Franklin MAtters Weekly

Monday, December 3, 2012

Next up: Remington-Jefferson school tour, Dec 6 - 6;00 PM

Coming off the Thanksgiving Holiday, one of our family traditions has been listening to Alice's Restaurant. This tradition started many years ago, before we moved to Franklin. My wife and I are native Rhode Islanders and would return for the holidays from our NJ home. The song was one of a standard set to play on the road.

Towards the end of the song, Arlo talks about the movement. How if one person did something, they would think he is crazy. If two people did something, they would think they are gay. How if three people did something, they would be an organization. How if 50 people did something, they would be a movement.

Getting from 3 to 50 to get a movement going is a challenge. You need to catch their attention and give them a reason to act. You are already reading this, so I have your attention. Thank you! The School District has scheduled a series of tours, one school (or school complex) a month for this school year. Members of the School Committee, Central Office and the principal of the school give of their time this Thursday night beginning at 6:00 PM to welcome Franklin residents for a walk through the Remington-Jefferson schools.

Horace Mann Middle School entrance

If you have children in school, you should participate. Even if you don't have children in school, you should participate. This is a great time to see what is happening in school. To ask questions in an informal setting as the tour goes room to room, around the school. From the front entrance to the boiler room, to the gym, to the cafeteria. You get to see the inside of the school that you wouldn't otherwise see!

Join us Thursday night at the Remington Jefferson Schools, 6:00 PM!

Dec 2

Dec 1

Nov 30

Nov 29

Nov 28

Nov 27

Nov 26

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Time to set the tax rate

We come out of the Thanksgiving holiday into a busy week. The School Committee meets on Tuesday. The tax rate hearing is scheduled for the Town Council meeting on Wednesday, Nov 28th. The annual Holiday Stroll takes place on Thursday, Nov 29th beginning at 4:00 PM.

School Committee Meeting
Scheduled on the agenda is recognition for the Girls Soccer Team for their recent State Championship. A presentation on the latest MCAS data, a change in the current school year calendar (the addition of two reduced schedule days for both elementary and secondary students), and a discussion on the proposed Capital Plan for the facilities and technology needs of the School District.

The full agenda for the School Committee meeting including links to several of the key agenda items can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/11/franklin-ma-school-committee-agenda-nov.html

Town Council Meeting
The tax rate hearing is procedural and based upon math. If the overall Franklin property valuation goes down, the tax rate will go up. It is that simple! Given the recent economic conditions, to see the overall residential property values decline 2% and to see Commercial/Industrial values decline a half percent (.5%), then the tax rate will go up. It is simple math. Even if the automatic 2.5% increase in tax was not included, the tax levy divided into a smaller tax base will raise the rate. Franklin has seen rate increases since the rate bottomed out in 2007. I expect that we'll continue to see something of a rate increase for the foreseeable future.

I have updated my analysis and explanation of the tax rate information and that is summarized here:

Franklin FY2013 TaxRateInfo

The full Town Council agenda will be posted on Monday
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/11/franklin-ma-town-council-agenda-nov-28.html

Holiday Stroll
Sponsored by the Franklin Downtown Partnership, start at Dean College for the tree lighting and then visit the other businesses downtown to check out their happenings. A full listing of events is available on the Downtown Partnership page here
http://www.franklindowntownpartnership.org/2012/11/more-holiday-stroll-happenings.html

11/25

11/24

11/23

11/22

11/21

11/20

11/19

Monday, November 19, 2012

Good news on the high school front!

It is already Thursday for those in school this week. Thursday? Yes, there are only two days of school, so it is like this is Thursday and Tuesday will be Friday before the long weekend!

Last week was going to be about the high school and it was in a couple of ways. We did get the update on the budget and construction schedule for the high school building project underway. We also heard about the girls soccer team as they won on Tuesday to advance to the State Championship on Friday which they also won! Nice job ladies. It takes great team work to win a championship and to go undefeated as well! Kudos all around!

High school building update:
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/11/live-reporting-high-school-update.html
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/11/live-reporting-question-and-answer.html

Girls soccer championship game video highlights:
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/11/fhs-girls-soccer-championship-game.html

What is up this week? No School Committee or Town Council meeting. The Town Council closes out November with their annual tax rate hearing on Nov 28. I would guess the tax rate will go up again but by less than it did last year given the overall state of the economy and housing values. When residential housing values increase the rate goes down, when values go down the rate goes up. Just be cause the rate goes up does not mean Franklin can collect more money (aside the the automatic less than 2.5%), the tax levy is just spread over a lesser valuation which increases the rate.

I have written about this for each of the past several years. You can revisit the 2012 and 2011 rate hearing info here:
FY 2012 = http://www.franklinmatters.org/2011/11/fm-101-tax-rate-info.html
FY 2011 = http://www.franklinmatters.org/2010/12/fm-79-slidecast-tax-hearing-info-for-fy.html

Thanksgiving rolls around on Thursday. Let's pause to give thanks for all we have. I plan on getting my morning run in early and for a good cause. Feed The Need has organized a Turkey Trot 5K Family Fun Run Walk to start at 8:00 AM from the LDS Church, 91 Jordan Road. Registration can be done online or beginning at 7:00 AM Thursday morning. More information on the 5K can be found on the website here
http://www.franklinfoodpantry.org/2012/11/turkey-trot-family-5k-fun-run-nov-22.html

This 5K will benefit the Franklin Food Pantry! We appreciate their efforts to help. I am thankful that Franklin is a caring and helpful community!

This writing 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.

Nov 18

Nov 17

Franklin High School Girls Soccer: 2012 State Champions!

New dorm scheduled to open in December

Nov 16

Nov 15

Nov 14

Nov 13

Nov 12

Monday, November 12, 2012

Next up: high school project status

Franklin voted on Tuesday, Nov 6th at the high school field house. 17,500 voters came out to cast their ballots an impressive turnout! While the parking lot may have been hectic, there were minimal to no lines inside as things moved smoothly. Debbie Pellegri, the Town Clerk, reported that the machine for Precinct 7 was sticking on some votes but other than that, no issues.

The results were already report here and here so we won't spend more time on those now. I updated the chart to depict the voter turnout for the elections from 2003 through to the most recent Nov 2012 results.

One of the minor complications to the parking lot situation on Tuesday was that the contractor closed off the second entrance to the parking lot during the day. I had parked at Horace Mann/Oak St and walked over to save time going through the parking lot. As I came back in the evening to get the results, I noticed that the entrance had been fenced off.

Awareness of the high school building project schedule is on tap for this week. Wednesday at 7:00 PM in the Council Chambers, the project status and construction phases will be reviewed. Building Committee Chair Tom Mercer has stated that the project manager, the contractor, the architect and the Building Committee will be present for this meeting.

Tuesday evening, you can take in the hunger experience at Dean College. Additional details ate found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/11/dean-college-hunger-awareness-banquet.html

Thursday evening, the Downtown Partnership is holding a networking event at the Six One Seven Studios. They are located at 25 Kenwood Circle. If you have not been to view their production studios, this is a good time to do that and network with other business folks in Franklin at the same time.

Other items posted in the past week include:

Nov 11

Nov 10

Nov 9

Nov 8