Town of Framingham To Sign Compact with Baker/Polito Administration

Originally posted on Friday, Feb. 12. Updated for Tuesday newsletter.

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The Town of Framingham will sign a Community Compact with the Baker/Polito administration next week.

Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito will visit Framingham Tuesday morning, Feb. 16.

The Baker/Polito Administration and the Town of Framingham’s Community Compact is a commitment to the implementation of new “best practice initiatives” in the categories of Information Technology: Transparency and Education; Administration and Finance.

The Community Compact provides municipalities with incentives for state grant funds and technical assistance to refine and implement best practices in a Community’s chosen areas. The Town of Framingham’s information technology initiative is a two-tiered approach to create financial transparency:

* Framingham has recently contracted with Socrata to begin implementing an Open Data Portal. The first stage of this project will be Open Budget, which provides an interactive experience that allows visitors to explore the operating and capital budgets of the Town of Framingham in detail. In addition to sharing the details associated with providing Town services, the use of the Open Data Portal may alleviate requests for information that is currently serviced by department staff. Future stages include publishing expenditure details, permitting information and more.

* Framingham is also in the process of partnering with local municipal data developer ClearGov, to provide financial and education data in an interactive and graphical format. By partnering with ClearGov, constituents will have the ability to benchmark financial and education data against other municipalities in a number of flexible and innovative formats. This is will be an informative tool for Framingham citizens to understand how their government spends their money and how our School system stacks up against other cities and towns.

This is one of the many steps that the Town of Framingham is taking towards the Town’s commitment to transparency in government. The Town’s Education Administration and Finance initiative is to move toward the best practice of coordinated and collaborative financial management of School and Town finances. This includes enhanced information sharing and financial reporting for improved long range strategy and decision-making. The compact will provide technical assistance to study and recommend the best way to implement this initiative.

“The Baker/Polito Administration is committed to an ongoing improvement in the relationship between state and local government and how we each serve our residents and taxpayers. The types of best management practices encouraged in the Community Compact initiative are central to our mutual efforts to improve government services. I am proud of the compact we have entered into, which will improve financial transparency and open data availability for our residents,” said Framingham Town Manager Bob Halpin.

“We look forward to working with the Community Compact Cabinet and taking advantage of the resources available through the Compact to implement valuable improvements in transparency of Framingham Town government,” said Framingham Chief Financial Officer Mary Ellen Kelley.

The Governor signed an executive order to create the Community Compacts in January 2015.

Ironically Lt. Gov. Polito announced the Baker/Polito administration’s new Community Compact program at a press conference in Framingham at the Memorial Building in March 2015.

The Community Compact is a voluntary, mutual agreement entered into between the Baker-Polito Administration and individual cities and towns of the Commonwealth.

In a Community Compact, a community will agree to implement at least one best practice that they select from across a variety of areas. The community’s chosen best practices will be reviewed between the Commonwealth and the municipality to ensure that the best practices chosen are unique to the municipality and reflect needed areas of improvement.

Once approved, the written agreement will be generated and signed by both the municipality and the Commonwealth. The Compact also articulates the commitments the Commonwealth will make on behalf of all communities.

For more on the State’s Community Compact’s best practices click here.