Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Live reporting - Mike D’Angelo

Presentations:

Update – Mike D’Angelo

This is a follow up visit to the Council to explain the root cause and actions taken for Horace Mann/FHS damage from the Labor Day incident previously reported

Buildings are now being alarmed to ring through to the Fire Dept. The central dispatch will be able to monitor and make phone calls if there were another occurrence.

Tim Raposa working on getting all the buildings alarmed for power failures as well. If the power goes out, there is an email sent out to a listing for action.

Zollo - what is your level of confidence that once these are all in place?
D'Angelo - there is always a probability of something going but there is an increased confidence.

Zollo - would you still do the walk throughs?
D'Angelo - design in MA doesn't really handle temps in under 10 degrees, so the walk throughs are good for checking on those circumstances.

Pfeffer - Is all overtime reported here? Is Servicemaster included in this?
D'Angelo - They haven't provided that yet. I can update this as we continue to go.

Pfeffer - what caused the problem?
D'Angelo -

Pfeffer - How come it is taking so long for the High School gym floor?
D'Angelo - We worked with Norma to get a waiver and expedited process but we still had to do design work, etc. The contract should be signed soon.
Nutting - It was just signed tonight at 5:00 PM

Doak - With the monitoring we have, will it be tested so that we know it will work?
D'Angelo - During the winter, we test these monthly.

Vallee - There are devices that hook up to the phone line that alert me to the temp being low?
D'Angelo - Although the Senior Center temp did drop, the failures were not such that it would have tripped that device.

Vallee - So it was not preventable?
D'Angelo - At that point, it was not. We have five of the six items covered with monitoring now, we'll catch it sooner and prevent the serious damage. The trip required someone to push a button.

Vallee - A forty dollar device could have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage.

Whalen - has the process for the utility to tell us been set up?
D'Angelo - we have set up the system so when there is an interruption in power, we will be notified.

Nutting - your point is why don't we have monitoring? we have the schools for 50 years and it never happened. We had insurance and we'll pay.

Feeley - Are you comfortable that we are covered at 99%?
D'Angelo - yes

Feeley - Is it also true that we may never know the exact cause of the sequence of events?
D'Angelo - yes

break for two minutes

Live reporting - Legislation - continued

Note: Mason left meeting (resuming this piece of the agenda after the Financial Planning Committee report completed)
  1. Resolution 09-21: Request for Legislation –Simple Procedure to Accept Roads Motion to approve, passed 6-0
  2. Resolution 09-22: Establishment of Forge Park Priority Development Site Motion to approve, passed 7-0
  3. Resolution 09-23: Establishment of Franklin Industrial Park Priority Development Site Motion to approve, passed 7-0
  4. Resolution 09-24: Establishment of Pond Street Economic Opportunity Area Motion to approve, passed 7-0
  5. Resolution 09-25: Binding Offer to Provide Tax Increment Financing to “Certified Projects” Motion to approve, passed 7-0
  6. Bylaw Amendment 09-631: Chapter 82 Fees, Appendix A, List of Service Fee Rates – 2nd Reading Motion to approve, passed 6-1
Note - changed the order of events to accommodate the Rep Vallee visit and councilor schedules

Brutus - we are not putting ourselves at a relative disadvantage in the implementation of these storm water fees. Our fees are lower than engineering fees, the developers will be fairly treated. Based upon the size and scope of the project.

Vallee - in view of the conditions we are in, I will not support this project

Bylaw roll call - all for except Vallee as noted.

Live reporting - Rep Vallee

Rep Jim Vallee speaking about the legislature's budget released today. It differs from the Governor's budget in that there is less revenue to be expected now than what had been expected at the time the Governor announced.

Franklin effectively, level funded for what we received last year.
If the stimulus money does come through, there could be another $400,000 coming.

"Probably certain"

Additional revenue sources being looked at to provide tools to the local communities to help.

It has been a pleasure working with Jeff Nutting for Franklin and for all the communities that Jeff represents in his new role.

A lot of folks have stepped up to the plate to forgo pay increases this year. Thanks

Nutting - we took a hundred thousand dollar hit but on a hundred million dollar budget we can take that. The budget deficit should be under a million dollars with the teachers and the other union actions.

Live reporting - Legislation for action

Resolution 09-06: Appropriation – 2009 Capital Plan
Motion approved 7-0


Mason - apology for missing and delaying this vote, speaking for the capital approval.
Doak - seconding what Councilor Mason mentioned, if we don't do it this year, it will cost more to do this next year. Thanks to the Dept Heads for performing the due diligence on their submissions.

Nutting - purchase some used vehicles to help avoid keeping the police vehicles on the road as long as they have been.

Live reporting: Franklin Schools Strategic Planning Update

The Strategic Planning Steering Committee presentation to the Town Council meeting:




Updated: The survey is available here

Live reporting - Town Council - 4/15/09

Attending: Whalen, Vallee, Feeley, Pfeffer, Doak, Zollo
Missing: Bartlett (arrived at 7:45 PM), McGann (no show), Mason (left at 7:30PM)

A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – March 18, 2009 Regular & Executive Session
motion to approve, passed 7-0

B. ANNOUNCEMENTS none

C. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS none

D. CITIZEN COMMENTS none

"the only model that's going to be sustainable"

GHS
Posted Apr 14, 2009 @ 12:32 AM

MEDWAY —

Selectmen Chairman Glenn Trindade said he is "very disappointed" after learning the library trustees voted against sharing Franklin Library Director Felicia Oti.

Instead, the board voted at its April 7 meeting to recommend hiring Oti seven hours a week in fiscal 2010 only to prepare the library's long-range plan, according to an e-mail Wendy Rowe sent to selectmen.

Rowe, chairwoman of the Medway library trustees and acting library director, said the board voted to hire Oti, but did not work out any details yet.

Read the full article about this twist in the regionalization efforts for Franklin/Medway libraries in the Milford Daily News here