We, the people!

The Franklin (MA) Town Council did something interesting this past week. They punted when they could have knocked the ball out of the park. Yes, I understand that is mixing metaphors and it is a deliberate choice.

The agenda was published on the Friday before their Wednesday meeting as normal. The agenda included Res 12-33 which was an endorsement of the People's Rights Amendment. I thought this interesting because while I consider my radar pretty good, there are always holes and new opportunities and this was a surprise.

The Town Council was going to step into a discussion on people's rights? A national discussion that derives itself with roots in local politics (yes, all politics is local). A discussion fraught with political overtones covering the full spectrum of the rainbow. This Council was indeed going to set new ground!

Alas, this was not to be. The agenda was modified and republished on Tuesday without Res 12-33 and the associated documentation. The item was left as a 'presentation'.

Wednesday evening comes and several members of the Council make their sentiments clear that this was not the proper forum for the Council to discuss this item.

I beg to disagree. There may be a better set of language to put forward for this issue. There are at least two proposals out there, there may very well be more. The problem I have with the Council is that the Council is indeed a good forum for this discussion. Why?

What does the US Constitution say? You may recall that the US Constitution begins

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

http://billofrightsinstitute.org/founding-documents/constitution/

What does the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts say? In the third paragraph, you'll recognize the key phrase but pay attention to the first two paragraphs!

The end of the institution, maintenance, and administration of government, is to secure the existence of the body politic, to protect it, and to furnish the individuals who compose it with the power of enjoying in safety and tranquility their natural rights, and the blessings of life: and whenever these great objects are not obtained, the people have a right to alter the government, and to take measures necessary for their safety, prosperity and happiness. 

The body politic is formed by a voluntary association of individuals: it is a social compact, by which the whole people covenants with each citizen, and each citizen with the whole people, that all shall be governed by certain laws for the common good. It is the duty of the people, therefore, in framing a constitution of government, to provide for an equitable mode of making laws, as well as for an impartial interpretation, and a faithful execution of them; that every man may, at all times, find his security in them. 

We, therefore, the people of Massachusetts, acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the goodness of the great Legislator of the universe, in affording us, in the course of His providence, an opportunity, deliberately and peaceably, without fraud, violence or surprise, of entering into an original, explicit, and solemn compact with each other; and of forming a new constitution of civil government, for ourselves and posterity; and devoutly imploring His direction in so interesting a design, do agree upon, ordain and establish the following Declaration of Rights, and Frame of Government, as the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

http://www.malegislature.gov/Laws/Constitution

And of course, the Franklin Charter, by which we are empowered to govern ourselves begins:

We, the people of the Town of Franklin, Massachusetts, in order to form a more perfect community, reaffirm the customary and traditional liberties of the people with respect to the conduct of our local government and take fullest advantage of the Home Rule Amendment to the Constitution of the Commonwealth, do ordain and adopt this Home Rule Charter for our Town.

http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_TownCharter/towncharter.pdf

So we have three levels of government, the two most local to us (MA and Franklin) clearly state that we the people have "a right to alter the government", the process includes "an equitable mode of making laws, as well as for an impartial interpretation, and a faithful execution of them; that every man may, at all times, find his security in them."

We should have a discussion on the people's rights amendment. Maybe we can come up with the phrasing that will correct the money problem!


Part of this essay was originally posted to the Franklin Matters Weekly website here
http://franklinmattersweekly.blogspot.com/2012/05/week-ending-may-20-2012.html


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My normal practice is to download a copy of the agenda and documents prior to the meeting, one to prepare, but more importantly to have a local copy to refer to during the meeting rather than be dependent upon the network in the Town Council Chambers.

The full set of agenda and documents as originally published for the 5/16 meeting can be found here
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0wjbnXDBhczWnBncV9lQVhheVU/

The revised agenda and set of documents (missing all the People's Rights Amendment pages) can be found here  https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0wjbnXDBhczSWh2b1pHTEdxRHc/

My summary of notes from the meeting reported live can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/05/town-council-051612.html

Bother to show up

"In it to win it"

"Takes two to tango"

"fill the void"

There are other phrasings that also apply here. Why?

Just reflecting on the ramifications of the decision of the School Committee to be a 'no show' for the Town Council meeting on Wednesday night.

The Town Council were allowed to say whatever they wanted. They knew before the meeting that the School Committee was not going to show up. They had time to prepare. They could talk all they want without a counter point.

Had anyone from the School Committee been there, the conversation would have been different.

Trust starts with respect.

The School Committee for my 2 cents has made a poor choice by not showing up. Their choice has now colored the conversation. Instead of focusing on the good work that has been done, or the good work that could be done (with interest based bargaining), the School Committee has put themselves in a defensive posture explaining why they didn't bother to show up.

Not a good thing to do anytime.

Oh, and should I mention that there is an election scheduled for Nov 8th!


Note: additional details on the Town Council meeting and the School Committee's 'no show' can be found on Franklin Matters  http://www.franklinmatters.org/

The cost of now

More than ever, there's a clear relationship between how new something is and how much it costs to discover that news.

Seth Godin, always a thought stirrer in my book, has an interesting post today. You can read the full posting here.

There is also a cost to deliver the news. Some of you may be aware that I do "live blogging" for Franklin Matters. I do this for as many School Committee, Town Council and other town meetings of events as I can. Oh and this is when I don't forget to bring my power cord with me. The combination of the live network connection and taking notes drains the battery in less than an hour. Simply taking notes without connection to the internet extends the battery life closer to the two hours it should be.

The live notes while they are real time, generally are a straight capture of the transactions, conversations, whatever is going on. Very little editing or commentary is added. I am too busy keeping track of what is being said by whom, etc.

The post meeting notes are better written, there is a definite flow or line of thought to them as I have had time to sort things out no matter how the meeting went or who said what when.

This is not a new discussion for me. I have been thinking about this quick a bit. I want to make a decision based upon the readership. Do I get more activity from live blogging or from the post meeting notes?

The jury is still out on that one.


If you would like to share your thoughts, please let me know via comment or email (shersteve at gmail dot com).

How about this for a smart pen?

Image by shersteve via FlickrWhen I do my live reporting for the Town Council, School Committee and other Franklin meetings, I have my laptop and MP3 recorder ready and operational. There are times when this would be inconvenient and reverting to simple pen and pad would be easier. This pen, the Pulse from Lightscribe would provide almost the same technology in a smaller form factor.

How does it do it?

Check out this customer testimonial video:


For more information, visit the Lightscribe page here. The 1GB pen lists for $149 and the 2GB pen lists for $199.


This just might be an item to make it to my wish list! The one draw back for me is you do need to use special paper. However, you are not limited to just their stock. You can download and print additional pages on your own.

Thanks to Jeff R for the pointer!

"Franklin voters will be able to start trusting again"

Yes, I did say that.

During the Town Council meeting 5/7/08 when Chairman Chris Feeley proposed a committee to prepare a long range projection for Town finances.

I'll have the complete audio file up some time this week. In the mean time, you can read the full article in the Milford Daily News here

My "live blogging" recap of the meeting can be found here.

Dandelion hunting

It was a late night at the School Committee meeting Tuesday. The Town Council scheduled their special meeting Wednesday at 6:00 PM (normally 7:00 PM) for the override vote. I needed to hustle off the train to make it to the Town Council chambers in time.

The meeting lasted all of 35 minutes. There was NO discussion on the amount of the override. There was some discussion on Tuesday versus Saturday and the decision ended up remaining with the "standard don't rock the boat" Tuesday election day.

Meeting adjourned, I headed home. First, the garbage barrels needed to be collected, then the mail retrieved. I noticed some dandelions popping up here and there. I had already gone hunting on Sunday morning but clearly some were hiding then waiting to show up now.

Garden poker in hand, small bucket in another, I went a hunting.

Have you ever hunted dandelions?

Better to catch them early before they bloom and change to their white puffs which catch the wind and spread to create a cycle of more dandelions.

Dandelion hunting is good for leaving the day behind. You slip the poker into the ground at the center of the dandelion, gently work the poker below ground until you feel the root reaching deep, then using the lever power of the poker, break the root below ground and remove the dandelion whole, depositing it into the bucket and move on.

If I had taken time to get out of my work clothes this would have been good to do on my knees. Crouching and moving around from dandelion to dandelion. As I was still dressed, I simply bent over and plucked them one by one.

This helped to ground me, to leave work, the commute, and the amazingly short Town Council meeting behind as I entered the house, confident that another dandelion battle has been won!

June 10th - $2.8 million - Yes/No for Franklin Schools

The choice is now in the hands of the voters.

Make it an informed vote:

• Visit Franklin Matters often for informational updates
• Read the news papers
• Talk with your neighbors

If you are not registered to vote, visit the Town Clerk's office and register.

If you will be out of town on the 10th, apply for an absentee ballot.

There is no reason why you should not vote.

How you vote is up to you!

Busy week ahead

A short work week but a busy one. School Committee meeting tonight, Town Council meeting Wednesday, Spirit of the Marathon movie on Thursday, and we meet Brad's parents on Saturday.

Brad?
Who's Brad?
Recall this

Franklin: Forensic Report

It will take me some time to complete making sections of the recording from the joint Town Council and School Committee meeting held this past Wednesday. As the sections are completed they will be posted to Franklin Matters.

The full 138 page report is available on the Franklin home page with a note that after a couple of days it will move to a page within the School section. I recommend reading this to all Franklin residents. It is not easy to understand but the audio sections to listen to, that should help you make sense of what is covered in the report.

As a Franklin resident and tax payer, I am approaching this with three questions in mind:

1 - Does the explanation of the deficit make sense?

2 - Do the recommendations address each of the issues raised in the report in an appropriate and sustaining manner? (Will these steps prevent future issues?)

3 - Are there any questions that were not answered by the report?

I suggest that as you review the report, you answer these three questions for yourself. I will share my answers as soon as I complete the audio sections.

I look forward to the discussion around these questions and answers.


Updated: The full audit report is available on the Franklin Schools page (left menu item) or via this link (PDF). Note, the PDF file is quite large, it may be slow opening depending upon your connection.

Franklin Matters - Busy Week

The School Committee and the Town Council have meetings this week. The School Committee meets on Tuesday (1/8/08) and Town Council meets on Wednesday (1/9/08).

Amongst other items on their agenda, the School Committee receives the Brick Task Force report on Tuesday.

As I recall, the two groups meet together to receive the budget shortfall audit report on Wednesday.

This will be a busy week for Franklin Matters!

Franklin: Town Council Results

As announced by Town Clerk Deborah L. Pellegri at the high school field house Tuesday evening:

Candidate	Votes
Vallee	2201	*
Feeley	1979	*
Zollo	1978	*
Bartlett	1893	*
Pfeffer	1692	*
Whalen	1680	*
Doak	1673	*
Mason	1568	*
McGann	1549	*
LeBlanc	1481
Bower	1348
Grella	1337
Yurgenson	1237
Evans	1236

Congratulations to those elected!

Signs discussion makes the Globe

The advantage a couple of candidates have used by putting their signs up early has made it to the Boston Globe today.

Vallee called the topic a nonissue and said the reaction was overblown.

I disagree. I think it shows what kind of leadership some of our candidates possess. Those who are in charge of setting the laws for the town should not be able to flaunt the law. They won't get my vote.

And while we are on the topic of signs: doesn't the ordinance limit the signs to 6 per property? Who is in charge of enforcing it?

The new medical building on the corner of Union and King has 7 signs this morning. Two of them are from Councilor McGann, so taking one of his down would bring the property into compliance!

Hot Stove - Town Council - Top 9

Following up on the “hot stove” topic from yesterday and inspired in part by the “All in Favor” guidelines published by the Center for Public Education, let me define what I think the Franklin Town Council candidates need to provide for Franklin to address its problems and remain one of the Top 10 Ten Places to Live.

The councilors should bring to the table:

• Good community representatives - they should be held to a higher standard as they are the role models for the community to go by. They are the ones entrusted with creating and enforcing the bylaws of the town
• Open minded - able to examine an idea and follow a logical approach to consider multiple solutions to a problem before coming to a resolution on how to proceed
• Good communication skills - once a process or solution has been determined, getting out to effectively communicate or educate the necessary stakeholders, explain to them in their terms and be able to move on
• Complimentary skills - i.e. for the council to effectively work for Franklin, they should have some diversity amongst their skill sets
• Collaborative leanings - for the council to be effective, they need to work with other boards and organizations. They should be able to approach these groups in a collaborative manner, with a win/win desire. They should deal with others in a respectful manner all the time.
• Some public service experience - more is not always better but some is better than none

Based upon these guidelines, I offer the following choices for the top nine slots for the Town Council


Top Three: Bartlett, Doak, Mason

In my mind, there is no question about these folks. They have consistently spoken to, voted for, and worked for the best of Franklin.

Middle Three: Evans, Feeley, LeBlanc

I don’t always agree with what they say but they bring a good deal of background and experience to the position and should continue to provide their collaborative mix of skills to the council

New Three: Bower, Whalen, Zollo

Whalen will bring financial analysis to the role. He has proven himself with work on the Finance committee.
Zollo will bring a great deal of sanity and collaboration to this role. We clearly need to work together to solve Franklin’s problems and he has been consistent in talking that talk.
Bower will bring his “common sense” to the table in addition to the inexperienced set of eyes that a new comer will have.


What do you think? Who would you change? Why?

Hot Stove Discussion Time

Now that the World Series trophy is making the rounds with some players heading for the David Letterman Show, some to the State House, and to their off season places, it’s time for the hot stove league discussions.

• Who will get signed?
• Will Schilling return?
• Will Lowell return?
• Will A-Rod appear in a Sox uniform?
• What will the line up look like for next year?

Franklin voters actually get to do something much like the baseball hot stove league. They can pick from the 14 candidates for Town Council, the 9 that will help to work on the current budget problems. The decisions the Franklin voters make this election day will determine what our future will look like:

• Will we go with a split tax rate or remain with a single?
• How we will handle the library repairs?
• How we will handle the high school renovations?
• What will the school budget look like?
• Will the Brick classroom survive for another year?

Your vote will determine who gets to work on the numerous opportunities facing this town.

While the baseball hot stove league fills the time from the World Series until spring training starts, Franklin voters have only until November 6th to be prepared to cast their ballot.

Michael Morton has been busy attending the candidate information sessions and writing of them in the Milford Daily News. I have seen him at each meeting I have been to, which is more than I can say of the Franklin voters. I have been quite disappointed in how few Franklin voters have appeared. We have the equivalent of an override facing the voters November 6th with the ballot question on the Community Preservation Act. No, it is not technically an override but it does raise additional funds for the town to be used for specific purposes (historic, open space, low cost housing).

To prepare for November 6th please check out the candidate profiles for

• Town Council
• School Committee
• Planning Board
• Board of Health

Read information on the Community Preservation Act and visit the Community Preservation Coalition web site.

Franklin Town Council Candidate Profiles

Michael Morton has this article with the profiles of the 14 Town Council candidates.

Be aware of the election Tuesday, November 6th.

You will be able to cast your vote for what Franklin's future will look like.

Make it an informed vote!

Franklin needs a bigger pie

Michael Morton did a good job of telling a story based upon what was said during last night's discussion forum with the Town Council candidates. But it seems to imply that my question came in the middle of the session when in fact, my question started the whole discussion.

My question addressing the whole row of candidates:

In what I have heard and read about your positions on the split tax rate, I understand that the tax revenue today can be considered one pie. Both businesses and residents pay the same rate. What the split tax rate does is create two rates or two slices of pie, one larger than the other. I don't see how that solves Franklin's problem. What we really need is a bigger pie. How are those who are for the split rate going to increase the size of the pie?

Read Michael Morton's full article here.

Stay tuned for my write up summarzing their answers.

Franklin: Town Council Candidates

Franklin: Candidates, originally uploaded by shersteve.

Most of the 14 candidates appeared this evening. Those missing (with one exception) sent statements to be read as they had commitments elsewhere.

Due to the light attendance, the format was changed to allow each present ask a question or two. The resulting discussion was insightful.

I will combine my notes from the Dean session last week with tonight's forum to present my slate for the nine slots available.

Stay tuned, I will try to have that ready for Thursday, November 1.

Franklin: Audience for Town Council Forum

Franklin: Audience, originally uploaded by shersteve.

One could make a case that the election coming up November 6th is not a big deal for most of the Franklin voters.

Michael Morton, front row, was attending to report for the Milford Daily News. A couple of other folks came in after this photo was taken but clearly there was a very light turnout.

Let's hope the voters have enough information to make a decision and do get out to vote on Tuesday November 6th.

Many thanks to the PCC for sponsoring this forum.

Town Council Candidates Forum - 10/29/07

TOWN COUNCIL CANDIDATE’S FORUM

Monday, OCTOBER 29, 2007

Franklin town elections are November 6, 2007. There are several contested races including Town Council, Planning Board and Board of Health. The contest that is of most consequence to our school system is the race for Town Council. It is very important that we vote in our local elections so that our values and concerns are represented by the people who we elect.

In that spirit, the Joint PCC of the Franklin Public School System is sponsoring a Town Council Candidate Forum on Monday, October 29, 2007 at 7 p.m. in the Horace Mann Auditorium.

Candidates will address school related questions and issues at the forum.

Audience members will be encouraged to participate with questions.

If you cannot make the forum, please remember to go out and vote Tuesday November 6, 2007.


from an email received from the PCC

Franklin: Candidates for Town Council

Franklin: Candidates for Town Council, originally uploaded by shersteve.

The line up at the candidate forum Tuesday evening created a full table.

Franklin, you have lots of choices to make. Since there were not many of you in the room to hear what these candidates had to say, I hope you tune into the the local cable channel to catch the broadcast. (the schedule is not yet available)

Michael Morton captured some sound bites in his article in the Milford Daily News.

I took a bunch of notes and will have them ready next week.