Franklin Dog Park: The gazebo is finished

Via Furry Friends of The Franklin Dog Park Volunteer Committee: 

"Franklin dog park gazebo is completed. Franklin dog park is open. Thank you for your patience."

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Franklin Dog Park: The gazebo is finished

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"we can offer options for our citizens"

The Milford Daily News reported on the Town Council meeting in part with the following:

Councilors accepted incorporating a real estate tax deferral and two laws which let seniors defer water and sewer charges. 

In place already for seniors is a property tax deferral program. 

Town Treasurer/Collector James Dacey Jr. said currently one family is participating in that program. 

“I know they are having a very difficult time,” Dacey said. “I looked into how we could help out in other ways.” 

In 2010, 9.4 percent of Franklin’s 31,635 residents were age 65 and older, according to census data.

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x738671634/Franklin-OKs-tax-deferral-options-for-seniors#ixzz28JwPJdfW

Deferral of taxes simply postpones the date for payment, they still must be paid. What was also approved is a program for veterans under 65 to work off a portion of their taxes. This program is similar to that already offered to the seniors 65 and over. The program will be limited to the first ten people now but can be expanded by the Council as demand for the program grows.

The Town Council especially Tina Powderly has been instrumental in expanding the senior outreach program the past couple of years.This is not to negate any of the good work done prior, just recognize that the opportunity for seniors via deferment and reductions has increased.

In other matters before the Council not referenced in this article, they did approve the rezoning of the parcels along King St and i495 from residential to business. Any project would still be required to go through the full Planning Board and associated permitting process. That process provides considerable input from the residents abutting the property.

DPW Director Brutus Cantoreggi disclosed plans to remove another 11 trees from the Town Common. This action will improve the growth options for the remaining 97 trees.

The DPW will also do some work to remove the electrical box currently under the gazebo to a normal upright electric box along the Union St side of the common. Some concrete around the gazebo will be disturbed during this process and then returned to normal.

For the complete set of posts reported live during the meeting, visit this link
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/10/town-council-100312.html

Slide show: Bandstand in the rain

With the discussion around repairing the "bandstand" (what it should be called) or "gazebo" (what it has commonly been referred to), I stopped on a gray Monday (March 9th) to take some pictures.

It was typical New England mixed precipitation day, a mix of snow and rain, which worked nicely to highlight the problems with the roof being shorter than the base. In the slide show here, you'll see that the rain drops from the edge of the roof form good sized puddles around the inside of the railings.

The railings along one side are badly peeled. Sections of the interior roof are rotten and need replacement. Sections of the exterior tile are broken and missing.

Fortunately, the Town Council approved the capital expense of about $50,000 which would cover the lowest of multiple bids for the repair work. The initial estimate of $100,000 was likely a good guess. We are fortunate that the actual bids came in significantly less. The high bid was around $88,000 and the low bid at $48,000.




The bandstand is a center piece of the town and should be fixed.

Note that this repair will use capital dollars which can not be used for operational expenses, i.e. supplies or personnel salaries. I know there is still a great deal of misunderstanding about the difference between capital dollars and operational dollars. I will be working on a slide show to try and explain the difference. If you have some suggestions, please let me know. Usually for a problem of this type, putting more heads to it will bring better results.

"Our intent is to have it look the same, but spruce it up"

By Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff

GHS

Posted Feb 15, 2009 @ 08:42 PM

Last update Feb 15, 2009 @ 09:20 PM

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FRANKLIN —

When the town's gazebo was built 91 years ago, it was designed with a roof that doesn't fully cover the base - "a huge mistake," said facilities Director Michael D'Angelo.

"It should never have been built that way," he said.

Snow, ice and water have damaged the gazebo, and the sheeting beneath the clay, Spanish tile roof is rotting because tiles have broken, D'Angelo said.

Neither he nor other town officials understand why the structure was designed in such a way, leading it to substantially deteriorate, D'Angelo said, but they plan to fix the structure this spring.

"We can't let the gazebo close up because the roof is starting to fail," said Town Administrator Jeffrey D. Nutting.

"We need to fix it before we totally lose it," Nutting said.

read the full article about this effective use of capital and a grant to repair the gazebo in the Milford Daily News here