Franklin Matters: Town Council - Twitter notes recap

Thursday, April 16, 2020

Town Council - Twitter notes recap - April 15, 2020

Town Council meeting about to begin, getting the last Councilors connected
Real time reporting underway for Town Council meeting
Council Chair Tom Mercer lays out the process of talking through the chair, he will take each councilor in order to provide time for speaking, all votes via roll call
Minutes of the Feb 12 meeting were approved via roll call with 8 for, 1 abstain (Hamblen as she did not participate). So 8-0-1 should be the record
Minutes of Mar 19 approved as amended, adding Pellegri to attended list; vote was 9-0
Public hearing on zoning bylaw plot lot changes conducted, hearing opened and closed; Bissanti abstained from discussion
Question on Dean personnel to be Tip certified, even with Sodexo providing the service, this may also require Dean manager of record to be certified. #tc0415 bylaw does require this
Events could happen in different spots within the Campus center, question on could they set up a regular bar? Not what they are asking for, but possible.
Not meant to be a publicly accessible event, management agreement should include that explicit restriction to Dean students and related events ... #tc0415 likely to come back for further discussion around the agreement and restriction
Motion to continue license discussion to the may 6 meeting passed 7-2, Chandler and Earl's voted no. Town and Dean to work on agreement or restriction to license to meet points of discussion tonight
Franklin TV list internet connection so broadcast is interrupted until they recover. My backup recording is still working here at my site (as well as within Zoom)
TA Jamie Hellen providing update on COVID-19, in state of emergency for 35 days, testing has increased, infected and fatalities have increased as well, billing adjusted per local option today
No deaths reported to TA associated with COVID-19, need to get the State to change the data process and reporting to be more complete as noted
Certain departments and specific individuals get access for specific purposes and set times to ensure paper continues to process where it can't be done virtually
Earth day likely still to be held clearly differently than previously, stay tuned for updates and details.
Councilor asking for a target date to work toward, missing (I think) the town is planning the steps for which it can be executed when the date is set/agreed to - currently it is May 4
SNETT trail is on schedule for prospect St construction beginning May, Lincoln St underway, town by Town data to be released weekly, the #s are not a complete picture of the status, 37 cases shown today, 13 as of last weekend were recovered
Councilor comments on Jamie's update taking long time, some speculation, some politics creeping in to the discussion
Next up, the Community Preservation act, getting it back for discussion; only cost for it on Nov election would be the cost of the additional ballot itself. #tc0415 get it on the ballot for the voters to decide
CPA to come back with likely 3% as the amount for the May 6 meeting for approval to out it on the November ballot. Councilors concerned with timing (not good now) but need to be careful to avoid advocacy on this measure
Moving to legislation, first up - the zoning plot line cleanup, Bissanti recused himself, due to roll call clerk required to read full text of legislation, will slow the process down but it is what it is
Motion to move to second reading, passed 8-0-1 (Bissanti recused, 8 for, none against) ( zoning plot line cleanup measure was part of hearing earlier in meeting)
Maple St Bellingham solar agreement up for discussion, good news as this means additional money coming in, two other agreements likely to be completed before end of April, #tc0415. Vote 9-0 for
Trash/recycling rate gets first approval to raise to $278/year effective July 1. Vote was 8-1 for,
Chandler no
Motion to adjourn, passed 9-0