"ABC Tree will be doing routine 5-year cycle tree maintenance on National Grid's power lines. The work is expected to start on June 25 and continue through Sept. 30.
If you have any questions, contact ABC Tree representative Saul Gaona at (#832-506-5049) s.gaonaabctree@gmail.com."
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| Franklin Residents: Tree work scheduled for NationalGrid's powerlines |
"The calendar for the next two weeks is creating some interesting interplay between a benefit bill for locked-out workers, Christmas and the end of the 2017-2018 session, and contract talks between National Grid and its 1,200 locked-out natural gas workers.
Lawmakers on Friday agreed to the details of a bill extending unemployment benefits for locked-out workers and it appears they may take enactment votes to send that bill to Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk on Monday, Christmas Eve.
Meantime, National Grid has been saying for days that it hoped to strike a deal with two employee unions by Christmas. However, a company spokeswoman on Saturday confirmed to the News Service that after seven consecutive weekdays of bargaining, the next session won’t be held until Wednesday, Dec. 26.
And in another new wrinkle, the unions and the company issued a rare joint statement Friday night that suggested some optimism about a potential deal and markedly contrasted with the snippy statements that both sides have regularly issued after unsuccessful talks."Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
"Ready or not, Massachusetts is speeding headlong into a brave new transportation world.
It may not include flying cars, but state leaders are looking to help pave the way for self-driving cars, an all-electric car future, a transportation grid resilient to climate change and a planned “reinvention” of the commuter rail system serving metropolitan Boston.
Among the recommendations laid out in a hefty, two-volume report released this month by a state commission on the future of transportation in Massachusetts is for the state to set a goal “that all new cars, light duty trucks, and buses sold in Massachusetts will be electric by 2040.”
It’s part of a wider blueprint to create what the commission called “a 21st-century mobility infrastructure” that will help the state and its cities and towns both manage and make the most of emerging changes in transportation technology and behavior."Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
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| Commission on the Future of Transportation, recommends 18 ways the state should prepare for potential changes in transportation |
"State regulators on Wednesday lifted their moratorium on National Grid gas work, infuriating locked-out gas workers, but ordered the utility to adhere to what officials called “an unprecedentedly high standard,” including a new requirement to have work plans approved by a certified professional engineer.
The order from the Department of Public Utilities would essentially apply the parameters of Gov. Charlie Baker’s gas safety bill and other new safety protocols to National Grid while also easing the moratorium on all non-emergency and non-compliance work across the utility’s service territory, an administration official said.
Commercial real estate industry officials have said the moratorium was having a “huge impact” by preventing properties from obtaining needed gas hookups."
"Unable since Nov. 1 to shake his popular bill out of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, Senate Rules Committee Chairman Mark Montigny on Tuesday has taken his case directly to Senate President Karen Spilka, urging her to help advance legislation ensuring benefits to workers locked out by their employers.
A New Bedford Democrat, Montigny asked Spilka in a letter Tuesday to force action on a bill providing extended unemployment benefits to locked-out workers, such as the more than 1,200 gas workers who have been engaged in a labor dispute with National Grid since June. Gas workers lost their health insurance and paychecks and have turned to public insurance programs and unemployment benefits to get by during the lockout.
Montigny said the Senate should pass a bill expanding the scope of a House bill approved Dec. 6 and correcting a portion of the House bill."
"The state Department of Public Utilities on Wednesday lifted a moratorium on gas work by National Grid, but a series of new regulations means it’s unlikely development projects that have been stalled for months will be able to resume any time soon.
Quincy is one of a handful of cities and towns that imposed its own local moratorium on all non-emergency gas work by National Grid after the company locked out 1,200 workers in June when contract negotiations broke down. It’s also a city in the midst of a massive development boom that is suffering as developers wait to finish projects that require gas connections.
The state followed suit with its own moratorium on Oct. 8 after state regulators were spooked by an incident in Woburn in which gas lines were over-pressurized. A series of explosions in the Merrimack Valley a month earlier were also blamed on excessive pressure."
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| Parmenter School after a different snow storm |
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| Franklin Residents: Storm Update March 8, 2018 |
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| Urgent: Power Outage Update |
"A small group of dedicated residents is holding a community meeting they’re calling “Franklin Town Government 101.”
The goal of the get-together is to field questions about how local government ticks, how residents can access more information, and how to have their voices heard.
The first of what is expected to be multiple meetings will occur on Jan. 27 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Franklin Public Library, with a snow date of Feb. 3.
Co-organizer and father of newly-elected town council member Eamon Earls, Alan Earls, said he’s not looking to kick up dust with town officials, but rather hopes to further unite them with their residents.
“We don’t want it to be an ‘us versus them’ thing at all,” he said. “I realize (town officials) also have a really big challenge in working with the town, because many of us don’t know a lot of what happens, and how it works.”
"National Grid will seek a smaller rate hike in Massachusetts than it originally requested, the utility company said Thursday, citing the benefit of the recent federal tax reform bill.
The company announced that it will reduce its proposed rate hike for Bay Staters by $36 million -- from a total increase of $87 million to $51 million --due to unexpected savings the company is now expecting to see as a result of the federal corporate tax rate dropping from 35 percent to 21 percent.
“We are committed to ensuring that the tax savings of the legislation are fully realized and are used to help our customers in their energy bills,” Cordi O’Hara, president and COO of National Grid in Massachusetts, said in a statement. “We’ll continue to seek opportunities to provide this benefit to all of our customers.”
National Grid said it does not yet know exactly how the changed proposed rates will affect customers’ bills, but did say the change will “result in smaller impacts than originally proposed and will vary across rate classes and customer usage.”
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| Announcement Regarding Tree Pruning for Aug-Sep-Oct |
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| National Grid - Summer bills |
"The town has gone out to bid for energy suppliers, looking to put into motion a plan that could save money for local electricity customers.
Deputy Town Administrator Jamie Hellen said the state Department of Public Utilities has approved Franklin's municipal aggregation plan, which has the town seeking alternative suppliers and, hopefully, lower rates for its residents. He said the bidding process began on Oct. 7, and the town hopes to have preliminary pricing within the next few days.
"(This) week is where the rubber meets the road," he said. "We'll see if there are savings, and what the savings might be."
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| cover page of presentation to Town Council on Aggregation Program |
"The Department of Public Utilities has approved a rate increase that will add about 5 percent to residential electric bill in National Grid’s service territory.
The average will increase from $139 to $146.
The agency approved $101 million of the $132 million sought by the company in its first distribution rate increase since 2009.
The money will help pay for improvements to its facilities and its response to storm-related power failures."Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
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| cover page of presentation to Town Council on Aggregation Program |
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