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


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

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