This session of the radio show is the audio recording of the Franklin, MA Capital Budget Subcommittee meeting conducted on Wednesday, February 21, 2024. All four members of the subcommittee were present: Chair Debbie Pellegri, Vice Chair Bob Dellorco, Ted Cormier-leger, Brian Chandler. 

Town Administrator Jamie Hellen, Treasurer/Collector Kerri Bertone, Superintendent Lucas Giguere, along with almost all of the Town Department leaders; at least those with capital budget requests.

This meeting covered the first round of capital budgeting. As noted during the session, there is about 1.5M remaining of “Free Cash” to be allocated during round 2.

You can follow along with the agenda as each department section was covered and line item by line items, votes were conducted (with a few exceptions). Only one vote did NOT finish 4-0. That being the vote to fund the town/school website upgrade which passed 3-1 (Cormier-Leger cast the “no” vote). 

As noted when I shared the agenda, while this proposal was reviewed by the Finance Committee on Feb 7, it has been modified since then. It was also adjusted further during the meeting with School Supt Lucas Gigguere reducing their school capital request from $1.2 M to $900+K. The capital budget as adjusted now moves forward to the full Town Council for their meeting on February 28.

The recording runs about just over 2 hours minutes, so let’s listen to this capital budget discussion.

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

Agenda document ->   

https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif10036/f/agendas/capital_budget_subcommittee_agenda_-_feb_21_2024.pdf 

My notes via Twitter ->

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_3lpxnItRZ54gVEfc06Gu4F5FIGydByY/view?usp=drive_link 

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

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

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

How can you help?

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

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/ or www.franklin.news/

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana"  c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.

I hope you enjoy!

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

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