Town Council - Agenda - 8/20/08

FRANKLIN TOWN COUNCIL

August 20, 2008
7:00 PM

A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - None

B. ANNOUNCEMENTS

C. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS

D. CITIZEN COMMENTS

E. APPOINTMENTS – Historical Commission –Regular Member
Associate Member

F. HEARINGS – Zoning Bylaw Amendment 08-625: Chapter 185-5, Town Code: Zoning Map – Business to Commercial II – 7:10 PM

G. LICENSE TRANSACTIONS – Franklin Country Club- Change or manager/directors

H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS

• Fuel Efficiency –Town Administrator
• Disaster Mitigation Plan- Gary McCarraher

I. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS

J. LEGISLATION FOR ACTION

1. Resolution 08-53 – Order of Layout, Acceptance and Taking Newell Drive, Dover Circle, Cohasset Way, Sherborn Lane and Related Easements
2. Resolution 08-54 – Order of Layout, Acceptance and Taking of Hancock Road, Winthrop Road, Corey Way and Lantern Road and Related Easements
3. Resolution 05-55 – Transfer of Care, Custody, Management and Control of Red Brick School From Franklin School Committee to Franklin Town Council
4. Bylaw Amendment 08-627: Chapter 4, Public Notice and Advertising of Public Hearings – 2nd Reading

K. TOWN ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT

L. OLD BUSINESS

M. NEW BUSINESS

N. COUNCIL COMMENTS

O. EXECUTIVE SESSION – Negotiations, Litigation, Real Property, as May Be Required

P. ADJOURN

In the news - King St/I495 construction, storyteller at library

King Street work slated at long last
By Rachel Lebeaux
Globe Correspondent / August 17, 2008

A long-awaited overhaul for busy King Street in Franklin has received an injection of state funds that will allow the project - offering improved traffic flow, better signals, and enhanced vehicle, pedestrian, and bicycle safety - to move forward next spring.

The state Transportation Improvement Program has allotted $3.8 million in state and federal funds toward the project, which focuses on upgrades to the Interstate 495 ramps at King Street. Work will extend along King Street from Union Street to Upper Union Street, and include construction on Upper Union Street from King Street to Constitution Boulevard.

The project is slated to go out for bid this fall, with construction starting next spring. Robert "Brutus" Cantoreggi, director of Franklin's Department of Public Works, said he expects construction will last 18 months. While there are likely to be delays, the roads involved in the project will remain open, he said.

The project is aimed at reducing traffic congestion and improving safety measures at several bustling intersections along King Street and at Interstate 495.

Read the full article in the Boston Globe here

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

FRANKLIN -

On Tuesday, Aug. 26, the Franklin Public Library is hosting Carolyn Martino, professional storyteller, actress, writer and educator at 7 p.m. in the Meeting Room.

"Enjoy the musical rhythms and joyous logic of all that is Italian in a Bella Notte of Italian storytelling as Martino captures you with her humor, warmth and style,'' says Margaret Ellis, the library's literacy coordinator.

This program is funded by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners with funds from the LSTA, a Federal source of library funding provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Originally published in the Franklin Gazette on Friday August 15, 2008.

Solar powered?

I remember hearing about these new solar powered recycle devices at one of the Town Council meetings.

Great idea. Green all over. Solar powered compaction, reduces the number of times the container would need to be emptied.

Why position this device in the shade of a tree?
Will it get enough sunlight?

What would Ben say?

What would Ben say?, originally uploaded by shersteve.

"Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today."

Benjamin Franklin

Hence, having missed prior opportunities for regular maintenance on the library, the scaffolding is up now for repairs before the situation gets any worse.

Red flag

is this a warning to birds to keep away?

found this pole near the corner of Wachusetts and Arlington streets

Mobile post sent by shersteve using Utterz. Replies.

In the News - attempted arson, Brick future

By Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff

GHS

Posted Aug 14, 2008 @ 01:03 AM

---

FRANKLIN —

Leading up to the McDonough family's 200-year-old barn, a blotchy trail of gasoline still darkens Partridge Street, a trace of an attempted arson during the early hours of Aug. 4.

"They started at the barn, went down the driveway, down the street," said Bill Tavia, who found matches next to a five-gallon gas can between the McDonough home at 430 Partridge St., and 443 Partridge St., a group home for people with developmental disabilities.

"They thought they could light it and it would fire up like they saw in the movies. Thank God it didn't," said Tavia, a former Bellingham Police officer and neighbor who had just finished renovating and painting the McDonough's post-and-beam barn two days earlier.

Read the full story in the Milford Daily News here

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

By Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff

GHS

Posted Aug 14, 2008 @ 12:50 AM

---

FRANKLIN —

Town Council will decide Wednesday whether to accept ownership of the historic Red Brick School from the School Department, which declared the property as surplus at its last meeting.

A future tenant could keep the building's historic integrity intact and keep the building on the National Historic Register by using it for educational purposes, officials have said.

Two such entities - the Benjamin Charter Classical Public Charter School, and artist/art instructor Don Carlucci - have expressed interest in renting the building, which is about 500 to 600 square feet, said Town Administrator Jeffrey D. Nutting.

Yesterday morning, Nutting gave a tour of the Brick School to Carlucci, the owner of the Franklin School of Modern Art, he said.

read the full article in the Milford Daily News here

FM #8 - Storm Water Presentation

Another in a series of podcasts on Franklin(MA) Matters, this one focusing on the DPW presentation on storm water and how they propose to handle it including a possible new fee. This presentation is from the July 23, 2008 Town Council meeting.

Time: 21 minutes, 53 seconds



MP3 File

Session Notes:

Music intro

My intro

I was on vacation last week and missed both the School Committee and Town Council meetings on August 5th and 6th.

I tried to obtain a DVD copy of the meetings from the Library and was surprised that they only have meetings from April on hand currently. Maybe you knew this already. It was the first time I tried to get this copy. Apparently, the cable company brings over 3 months of meetings at a time. So the next delivery would bring over May, June and July but the first week of August meetings would not be available until November.

Anyway, from the Town Council meeting on 7/23/08 there was the full DPW presentation on storm water handling that was too long to include in the last session.

This segment is about 18 minutes. It includes the full DPW resentation but not the Q&A with the councilors after the presentation.

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

This podcast has been a public service provided to my fellow Franklin citizens and voters by Steve Sherlock

For additional textual information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The musical intro and closing is from the Podsafe Music Network
Jon Schmidt - Powerful Exhilarating Piano Music