This session shares the Town of Franklin (MA) Joint Budget Subcommittee meeting held on Wednesday, Aug 2, 2023. The meeting was conducted in the Council Chambers. Remote participation was enabled for the public for this session. 

The Joint Budget Subcommittee is composed of the budget subcommittee of the Town Council, 3 members of the Finance Committee and of the School Committee to avoid a committee quorum for each of the respective bodies.

Chair - Tom Mercer, Brian Chandler, Cobi Frongillo and Melanie Hamblen of the Town Council

George Conley, Nicole Corbosiero, and one not present of the Finance Committee

David McNeill, David Callaghan, and Denise Spencer of the School Committee

Briefly

• Chair Tom Mercer opened meeting setting the stage for the process
• An overview of the 5 year forecast was provided by Town Administrator Jamie Hellen
• Town Council meeting of Aug 16 will include more details on the override process, including the Campaign and Political Finance rules and regulations that need to be followed (note that Brookline recently failed in compliance with these matters in their own process)
• Police Chief Lynch, Fire Chief McLaughlin, DPW Director Cantoreggi, School Superintendent Giguere answered some questions provided insights into their operational cost drivers 
• Next step to committee meet again in October, Town and School to work on a more detailed update to the forecast for review and discussion by the Committee
• Resource constraints among Town and School personnel were acknowledged in getting to the next level of detail, it will take time to do it right
• Urgency in this matter was recognized
• Ultimately, the total wish number needs to be developed, and from that a practical number developed for a proposal to the Town Council for an operational override. On this timeline, it would be scheduled for 2Q 2024.

The show notes contain a link to the agenda, the Franklin TV meeting video, and to my notes.

The recording runs almost 3 hours, so let’s listen to the Joint Budget Subcommittee meeting of Aug 2, 2023.

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Franklin TV video replay link -> https://www.youtube.com/live/1bSbFZWQzu4

You may access the agenda and links for the meeting here:   https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif10036/f/agendas/august_2_2023_joint_budget_subcommittee_agenda.pdf

My notes captured during the meeting via Twitter can be found in one PDF ->

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ugnuaPrBFr6TrQdYjOgyTuJHgENDxSrm/view?usp=drive_link

Photos captured during the session can be found in one album ->

https://photos.app.goo.gl/xUZwVAByarJaCSCv9

Joint Budget Subcommittee page ->  https://www.franklinma.gov/joint-budget-subcommittee 

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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!

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