Live reporting: Cultural Council presentation

H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS
– Allan Mercer – Cultural District

Last fall during the visit with Anita Walker, Executive Director of MA Cultural Council had mentioned this would be a good opportunity to become a cultural district.

Attract business and tourists...
steering committee formed in March
continuing to work on application
identified 40 organizations to be stakeholders, likely more to be added

will look to form a 501(c)3
will be looking to fund raise
there is no connection between this group and the campaign around the Emmons St building

instead of a single organization like FSPA, there is power with the greater numbers

2015 envisioned a week long celebration of the arts to be held downtown
there is a lot of work left to do
here tonight to inform you and to ask of your assistance as we go forward

Bissanti - I appluad you for taking this forward
Jones - I think this is a great idea, a no-brainer. Are there additional benefits offered by the State?

Mercer - initially no, but once we are operating and running programs, there are additional funding available for programs.

Kelly - I'd love to see this happen. I would also like to see the district expand, there are lots of old houses that might be able to take advantage of this

Live reporting: Town Council - June 4

Present: Feldman, Padula, Mercer, Kelly, Vallee, Pfeffer, Jones, Bissanti, Williams
Absent: none


A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
– March 19, 2014
motion to approve, seconded, passed 9-0

B. ANNOUNCEMENTS
– This meeting is being recorded by Franklin TV and shown on Comcast channel 11 and Verizon channel 29. This meeting may be recorded by Franklin Matters.

C. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS
none

D. CITIZEN COMMENTS
none

E. APPOINTMENTS
none

F. HEARINGS
none

G. LICENSE TRANSACTIONS
– Super HK, LLC d/b/a Maguro House
had been prohibited by landlord from having a license in 2009, did get bear/wine license in 2010 looking to get full alcohol license
motion to approve, passed 9-0

Easy Walks in Franklin - Beaver Pond (Chilson Beach)

We are fortunate to be able to share a few excerpts from "Easy Walks in Massachusetts: Bellingham, Blackstone, Franklin, Hopedale, Medway, Milford, Millis, Uxbridge, Wrentham, and Woonsocket, RI" recently published by Marjorie Turner Hollman.

Beaver Pond (Chilson Beach)

Notable: Look for signs of beaver and migrating waterfowl.

Trail Map: Not available presently.

GPS Coordinates: 42°4'57.39"N, 71°25'5.38"W

Directions: Rt. 495 exit 17, Franklin Rt. 140, travel toward Franklin Center on Rt. 140 for .75 mile. At stop light, turn right on Beaver St. just past Akin Back Farm. Beaver Pond is .5 mile down on left, just before the 495 overpass.

Cost: Chilson Beach pass for Memorial Day to Labor Day, for Franklin residents only, $75.

Bathrooms: Summer only.

Best time to visit: For Franklin residents only during the summer; swimming and boating. Year-round for hiking, no residential restrictions before Memorial Day and after Labor Day.

Trail conditions: Unimproved, wide dirt track.

Distance: .25 mile.

handy guide

The sounds of Rt. 495 are inescapable, but Beaver Pond still offers a nice, easy walk and plenty of parking. Also called Chilson Beach, the pond area posts lifeguards in the summer, offers swimming and ball fields, but beyond the beach area on the left (the east side of the pond, away from Rt. 495) there is a trail that follows the edge of the pond. 

The trail intersects Beaver Pond and a marsh area, which lies on the other side of the trail. Lots of opportunity for birding. The trail dead-ends in a water department access road. There is no public access in or out of this road. 

About three-fourths of the way to the end of the trail, another trail branches off to the left along the edges of the marsh—follow it around the marsh edge to see multiple signs of beaver, appropriate for a recreation area on Beaver St.! Parts of the trail are somewhat obstructed by beaver activity, but still fun to explore with children, who may discover the tell-tale signs of beaver’s presence.

You can obtain your own copy of this book via this Amazon link

Is your email shielded from snooping?

Are your emails safe? Last week, thousands of Take Action members joined us and many other groups in pressing for real surveillance reform in the USA FREEDOM Act. But whether or not Congress pulls through, there are things you should know about keeping your emails safe and secure. An email actually goes through a lot of steps between when you hit "Send" and when it lands in the recipient's inbox. Your message is secure only if both the sender's and recipient's email providers encrypt them in transit. We've put together a page that details how this kind of encryption works, and which email providers support it. Take a look, and see how your provider, and those of your friends, performs. Educate your friends about email security. Share this: Gmail has supported encryption in transit since 2010. But 50% of the email sent from other providers to Gmail users and 35% of the email sent from Gmail users to other providers is not encrypted in transit. That's why we're working to make end-to-end email encryption more accessible to every user, regardless of their email provider. A big part of making everyone's email safer is educating your friends about why it's important. Do your part by spreading the word today: https://takeaction.withgoogle.com/f/safer-email More soon, Derek Slater Google Inc. P.S. June 5th is Reset the Net Day and we're taking part. Join this effort, and find out what you can do to secure your part of the web. © 2014 Google Inc. 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA

FHS All Night Party - June 6th

The All Night Party Committee would like to welcome parents of new and returning students to a new school year at Franklin High School. Whether your son or daughter is a Freshman, Sophomore or Junior the All Night Party committee needs you now. Your involvement contributes to the support of the present senior class and guarantees the continuation of this tradition for your future seniors.  

This tradition was started in 1990 and is a gift to all seniors in celebration of their high school year. The graduates enjoy a fun-filled night that includes games, prizes and best of all the transformation of the high school into a magical place.  

It takes the hard work of 400-500 volunteers and the support of the school community and business partnerships to make this event a success.  

The party takes place at the high school on graduation night from 11 pm to 5 am. This year’s All Night Party will be on Friday, June 6th.

Please visit the Volunteer Opportunities page to learn more and then go to the sign up to volunteer page to sign up now. Some with commitments as little as 2 hours.   http://www.fhsallnightparty.com/

If you have any questions please email:
info@FHSAllNightParty.com

United Regional Young Professionals Organization Holds Summer Social Event at Patriot Place

In the shadow of Gillette Stadium, the United Regional Young Professionals Organization (YPO) invites our members, their guests, as well as an open public invite to professionals in our local community to gather for our last networking event of the season. The event is a summer social to be held on June 18, 2014 at 6 PM at Twenty8, inside (and outside) the Renaissance Boston at Patriot Place Hotel and Spa. 

Young Professionals Organization

Instead of catching a pass from Tom Brady, or lining up next to Vince Wilfork, guests can play games with a bit less contact, such as the kanjam, beanbag toss or ladder ball. And instead of waiting in line for refreshments from the concession stands, attendees will enjoy light appetizers with a cash bar featuring craft beers, cocktails, and other refreshments.

If the weather doesn’t cooperate, we’ll bring the fun indoors. There, attendees can play entertaining games like UNO, Skip-Bo, Yahtzee, and more, while enjoying food and drink.

The YPO is pleased to provide this unique opportunity to have fun, relax, and get to know each other, but we do so with a purpose. Money raised from ticket sales, raffle, and donations will benefit the Hockomock Area YMCA located in North Attleboro, Mass.

21+ event. Registration is $5.00 in advance, $10.00 at the door. 

For more information, visit http://www.unitedregionalypo.org/events/summersocial/, call 508-488-YPO1 (9761), or e-mail UnitedRegionalYPO@ymail.com.



The United Regional Chamber of Commerce launched the United Regional Young Professionals Organization (YPO) in spring 2010 in direct response to the challenges facing the 16 communities in our region (Attleboro, Bellingham, Blackstone, Foxboro, Franklin, Mansfield, Medway, Medfield, Millis, Norfolk, North Attleboro, Norton, Plainville, Rehoboth, Seekonk and Wrentham, Massachusetts) in attracting and retaining diverse young professionals and to develop the next generation of leadership. The mission of YPO is to engage, connect and empower career-minded young professionals to evolve professionally. Representing diverse backgrounds, perspectives and professions, we are united by our energy, drive and passion within our careers and communities

Kinder Care: Yard Sale - Jun 7

Kinder Care on Pond Street in Franklin is having their annual YARD SALE!! 

Yard Sale

It will be from 9-2 this Saturday June 7th! We will be selling a variety of things!! 

Hope to see you all there!!

Live reporting - Dedicated Override for roads

Notes from the first part of the Finance Committee meeting can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/06/live-reporting-finance-committee-060314.html



Roads – DPW Director Brutus Cantoreggi
Mike Meglio, Town Engineer


*** From Mar 2014, the updated listing of road projects already being planned
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/03/live-reporting-dpw-update-road-projects.html

Apparently, tonight is an abbreviated presentation from the March meeting

When road ratings are above 70, the maintenance will work
when below 70, you need to do more
want to get overall average of roads above 80

keeping just above water with repairs at this point
with the override, we could make some headway into the road repairs

some of the work would continue to be coordinated with water main projects
others would be taken care of purely with road repairs

also would be looking to expand the sidewalk network
would still require annual approval by the Council for the plan of work

the Panther Way sidewalk bid came in at $200,000

We have already planned out the water program for the next five year, can tie this with the water and come up with the master plan

what existing capacity do we have that requires design and coordination with in house staff?

a lot of administrative staff work required but the actual work is contracted out

Q - is there an option to put a term on this override?
A - not the way the legislation has been structured. Now the Council could not vote any money for the roads and that would kill the program.

Q - is this amount enough?
A - the facts are, we could use more money? What can the citizens afford? How much can we work with in capacity? Time down the road, the citizens could come back for more.

This is based upon today's dollars for hot top and chip seal. This could cost more as it goes, it is based upon the oil pricing

The sidewalk needs to go down to Miller St... Pleasant St; Washington St, Beaver St have been identified as needing sidewalks but none of them are cheap... do you need to curb and handle drainage? It depends upon the conditions and area

You might not educate your kids, go to the library, or call the police/fire but you do drive down the roads
The good thing about November is you'll get a good turnout as it is a State election


The text of the override question can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/06/resolution-14-45-dedicated-override-to.html

VOTE: Proposition 2 ½ Override
motion to approve, seconded, passed 7-0


Related posts

From Aug 2013, the initial proposal
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2013/08/live-reporting-dpw-proposal-on-road.html

The presentation document from the Aug meeting
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_DPW/General_Pages/2013%20Roadway%20Presentation.pdf

-------------

Closing
DelCarte ribbon cutting at 5:00 PM on Weds Jun 4th
program is short, so should be held unless there is a real down pour

FinCom done until the Fall time frame...

Final walk through of FHS Jun 21
Grand Opening in Sep
demolition of the old building during the summer

start Capital Plan again in Sep, fiscal forecast due in Jan
Sculpture Park opening June/July

Panther Way sidewalk should be starting in couple of week
Waiting on State for when the downtown will start

Lincoln St will start when school is out

Summer (East Central to King) late summer timeline

Senior Center 2nd floor possibly in the Fall

Live reporting: Finance Committee - 06/03/14

Present: Dowd, Conley, Smith, Aparo, Dewsnap, Dufour, Heumpher,
Absent:  Fleming, Quinn

Call to Order
Citizens Comments
Approval of Minutes
motion to approval minutes of May 5th, seconded approved 7-0

Zoning Board of Appeals Transfer
motion to approve, seconded, approved 7-0

Street Light Account Transfer
motion to approve transfer of $10,000; seconded, approved 7-0

Legal Expenses Transfer
motion to approve transfer $10,000; seconded, approved 7-0

Snow and Ice Budget Transfer
motion to approve transfer $280,000; seconded, approved 7-0

Comptroller Expenses Transfer
motion to approve transfer $1,000; seconded, approved 7-0


Presentations:
Library Addition – Felicia Oti, Library Director
VOTE: Bond Authorization



The presentation copy can also be viewed here
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_Library/libpre.pdf

doing increased business with half the staff (see early slide with numbers)
funding this doesn't require an increase in tax rate, can be funded with the debt capacity available
would still be a smaller building than comparable area communities
made $14,000+ to date from books sales year to date, likely to be 20,000 annually

Q - Aparo - what other projects would have been considered?
A - Nutting - we are at 2.9 and unaware of other building structure needs; Senior Center being funded, if 5-6 years down the road we need a school it would not happen for 6M. We do 11 work orders a day on 20 plus buildings. Our buildings are in great shape, roofs will wear out, HVAC will wear out. Money to make big repairs to existing facilities like roofs, and HVAC...  would be the most likely expenses
We still have excess debt capacity when we do this project.

Q - Dewsnap - what about Davis Thayer?
A - Nutting - recap of architect review on the options for the renovation, we have removed the portables because the school population has been declining. Maybe cheaper to buy new portables and add them to the schools rather than building a new school.

Q - Dewsnap - do we really add enough space?
A - Nutting - with the building we have, we really don't have much of an option to do a new building given the existing beautiful facility we have... we are going with the expansion because otherwise we are loosing space. It would still be another year before we have real numbers to look at. The OPM and architect will take time, design the facility, cost it, etc... bringing it back before FinCom and Town Council with the real numbers.

Q - Dowd - consideration for additional staffing as required by this?
A - Nutting - we would certainly like more staff but the additional space (bathrooms, public meetings space, and stacks for books) don't require additional staffing by nature. Some minimal increase in maintenance hours for the larger space but not much more than that. We would like to gradually add staff as we have to annually ask for a waiver as we meet the hours and the staffing but not the funding.

Q - Heumpher - question on the renovation and impact on operations?
A - Nutting/Oti - would have parking issues, could work within the space to adjust and continue to operate while the construction is underway. We are fortunate in that we have 3 entrances to the Library so the back one could be shut and we can still operate.

Q - Dufour - any rental opportunity?
A - Nutting- not really, the space rentals are for cost recovery not to make money. The space being added is not really a great amount to add to the overall demand

Resolution for authorization of $1M
motion to approve, seconded, passed 7-0


Notes from the second part of the meeting can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/06/live-reporting-dedicated-override-for.html

Cultural District being proposed for Franklin

On the Town Council agenda Wednesday for discussion before getting to the Library and the dedicated override for the road repairs, Alan Mercer is scheduled for a presentation on the Cultural District proposal being put together for Franklin.

From the Mass Cultural Council homepage:

The evidence is clear: A thriving creative sector is one of our Commonwealth's most powerful economic development assets. In support of this, the MCC’s Cultural Districts Initiative was authorized by an act of the Massachusetts state legislature in 2010, and launched in April 2011.

Mass Cultural Council

The legislation referenced:

SECTION 3. Said chapter 10 is hereby further amended by inserting after section 58 the following section: 

M.G.L. Chapter 10, Section 58A. (a) The council shall establish criteria and guidelines for state-designated cultural districts. A cultural district shall be a geographical area of a city or town with a concentration of cultural facilities located within it. Cultural districts shall attract artists and cultural enterprises to a community, encourage business and job development, establish tourist destinations, preserve and reuse historic buildings, enhance property values and foster local cultural development. The council shall assist a city or town if the city or town wishes to develop or foster a cultural district. The council shall develop an application process, with specific guidelines and criteria, for a city or town that wishes to develop or foster a cultural district. 

Executive branch agencies, constitutional offices and quasi-governmental agencies shall identify programs and services that support and enhance the development of cultural districts and ensure that those programs and services are accessible to such districts. The council shall consult with the Massachusetts historical commission in developing and establishing criteria and guidelines regarding preservation and reuse of historic buildings. 

(b) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, executive branch agencies, constitutional offices and quasi-governmental agencies including, but not limited to, the council and historic preservation programs, shall review and revise regulations and other economic development tools, including the evaluative criteria of such historic preservation programs, in order to support and encourage the development and success of state-designated cultural districts. 

Acts of 2010 Chapter 188, Section 70. The Massachusetts cultural council, in cooperation with the executive branch, constitutional offices, quasi-governmental agencies and the joint committee on tourism, arts and cultural development, shall identify state incentives and resources to enhance cultural districts pursuant to section 52A of chapter 10 of the General Laws and shall report its findings and recommendations, if any, together with drafts of legislation necessary to carry those recommendations into effect by filing the same with the clerk of the senate and house of representatives not later than January 1, 2011.

You can find more about the proposal in the agenda document beginning on page 20
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_CouncilAgendas/2014/050714.pdf

You can find more about the Mass Cultural Council on their page http://www.massculturalcouncil.org/

FHS Boys lose, Girls win in playoffs

Baseball
#8 Franklin, 3 @ #1 Wellesley, 6 - Final

- Senior Drew Inglesi went 3-3 with a double, a walk and a stolen base and classmate Pat O'Reilly went 1-3 with a run scored, walk, stolen base and an RBI.

Softball
#18 Franklin, 4 @ #10 Weymouth, 3 - Final

- Maddie Connelly (1-2, RBI, stolen base) knocked in Sammy Rondeau (1-3, run) in the top of the seventh for the go-ahead run. Erin Hanley went 1-3 with a stolen base and a run scored and Sabrina LoMonaco scored a run and had a sacrifice fly RBI. Lilly Criscione picked up the win, tossing a complete game, striking out four.

FHS Softball

Franklin advances to the D1 South Semifinals to play #6 North Attleboro on a date and time to be announced. The game will be at Taunton High School.

For all the Hockomock League results from the Spring playoffs, you can visit this page
http://www.hockomocksports.com/blog/hockomock-schedule-scoreboard-060214

Attention Red Sox fans! World Series Trophy coming to the Library

Yes, the 2013 World Series trophy will be at the Franklin Public Library on Monday Jun 9 from 3:00 to 5:00 PM.

Bring your cameras!

2013 World Series Trophy

This was re-shared from the Franklin Public Library page
http://franklinpl.blogspot.com/2014/06/red-sox-world-series-trophy.html

Real Time Reporting: Planning Board - June 2, 2014

Two hearings on the agenda were continued to June 16th
1 - 648-652 West Central St (Starbucks)
2 - Village at Cook's Farm

Updated:
23 Hutchinson St - limited site plan modification accepted

656 King St - Emeritus Assisted Living, signed off on form H


Updated:
323 West Central St, Forever French - discussion on conformance to site plan, disagreement over letter from prior Building Inspector, looking for waiver on nine items, actually only three items are needed, the other six were taken care of. To be continued on June 16th meeting

Bogan Estates
discussion on subdivision plans, appear to have met all the prior requirements, dispute around apparent approval of 24 foot road versus 26 which is the minimum currently in the bylaws. Planning Board voted to approve all the items, except the street width which remains at 26 feet

Mount View Farms requested a continuation to next meeting, approved for Jun 16th

15 minute recess

(end of my reporting for this evening)
The key pieces I wanted to see (Cook's Farm and Starbucks) were both continued to the meeting on Jun 16.








Note: "Live" reporting is used when I am in the room. "Real time" is when I report via the live cable or internet feed. http://www.franklinmatters.org/2010/07/note-of-distinction.html

Blood Drive for Noah Smith - Jun 7th

Please join us for a Blood Drive 

blood drive

Saturday, June 7, 2014

9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. 

Franklin United Methodist Church

82 West Central Street

Franklin, MA 02038

positive id required

This Blood Drive is in honor of Oak Street Elementary Student Noah Smith
To make an appointment please log onto halfpints.childrenshospital.org
Sponsor code for this drive is FRMETHCH or call Susan Touhey at 508-404-6914

Planning Board - Agenda - June 2

The Planning Board is scheduled to meet Monday night at 7:00 PM in the Council Chambers. The agenda for this meeting can be seen here or found on the Franklin website at the link provided below.

Franklin Municipal Building

The Planning Board agenda can also be found on the Franklin website here
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_PlanningAgendas/2014%20Agendas/June%202,%202014.pdf

Parmenter 5K and Franklin 5K Race Results

The Parmenter 5K drew 194 finishers on Sunday, June 1. The full listing of results can be found on Cool Running here  http://www.coolrunning.com/results/14/ma/Jun1_6thAnn_set1.shtml

The 10th Annual Franklin 5K drew 308 finishers on Sunday, June 1. The full listing of results can be found here  http://www.fasttrackcoaching.net/timing/Results/2014-THE-FRANKLIN-5K-RUN-RESULTS-RR360.html#/

Parmenter race starting line in 2012

Networking Event - Jun 12

Charles Tashjian, Publisher of Local Town Pages, would like to invite you to his Free Networking event.
Up to 100 attendees are expected. Refreshments and coffee will be served.

When:  June 12th 9:00am –12:00pm

Where: This Free Networking event to be held at The Thayer House, 2B Oak Street, Rt 109 Medway, MA 02053. Thayer House is located next to Choate Park.

Action: You can RSVP by June 6th with your information to be included in the Network booklet that will be handed out at the event. To register e-mail publisher@localtownpages.com

networking

Local Town Pages publishes the monthly Franklin newspaper delivered via the US Postal service.
http://www.franklintownnews.com/

DelCarte Recreation and Conservation - Ribbon Cutting - Jun 4th, 5;00 PM

The DelCarte Playground Committee invites you to join us at the ribbon cutting and dedication ceremony celebrating the opening of the DelCarte Recreation and Conservation Area. The Town of Franklin recognizes Nick Alfieri for his endless commitment to the preservation of the environment which was instrumental to the creation of the trail system here for you all to utilize. 

Please join us at the DelCarte Recreation and Conservation Area

Wednesday, June 4, 2014   5:00 PM

Pleasant St

Franklin, MA

DelCarte Recreation and Conservation

Seasonal Video clips
Winter - http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/03/delcarte-property-winter-wonderland.html
Fall - http://www.franklinmatters.org/2013/10/delcarte-property-video.html
Dec 2012 - http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/12/delcarte-property-video.html