Franklin Matters: Town Council hears an update on the SAFE Coalition

Sunday, July 16, 2017

Town Council hears an update on the SAFE Coalition

The recap of the Franklin Town Council meeting held on Wednesday, July 12. The highlight of the meeting was the presentation and discussion on the great work being done by the SAFE Coalition. One topic was noticeably absent from the entire meeting. So pay attention and see if you can figure out what it was.

Staci Dooney was approved as a member of the Conservation Commission. There are now 4 open spots on standing board/committees looking for volunteers, in addition to the newly formed Cultural District Committee which is looking to fulfill its slate of 7 members. For the current listing of open positions:
http://franklinmaboards.vt-s.net/boards.php

Richard Henken, President of The Schochet Company, addressed the Council as owner and manager of the Glen Meadow apartments as of May. The Schochet Company is specifically focused to operate, manage, and develop affordable housing. The Glen Meadow apartment complex had dropped off the listing of affordable housing bringing Franklin below the critical 10% threshold. With the purchase and reinvestment by Schochet Company, it is now back on the affordable housing listing bringing Franklin to above 11%. Franklin is now not forced to do an affordable housing 40B development. More about the Schochet Company can be found on their webpage http://www.schochet.com/

Richard Henken, President of The Schochet Company

The S.A.F.E. Coalition presented and discussed their efforts to help address the substance abuse issues that troubles Franklin and much of MA (as well as the entire US).

I will share the video replay once it is available from Franklin TV and encourage you to view it to get the fullness of the discussion.

The video replay is available
http://view.earthchannel.com/PlayerController.aspx?PGD=franknma&eID=477

The document used for the presentation is here:

SAFE Coalition - July 12, 2017 from Franklin Matters

Some of the key takeways:

All Franklin 1st responders are now equipped with NARCAN
Training and distribution of NARCAN to the community exceeded expectations
Support line established (call 508-488-8105 for support, but not for emergency situations)
Additional communications and education events planned
Franklin Police provide real time overdose tracking for Franklin residents
SAFE has a YouTube channel with informative videos

SAFE Coalition presentation to Town Council, July 12, 2017

On the Legislation front, there were only two measures up for vote. One to ratify the Town Administrators new contract and one to accept a donation to the Franklin Fire Dept. Both passed unanimously via roll call vote as Councilor Tom Mercer was participating via phone while on a business trip.

The Town Council Actions Taken document can be found here or on the Town of Franklin webpage
http://www.franklinma.gov/sites/franklinma/files/news/town_council_actions_taken_for_july_12_2017.pdf

My notes reported live during the meeting can be found here

And for those paying attention, the incident with a Town Councilor over the 4th of July weekend that created such a stir was not mentioned.