4 Tips for a Healthier Tomorrow

The MA blog has an article with four sets of tips on improving health for children that can easily be applied to adults as well.

Obesity rates have more than doubled among children and quadrupled in adolescents over the last 30 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). With nearly one-third of all children and teens in the United States overweight or obese, this serious health issue  increases risk for additional health problems such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and asthma. 

You can help fight these health risks by introducing a healthy lifestyle to your children’s daily lives today

screenshot of MA.gov webpage with article

The article goes on to outlines tips in four areas: eating healthy, getting more exercise, forming good habits at school and watching your body mass index (BMI). You can read the full article here
http://blog.mass.gov/blog/health/end-childhood-obesity-4-tips-for-a-healthier-tomorrow-2/

Live reporting - Closing items

I. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS
Economic Development
next meeting Aug 27 at 5:30 PM
desire to draft RFP to submit to the council in early Sept
The RFP would reserve a portion of the land for a monument to recognize Horace Mann.
This proposal was effectively brought forth in the Gateway Committee response.


J. LEGISLATION FOR ACTION
none

K. TOWN ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT
school safety signs for the some of the schools, thanks for our legislators to get this

St Rocco's is this weekend

L. OLD BUSINESS
Padula - recycling center, 40 people came in Sunday the first day it was open
over 100 on Saturday
no trash, expecting it to get busy

Vallee - what is the status with Cottage/Union
Nutting - we are in discussion with the railroad, they are headquartered in Jacskonville
Bissanti - have they mentioned any price?
Nutting - that would be subject of an executive session. They want a deed restriction. Historically, railroad property is not good property for re-use

Vallee - what about train station parking lot?
Nutting - I have escalated to Sen Spilka to ask her assistance to set a meeting. It is their liability. The platform needs to be fixed.

M. NEW BUSINESS
Padula - Judy and I are talking with the hospitals, we have a stroke awareness session coming to the Senior Center in October

Kelly - 1st meeting for Sep discussion on special permitting

Pfeffer - Citizens advisory committee wants to appoint tow more members
Nutting - put it on the next agenda

Vallee - can you watch the parking enforcement?
Williams - it is tight regulations, citizens feel entrapped where it is implemented


N. COUNCIL COMMENTS
Jones - Great to see the recycling center was open Sunday, Councilor Padula was there

Kelly - thanks for the work at the transfer station
thanks to Councilor Mercer, for the good work on the school, how good it looks

Mercer - 1st and formost some misconceptions on the old high school
anything that was in the school that could be used in the new school, in the system, or in another school or to a non-profit have been, things that were seen were damaged beyond repair. The dumpster was supposed to be there and didn't arrive, so the items were exposed

90-95% of the existing building will be recycled in some form, they separate the components, recycled in different ways, which is all done by the contractor and part of the bid when he bid on the high school

Jones - how about the budget?
Mercer - we remain on budget and I am confident that we will come in on or under budget and open on time

Vallee - we have 6-7 custodians for the building?
I am concerned about the size of the building,

Nutting - the new school is smaller than the old building, the materials are different
our buildings are in excellent shape, we need to let it open and see what happens, everything is under warranty for the first year

Pfeffer - we would like to see a maintenance plan for the new building
Mercer - I'll get that and bring it to the next meeting
all of the custodians moved to the new high school and have been getting weeks of training on the new school and systems in the school, they will have been in the facility 5-6 weeks before school opens
The facility manager estimated the increase of one, there are more controls with more than 50 cameras
8 more core classrooms, but the overall building is smaller


P. ADJOURN
motion to adjourn, passed 8-0

Live reporting: collection boxes and parking discussion

H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS

»Collection Containers

allowed in industrial zones, religious and non-profit organizations exempt from this
looking for support to bring forward in a future agenda

good idea

a great idea, some of the containers are actually put there by a for-profit business

Still a work in progress, vetting with colleagues, etc.
if you are a non-profit, could have two boxes on your own property
for all others, would be limited to the approved law, required to maintain, etc.

»Parking Discussion

photos of maps to be added
looking to adjust the parking, would maintain parking officer but get rid of the meters
we do have time but by the end of the year should have the bylaw ready to go

Town Administrator Jeff Nutting discussing the parking proposal

to enhance the business environment, less hassle around parking meters, don't have change, etc.
if it doesn't work, could put meters back in
do get about 50K per year for enforcement which helps to recover the costs of the officer

Kelly - I do eat downtown, I don't always have a quarter so I don't park downtown, I'll go elsewhere

Mercer - I support the concept as Jeff has presented, I understand there may be some tweaking needed

downtown parking proposal

Pfeffer - what about during construction?
Nutting - all bets are off during construction. There is not an intent to put this in the middle of the construction. We just want to think about what we want it to be when all is said and done

Pfeffer - it doesn't seem fair to raise the rates during the construction
Nutting - when it goes in, is an open question, I wasn't going to put this in right away
hash it around, any feedback would be appreciated, then we can start working on the bylaw and start working on the timing

summary of existing downtown parking

Padula - can we get copies of the before and after?
Nutting - yes. We make about 17K in meter revenue. We'll still get some money due to the ticketing. our lot is 2/day. The MBTA is 4/day so I was looking to charge a little more, maybe 40 cents. a minimal increase

Padula - merchant fee? how does that work?
Nutting - green lines say merchant parking; pay every six months, 20-21 sold each year, only 2-3 companies buying them today, looking to increase the number of spots available for this

Bissanti - How are they identified?
Nutting - there are signs today, the signs would changed based upon what we decide

Vallee - I think Judy is right, we'd wait to next spring
Nutting - for some of this you don't have to wait until next spring

Pfeffer - my concern was getting the higher rates when the construction was going on
Nutting - you could make this effective whenever you want

Kelly - we need to do the planing now so we avoid a decision at the last minute. We don't need to implement right away, we should start it now so we'll be ready

Mercer - I agree, we should start now and be ready to implement when appropriate

Jones - I agree, I also agree with Judy that we should note that the fees would be implemented at a later date

Nutting - I was more concerned about the implementation and not about the timing for the fees

Live reporting: Gateway Committee

H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS
»Gateway Committee

Restatement of the letter published earlier this week

● We request that approximately 20% of the property, roughly 8,000 square feet, be retained by the town of Franklin, specifically the southwest parcel of land, in perpetuity, to be used as community green space. Maintaining the corner of this parcel would allow the Town of Franklin to control the initial welcoming impression of visitors to the downtown area. 

● We fully concur that a statue or monument in honor of Horace Mann is appropriate and needed, and we support this measure that has been broadly talked about in discussion of the future use of this space. We recommend that the statue and green space project be designed and managed by a community committee in conjunction with the Town, rather than an outside developer, so the statue is done to the community's specifications. We suggest securing state funding for this important project. 

● We suggest that the building frontage to Route 140 have limited setback, after landscaping provisions, to continue and enhance the New England style main street appeal that exists in the downtown area. 

● We request that parking be sufficient and adequate for the building use but not a primary focus of the development, with consideration given to the streetscape project and traffic pattern changes that have yet to occur. 

● We explicitly request that no drive-through of any sort be permitted in this development.

Thanks for the opportunity
Thanks to Economic Development committee

Lisa Piana, Executive Director, Franklin Downtown Partnership

Live reporting: License transactions

G. LICENSE TRANSACTIONS
»Petition for Change of D/B/A- Soco Rose
simple name change
motion to accept, seconded, passed 8-0

»Change in Beneficial Interest and Removal of an LLC Director and Concept President – 99 Restaurant of Boston LLC
motion to accept, seconded, passed 8-0

Live reporting: Town Council - Aug 6, 2014

Present: Padula, Mercer, Kelly, Vallee, Pfeffer, Jones, Bissanti, Williams
Absent: Feldman


A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
none to approve

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.

Announcement on successful override of governor's veto for the school signals (announced last week).

Ribbon cutting - Sculpture Park - Aug 27th 5:00 PM

Ladybug Spots to appear on the Town Common Sat/Sun (Aug 9-10)

C. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS
none

D. CITIZEN COMMENTS
none

E. APPOINTMENTS
Election Workers (see listing in agenda doc)
motion to approve, seconded, passed 8-0

Conservation Commission - Scott D. McLean
motion to approve, seconded, passed 8-0

F. HEARINGS
none

Franklin on TV

WGBH

WGBH Channel 2 Boston highlighted Franklin in a Greater Boston news segment about smart growth in suburban towns. The story aired yesterday and shows the growth and redevelopment of the downtown over the past few years. Developer John Marini, Town Administrator Jeff Nutting and RE/MAX Executive Realty's Eileen Mason are all interviewed in the story, along with a couple in the process of moving into one of the downtown condos. 

This was re-posted from the Downtown Partnership webpage here
http://www.franklindowntownpartnership.org/2014/08/greater-boston-video-creating-thriving.html

The original on the WGBH webpage
http://wgbhnews.org/post/creating-thriving-downtown-small-town-massachusetts