FM #255 State Representative Jeffrey Roy 4/27/20 (audio)

FM #255 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 255 in the series.

This session of the radio show shares my conversation with our State Representative Jeffrey Roy. We had our conversation via conference bridge to adhere to the ‘social distancing’ requirements of this pandemic period.

We started by talking about the weekend and trying to take a break from COVID-19; the family of foxes that briefly lived in his backyard; the work of the Legislature and how that is progressing during this pandemic. The State budget is starting to be worked on by the House, later than normal, and it is likely that the entire State budget timeline will be later than normal. We talk about legislation on enabling voting by mail for the State primary in Sept and then the regular election in November.

We also talk about Jeff's work on the higher education committee and how that is helping to prepare for the broader discussion on what the State can do for higher education in MA; the economic impact of higher education, and then shifted into the arts and culture arena which also provides considerable economic value to the Commonwealth.

The recording runs almost 40 minutes, so let’s listen to my conversation with Jeff. Audio file =>    https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-255-state-rep-jeff-roy-4-27-20/

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The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.

I hope you enjoy!

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Rep Roy listening as part of the tour of the 'maker space' at Quinsigamond Community College (Nov 2019)

Note: I had the opportunity to join Rep Roy for his tour of UMass Medical, Quinsigamond Community College and Worcester State College on Friday, November 1, 2019

Board of Health approves mandate for face coverings for employees of essential businesses

I took my notes with Twitter to capture the gist of what was happening at the Board of Health meeting, Monday, April 27, 2020. The meeting had two agenda items. The agenda doc can be found linked below.

Effectively, the Board of Health approved a mandate for employees of essential businesses to wear facial coverings and to reinforce the advisory that residents should wear facial coverings when visiting retail establishments. This is an interim step to be effective 4/29. There is another meeting to be scheduled for next week as a follow up and to review a new item that came up during the meeting (a clarification on golf per Governor's revised statement).

My Twitter notes were all tagged as #boh0427. As I went from this meeting to the Economic Development meeting (which had started at 5:50) I made a few mistakes by tagging some of the EDC notes with this same #boh0427 tag instead of #edc0427 - oops.

The individual tweets can be found with this search result:  
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23boh0427&src=typed_query

• Real time reporting underway for Board of Health mtg
• New guidelines from Attorney General referenced. Consider mandate for employees of essential business to do so as a step. Reserve N95 for health and first responders
• Some of the citizen complaints to the Health Dept are around lack of grocery store employees not wearing cloth coverings (mask) #boh0427 . Health Director prefers advisory rather than mandate
• Concerns expressed about the mental health of the residents as we won't be observing the smiles of neighbors. Fear of going out because people are observed wearing masks.
• New FDA update on masks and types of just came out today. Mandate for employees, suggestion for residents to be clear. No single metric is perfect for effective of enforcement
• Questions and discussion around enforcement, in some cases would need to be by the retail business, BoH not wanting to get Franklin Police involved, they have other and better things to do
• Motion to adopt mandate for employees of essential business, recommended for posting of residents recommended to wear, motion approved; discussion on what effective date #boh0427 by close of business by April 29, notification coming, approved 3-0
• Hopefully the incremental approach will bring results, if not we can go further
• Discussion on expanding items for sale by restaurants and essential business, modify temp food permit to provide the steps/guidance for the business to do so. #boh0427 Health Director to come up with listing of items
• Motion for food establishments to sell grocery items, approved by 3-0 vote. Golf question came up in chat, can't add to this agenda. Will consider for next week meeting TBD #boh0427 motion to adjourn, passed via roll call

The new FDA update on masks as mentioned during the meeting is found here
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bckh-j1LwwNztxa52Jdsk4K5fVQALY_G/view?usp=sharing

screengrab of Zoom meeting early in the meeting

Attention Veterans: Project Toy Box - Response due Weds Apr 29

The United Way of Tri-County has received a major donation of new toys and games to distribute to children in out of work or low income veterans' families. We're calling this program Project Toy Box and have a goal to reach children in need who may have limited access to new activities, especially during this difficult time when many people are homebound. A variety of toys and games for children ages 5-12 will be distributed in the next few weeks.

If you are a veteran who has children and you may benefit from this, please let me know by end of day, Wednesday, Apr 29.

thanks

Dale
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Dale Kurtz
Veterans Service Officer
Towns of Avon and Franklin

10 Daniel McCahill Street
Franklin, MA 02038

508-613-1315 (O)
508-520-4917 (F)

Attention Veterans: Project Toy Box - Response due Weds Apr 29

Beaver St. Recycling Center Open Regular Hours Now With the Addition of Thursday - Noon-3 PM

Beaver St. Recycling Center Open Regular Hours Now With the Addition of Thursday - Noon - 3 PM for This Week -- Brush and Yard Waste Drop-Off Only All Days

In order to meet the needs of our residents and still follow the Governor's directive, as well as provide the appropriate level of safety to our residents and public works employees, we are going to re-open the Beaver Street Recycling Center with the following guidelines.

• The Recycling Center opens for the drop-off of yard waste and brush only.
• No other recycling products will be accepted.
• The Recycling Center will be staffed with only one worker just to check that folks have a Recycling Center Sticker and are only dropping off yard waste or brush.
• The Employees will practice established personal space guidelines and "Social Distancing" and will not assist residents in any way with the unloading of their vehicles.
• Only five vehicles will be allowed in the Recycling Center at one time.
• There will be no credit card or check transactions.
• If a resident needs a recycling sticker, they will need to contact and arrange to get one from the Public Works Administration Office (508 520-4910) prior to going to the Recycling Center.

Recycling Center Hours This Week:

• Tuesday, April 28, Noon-3PM
• Thursday, April 30, Noon-3PM
• Friday, May 1, 8AM-3PM
• Saturday, May 2, 8AM-3PM
• Sunday, May 3, 9AM-1PM

 
This was shared from the Town of Franklin page
https://www.franklinma.gov/recycling-solid-waste/news/beaver-st-recycling-center-open-regular-hours-now-addition-thursday-noon

Beaver St. Recycling Center Open Regular Hours

The Franklin Cultural District announces a "Photography Scavenger Hunt"

The Franklin Cultural District (FCD) is sponsoring a Photography Scavenger Hunt for residents of all ages! The Cultural District is building on an idea developed by the Cape Cod Arts Center in the Barnstable Village Cultural District. 

This is a great opportunity to learn more about the Cultural District while using your artistic talents and skills. We invite all to exercise your creativity while maintaining a safe physical distance from others.

During this quarantine take some time to go out and explore with your phone, tablet, or camera and take pictures of scenes that you can find in the Franklin Cultural District. While exploring please make sure to practice good social distancing skills.

To find out all you need to know about the Scavenger Hunt including:

• How to enter
• The rules
• All of the Photo Categories
• A map of the Franklin Cultural District

Please visit:
https://sites.google.com/view/franklin-cultural-district/home

Winners will be posted by June 1st. Hope you will all consider participating!

Franklin Cultural District Photography Scavenger Hunt

FTC Consumer Alert: Don’t click links in unsolicited text messages

Don't click links in unsolicited text messages by Rosario Méndez, Attorney, Division of Consumer and Business Education, FTC You might be seeing text messages promising money – maybe the economic impact payments, loans for small businesses, or an offer for money you can get.  In fact, I recently saw a WhatsApp text message in Spanish that advertised money for people quarantined at home. If you've spotted messages like this, I hope you've also deleted them.  These text messages going around could lead you to a scam or a hacker, but not to anything helpful. Read more  https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2020/04/dont-click-links-unsolicited-text-messages  This is a free service provided by the Federal Trade Commission.

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Watch "A Message From Hospitals: Don't Avoid Emergency Care" on YouTube

"At the COVID-19 briefing on Thursday, April 23, 2020, Governor Baker joined leaders from the Commonwealth's health care community to make clear that thanks to the shared work to prepare and build capacity, Massachusetts' hospitals are handling the uptick in COVID-19 cases, and are still able to care for patients with other medical conditions."

YouTube Link = https://youtu.be/IWITRRS0WZ4