a. FY24 Budget Approvalb. FY24 Project slate
i. Open Space Appropriationsii. Fletcher Field Playground Improvements - $150,000iii. Nason Street site work preparation - $25,000iv. Beaver Street Challenge Course - $150,000
Providing accurate and timely information about what matters in Franklin, MA since 2007. * Working in collaboration with Franklin TV and Radio (wfpr.fm) since October 2019 *
a. FY24 Budget Approvalb. FY24 Project slate
i. Open Space Appropriationsii. Fletcher Field Playground Improvements - $150,000iii. Nason Street site work preparation - $25,000iv. Beaver Street Challenge Course - $150,000
The committee approved the minutes of the prior meeting via roll call vote (7-0-2; 7 for, 0 against, 2 absent).
Motion to accept the proposed meeting scheduled for 2023, seconded, passes via voice vote (7 for, 0 against, 2 absent)
Town Administrator Jamie Hellen provides project updates on work underway
Red Brick School exterior renovation - doors and windows backordered
Nason St Tot lot site prep work being done now in advance of renovation in the spring
King St Memorial Field estimate and draft depiction of the field layout and work proposed. Timeline and funding remains TBD. Would be adding pickleball courts, would be including a paved path all around the park, would also be adding parking; questioned on if handicap access for the community garden is considered? I added that when the garden opened in 2010, it did have a stonedust entrance and among the first four beds on each side of the main gate. It was covered with mulch a few years ago. The base likely could be restored.
Jamie also provided a financial update, it had a minor error and would be further enhanced to better reflect what was approved vs allocated vs. spent, etc.
Committee entered executive session via roll call vote not to return to open meeting (7 for, 0 against, 2 absent)
depiction of proposed King St Memorial park improvements
a. October 4, 2022
a. Red Brick School Houseb. King Street Memorial Park Design
a. 2022 CPA Trust Fund Distributionb. Community Preservation Act Fund Balances
a. Considering the purchase, exchange, lease or value of real property, because an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the negotiating position of the Public Body
a. June 7, 2022
a. Request for Appropriation: $50,000 for the Red Brick Schoolhouseb. Other project updates:
i. Nason Street Tot Lotii. Historical Museum Cupolaiii. King Street Memorial Parkiv. Townwide Open Space & Recreational Planv. State Matching Fund update
Notice from the Franklin Department of Public Works
Our road improvement program continues tomorrow. Areas that will be "Milled & Overlaid" (i.e. remove top inch and half of asphalt fix manholes and drains structures then repave with new asphalt) are sections of Beaver Street near the recycling center, Union Street near the Common and the intersection of King / Chestnut/ East Central (Route 140).
This work is expected to cause significant traffic delays especially at the intersection of King / Chestnut/ East Central (Route 140)!
As always, please seek alternate routes and proceed with caution in construction areas.
Shared from Town of Franklin DPW -> https://www.franklinma.gov/home/news/dpw-notice-mill-overlay-project-continue-tomorrow-august-3rd-2022
DPW Notice - Mill & Overlay Project to continue Wednesday, August 3, 2022 |
Notice from the Franklin DPW
Paving will begin on King Street Tuesday, July 26, 2022 from Union Street to East Central Street.Franklin DPW: King St paving begins Jul 27, 2022 |
Shared from Twitter -> https://twitter.com/TOFranklinMA/status/1551660800816943105
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good depth at the junction with Susan's Way |
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the raised utility caps are marked with orange |
"The Town's contractor, Massachusetts Broken Stone Company, will be starting up on the 2022 Mill and Overlay project the week of July 5.
Streets for this project are to include:
King Street (from Union Street to East Central Street), East Central (from Ruggles to Lewis), Union (from Beaver to School St), and Beaver St (from the RR tracks to I-495 overpass).
The contractor will be starting on King Street. The project will continue through the summer. "
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good depth at the junction with Susan's Way |
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the raised utility caps are marked with orange |
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the storm drain is covered and marked also with orange |
On my transits this week, I noticed covers being put on the storm drains along King St. Something was coming. With the DPW confirmation yesterday, the repaving work is going to being after the 4th of July.
Work areas
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Road repaving work starting July 5 |
"Snow Is Coming, Get Your Girl Scout Cookies Now! Junior Scout Troop 82351 is fully stocked for their cookie booth scheduled for Saturday 1/29 at Dunkin Donuts on King Street (8am-12pm).
With the uncertainty of the upcoming storm, if you’d like to place an order ahead of time & pick up at your convenience, please reach out! (**Pick up location will be on Pond Street in Franklin.)"
I'm happy to announce that our shade sail project has been completed and is now installed at the Community Garden. The area will be used for gardeners to enjoy lunch, read a book or just relax after tending to the garden.
We are lucky to have some incredible volunteers from the New England Chapel that worked for two days to install this structure. If you would like to send an email of appreciation to Dena Gauthier (dena@nechapel.org), and/or Robert Heriot (bheriot09@gmail.com), I'm sure they would appreciate it.The shade structure will typically be put up around Memorial Day in May and taken down around Veterans Day in November.
We are planning on having a maintenance day on November 11th from 9am-12. By then all garden beds should be cleaned out and if you are planning on renting next year that would be a great day to amend your soil. With beautiful weather in the forecast for the next week, we really need to spend a few minutes cleaning out the beds. It's also a good time to plant garlic for next year as well.
What will be doing on that day? You can care for your garden by cleaning it out and then we need help moving the picnic tables and covering them, washing the tools (important so that when we use them next year if there were any disease on the tools it will not be transferred to someone's garden), cut the grass one last time, stack all the tomato cages in the back of the shed so they don't blow away, put the hoses away, put down some clover and clean out the shed. After November 11th the water will be shut off.
It's time to clean out your garden beds of all fallen produce, perennials that do not belong (strawberries, raspberry bushes, corn stalks and mint.) If you would like to grow mint then you need to put it in a plastic pot and then plant the pot in the garden. This way it does not multiply throughout the whole garden. If you ever decide not to use that garden space and the mint had been growing then it would be a big deal to remove it and this holds true for the strawberries and the bushes.
The University of Rhode Island Cooperative Extension offers these free one hour LEARN AT HOME webinars. This one is perfect for us: "Putting the Garden to Bed: Tips and Tricks for Success Next Year" . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuuAh1Ir4Es There are others and once you visit their website you can choose whatever seems to be of interest to you.
Lastly, I want to thank all our volunteers for their hard work keeping the Community Garden going so smoothly. Deb Schwab has really stepped up to be our liaison from the Recreation Dept to all of you. She has been behind the scenes organizing all the eagle scout projects, managing the volunteers for the maintenance days and I can't thank her enough. Teresa Triana, Jen Kuse (Franklin Food Pantry), Melanie Hamblen and all our eagle scouts. This has been our best year by far and it's because of all of these individuals. Thank you letters will be going out to our eagle scouts today.
We will open up registration to all returning gardeners for 2021 on Monday, February 1st, 8:30am.
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Jen Kuse and Lynn Calling viewing the garden beds that the Franklin Food Pantry used this year |
FM #332 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 332 in the series.
This session shares my conversation with Jen Kuse, volunteer coordinator of the Franklin Food Pantry beds at the Community Garden. We are also joined by Lynn Calling, Executive Director of the Franklin Food Pantry. Our conversation was conducted at the Community Garden, outdoor, and adhering to the ‘social distancing’ requirements of this pandemic period.
In this conversation, we learn about Jen’s green thumb (sometimes brown and dirty) as she coordinates the efforts of several local churches and many volunteers to provide fresh produce to the Food Pantry’s clients. The Tuesday of the week we recorded this, they delivered 50 pounds of produce, with likely another 50 pounds scheduled for Friday for the Food Pantry.
This is a great story to share. You can help in any number of ways. Contact Jen to volunteer with the regular maintenance, or a maintenance day, or financially.
As we listened to the recording, we found a few minor corrections. Jen never actually answers Lynn’s question on how many garden beds the volunteers are gardening and harvesting from; it currently is 12. The listing of the organizations who have helped is in the show notes below. Jen also mentions Deb's name (volunteer from The BFCCS), and says her correct name (Deb Schwab) the first time, and then refers to her as Deb Benjamin the second time. Oops, we got you covered Jen (and Deb!)
The recording runs just about 18 minutes, so let’s listen to my conversation with Jen and Lynn. Audio file = https://www.hipcast.com/podcast/HDm92gkK
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The Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public School
Franklin Federated Church
St. John's Episcopal Church
Franklin United Methodist Church
New England Chapel
Jen also considers the Town of Franklin Recreations Dept and the Franklin Agway (https://www.franklinagway.com/) as partners in support and supplies.
Jen Kuse communitygardens@franklinfoodpantry.org
Lynn Calling, Executive Director, Franklin Food Pantry lcalling@franklinfoodpantry.org
Franklin Food Pantry = https://www.franklinfoodpantry.org/
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We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial.
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.
How can you help?
If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors
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Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.
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If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com
The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.
I hope you enjoy!
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The plan is to: Paint the shed (thinking the same color that the wood guardrail at King Street is painted), paint the picnic benches with clear polyurethane, grass will need to be mowed again, and Bed 53 will need to be filled with soil.
That will be it for Maintenance Day/Build Days until the fall! So, please turn up!
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my garden bed is growing nicely this year |
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Community Garden (OPENING - Today) - Parks opening next week (with restrictions) |