Although it delayed the vote to adopt a revised solid waste ordinance until December, the City Council will spend an additional $98,000 on a truck to haul its own construction debris to the incinerator.
The 68000 GVW cab-and-chassis truck will replace a 2000 27000 GVW truck and will also allow the city to pick up its own snow from Central Street.
...Municipal Services Director Brian Sullivan made the recommendation after he learned that the state will not allow new construction debris to be burned in the Wheelabrator incinerators after 2011, meaning the city would have to pay an outside contractor to haul new debris as well as demolition debris.
"The [new truck] is consistent with previous City Council action to control solid-waste disposal costs and to seek out long-term solutions," Sullivan said in his written recommendation.
He said over the past 12 months, the city paid $21,500 to an outside contractor to haul demolition debris and, with the new truck and two additional 30-yard containers, the city could do it for $17,136. In two years, when the city will have to haul clean construction debris as well, he said the cost savings will be even greater.
As part of its projected switch to single-stream recycling by April 2010, the city council also needs to adopt a revised solid waste ordinance.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
City Approves New Waste Truck
Maybe I'm not understanding something, but where is this money coming from? Especially since the city just bonded $850,000 for a recycling plant that we don't need right now.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Rogers-Farris to Return To Work
Sorry I wasn't able to get this up until today (again, looking for guest bloggers!), but it looks like Franklin High School principal Alice Rogers-Farris will be returning to work starting on Tuesday.
And Superintendent Jo Ellen Divoll's answer is so vague, we still don't know why she was put on leave in the first place.
When I mentioned this to my husband, he said he was sick of having the town take his tax money and not have an explanation of what happened. Especially since all this answer is going to do is fuel more rumors about what happened.
If they are going to put her back in her position, wouldn't it be a good idea to have the facts out there on what happened instead of people speculating and making stuff up?
And Superintendent Jo Ellen Divoll's answer is so vague, we still don't know why she was put on leave in the first place.
"It is my responsibility to ensure the integrity and safety of our high school," said Divoll. "This required a short administrative leave in order to investigate complaints and ongoing concerns, and create a plan to address them. This has been done."
When I mentioned this to my husband, he said he was sick of having the town take his tax money and not have an explanation of what happened. Especially since all this answer is going to do is fuel more rumors about what happened.
If they are going to put her back in her position, wouldn't it be a good idea to have the facts out there on what happened instead of people speculating and making stuff up?
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Franklin Election Results
Citizen story here.
Mayor:
Ken Merrifield -- 759
Clayton Gassett -- 377
Ward 1 City Council: Bob Sharon
Ward 2 City Council: Glen Feener
Ward 3 City Council: Scott Clarenbach
Ward 1 School Board: Bettey Tobey, Kathleen Russo, Karen Grzelak
Ward 2 School Board: This may be a recount situation because of how close the vote is.
Desiree McLaughlin -- 118
Ryan Fairchild -- 117
Ward 3 School Board: Logan Barbosa
Mayor:
Ken Merrifield -- 759
Clayton Gassett -- 377
Ward 1 City Council: Bob Sharon
Ward 2 City Council: Glen Feener
Ward 3 City Council: Scott Clarenbach
Ward 1 School Board: Bettey Tobey, Kathleen Russo, Karen Grzelak
Ward 2 School Board: This may be a recount situation because of how close the vote is.
Desiree McLaughlin -- 118
Ryan Fairchild -- 117
Ward 3 School Board: Logan Barbosa
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Franklin Elections TODAY!
So go out and vote, already!
Again, this site is endorsing:
For Mayor: Ken Merrifield
Ward 1 Council: Marty Russo
Ward 2 Council: Glen Feener
Ward 3 Council: Jeff Whitney
Ward 1 and Ward 3 school board positions are unopposed. Ward 2, I voted for Ryan Fairchild just to get some new blood in there.
Whatever direction you go, though, make sure you vote!
Again, this site is endorsing:
For Mayor: Ken Merrifield
Ward 1 Council: Marty Russo
Ward 2 Council: Glen Feener
Ward 3 Council: Jeff Whitney
Ward 1 and Ward 3 school board positions are unopposed. Ward 2, I voted for Ryan Fairchild just to get some new blood in there.
Whatever direction you go, though, make sure you vote!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Important Upcoming Dates
1) Franklin City Elections are tomorrow. The Citizen has the details.
2) This Friday, October 9, the Franklin School Board will be holding another emergency hearing on the fate of Alice Rogers-Farris, the Franklin High School principal currently on administrative leave. People still don't know what happened, and I don't know if they are also going to make that issue non-public, but nothing is even leaking for credible rumors. I'm planning on being at this meeting because it might affect me next year, so watch this space.
2) This Friday, October 9, the Franklin School Board will be holding another emergency hearing on the fate of Alice Rogers-Farris, the Franklin High School principal currently on administrative leave. People still don't know what happened, and I don't know if they are also going to make that issue non-public, but nothing is even leaking for credible rumors. I'm planning on being at this meeting because it might affect me next year, so watch this space.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
The Fate Of The Principal
Another bit of news: tonight the Franklin School Board will be discussing the fate of Franklin High School principal Alice Rogers-Farris, who was suddenly put on administrative leave last week.
The meeting is non-public, so I don't know if they are going to eventually give the reason why the action was done. But she's only been in there a short time. The school district here has a lot of problems as it is -- I would think that it would have to be at the level of a previous Laconia middle school principal in order to warrant a firing.
We'll keep an eye on this. In the meantime, if you leave a comment either in support or against Rogers-Farris' firing, make it respectable, please.
The meeting is non-public, so I don't know if they are going to eventually give the reason why the action was done. But she's only been in there a short time. The school district here has a lot of problems as it is -- I would think that it would have to be at the level of a previous Laconia middle school principal in order to warrant a firing.
We'll keep an eye on this. In the meantime, if you leave a comment either in support or against Rogers-Farris' firing, make it respectable, please.
Last Night's Candidate's Forum
In her story that was in The Citizen today, Gail Ober focused more on the mayoral race between Ken Merrifield and Clayton Gassett. If anyone has details on what was said in the other races, let me know so I can make sure all the details are up here.
In the meantime, here is the full text from The Citizen:
It didn't take long at Monday's candidates debate before the mayoral contenders got to the nitty-gritty of what the majority of the citizens in the packed Opera House came to see — a discussion about the recent tax cap override.
In a debate sponsored by Choose Franklin, challenger and former Mayor Clayton Gassett told the crowd how he felt about incumbent Mayor Kenneth Merrifield's decision to veto the city council override of the 20-year cap.
"I didn't think the present mayor should have threatened the council before he vetoed [the override]," said Gassett, who took a question about the role of the city mayor as a chance to talk about the recent override.
"I did not believe the people had the money to give up, with 10 percent of the city unemployed," said Merrifield, who reiterated his long-held position that the tax cap should only be overridden by referendum. "And I didn't think the charter allowed us to go back and collect it."
It's been nearly 20 years since Franklin became the first New Hampshire city to vote for a tax cap and, responding to a mistake in revenue projects, the Franklin City Council became the first of the subsequent cities that adopted similar caps to break it.
In 2008 and 2009, the city fell victim to a near perfect storm of economic disaster. A $449,807 mistake on the annual revenue projections coupled with plummeting property values and a 10 percent unemployment rate left the city with a nearly $1 million shortfall.
Spending and hiring freezes were ordered by City Manager Elizabeth Corrow and cuts were made to the proposed budget, but when all was said and done, the council voted 7-1 to adopt a fiscal year 2009-2010 budget that exceed the cap by the amount of the mistake — $449,807.
Defending his veto of the budget vote, Merrifield told the audience that his goal as mayor was to see a vibrant, thriving Franklin and keeping the taxes low was one of the only way the city was going to reach his goal.
While not disagreeing with Merrifield's goals, Gassett said his issue with the override and Merrifield's veto was that it was too little, too late.
"If you knew about this mistake, why wasn't something done then?" he asked. "I don't see that as leadership."
Gassett said the finance committee was aware of the mistake "shortly after it was made" and that's when the council should have acted.
Merrifield agreed that the finance committee was aware of the mistake but noted that Corrow briefed it and the full council the next meeting after he found the mistake.
"If the council had wanted to, they could have taken action at any time," Merrifield said.
Responding to a question regarding the next budget cycle that promises little improvement over the last, Merrifield said he could continue his regular lobbying of the state government to continue distributing tax revenues to the communities.
"A robust economy and the economic development of our undervalued property is how we reach our goals," Merrifield said.
"I think if the council puts its nose to the grindstone, we can tighten next year's budget," Gassett said, adding that he had to "be careful about what he said because it could get him in trouble later."
Answering a question about the city's support of outside agencies such as the Community Action Program (CAP) and the Franklin Business and Industrial Development Corp. (FBIDC), both said they support the work of all of them.
Gassett said he especially supported CAP because of the number of people helped through its programming while Merrifield said his support for FBIDC was unwavering.
"This city needs some kind of economic development arm," he said, adding that any decision to defund the FBIDC should only be accompanied by a decision to support a similar agency.
City elections take place next Tuesday. There are contested races for all three city council seats and candidates for all open School Board seats.
In the meantime, here is the full text from The Citizen:
Tax cap discussion dominates debate
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
It didn't take long at Monday's candidates debate before the mayoral contenders got to the nitty-gritty of what the majority of the citizens in the packed Opera House came to see — a discussion about the recent tax cap override.
In a debate sponsored by Choose Franklin, challenger and former Mayor Clayton Gassett told the crowd how he felt about incumbent Mayor Kenneth Merrifield's decision to veto the city council override of the 20-year cap.
"I didn't think the present mayor should have threatened the council before he vetoed [the override]," said Gassett, who took a question about the role of the city mayor as a chance to talk about the recent override.
"I did not believe the people had the money to give up, with 10 percent of the city unemployed," said Merrifield, who reiterated his long-held position that the tax cap should only be overridden by referendum. "And I didn't think the charter allowed us to go back and collect it."
It's been nearly 20 years since Franklin became the first New Hampshire city to vote for a tax cap and, responding to a mistake in revenue projects, the Franklin City Council became the first of the subsequent cities that adopted similar caps to break it.
In 2008 and 2009, the city fell victim to a near perfect storm of economic disaster. A $449,807 mistake on the annual revenue projections coupled with plummeting property values and a 10 percent unemployment rate left the city with a nearly $1 million shortfall.
Spending and hiring freezes were ordered by City Manager Elizabeth Corrow and cuts were made to the proposed budget, but when all was said and done, the council voted 7-1 to adopt a fiscal year 2009-2010 budget that exceed the cap by the amount of the mistake — $449,807.
Defending his veto of the budget vote, Merrifield told the audience that his goal as mayor was to see a vibrant, thriving Franklin and keeping the taxes low was one of the only way the city was going to reach his goal.
While not disagreeing with Merrifield's goals, Gassett said his issue with the override and Merrifield's veto was that it was too little, too late.
"If you knew about this mistake, why wasn't something done then?" he asked. "I don't see that as leadership."
Gassett said the finance committee was aware of the mistake "shortly after it was made" and that's when the council should have acted.
Merrifield agreed that the finance committee was aware of the mistake but noted that Corrow briefed it and the full council the next meeting after he found the mistake.
"If the council had wanted to, they could have taken action at any time," Merrifield said.
Responding to a question regarding the next budget cycle that promises little improvement over the last, Merrifield said he could continue his regular lobbying of the state government to continue distributing tax revenues to the communities.
"A robust economy and the economic development of our undervalued property is how we reach our goals," Merrifield said.
"I think if the council puts its nose to the grindstone, we can tighten next year's budget," Gassett said, adding that he had to "be careful about what he said because it could get him in trouble later."
Answering a question about the city's support of outside agencies such as the Community Action Program (CAP) and the Franklin Business and Industrial Development Corp. (FBIDC), both said they support the work of all of them.
Gassett said he especially supported CAP because of the number of people helped through its programming while Merrifield said his support for FBIDC was unwavering.
"This city needs some kind of economic development arm," he said, adding that any decision to defund the FBIDC should only be accompanied by a decision to support a similar agency.
City elections take place next Tuesday. There are contested races for all three city council seats and candidates for all open School Board seats.
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