Live reporting - "let it snow"

2. Guests/Presentations
a. “Let it Snow” (Maureen Sabolinski, Jeff Nutting, Mike D’Angelo, Brutus Cantoreggi)

The presentation doc was posted yesterday and is viewable here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/11/let-it-snow.html

The six truck routine was what was used for the snow that came Monday morning.

260 lane miles of road in town, 30 employees account for $900.00 expense
This is supplemented by contractors as we don't have enough employees to cover the area required.

3 routes for sidewalk clearing
don't have the manpower to cover all the sidewalks
doesn't make sense to do the sidewalks until the roads are done

Salt is not available for resident use at the DPW yard. It used to be but the regulations prevent that these days.

Please clear any fire hydrants near your residence to help the safety of the neighborhood.

Cafasso - there was a lot of dialog last year about the students on the roads
Brutus - there isn't much else we can do
Sabolinski - it is the parents right to determine of it is safe to send their children to school. From last year, there was a picture shown with a sidewalk cleared and yet students were still walking in the roadway.

The decision needs to be made by 5:00 AM to get notification to the buses and to the staff if there is no school. It also takes time to get the word out through the normal radio and TV channels. Attempting to use the ConnectED less as some parents of elementary students were complaining about receiving the phone calls so early.

Nutting - the uncertainty of the storm is the issue, we are reacting to what is happening. Please be patient. It takes time and energy. The DPW does a great job but it expensive.

Brutus - We have excellent communications not only on snow days but on early release days.
Sabolisnki - We are educational specialists, we will defer to the Police, Fire, DPW for information on other aspects of the safety of our district. Our primary goal is never to put students into the troughs of horrendous weather. I also consult with other districts to try and make regional decisions. If it is not good here, it is likely not good in Medway and Bellingham either.

Cafasso - what about FOX and WHDH, did we have an issue with them?
Sabolinski - not now, we did once as they did not give us an updated code but after the first time, we have not had an issue.


Franklin, MA