he has followed in their footsteps in many ways.

Now the 23-year-old is looking toward the Town Council as an opportunity to expand his service to the community.

Frongillo is hoping to fill a seat on the town’s top governing board that was recently vacated by Eamon McCarthy Earls, 26, who stepped down to pursue a law degree in Virginia.

A special town election is scheduled for Dec. 5."


FM #356 School Comm Budget SubComm Mtg - 9/29/20 (audio)

FM #356 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 356 in the series.

This shares part of the Franklin, MA School Committee Budget SubCommittee meeting that was held on Tuesday, September 29, 2020. The meeting was conducted via conference bridge to adhere to the ‘social distancing’ requirements of this pandemic period.

A quick recap:

  • Given the move from remote to hybrid and that the transportation fee was set for full in person rates, what should the hybrid rate be? The discussion was on a proposal of 40% less as two days are remote. Should set one rate for district, multiple rates too hard to manage
  • Discussion on the ECDC rate IF they were to go fully remote, what should it be? Proposal for a 30% of cost per survey done by the school, full details of the survey not available during meeting
  • Future meetings targeted for committee members, if session are needed, they will be held, if not, they will be canceled


The meeting runs just about 40 minutes, so let’s listen to the meeting of Sep 29, 2020   Audio file = https://www.hipcast.com/podcast/HW73DV6K


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The agenda doc, including connection info
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2020/09/franklin-ma-school-committee-budget.html
 
My notes taken via Twitter during the meeting are summarized here
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2020/10/school-committee-budget-subcommittee.html
 
Photos used in the Twitter thread can be found in the Google photo album
https://photos.app.goo.gl/MmXaoDfNKqtL3e3c8

--------------
We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) anywhere on the internet, or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio FM dial.

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.
 
How can you help?

  • If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors
  • If you don't like something here, please let me know


Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.
 
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/
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!
------------------

You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters" 

 

Business Administrator Miriam Goodman updates the Subcommittee
Business Administrator Miriam Goodman updates the Subcommittee