Saturday, October 19, 2013

In the News: Emily Wood, math meet, plea for leniency

Franklin native to appear on ‘Jeopardy!’

Answer: This local woman will appear on “Jeopardy!” on Wednesday, Oct. 23.
Question: Who is Waltham’s Emily Wood?


Local students to compete in math meet

Hundreds of high school students will gather at Worcester Polytechnic Institute for a competition Tuesday, but they won’t kick balls or swing bats.


Prosecutors urged a judge Friday to sentence a Massachusetts chemist to up to seven years in prison if she pleads guilty in a drug-testing lab scandal that jeopardized thousands of criminal convictions and cost the state millions. Annie Dookhan, 35, of Franklin, faces a long list of criminal charges, including tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice and perjury for alleging faking test results at a now-closed state lab.




Friday, October 18, 2013

Les Miserables October 18, 19 and 20

For additional information on time and tickets, you can visit their webpage

Candy alternatives for Halloween

We have shared recipes and other good postings from Lisa Leake who writes at the 100 Days of Real Food. Here she spends about 5 minutes with a bit on her local TV morning show talking about how to avoid giving out candy for Halloween.



 For more from Lisa visit and subscribe to 100 Days of Real Food http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/


Powderly, Dellorco, Roy recognized

Wednesday night was the last Town Council meeting for Tina Powderly, Robert Dellorco and Jeffrey Roy. As State Representative, Jeff had the House prepare proclamations to recognize the work of Tina and Robert and presented these at the Council meeting.

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Tina Powderly, Robert Dellorco and Rep Jeffrey Roy

The three individuals also received one of the large displays used to depict the different views of the new high school building.

Thanks to all three for their time and effort volunteering for Franklin!

If you missed what too place during the full meeting Wednesday, you can catch the summary and details here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2013/10/ichigo-ichie-cooks-farm-and-bunch-of.html

In the News: Ladybug 5K, drug lab case, vehicle break-ins

Ladybug 5K, kids' fun run this weekend in Franklin

The third annual Ladybug 5K Run/Walk will be held Saturday at Franklin's Kennedy Elementary School.


 Plea to be discussed Friday in Dookhan drug lab case
Prosecutors and a lawyer for chemist Annie Dookhan of Franklin, charged in a far-reaching scandal at a state drug-testing lab,  plan to meet with a judge Friday to discuss a possible guilty plea.


Franklin police report increase in vehicle break-ins

The police say there has been a recent increase in thefts from motor vehicles and are admonishing residents to lock up.


Thursday, October 17, 2013

Ichigo Ichie, Cook's Farm and a bunch of budget adjustments

Ichigo Ichie

The Town Council took up the Ichigo Ichie license suspension in a public hearing on Wednesday night's meeting. You may recall that the initial hearing on Sep 11th lead to a suspension of their license for 5 days. They appealed to the Alcohol Beverage Commission (ABC) and re-opened discussions with Franklin. According to the presentation by Franklin Attorney Mark Cerel, the town usually has an agreement with the party before the hearing. Due to some miss-communications around the consecutive days to be served (actual days in a row, not consecutive Fridays), the prior hearing had been entered into without an agreement. The miss-communication issues were resolved, an agreement was reached, and the appeal will be recinded to close the matter.

What had been a 5 days suspension with 3 days held in abeyance will now be a 4 day suspension with 4 days held in abeyance. The suspension of their liquor license will begin this Friday evening (Oct 18) and run through Monday (Oct 21).

Related posts 
August notification of pending hearing
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2013/08/poor-handling.html 
September hearing result
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2013/09/liquor-license-suspensions-to-be-served.html


Cook's Farm

What had been one of the most contentious discussions of this Town Council ultimately ended with the passage of a set of zoning bylaw amendments each by a 6-1 vote. With two councilors recusing themselves due to relations with the Cook family, and the requirement to obtain a 2/3 majority vote, the 6 votes was the minimum required for passage. The measures had been moved to the second reading by a 5-2 vote putting the measures in jeopardy.

What changed? One can observe that Councilor Roy's defense of the measure as meeting many of the goals and objectives of the recently approved "Master Plan" to be the turning point. There is still no consensus on this time as the Planning Board voted against approving the measures and the lone Council "no" vote had previously declared the same objections. On this day, enough votes were gathered and assuming the remaining steps in the process for approvals both by the town and the backers of the development make progress, then there will be a 35 unit housing development on the property.


Budget adjustments, funding approvals

With the bond sale to fund the new high school completed, the funds received were more than forecast so there were some technical adjustments to the FY 2014 budget which will result in a saving to the Franklin taxpayer. The tax bill increase for the new high school will be approx $35 less than forecasted.

With the Finance Committee endorsements, the Town Council also voted to fund the Senior Center stabilization account, the operational stabilization account, approve funds for paying the ambulance bills, and to hire a technician for the new high school.

This continues the fiscally prudent steps of putting some money aside now to be available later. The second floor of the Senior Center needs to be built out and these funds are accumulating to be able to do so in about 2016. The small house on Beaver St recently purchased by Franklin will be demolished to allow an expansion of the parking lot. This work will begin sooner as it will be required before the second floor is completed and brings additional folks to the Center.

FranklinRide_SeniorCtr_ParkingExp
House to be demolished

The full set of notes from my live reporting at the Town Council meeting can be found here

Powderly, Dellorco recognized
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2013/10/powderly-dellorco-roy-recognized.html


New sidewalk coming for Panther Way

One of the measures passed at Wednesday night's Town Council meeting was the acceptance of an easement to allow Franklin to install a sidewalk along the Vendetti property on Panther Way.

The sidewalk will improve the safety of walkers along that stretch of the road. Primary use would be for the new high school but the new Sculpture Park will also be a beneficiary.


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Looking towards RT 140


FranklinRide_FutureSidewalk
Looking towards the Police Station