Town Council - Recap - July 24, 2019

With a full Town Council membership present for the only meeting in July, the Council took care of business in just under an hour.

Three new fire fighters were sworn in and made the congratulatory rounds

Benjamin Connell, Dana Kent, and Mathew LaFleur being sworn in by Town Clerk Teresa Burr

It was no surprise that one of the public hearings scheduled was moved to a future meeting. The matter concerning the West Central Street Zoning was moved to September 18, 2019 at 7:10 PM. This is the matter currently in the courts concerning the D'Errico proposal for the property that the Planning Board denied a resubmittal of.

Clearview Drive was formally accepted as a road by the Town continuing their efforts to reduce the number of roads in this 'unaccepted' cagtegory.

The water ban was mentioned during the Town Administrators update. The root cause has not been finalized but it seems to have been caused by lightning. The machinery is operational and the DPW is waiting for the holding tanks to return to acceptable levels before releasing the ban. There was no timeline indicated for this but hopefully it will be soon.  Due to the quick response by DPW and Fire Dept the damage was limited and may amount to a couple of hundred thousand dollars instead of being significantly more.


The official Actions Taken document for this meeting was published
https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/franklinma/files/news/town_council_actions_taken_for_july_24_2019.pdf

My notes reported live during the meeting can be found below

• Live reporting: from Town Administrator report to ...

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2019/07/live-reporting-from-town-administrator.html

• Live reporting: Public Hearings - Legislation for ...

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2019/07/live-reporting-public-hearings.html

• Live Reporting: Town Council - July 24, 2019

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2019/07/live-reporting-town-council-july-24-2019.html

The agenda and documents released for the meeting can be found
https://www.franklinma.gov/town-council/agenda/july-24-town-council-agenda 

Franklin School Committee - Recap - July 23, 2019

With short attendance (five of seven members participating), and a light agenda, the School Committee meeting on Tuesday July 23, 2019 conducted its business efficiently in about 40 minutes. 

The major item of discussion was the Committee evaluation of Superintendent Sara Ahern. The documentation referred to by the Chair and members of the committee during the discussion is not yet available on the School Committee page. It should not be a surprise that the Superintendent was well reviewed. Her performance in my view has been very good in trying circumstances.

One of the key items for the next meeting is the review of updates to the school handbooks. The link to the current version is shared here. The meeting version for the Committee will show potential changes inline with current text. There will also be a summary of the changes for each handbook school by school. The handbooks changes are in legal review now and will be made available to the Committee before the next meeting. Whether the public also gets to review the changes before hand was not discussed.


https://www.franklinps.net/district/school-handbooks

The text of the Superintendent's update can be found online
https://www.franklinps.net/sites/franklinmaps/files/uploads/superintendents_report_to_school_committee_july_23_2019.pdf


My notes reported live during the meeting can be found here

• Live reporting: Consent agenda to Closing

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2019/07/live-reporting-consent-agenda-to-closing.html

• Live reporting: Policy First Readings

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2019/07/live-reporting-policy-first-readings.html

• Live reporting: School Committee Meeting - July 23...

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2019/07/live-reporting-school-committee-meeting.html

The meeting packet and documents released for the meeting can be found 
https://www.franklinps.net/district/meeting-packets/pages/july-23-2019-school-committee-packet

Franklin School Committee - Recap - July 23, 2019

Spread The Word About Social Security Scams Getting calls saying your Social Security number is suspended because of suspicious activity? It's a scam. The Social Security Administration (SSA) is not calling you, no matter what your caller ID says. To spread the word about this growing scam, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau created this fraud prevention place mat in consultation with the FTC and SSA: Order Free Copies You can order free copies of the place mat to use at a meal site or to share with friends and family. The place mat is in English on one side and Spanish on the other. To report these scams, go to ftc.gov/complaint. And for more tips, visit IdentityTheft.gov/SSA. This is a free service provided by the Federal Trade Commission.

"It’s a problem with invasion of privacy”

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin:

"Sudbury Police Chief Scott Nix said officers try to do the best they can in difficult environments, and body cameras alone do not necessarily capture every angle in police interactions.

Many area police chiefs acknowledge that body cameras are an opportunity to improve transparency between law enforcement and the public. But they say the benefits of such high-tech improvements come with additional costs.

Other than Sherborn, no community police department in the MetroWest region currently wears police body cameras when responding to suspected crimes.

“There’s much more to it than the monetary cost,” said Sudbury Police Chief Scott Nix. “It also includes the cost of retention of the footage and the ability to reproduce it in different formats. We want to be educated and informed on the best route for the town.”

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20190727/metrowest-chiefs-cite-cost-as-key-deterrent-to-implementing-body-cams

Equifax Data Breach Settlement: How to Claim Your Benefits

Equifax Data Breach Settlement: How to Claim Your Benefits by Alvaro Puig, Consumer Education Specialist, FTC Earlier this week, we told you that roughly half the people in the country can get benefits under a settlement that the FTC and others reached with Equifax. Now, you can now find out if you were affected by the September 2017 breach and make your claim for benefits. Read more https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2019/07/equifax-data-breach-settlement-how-claim-your-benefits?utm_source=govdelivery  This is a free service provided by the Federal Trade Commission.

---

If you were part of the unlucky group affected by the data breech as I was, then confirm that you were via this link  ftc.gov/Equifax

confirm that you were part of the Equifax breech via this link  ftc.gov/equifax

Once confirmed, you can also file a claim. The instructions are clear and the website easy to use. I filed my claim this morning

 

https://www.equifaxbreachsettlement.com/file-a-claim

 

Fiscal Year 2020 1st Quarter Real Estate and Personal Property Tax Bills are due August 1, 2019

Fiscal Year 2020 1st Quarter Real Estate and Personal Property Tax Bills are due August 1, 2019

Fiscal Year 2020 1st Quarter Real Estate and Personal Property Tax Bills are due August 1, 2019
Reminders:

• You can pay online here

https://www.franklinma.gov/home/pages/online-payments-and-applications

• If you are mailing in your payment, please be sure to include the remittance copy with your check.
• If you choose to use your Online Banking to pay your bills, please remember to reference the bill number(s) you are paying.

Thank you!

This is an automatic message from Town of Franklin MA and shared from
https://www.franklinma.gov/treasurer-collector/news/fiscal-year-2020%C2%A01st-quarter-real-estate-and-personal-property-tax-bills

Fiscal Year 2020 1st Quarter Real Estate and Personal Property Tax Bills are due August 1, 2019

 

In the News: Investigation of fire on Providence Line; UMass tuition increase likely

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin:

"Workers continue to investigate the cause of a fire that broke out in the locomotive engine of a Providence-bound train Thursday night, according to a spokesman for commuter rail operator Keolis.

The fire, captured in videos posted to social media, was “brief and contained” to the engine of a locomotive at about 8:30 p.m., Keolis spokesman Justin Thompson said.

Passengers were transferred to another train on the line, and no injuries were reported.

Thompson said there were a “handful of residual delays” along the Providence line as a result of the incident, though the MBTA’s Commuter Rail Twitter page indicated at the time that some delays were close to an hour."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20190726/officials-probe-locomotive-fire

 Investigation of fire on Providence Line

It looks like a 2.5 percent tuition increase is likely for University of Massachusetts students this fall, system President Marty Meehan said Thursday.

The $43.1 billion state budget that the Legislature sent to Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk includes $558 million in aid to UMass, which has 75,000 students. Despite the last-minute addition of $317 million in spending above and beyond spending levels approved this spring by the House and Senate, UMass was unable to secure about $10 million in additional funds that could have led to a tuition freeze for the coming academic year.

“It looks like it would be about a two and a half percent increase,” Meehan told two reporters after telling House Bonding Committee members about capital spending plans and a $3.3 billion deferred maintenance backlog.

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20190726/meehan-umass-tuition-hike-looks-like-25