Franklin, MA: Town Council - Agenda - Feb 3, 2016

A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

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

C. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS

D. CITIZEN COMMENTS 
– Citizens are welcome to express their views for up to five minutes on a matter that is not on the Agenda. The Council will not engage in a dialogue or comment on a matter raised during Citizen Comments. The Town Council will give remarks appropriate consideration and may ask the Town Administrator to review the matter.

E. APPOINTMENTS

F. HEARINGS

G. LICENSE TRANSACTIONS

H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS 

1. Bill Board Discussion
2. Recreation Department Update
3. Mandatory Alcohol Awareness Training
4. Master Plan Update
5. Pond Street Discussion

I. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS

J. LEGISLATION FOR ACTION

K. TOWN ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT

L. OLD BUSINESS

M. NEW BUSINESS

N. COUNCIL COMMENTS

O. EXECUTIVE SESSION 
- Pending or threatened litigation
1. Proposed Excelon expansion of Medway electric generating facility pending before Energy Facilities Siting Board.
2. Proposed Spectra gas transmission line through Franklin.

P. ADJOURN

happy new year sign at the Recreation Dept earlier in January

The documents released for this agenda can be found here
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_News/0230E0F5-000F8513

Capital plan, change to food service and calendar key items from School Committee meeting

The capital plan, a change to the food service, and approval of the school calendar for next year were key items from the School Committee meeting held Jan 26.  A discussion on a change to the winter breaks for future calendars led to a subcommittee being formed to look at the pros/cons of the change.

• Schools Capital Plan

The School Dept capital plan was discussed at the School Committee meeting held on Tuesday, Jan 26. Franklin uses 'free cash' to funds the big ticket items not covered by the operating budget. The amount of 'free cash' varies year to year. The other primary draw on 'free cash' is to fund the potential shortfall in the snow/ice budget. If we have an easy winter, there is less needed. If the winter is a tough one (like 2015), then Franklin will wait until after snow removal bills are covered to see how much 'free cash' is available for capital items.

As part of the overall budget planning process, the capital budget items rise to discussion first. They are reviewed by the School Committee, then the Finance Committee and ultimately the Town Council. Last year, some of the capital items were approved for budgeting and some were held pending the final numbers on the winter snow removal bills. We'll see what happens this time around.

The full list of the items on the School Dept wish list for capital can be found here along with my notes on the discussion. 
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2016/01/live-reporting-school-committee-jan-26.html

• Food service changes

In the discussion items section of the meeting, Whitson's will be replaced as the schools food service provider. The School District will hire their own food director and bring the service inhouse. The administrative and service fees paid to Whitson's will cover the personnel cost of the new director and provide a 'wash' budget wise. An interesting move as five years ago when Whitsons was brought in, the argument was the requirements were too onerous to keep up with. Now apparently, the realization is that the fees are too onerous and the requirements something that can be handled.

• School Calendar

With no discussion, the vote to accept the calendar for 2016-2017 was complete and the food service discussion started. At the end of the food service discussion they went back to the calendar at the request of one member and spent a good deal off time talking about potential changes to future calendars and ultimately set up to form a subcommittee to look into it more fully. The key change being looked at the is the change from two winter breaks to one. Although it was mentioned again that 37 years ago, the one winter break was tried and didn't work. 

Excuse me but 37 years ago, things were just a little bit different in Franklin. The discussion merits a new look, layout the pros and cons and decide. The communications and change management for the calendar proposal would be as critical to the new calendar as the decision itself. 

Stay tuned for future updates on the discussion for possible changes to the 2017-2018 calendar.

The official calendar for the 2016-2017 school year can be found here
http://franklindistrict.vt-s.net/Pages/FranklinDistrict_News/02308424-000F8513

• All State Music Festival

Seven members of FHS were selected to be part of the All State music, this is the largest representation ever for the school.

Ian Carla - Drums - All State Jazz Band 

Cameron Crawley - Tuba - All State BandMatt Dao - Trumpet - All State Band 

Chris Cheri - viola - All State OrchestraKatelyn Davenport - viola - All State OrchestraAbigail Gleason - viola - All State OrchestraDominic Narducci - cello - All State Orchestra

The performance by the All State groups will be held on March 12th at Symphony Hall in Boston

Franklin School Committee

• Meeting notes

All the notes reported live during the meeting can be found here

• Live reporting: Closing
• Live reporting: Action items
• Live reporting: Discussion items
• Live reporting: Personnel Updates
• Live Reporting: School Committee - Jan 26, 2016

FHS girls take Hockomock League Indoor Championships, boys 5th

With 5 first place finishes, the FHS girls indoor track team lead the way take 1st in the Hockomock League Championships in the meet at the Reggie Lewis Center on Saturday. The FHS boys team finished 5th

GIRLS TEAM RESULTS

FHS Panthers

1. Franklin – 97
2. Mansfield – 77.75
3. North Attleborough – 67
4. Taunton – 61
5. Oliver Ames – 56.75
6. Sharon – 34
7. King Philip – 33.75
8. Foxboro – 30.75
9. Canton – 20
10. Milford – 14
11. Stoughton – 13
12. Attleboro – 2

55M Dash
1. Jessica Kroushl, Franklin – 7.44

300M
1. Halle Atkinson, Franklin – 42.28

600M
4. Meghan Doherty, Franklin – 1:40.73

1000M
3. Brittany Robinson, Franklin – 3:07.21

1 Mile
1. Nicole Clermont, Franklin – 5:20.35

2 Mile
3. Sabrina Roche, Franklin – 12:04.58

55M Hurdles
4. Beth Neal, Franklin – 9.42

4×200 Relay
3. Franklin – 1:47.99

4×400 Relay
2. Franklin – 4:11.81

4×800 Relay
1. Franklin – 10:08.99

High Jump
1. Beth Neal, Franklin – 5-00.00

BOYS TEAM RESULTS

1. Mansfield – 121.50
2. Taunton – 73
3. North Attleboro – 60
4. Franklin – 59
5. Sharon – 44
6. King Philip – 41.50
7. Attleboro – 34
7. Stoughton – 34
9. Oliver Ames – 21
10. Foxboro – 7
10. Canton – 7
12. Milford – 6


300M
4. Luke Gordon, Franklin – 37.36

600M
1. Alec Hurd, Franklin – 1:27.20
4. Dominic Giardini, Franklin – 1:27.78

1 Mile
4. Ryan Spelman, Franklin – 4:33.31

4×400 Relay
4. Franklin – 3:42.99

4×800 Relay
2. Franklin – 8:47.44

High Jump
5. Luke Gordon, Franklin – 5-10.00

Long Jump
3. Chris Chieng, Franklin – 20-03.00


The FHS results are a subset of that published on Hockomock Sports
http://www.hockomocksports.com/hockomock-league-indoor-track-championships-2016/

The full meet results can be found here
http://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/MeetResults.aspx?Meet=256859#19318

FHS wrestling takes 3rd in Hockomock League Championships

"For the second straight year, North Attleboro picked up a dominating win at the Hockomock League Championships, topping the tournament with an impressive 254 points. 

Oliver Ames finished second with 183, Franklin was third with 171, Sharon had 161 to finish fourth and Foxboro rounded out the top five with 155 points."

......

"Franklin finished third overall, sent four wrestlers to the finals and had two overall champions. Jordan Carlucci started things off with a second period pin at 106 for the Panthers and John Miller had a 3-2 win at 220. Mike Racca finished second at 113 and Nick Narducci was runner up at 126. The Panthers were helped along by their depth as well with TJ Remillard (120) and Evan Hernandez (195) getting third place finishes and Ed Cropper (160) finishing fourth at 160."

Hockomock Sports photo

Continue reading the full meet summary
http://www.hockomocksports.com/hockomock-wrestling-championships-2016/


Additional photos from the Wrestling Championships can be found here
https://hockomocksports.smugmug.com/20152016/Winter-201516/Hockomock-Wrestling/i-HzBSMDM

FHS hockey ties Canton 0-0

Hockey

• Canton, 0 @ Franklin, 0 – Final 

– Nick Jasinski made 15 saves for the Panthers and Justin Slocum made 25 saves for the Bulldogs.

Franklin goalie Nick Jasinski (31) denies Canton forward Matt Lazaro (9) in the second period on Saturday. (Josh Perry/HockomockSports.com)

Josh Perry, Managing Editor of Hockomock Sports provides the in depth article on the game:

The top two teams in the Hockomock have been struggling to score goals consistently this season and on Saturday afternoon at Pirelli Veterans Memorial Rink Canton and Franklin continued to find offense hard to come by in a scoreless tie that provided plenty of excitement despite the puck never finding the back of the net. 

“I joked with Coach Spillane in the line, if that doesn’t sum up both of our seasons right there then I don’t know what does,” said Canton coach Brian Shuman. “We’re both struggling to put the puck in the net.” 

“Ironically that was one of the most wide open Franklin-Canton games. We both had plenty of chances.” 

Franklin coach Chris Spillane agreed with those sentiments. All season he has talked about the need for players to step up on the offensive side and that continued against the Bulldogs. 

“Canton has the same disease as Franklin, can’t put the puck in the net,” he laughed. “Both teams had really good opportunities and maybe credit the goaltenders, they stepped up and made stops when they had to but yeah it was a game with very few quality, wow that should’ve been a goal.”

Continue reading the article online
http://www.hockomocksports.com/canton-and-franklin-finish-scoreless-in-rematch/

In the News: Franklin school safety, internet purchase safe zones

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin

Two local schools are testing out a system that will allow officials more control over who is allowed in the buildings and to keep track of visitors once they're inside. 

The system - currently being tested at Franklin High School and Gerald E. Parmenter Elementary School - has been in place since October. 

Once visitors are buzzed into the school, they're greeted by a school employee who asks them about their reason for entering and scans their license. 

"We make sure the license matches, put where they're going into the computer and it prints out a badge," said Erica Demers, who mans the desk at Parmenter. "We put a sticker on the badge, and it fades after a while, so people can't reuse them."

Parmenter School sign announcing PCC meeting on Feb 5

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20160130/schools-testing-visitor-id-system

Looking for a safe place to meet someone after arranging to buy an item online but you don't want to get ripped off, robbed or worse? Area police departments are now offering a safe location for those transactions. 

The locations are called Internet Purchase Exchange Locations (IPEL) or Safe Trade Stations and are an easy spot to meet after making a deal on local “yard sale” groups on Facebook, local buying and selling apps such as “Close5” and “OfferUp,” or the ever-popular “Craigslist.” 

Rather than meet up with a worst-case scenario such as Philip Markoff, “The Craigslist Killer” who, in 2009, was charged with robbing and killing Boston-area victims he met on Craigslist, buyers and sellers can meet in a well-lit, video-recorded spot.

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20160130/safe-exchange-zones-springing-up-at-metrowest-milford-area-police-departments


The Safe Trade Station website mentioned in the article needs to get updated for the MA locations also referenced in the article.  http://www.safetradestations.com/

FHS boys and girls basketball teams top North Attleboro

Via Hockomock Sports, we share the results of Hockomock League action for the FHS basketball teams.

Boys Basketball

• North Attleboro, 57 @ Franklin, 60 – Final 

– Tim Prunier hit two free throws down the stretch to stretch the Panthers’ lead to three as Franklin outlasted North Attleboro. The Rocketeers trailed by nine at halftime but rallied to get a 45-44 lead heading into the final period. Prunier finished with a team-best 18 points while freshman Jay Dieterle added 13 points and sophomore Connor Peterson had 11 points. North junior Brent Doherty also had 18 points, Kyle McCarthy scored a career-high 13 points in his first start and Mario Bresko added 11 points.

FHS Panthers

Girls Basketball

• Franklin, 63 @ North Attleboro, 47 – Final 

– Franklin broke open a three-point game at the half with a 20-5 run in the third quarter. Carli Koffinke was the top scorer for the Panthers with 13, while Aubrie Kutil added a double-double with 11 points. Lauren Rudolph for Franklin and Olivia Adiletto eight. Emily Peters scored 20 points for the Rocketeers in a losing effort.

For other results on Friday around the Hockomock League
http://www.hockomocksports.com/fridays-schedule-scoreboard-012916/