Franklin MAtters Weekly resumes after a long hiatus

Yes, dear neighbor, back in the early days of my reporting journey I had experimented with a weekly summary. At the time, the effort for the gain was more than I could afford time wise so it stopped.

Spin forward to the present day, my reporting and audio 'machine' is well oiled, having retired from the corporate payday (in 2019), I have the time for a resumption of the weekly summary.

As you may be aware, Franklin TV, Radio, and Franklin Matters conducted a survey of how and where folks get their news. The results closed out at the end of December 2024. The results were sobering but not unsurprising given the current circumstances of news and social media.

Inside the data, there seems to be a glimmer of hope in that rather than the daily dose of what's happening, some folks may be interested in a weekly version.

So here we go. 

You can join us to subscribe to both the daily and weekly, or just one or the other, or NOT, and continue to visit the regular page or come to the weekly page to see what is happening.

Your Choice

We are here to "amplify the public good." 

Our ears (and inbox) is also open for feedback, questions, suggestions. You can email me at sgsherlock @ franklinmatters dot org

Franklin MAtters Weekly resumes after a long hiatus

FM #92 - Week ending Apr 10, 2011

Let's spend a few minutes reviewing what matters in Franklin, MA as the week comes to a close April 10th.

Time: 5 minutes, 58 seconds




MP3 File

Show Notes:

This internet radio show or podcast is number 92 in the series for Franklin Matters.

We'll look back at the week that was as it comes to a close Sunday Apr 10 before getting to the outlook on the week ahead.

As we mentioned last week, the Finance Committee was scheduled to meet on Tuesday. With the budget book not scheduled to be ready until the end of April, the meeting was canceled. The FINCOM budget hearings have been scheduled for May 2, 3, 5, 9 and 10. The calendar on Franklin Matters has been updated accordingly.

The Milford Daily News ran an article on this updated schedule and in the article stated:

Town Council Chairman Scott Mason said the budget deficit probably will not be as bad as the $4 million to $6 million councilors predicted last year. He said he does not expect the council to seek an override this year.

http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/04/does-not-expect-council-to-seek.html

So be it.

The Town Council met this week and spent time on the public hearing for the Nu-Style building which is getting closer to demolition and clean up than ever before. Several of the councilors created great sound bites on how long it is taken to do this. Jeff Nutting has the best comment in response:

My notes showed he said something like

”We have been trying to take care of the environment and minimize the Franklin tax dollars in the process.“

The good news from the Council meeting was their action to create a “Community Gardens Committee.” Five members were appointed all from the group that has been working on this for the past several months. This is a great step forward. The King St Memorial Fields will be the site for about 40 raised bed gardens to be set up in May. You can follow the events on the website
http://www.franklincommunitygardens.org/

My full set of notes from the Council meeting can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/04/town-council-040611.html


As for town meetings this week

The School Committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, Apr 12. As we record this on Sunday, the agenda has not yet been posted.

The Long Range Financial Planning Committee is scheduled to meet on Weds. They are likely to pick up the discussion on the questions that they drafted as ones to be answered.

Earth Day comes Saturday. The DPW will set up at Beaver Pond to coordinate the clean up efforts of as many want to volunteer.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/2011-earth-day-april-16th-at-beaver.html


---- ---- ----

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help. 

How can you help, you ask? 
If you have an interest in writing about something that matters in Franklin, please let me know.

As always - 

• If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
• If you don't like this, please tell me.

This feedback loop is important. Thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visitFranklinmatters.blogspot.com/
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!

FM #91 - Week ending Apr 3, 2011

Let's take less than 10 minutes to cover what matters in Franklin, MA as the week ends Apr 3rd, 2011.


Time: 7 minutes, 14 seconds





MP3 File


Show Notes


This internet radio show or podcast is number 91 in the series for Franklin Matters.


We'll look back at the week that was as it comes to a close Sunday Apr 3 before getting to the outlook on the week ahead.


With my work on the Board of Directors for the Franklin Food Pantry, I missed the School Committee meeting on Tuesday and caught the highlights via the video feed.


The policy discussions can be found here
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=xRnvQEic8wAn0dx0vhs4uQ%3d%3d


and here
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=aiE5bT6Q1OUbssu1DcVcng%3d%3d




There was a minor change to the 2011-2012 calendar. As New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, school will skip Monday and start on Tuesday. This allows for the holiday to be observed on Monday as most other neighboring community school systems will also do. The revised calendar has been posted and prior versions removed to avoid confusion.




The action items can be found here.
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=Mf21W84bmi2SPafEDvNgrA%3d%3d


Of most interest was the action to accept the proposal on reducing the math graduation requirements to three years. Peter Light gives a good and brief summary of the position and why. Peter's comments occur about 1:01 of the action item segment.




On Wednesday, the School Building Committee meet to hear the first presentation on four options for the renovation of Franklin High. Two of the options are for renovation and two of the options are for building a new school. As the prices are comparable amongst them, the pros and cons will really need to be looked at as the project goes forward.


The next step is for the committee to finalize their options, and decide on a recommendation. This package (three options with one of them a recommendation) will then go before the MSBA where they will make a decision. That decision will then come back to the Franklin voters to approve or reject. If we approve, then the project proceeds with the State contributing something just above 50%. If we reject, the full cost of any resulting project will be borne solely by the Franklin taxpayers. The rejection will have lost our state reimbursement.


The committee is looking to decide by May and get before the MSBA in July which still puts us on the time line for a fall vote. Stay tuned to this one as it develops.


The meeting notes, handouts and photos can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/view/timeslide/1041884019440390619/2011/03/live-reporting-school-building.html




As for town meetings this week


The Finance Committee was scheduled to meet on Tuesday. As the budget book won't be ready until the end of the month, this meeting has been canceled. The budget hearings have been scheduled for May 2, 3, 5, 9 and 10. The calendar on Franklin Matters has been updated accordingly.




The Town Council is scheduled to meet on Weds. The Community Gardens group will be formed as an official town committee. There will be a public hearing on the Brownfields options for the NUStyle property on Grove St. Additional agenda items can be found on the full agenda here


http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/view/timeslide/9039137695672778386/2011/04/franklin-ma-town-council-agenda-apr-6.html


-----


---- ---- ----

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help. 

How can you help, you ask? 
If you have an interest in writing about something that matters in Franklin, please let me know.

As always - 

• If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
• If you don't like this, please tell me.

This feedback loop is important. Thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visitFranklinmatters.blogspot.com/
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!





Franklin, MA

FM #90 - Week ending 3/27/11

Let's spend less than 10 minutes to review what matters in Franklin, MA as the week closes Sunday, March 27, 2011.

Time:



MP3 File

Show Notes:

This internet radio show or podcast is number 90 in the series for Franklin Matters.

We'll look back at the week that was as it comes to a close Monday March 28. I missed my window of opportunity to record last weekend and then with the workshop on Monday, lost my alternative time slot, so this will be a two week catch up before we get into what the week has ahead of us.

Tuesday, Mar 15 – The School Committee meeting spent a good deal of time on the high school. First, the visioning exercise that was conducted at the end of 2010 was reviewed. Second, the program of study introduced a proposal to reduce the math and science requirements for graduation. Third, the summer reading program has been under study with a team since 2008 and they are ready to re-launch the program this summer.

The bully policy was brought for a first reading. The task force you may recall had done their study and presented their recommendations, this was the policy group coming up with what would be needed to foster the changes.

http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/school-committee-031511.html


Wednesday, Mar 16 - The Town Council meeting saw the appointment of a new member to the Conservation Commission, a couple of license transaction, the report from Melanson and Heath on the results of Franklin's audit for the 2010 fiscal year, and lastly the vote to put four utility poles underground on Main St.

http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/town-council-meeting-031611.html


Sunday, Mar 20 – Franklin's birthday celebration at the Historical Museum

http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/franklin-had-birthday-party.html


Monday, Mar 21 – the Downtown Commercial Zoning Workshop was held with a good audience participating.

http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/live-reporting-downtown-commercial.html

The presentation documents were added to my meeting notes.


Wednesday, Mar 23 - The Long Range Financial Planning committee meeting got into a discussion on what questions they would focus on to answer.

http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/live-reporting-long-range-financial_23.html



As for town meetings this week

The School Committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday. Amongst the agenda items are recognition of the Hockey Team, There is also the second reading on the bullying policy and assuming no issues, it will come to a vote. The proposal to reduce the graduation requirements for science and math may have gotten complicated with the State announcing on Friday that those applying to State colleges and universities will now require four years of math.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/math-standards-approved-for-state.html


The School Building Committee is scheduled to meet on Weds. It is reported to include the first presentation from the architects on the design options for the high school renovation project.

With the 2012 budget hearings still awaiting word from the House and Senate versions of the budget, Franklin's budget hearings may not get started until late April or May.

So stay tuned to what is happening in Franklin.

---- ---- ----

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help.

How can you help, you ask?
If you have an interest in writing about something that matters in Franklin, please let me know.

As always -

• If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
• If you don't like this, please tell me.

This feedback loop is important. Thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
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!

FM #89 - Week ending Mar 13, 2011

Let's spend about ten minutes to find out what matters in Franklin, MA as the week comes to a close March 13, 2011.

Time: 10 minutes 6 seconds



MP3 File

Show Notes:

This internet radio show or podcast is number 89 in the series for Franklin Matters.

We'll look back at the week that was as it comes to a close Sunday March 13. Then we will look at what is scheduled for the week ahead.

The Financial Planning Committee met on Wednesday. They completed their review of the prior report and are now busy working on the list of questions that they think should be answered.

The Town Council is one of two stakeholders for this committee. They will reach out to the Council to get their input on the questions to answer to help the Council make their decisions during the budget cycle.

The citizens (and voters) of Franklin are the second of two key stakeholders for the committee. Respectfully, there are some who don't care and there are some who have already made up their minds. Those two groups should not be a primary concern for the committee. The committee should address the needs of those who are looking for information. Those who are looking for accurate information have the interest to listen and make a decision. Providing information that is accurate and reasonably understood is the goal of the committee.

My notes from the meeting can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/live-reporting-long-range-financial.html

I wrote about these three type of audience in what I called my “fire circle story” back in 2005. You have a choice to listen to the audio recording here http://steves2cents.blogspot.com/2006/10/fire-circle-story.html

or read the text here http://steves2cents.blogspot.com/2005/11/fire-circle-story.html


The week ahead of is Sunshine Week. a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Coinciding with sunshine week and building upon the PEW Internet study reported on here last week, I have begun a couple of new avenues.

One – There is a form for you to ask a question about the Franklin budget. Frequent commenters on the Milford Daily News articles about Franklin reference reading the Annual Report and suffering from a heart ache or some other physical malady. They rarely provide specifics as to what in the report is what cased this reaction.

If you have a similar question, you can ask it, and I'll get an answer. If you provide your email address, I'll be able to follow up to ask any clarifying questions as well as provide a direct answer. It is your choice. If you do provide your email, you get the response. If you don't, I can't guarantee a response.

http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/citizens-against-waste.html

Two – Many of you have a voice on the budget or any number of topics that matter to Franklin. You may not have the time to create your own blog. If you do have time to write a couple of paragraphs, and access to email, your voice can be published on Franklin Matters in a new “Voices of Franklin” section. Your written submission will need to abide by the editorial guidelines found below. You'll also need to be aware that anything published on Franklin Matters is subject to the Creative Commons License 3.0 for USA. Specifically, what is published can be shared with attribution but not for profit. More information about the editorial guidelines and creative commons license are found in the links below. If you would like to clarify something before sending your writing in, you can reach out to me (shersteve at gmail dot com).

Email address to send to franklinmatters.ma.myvoice@blogger.com

Editorial guidelines http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2007/12/comment-policy.html

Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

Three – This is an election year. November 2011 will see an election of the the Town Council, School Committee, and other town positions. I will make the offer now to all candidates for election to have an interview published in Franklin Matters. I did this in 2007 and 2009. The format of the interview preferably would be in text or audio. If you want to do video, I'll consider it as well. Let me know if and when you are interested and we can schedule a mutually convenient time.

2009 offer http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/08/open-offer-to-franklins-candidates-for.html

2007 offer http://steves2cents.blogspot.com/2007/09/franklin-open-invitation-to-franklins.html


As for town meetings this week

The School Committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday. Amongst the agenda items are presentations on the FHS visioning process, program of study, and summer reading. There is also the first reading on the bullying policy.

The Town Council is scheduled to meet on Weds. Amongst the agenda items they have are an action item to put the four utility poles on Main St located between Depot and the Triangle underground.

Coincidentally, on Monday, Mar 21 is a workshop to discuss the proposed zoning bylaw changes for the signs and other building restrictions in the downtown area. This is an outcome of the proposals brought before the Council on Oct/Nov that were not well received. There was too much to cover and it was not clearly presented. The Dept of Planning and Community Development has gone back to the 'drawing board' so to speak, and this workshop should help address some of the issues around the proposals before they are brought forward once more.

---- ---- ----

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help.

How can you help, you ask?
If you have an interest in writing about something that matters in Franklin, please let me know.

We have gradually been expanding the input here to include other contributors in Franklin and will have another announcement soon. There is still room for more, if you have something of interest to share, please let me know.


As always -
If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
If you don't like this, please tell me.

This feedback loop is important. Thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
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 and Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission

I hope you enjoy!

Franklin, MA

FM #88 - Week ending 3/6/11

Lets take less than ten minutes to review what matters in Franklin, MA as the week ends March 6, 2011.

Time: 6 minutes, 20 seconds




MP3 File

Show Notes

This internet radio show or podcast is number 88 in the series for Franklin Matters.

We'll look back at the week that was as it comes to a close Sunday March 6. Then we will look at what is scheduled for the week ahead.

The Community Gardens group meet on Monday night in the Community Room of Stop & Shop. It is good to see such a group beginning this endeavor.

My notes from the meeting are here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/live-reporting-community-garden.html

The FinCom meeting on Tuesday was canceled as expected. The State numbers are too preliminary to begin to work with at this time. The current expectation is that by mid-month there should be some indication as to the range of numbers available from the State to begin planning.

The Town Council held a very brief meeting on Wednesday. I caught the replay via the video on demand in order to participate in the Friends of the Library meeting. It was a very good choice to make. My report is available here.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/library-and-friends-clear-air.html

Be sure to review the update on the tax donation status of gifts to the Library. With the standard disclaimer that I am not providing tax advice just information, check with your tax preparer how to handle this with your particular situation.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/re-franklin-library-blog-posting.html

The Community Health Council met on Thursday evening featuring an update from Peter Light on the health related activities at the high school. More information on the calendar of events coordinated by the Council can be found here http://www.franklin.ma.us/auto/schools/FPS/CHC/default.htm

Looking ahead:

The Long Range Financial Planning committee meets on Wednesday. The group will likely be continuing to develop its understanding of the financial issues around the Franklin budget.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project released a report that showed:

"... government transparency is associated with residents’ feelings of efficacy and empowerment: Those who think their government shares information well are more likely to say that people like them can have an impact on government. It might be the case that signals from government that “we want to be open about what we do” make people think they can take advantage of that openness and influence the way the government operates."

This report helps foster the activities that you and I have been taking here. Our engagement on the website, through the weekly and daily newsletters, and on Facebook are helping to encourage Franklin to do more in these areas. Franklin regularly wins an award for for government information sharing but it can still do better. One of the major issues with the budget crisis we face is the lack of trust in the information provided. Increasing the transparency will foster trust.

The full report can be found here:
http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/08-Community-Information-Systems.aspx

---- ---- ----

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help.

How can you help, you ask?

If you have an interest in covering the Planning Board, Conservation Commission and or the Zoning Board of Appeals meetings in Franklin, please let me know.

And as always

• If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
• If you don't like this, please tell me

Through this feedback loop we can continue to improve.

Thank you for listening.


For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
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 and Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission

I hope you enjoy!


Franklin, MA

FM #87 - Week ending 2/27/11

Let's take about 10 minutes to get up to speed on what matters in Franklin, MA as the week comes to a close Sunday, Feb 27, 2011

Time: 10 minutes, 1 second



MP3 File

Show Notes:

This internet radio show or podcast is number 87 in the series for Franklin Matters.

We'll look back at the past two weeks as school vacation comes to a close Sunday Feb 27. Then we will look at what is scheduled for the week ahead.

The School Committee meeting on the 15th before school vacation was a full meeting.
Rep Vallee and Sen Spilka attended to provide an update on the overall budget outlook.
They did arrive in time to see the Franklin Arts Academy presentation which was quite impressive.
The school budget was reviewed and with minor discussion, approved.

While I can understand from the SchCom point of view that they have almost lived with the budget, some on the budget subcommittee more so than the others, and they had spent most of Saturday morning Jan 29th in the budget workshop. But as on that Saturday, the reporter from the MDN and I were the only members of the public, you would think that they would take some time to showcase the budget in this real public forum complete with live video which would be available later in the video on demand archive. But no, they went through it summarily and that is that. Shame on those in Franklin who did not come out to the meeting in person, that was your chance to step up and say something.

I do have links to the budget presentation and to the entire budget book available in the show notes
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/franklin-public-schools-budget-book-fy.html

Kudos to Jim Roche, Finance Committee chair, who did participate in the meeting for the budget discussion.

The notes from the full meeting can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/school-committee-021511.html


The Town Council had a short and relatively uneventful meeting. The meeting notes can be found here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/town-council-021611.html

The only meeting of significance during the school break was the Long Range Financial Planning Committee which did meet on Wednesday, Feb 23. It was a smaller group than normal but they met the quorum requirements (4 of 7). The lower attendance was likely due to the school vacation. There was a special guest, Town councilor Steve Whalen. Steve reviewed his worksheets which had just been updated with Census Data for 2010. The updated data did not change the overall results, Franklin by all measures does get a great deal of quality services for what little it puts out of its own pocket.

Side note – as the documents Steve shared were legal size, I do not have the ready capability to copy them and share them.

My notes from the meeting including highlights from the Whalen updates can be found here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/live-reporting-long-range-financial_23.html

The other significant item that came from the meeting was the revelation that both Whalen and Zollo will not be running for re-election. I have heard this before but there was still plenty of time for them to change their minds. I guess that is not about to happen. So there will be opportunity for folks to run for the Council. It would be good to see some real competition.

And while we are at it, I have no intentions of running. My approach to this situation has not changed, nor is likely to, so you won't have to worry about it. I'll continue reporting on what matters in Franklin. You can review my disclosure statement for the additional details.

Looking ahead:

The Community Garden Committee meets Monday evening at Stop and Shop. 7:00 7:30 PM in the community room.

The Finance Committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday. February's meeting you may recall was canceled. The Franklin website does not have an agenda posted but it may be on the Municipal Bldg window and I did not have time to go by and check. The Town Council meeting does not have any financial action items which FinCom would have approved first so not sure what's up. We'll find out Tuesday and not be too surprised if the meeting does get canceled.

The Town Council is scheduled to meet Wed March 2. A new liquor license for a Japanese-themed restaurant opening in the former Piccadilly Pub location is on the agenda for approval.

The Town Council agenda is posted here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/franklin-ma-town-council-agenda-mar-2.html

The Franklin Cafe & Grill scheduled to open soon in the former KFC building on 140 has generated some conversation on the Facebook page. In particular about the sign requirements.

March 2 is also significant for two birthdays – Franklin's own birthday and that of Dr Seuss!
Franklin will hold a party on Sunday March 20th at the Museum to celebrate Mar 2 also with some of the 76 Franklin residents who share the March 2 birthday!

The Commonwealth released data by community for 2001 through 2009 on the senior circuit breaker tax advantages available to them. Franklin does quite well in that there has been an increase each year in the number of filers and in the average credit received. To paint a complete picture, I'd like to know how many are eligible and don't apply?
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/franklin-residents-gain-with-senior.html

The Franklin chapter of the Teenangels were in the news
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/teenangels.html

So as we close this week, welcome back. The snow hasn't gone yet. The budget cycle is getting into high gear in March. The time to be involved is now.


---- ---- ----

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help.

How can you help, you ask?

If you have an interest in covering the Planning Board, Conservation Commission and or the Zoning Board of Appeals meetings in Franklin, please let me know.

And as always -
If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
If you don't like this, please tell me.

Thank you for listening.


For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
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 and Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission

I hope you enjoy!

FM #86 - Week Ending Feb 13, 2011

Let's take less than 10 minutes to review what matters in Franklin, MA as the week comes to a close on Sunday Feb 13, 2011.

Time: 7 minutes, 44 seconds



MP3 File

Session Notes

This internet radio show or podcast is number 86 in the series for Franklin Matters.

We'll look back at the week that was as it ends Sunday Feb 13th before looking ahead to the School Committee and Town Council meetings scheduled.

The Finance Committee meeting was canceled on Tuesday, Feb 8th.

The Long Range Financial Planning Committee did meet on Wednesday, Feb 9th.

The Committee added Sue Rohrbach to serve as a liaison to the School Committee and school budget. Sue joins Tina Powderly representing the Town Council and Jeff Nutting representing the Administration.

The committee settled on their individual assignments which were intended to reflect their individual interests and specialties. The assignments are as follows:

1 - Capital expenditures and debt service - John Hogan
2 - Benchmarking and pensions - Graydon Smith
3 - Salary and benefits (excluding pensions) - Orrin Bean
4 - National trends in municipal finance (includes regionalization) - Craig DiMarzio
5 - Schools - Deb Bartlett
6 - Town revenue, public safety, and other - Ken Harvey
7 - Committee communications and deliverables - Doug Hardesty

The bulk of the meeting was spent continuing to review the prior committee's report and much of the discussion involved clarification or background on the numbers or issues reflected in the report. The meeting ended before the committee had finished reviewing the report so some of the time at the next session will continue this effort.

The full set of my notes from the meeting can be found here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/live-reporting-long-range-financial.html/

The budget workshop held one year ago is still a great source of detailed information directly from Jeff Nutting, Susan Gagner and Jim Dacey on the Town side of the budget and Maureen Sabilonski, Miriam Goodman on the School side of the budget. The full workshop was recorded, the audio and worksheets to accompany the recording are all available online here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/01/budget-workshop-collection-12510.html/

Yes, this was a year ago. The numbers may have changed a little but the overall issues for the Town have not and hence this still has great relevance for today.

The other non-meeting major item in the news was the report theft of the historic bell from the Museum. Apparently someone has made off with it, likely to melt it down for the valuable metal.

I don't spend much time doing analysis on the traffic volume for what I publish here. I did want to bring to your attention some of the numbers now that three full years have passed and four January's have been completed. I will continue to focus on bringing as much good content on what matters with the Franklin budget as possible.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/you-find-good-content-here.html

Looking to the week ahead:

School Committee is scheduled to meet Tues Feb 15. As their meeting on the 1st was canceled, I am assuming their budget discussion will be the focus for this meeting. I have included the budget links I previously posted to make it easier to find them.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/franklin-ma-school-committee-agenda_13.html/

The Town Council is scheduled to meet Wed Feb 16. Their agenda is posted here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/franklin-ma-town-council-agenda-feb-16.html/

The budget info for Fiscal Year 2012 can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/01/fiscal-year-2012-budget-information.html

---- ---- ----

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help.

How can you help, you ask?

If you have an interest in covering the Planning Board, Conservation Commission and or the Zoning Board of Appeals meetings in Franklin, please let me know.

And as always -

• If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
• If you don't like this, please tell me.

Thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
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!

FM #85 - Week ending Feb 6, 2011

Let's spend less than 10 minutes and get caught up on what matters in Franklin, MA as the week ends Feb 6, 2011.


Time: 5 minutes, 56 seconds




MP3 File


Session Notes:


This internet radio show or podcast is number 85 in the series for Franklin Matters.


We'll start by looking back at the snowy week that was as it comes to a close on Sunday Feb 6th. School got out early Tues, was canceled Wed, and started late on Thu. All due to the weather.


School Committee canceled, so the budget hearing was postponed to their next meeting Feb 15th


Town Council managed a quorum to hold a short meeting on Weds; a couple of appointments were approved, the liquor license manager change for Maguro House was approved, and authorization to spend more than the budget for snow/ice was approved.


At the Council meeting Jeff Nutting provided several updates including a summary of the budget development status. As the entire meeting took only 17 minutes, I have included the link so you can catch the on demand video and view it directly


http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=EehmtDrfKKNgo8xk8AQHNg%3d%3d


Library will hold a book sale, apparently the Friends and the Board of Directors are working out the issues that cropped up.


Recreation fee investigation postponed due to health issues with a key person
wasn't going to happen right away anyway, just wanted to get the research underway


Also on the library front, word out of Medway is that they are terminating the sharing agreement for the Library director with Franklin. This is going the wrong way on the regionalization front. This I think is a good case in point as to how hard regionalization is. It is not a silver bullet, it takes hard work to make it work. It does take two to tango. Medway apparently wants their own tune.


Looking to the week ahead:


Finance Committee scheduled to meet Tues Feb 8th
Long Range Financial Planning Committee scheduled to meet Wed Feb 9th


So we have had some snow melt in the last day or so, but we are still covered with plenty and there is more on the way. Be safe, be careful, shovel the fire hydrants in your neighborhood.


----

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help. 

How can you help, you ask? 

If you have an interest in covering the Planning Board, Conservation Commission and or the Zoning Board of Appeals meetings in Franklin, please let me know.

And as always - 

• If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
• If you don't like this, please tell me

Without this feedback loop, I can not improve this service.

Thank you for listening.


-----

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
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!

Franklin, MA

FM #84 - Week Ending Jan 30, 2011

Let's spend a few minutes to catch up on what matters in Franklin, MA as this week ends Jan 30, 2011. We'll look at the Town Council goal setting session, the School Committee budget workshop and close with some of the music and conversation from Ben Franklin's birthday party at the Historical Museum on Jan 23

Time: 21 minutes, 20 seconds




MP3 File

Session Notes:

This internet radio show or podcast is number 84 in the series for Franklin Matters.

I missed last week's show due to technical issues with my laptop. Those issues have been resolved and I am up to speed writing and reporting again but still trying to catch up on some things. As the week ends this Sunday, Jan 30th, the snow is piled up higher than my mailbox and winter is still upon us.

In this session we'll spend sometime with the Town Council who held their goal setting session on Weds Jan 19. From that session we'll look into the possible field use fee, and the future of the old museum. The School Budget workshop was held on Saturday providing a preview of the budget to be unveiled on Tuesday, Feb 1. It is not going to be pretty.

On a more positive note, we'll close with a sample or two from Ben Franklin's birthday party held at the Historical Museum on Sunday Jan 23rd. There were many folks came in throughout the afternoon. I know I had a great time talking with several. Those who came by were able to learn from Vera Meyer about the glass harmonica that Ben invented while listening to her play.

1 -

The Council goal setting session was a more informal meeting than most. Five councilors participated along with Jeff Nutting and Maxine Kinhart. Brian Benson and I were the only others in attendance. Jeff provided his update on the overall FY 2012 budget, it will be a very tough budget year with a deficit of about 4-5M dollars expected. How to address the systemic expense side of the budget is where much of the discussion took place. The group will hold a working session with the School Committee to get into more detail on health benefits and what options there are to control them. They would like to look at how to get the retirees to share more of the cost. The employees currently contribute 32% of the cost with the Town picking up 68%. Moving to a 50/50 split would take $10 M out of the budget. Doing this is also subject to collective bargaining with the Towns unions. The working session would bring in a health care specialist and be held in 'executive session' due to the collective bargaining nature of some of the discussion.

While the overall Town revenue is ultimately in the voters hands (by their determination of any override or debt exclusion), there are some smaller items that can be used to help prepare to cover for eventual costs. For example, the artificial turf fields will need to replaced sometime down the road. By adding a user fee now, a small fee can accumulate over the years of use by the various sports teams and when the fields do need to be replaced, the funds should be available. Pay a little now or pay a whole lot later. The fields were purchased and installed with a grant of what something in the neighborhood of 4-6M. Adding a small fee to each participant in a sport for each season will set up a fund to be able to pay for the replacement.

Somehow this has become quite a lightning rod. It is not meant to cover maintenance of the fields, those are covered in the regular operational budget. It is meant to cover the replacement of the artificial turfs. The simplest and fairest way to implement the fee is for all to share. If you tried to do t just with those sports using those fields, that would get real complicated and ultimately be unfair. This is only a proposal. It has not been determined when it will appear on a Council agenda for further discussion.

2 - 

The old museum came up in discussion but rightfully belongs with the Historical Commission to make a decision or propose some options for the Council to weigh in on. To do otherwise would not be appropriate. The Historical Commission is the group of record responsible for managing the property. The Council ultimately can have its say but HC needs to take the lead. It is not an simple matter. There is a pumping station on the property but it should not hinder usage. The lot is zoned residential but you could not put in a residential building without a ZBA variance. The lot is currently too small for a residence. If it were used for something other than a residence, the neighbors would have their say. The property has been quiet for quite some time. The church that had turned over the property to the town still has first right to it should we not want it. The church merged in with what is the Franklin Federated and doesn't really exist as a separate church today.

To re-use the building itself would require extensive renovations. Before even going down that path, you need to determine a use for the property. Once the use is determined, then the proper planning can be done to see what it would take to bring it up to current zoning and building code requirements to meet the need. Then you could begin to look at alternative ways of funding the renovations. So let's not get wrapped around the axle of a cart that may not even need to move.

3 - 

The School Committee, Central Office and all the principals meet for their budget workshop on Sat Jan 29th. Councilors Tina Powderly and Glenn Jones also participated. Julie Balise from the Milford Daily News and I were the only non-school, public representatives. Disappointing but that is what it is.

The preview of the budget shows an ugly picture. Even with an almost level service proposal, there are 14 plus positions being lost which will result in further increases to class size. I was not provided a copy of the document but didn't press the issue as the full budget package is coming out Tuesday night anyway.

Why 'almost level service'? This is due to the stimulus funds provided the last couple of years. The funds were required to be applied to keep some existing positions and to fund some positions that would otherwise be cut. With the stimulus funding gone this year, those positions come back on the budget to the tune of about 1.1 M. This accounts for the bulk of the personnel increase of 1.7M with the balance mostly in contractual commitments.

A nice what-if scenario was explored. With Franklin at 10,010 per pupil expenditures, and the State average at 13,006 – what would the State average look like for the Franklin budget? Try 78M, yes much more than the 52 million proposed. It would provide the budget that just about should be if the prior year cuts were not implemented. Another way to look at it, if the failed override for schools had passed since 2002, this is closer to what the school budget would be today. Very pie in the sky and unrealistic but certainly an insightful perspective.

4 - 

So instead of closing on this depressing note, let's shift to include some segments of the party held at the Historical Museum on Sunday Jan 23. As I mentioned in the opening, there was good attendance, Many folks came in throughout the afternoon. I know I had a great time talking with several. Those who came by were able to learn from Vera Meyer about the glass harmonica that Ben invented while listening to her play. I hope she is able to come back to the museum in the future. The instrument is special and her presentation of it is engaging.

I hope you enjoy these few minutes from what was a really pleasant afternoon.

Photos from the afternoon at the Museum can be found here

----

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help.

How can you help, you ask?

If you have an interest in covering the Planning Board, Conservation Commission and or the Zoning Board of Appeals meetings in Franklin, please let me know.

And as always -

• If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
• If you don't like this, please tell me

Without this feedback loop, I can not improve this service.

Thank you for listening.


-----

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
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!

Franklin, MA: Financial Impact Full-Day vs Tuition-based Kindergarten

This internet radio show or podcast is number 83 in the series for Franklin Matters.

This is a special session. The audio has been synchronized with the presentation to create a complete package. The package will provide the update by Miriam Goodman, Franklin School Business Administrator, on full day vs. half-day kindergarten. The presentation and discussion occurred at the School Committee meeting on Jan 11, 2011.

You can also review the meeting video on the Franklin website.

The link to the Kindergarten presentation is here:

http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=suY%2bgbIOkRUfeduJ9u%2f2aw%3d%3d/

The full meeting can be viewed here:

http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?ecm=634307043717953928&indexSessionSKU=bV0o80oxKwE2UUa+RXKE4A%3D%3D&siteSKU=L7qhQ46xin/r3Z0jcDVCNw%3D%3D/



During the presentation you will hear the voices of Miriam Goodman and Maureen Sabolinski, Superintendent. In the question and answer period, questions and comments will be asked by School Committee members – Ed Cafasso, Sue Rohrbach, Chairperson Jeff Roy, and Bill Glynn in order of their voices.

My keyboard and that of Brian Benson, the Milford Daily News reporter, is heard in the background as we type away reporting on the meeting. Hopefully, you won't find it too intrusive.

Without further ado, here is the presentation:

Franklin MA - Financial Impact Full-day vs Tuition-based Kindergarten

View more webinars from Franklin Matters.

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help.

How can you help, you ask?

If you have an interest in covering the Planning Board, Conservation Commission, and or the Zoning Board of Appeals meetings in Franklin, please let me know.

And as always -

• If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
• If you don't like this, please tell me.

It will be via your feedback that I can improve this for you.

Thank you for listening.

-----

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
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!

FM #82 - Week Ending 1/8/11

Let's take about ten minutes to find out what matters in Franklin, MA as this week comes to a close. There are three important meetings in the coming week. We go over the highlights for each of them.

Time: 10 minutes, 0 seconds



MP3 File

Show Notes:

This internet radio show or podcast is number 82 in the series for Franklin Matters.

In this session, let's take about ten minutes and I'll fill you in on what matters in Franklin as 2011 opens and the Fiscal Year 2012 budget season begins in earnest.


The Finance Committee was canceled this week. The first meeting they have for 2011 will be Feb 8th.

The Long Range Financial Planning Committee did meet on Wednesday for the first time since August 8, 2010. One of the citizen members (Morrison) was stepping back and a request went out for a replacement. The response was overwhelming in quantity and quality. So much so, that the group was reconstituted and resumed this week as a committee comprised of all citizens. The surprise, if any, was that there was an ex-officio Town Counselor present but no one from the Schools. Should there be? I think yes, and there is one single reason, a big one. With all due respect to the Town side of the budget, the schools account of half of the total budget. You can not leave out any insights into half the budget of any type of serious discussions. This is only the first meeting, they are still organizing, there was talk of having schools represented in some form for future meetings. We'll see what happens.

I was thoroughly impressed with the credentials of the new committee. These will be very good representatives for the citizen or outside view.

My meeting notes can be found here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/01/live-reporting-long-range-financial.html/

The week ahead has three important meetings.

Monday – the public has an opportunity for input to the smaller of the two downtown projects. Yes, there are two. The Federal grant is $5 million and covers E Central, Main St through to the Old Brick School. The second grant, Public Works Economic Development (PWED) from the state is worth $1 million and covers Emmons Street between Main Street and Hillside Road, Dean Avenue between Main and Ray Streets, Ray Street and Depot Street.

The two projects have separate budgets and separate plans but it does make sense to coordinate the planning and eventual construction work between the two.

Details on the location and time for this meeting are contained in the link attached.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/12/public-meeting-regarding-pwed-project_30.html/

Tuesday – the School Committee meets for the first time in 2011.

The guest and presentation section has the following items:

• FHS Girls Soccer Team
• Harry Potter Re-write – Davis Thayer - Debbie Taylor (Teacher) and students Katie Sumner and Reilly Deforge
• K-5 Health Program – Kristen Cerce, Michele Kingsland Smith
• Budget Update - Kindergarten

As I recall, there were two items previously scheduled for the January 25th meeting; kindergarten and the space needs report. Given the kindergarten update has been moved here, I can speculate (which is always dangerous) that kindergarten is no longer 'on the table' from a budget perspective. If you recall the analysis I did with the School Administration last year, moving from full to half day was NOT a cost savings. The Budget Subcommittee would likely have come to that conclusion in their recent meetings as well if that is the case. Again, this is reading between the lines on my part, I could be wrong. We'll find out Tuesday.

The school enrollment projections reinforce my expectation that with the shifts in population within Franklin and the overall decline in student population, we will see a re-districting proposal. Some of the schools are over capacity, others are under. It makes sense to shift the school boundaries to equalize the populations. This should be a collaborative process and not something done 'overnight'. The modular buildings over time can also be de-commissioned rather than replaced. This is also somewhat speculative on my part but I feel comfortable with that direction based upon what the numbers are showing. The details on this we should find out at the School Committee meeting on the 25th.

Either way, both of these items and their budget impact (if any) should be covered during the budget workshop on Saturday the 29th. If you don't have that on your calendar, I would encourage you to make the time for it.

Back to the meeting on the 11th, the School Committee also has a 'community engagement' item in the 'Discussion Only' section. As the parent communication survey was last done in 2005, it appears that the committee will be looking for an update.

School Committee agenda
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/01/franklin-ma-school-committee-agenda.html/

Enrollment projections
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/01/school-enrollment-projections.html/

2005 Parent Communication survey results
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/01/2005-parent-communications-survey.html/


Wednesday – The Town Council meets for the first time this year. Amongst the items on the agenda, two caught my eye. One, Franklin Cafe and Grill is looking for a liquor license for their new operation to open in what was the KFC building at 418 W Central St. Two, there is a joint easement agreement proposed between the Town and the Franklin Center Commons

The Town Council agenda can be found here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/01/franklin-ma-town-council-agenda-11211.html/

These three meetings get us quickly into 2011, the budget season and important decisions about how this town will look and operate. Please stay informed, please participate, this will be a busy and important year.

In case you missed the end of year 2010 or mid-year (Jan to Jun) review, you can find them here
http://franklinmattersweekly.blogspot.com/2010/12/fm-81-second-half-2010-summary.html/

http://franklinmattersweekly.blogspot.com/2010/07/franklin-ma-2010-midyear-review.html/


---- ---- ----

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

How can you help?

If you have an interest in covering the Planning Board and or the Zoning Board of Appeals meetings, please let me know.

As always - If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
If you don't like this, please tell me.

Thank you for listening.


For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
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!