Franklin, MA: Town Council - Agenda - Mar 17, 2021

UPDATED 3-17-21 Town Council Agenda

 

1. ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM THE CHAIR
This meeting is being recorded by Franklin TV and shown on Comcast channel 11 and Verizon Channel 29.  This meeting may be recorded by others. 

2. 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. 

3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
March 3, 2021

4. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS
    a. David Allard - Retirement Recognition, Franklin DPW
    b. Kevin Ryan - Retirement Recognition, Franklin Police Department
    c. Detective John Maloney - Retirement Recognition, Franklin Police Department
    d. Kristopher Smith - Achievement Recognition, graduation from the Massachusetts Fire Academy

5. APPOINTMENTS
    a. Rob Burchill - New Patrol Officer Ceremonial Swearing In & Badge Pinning, Police Department
    b. Derek Tetrault - New Patrol Officer Ceremonial Swearing In & Badge Pinning, Police Department
    c. Brian Armstrong - New Hire, Firefighter/Paramedic - Fire Department 
    d. Jeffrey Ward - New Hire, Firefighter/Paramedic - Fire Department 
    e. Kent Parsons - New Hire, Firefighter/Paramedic - Fire Department 
    f. Benjamin Angelo - New Hire, Firefighter/Paramedic - Fire Department

6. HEARINGS - 7:10 PM
None Scheduled

7. LICENSE TRANSACTIONS
None Scheduled

8. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS
Norfolk County Sheriff Patrick W. McDermott - Norfolk County Sheriff Website

9. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS
a. Capital Budget Subcommittee
b. Budget Subcommittee
c. Economic Development Subcommittee

10. LEGISLATION FOR ACTION
10a. LEGISLATION FOR ACTION
Bylaw Amendment 21-871: Chapter 82, Municipal Service Fees, Amended at Section 82-6 Schedule of Service Fees, Subsection A. Administration - First Reading (Motion to Move Bylaw Amendment 21-871 to a Second Reading - Majority Roll Call Vote)

https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif591/f/mai/files/10a._food_trucks.pdf

10b. LEGISLATION FOR ACTION
Bylaw Amendment 21-872: To Amend The Franklin Town Code At Chapter 185, Section 3, Definitions, Tasting Room - Referral to the Planning Board (Motion to Refer Bylaw Amendment 21-872 to the Planning Board - Majority Roll Call Vote)

https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif591/f/mai/files/21-872_tasting_room.pdf

11. TOWN ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT
COVID-19 Updates

12. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS

13. COUNCIL COMMENTS

14. EXECUTIVE SESSION
I request a motion that the Board vote to convene in Executive Session for the purpose of discussing strategy with respect to collective bargaining, because an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the Board.

ADJOURN

Note: 
Two-Thirds Vote: requires 6 votes
Majority Vote: requires majority of members present and voting

The agenda was shared from the Town of Franklin page
https://www.franklinma.gov/node/160/agenda/2021

Norfolk County Sheriff Patrick W. McDermott - Norfolk County Sheriff Website

almost spring time, DPW is busy already tidying up the Town

FSPA: "Broadway in Franklin" - Mar 21, 2021

Broadway in Franklin returns to starring Ryan Vasquez, Amanda LaMotte, and the musical theater students of the Franklin School for the Performing Arts. 

Airing as a Livestream on March 21 at 3 PM and then rebroadcasted On Demand starting March 24th.

Ryan Vasquez is a California-born, New York-based actor, currently in Hamilton on Broadway. Ryan received a 2020 Drama Desk nomination for originating the role of The Man in Black in THE WRONG MAN, a musical by multi-platinum song writer Ross Golan, directed by Tony Award-winner Thomas Kail with musical arrangements by Tony and Grammy Award-winner Alex Lacamoire. Ryan is the first actor to play all the roles of Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, George Washington, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton. He also appeared in the Original Broadway Cast of Waitress, and made his Broadway debut in Wicked.  

Amanda LaMotte made her Broadway debut in Matilda: the Musical where she performed for two years. Following Matilda, Amanda appeared in the revival of Hello, Dolly on Broadway and had the opportunity to share the stage with Bette Midler, David Hyde Pierce, Bernadette Peters, Victor Garber and Donna Murphy. Most recently, Amanda was seen in the revival of Kiss Me, Kate and had the privilege of performing with the cast on the Today Show and The Tony Awards. Amanda can also be seen on last season’s Last Week with John Oliver.

Tickets available online =  https://www.theblackboxonline.com/events.php?id=1442&month=03&year=2021

FSPA: "Broadway in Franklin" - Mar 21, 2021

Franklin TV: Scope - This is huge!

by Pete Fasciano, Executive Director 03/14/2021

While recording a recent session of our weekly radio program ‘More Perfect Union’ I noted a reaction from our roundtable panelists to my somewhat casual comment. We were discussing the nettlesome issues around the vaccine rollout. I was not criticizing either Charlie Baker or Joe Biden.  I was addressing the unprecedented enormous challenges they are facing.

The key word to keep in mind: unprecedented.

The challenges of the pandemic are indeed unprecedented in scope.

When scrambling to address today’s emergency today, it’s almost impossible to fully anticipate the downstream emergent needs of tomorrow.  “Warp Speed” was a simplistic response – throw some money at the private sector and hope. The science came through, but it wasn’t backed with a forward plan for the follow-on logistics.

Scope:

Administering the three vaccines will require ≈450MM (million) doses to ≈300MM willing Americans.  (Yes, I’m more than willing.)  At 5 minutes per, that’s ≈37.5MM person/hours or ≈4.7MM 8-hour days.  That means between now and mid-June we need at least ≈52 thousand trained personnel working 7 days/week. No slack time.

A best-case working assumption – 15 workers per site.  (Clearly not the case.)  This means that vaccines must be distributed timely as needed to ≈4K sites. Logistics. Considering small sites with 1 or more workers – it’s more like ≈20 thousand sites? That’s how Biden’s team estimated a need for 20K pharmacies and health centers. The President’s team clearly understands logistics, science and math.

Joe also recently arranged to stockpile vaccine for all Americans who want it by the  end-of  May.   Now  the  challenge  is  getting  that  vaccine  into  arms. They  are ramping up and organizing that Herculean effort as quickly as possible. The challenge? Create a temporary national organization having 50 thousand trained staff. All hands on deck who can vaccinate – from dentists to optometrists; from EMT’s to midwives; from veterans to veterinarians.

SoW – The Scope-of-Work: The pandemic – It’s big. It’s complex. It’s also unstable. We’re asking the Biden administration to work a miracle. He promised 100 million doses in arms in 100 days. A reasonable goal, It got done by day 60. Recall that when Joe took office, he asked us all to mask up for 100 days. A reasonable request. Are we all doing our part?

During our radio session I quipped –  Good,  Fast.  Cheap.  Pick two.

You want Good & Fast? It won’t be Cheap. 
You want Fast & Cheap? It won’t be Good. 
You want Good & Cheap? It won’t be Fast.

A corollary observation about shaping the scope of any endeavor. When it’s all over you’ll get to explain one thing:

High Expense Why it costs so much.
Poor Quality Why it works so bad.   (-and/or looks so ugly.) 
Late Timing Why it’s not done yet.

The first is often the easiest to explain. We are attempting to accelerate the pace, to literally buy time. In this case, time is not only money; it’s also lives. We are in an urgent fight to save lots of lives. We’re scrambling to save our national economy and personal livelihoods. Time is not on our side, yet we have no other choice but to fight the good fight. Time is a terrible taskmaster. We the electorate also can be terrible taskmasters, seeking affordable, instant perfection from political leaders.

The  total  $6,000,000,000,000.00  (trillion) government  bailout  cost  will  average $1,700.00 in annualized per capita cost for every single American over the next decade. That’s $7,000.00/year for a family of four. Scope.

Consider these numbers as well:

Total Value of U.S. Homes: $130,000,000,000,000.00 
Annual U.S. Domestic Product: $21,000,000,000,000.00
The Federal Government runs on $3,360,000,000,000.00 (16% of GDP.)

The Feds spent almost 2X their annual budget trying to save us. That’s – um, a lot? More specifically, it raises the total projected Fed budget to 19% GDP for a decade. Now, to be perfectly unclear, if all the economists were laid out end-to-end, they wouldn’t reach a conclusion.  ( – unknown)  Economics is known as the dismal science, and I’m pretty dismal at it. Thus, I can’t opine as to how our national economy will absorb the cost and continue to grow. However, that too, is actually possible.

Hopefully, it will grant us all brighter days ahead.

But, for now – the cost of salvation is dear, non-negotiable, but absolutely necessary. 

And – as always –
Thank you for listening to wfpr●fm. 
And, thank you for watching.

Listen to "Toward A More Perfect Union" on Monday’s at 11 AM, 2 PM and 8 PM at wfpr.fm or 102.9 on the local area dial.

Get this week's program guide for Franklin TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) online

http://franklin.tv/programguide.pdf  or for archive purposes    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T7DywdMXeYaizxhK8onG4_PhE_3-4RT6/view?usp=sharing

Coincidently, for confirmation on this line of thought, The Hill summarizes "The Five Things That Must Be Done to Get People Vaccinated"

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/543014-five-things-that-must-happen-to-get-people-vaccinated

Franklin TV:  Scope - This is huge!

Pantherbook: "Race Relations at FHS"

 

"Diversity– “The practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientations, etc” is what comes up when searched on google. But what does this really mean?

To myself and many others, diversity is being inclusive to all and not just the ones we look like; it is standing up for someone even if you don’t know them. It is being a kind human- when you see people being judged based on the color of their skin and you stand up for them. We all deserve equal kindness and respect.

In order to deep dive into race relations at Franklin High School, I interviewed Mr. Hanna and have included his thoughts."

Continue reading the article at Pantherbook

https://franklinpanthers.us/uncategorized/2021/03/12/race-relations-at-fhs/

 

Pantherbook: "Race Relations at FHS"

"I think our spring students do deserve that"

 

"After the cancellation of the entire 2020 spring season because of the coronavirus pandemic, high school sports teams and athletes across Massachusetts will have the opportunity to participate in MIAA-sponsored postseason tournaments this year.

During a virtual meeting Friday afternoon, the MIAA’s board of directors voted, 18-0, to approve sectional tournaments this spring. The board also left open the possibility that the postseason could be expanded to include traditional state semifinals and finals for sectional champions.

The board agreed to survey member schools over the next few days, gauging interest in expanding the postseason to include state tournaments and their willingness to participate. The board will meet again Wednesday afternoon to vote on that piece of the plan."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/03/12/sports/miaa-approves-sectional-tournaments-spring-high-school-sports/

 

LiveARTS: Two Pianos, Four Hands, all Rachmaninov! - Mar 21

LiveARTS presents Duo Pianists Cynthia Raim and David Allen Wehr on Sunday, March 21st at 3:00pm via zoom!

LiveARTS presents Duo Pianists CYNTHIA RAIM & DAVID ALLEN WEHR An all-Rachmaninov re-stream on Zoom in collaboration with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society!   Sunday, March 21st  at 3 p.m.   Pianist CYNTHIA RAIM is acclaimed for her concerto, recital, and chamber music performances throughout the United States and abroad and has recorded for Gall, Pantheon, and Connoisseur Society, including solo albums of Ravel, Schumann, Brahms, and Schubert and two-piano recordings of Rachmaninoff, Brahms, and Dvořák with David Allen Wehr. She is a native of Detroit, where she studied with Mischa Kottler, Ms. Raim studied with Rudolf Serkin and Mieczyslaw Horszowski at the Curtis Institute of Music, where she earned bachelors and masters degrees.   DAVID ALLEN WEHR's performance career has taken him on tour to over 30 countries in Europe, North and South America, and the Far East, including performances in the world musical capitals of New York, London, Paris, Vienna, Washington, Madrid, and Buenos Aires. Wehr has been soloist with the London Symphony, National Symphony, Chautauqua Symphony, Houston Symphony, New Zealand Symphony, and all the major Spanish and Latin American orchestras. PROGRAM All Rachmaninov program! Suite No. 1 for Two Pianos, Op. 5 Fantaisie tableaux Rachmaninov: Duets, Op. 11 [Sel.] Rachmaninov: Suite No. 2 for Two Pianos, Op. 17 LiveARTS and PCMS favorite Cynthia Raim is joined by her longtime piano partner, David Allen Wehr, for a rarely-heard, two-piano, four-hands, all-Rachmaninov program. Lauding the duo's recording of the Suites for Two Pianos, a Pianoforte critic raved: "Here are two fine artists who sound as if they might have stepped right out of a Russian academy. They allow the composer's melodies and phrases a natural shape without ever imposing technique on them, with a great feeling of contrast, light and shade." Join us for the fourth concert of our current season, a donation-based concert! To take advantage of this opportunity, go to our website, liveartsma.org, and order a free ticket. The Zoom link will be emailed to you 24 hours before the concert. Tickets are free, but donations are always welcome! Watch your email for more information. The all-Beethoven program featuring Nicholas Kitchen, Yeesun Kim, and Ann Sears will return for the start of next season, in person! (Restrictions permitting) This concert is a special re-stream of a concert that was originally streamed on December 4, 2020, by Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. LiveARTS is very grateful to PCMS for generously granting permission to re-stream this extraordinary event! You can download Zoom using this link: Download Zoom Copyright © 2021, LiveARTS.org.  All rights reserved.

FM #488 - Finance Committee Meeting - 03/10/21 - P1 of 3 - capital budget (audio)

FM #488 = Welcome. This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 488 in the series. 

This session shares part 1 of the Franklin, MA Finance Committee meeting held on Wednesday, Mar 10, 2021. 

The meeting was conducted in a hybrid format: the Finance Committee members, Town Administrator and key personnel, were in the Council Chambers; the remainder, along with the public, were remote via conference bridge, all to adhere to the ‘social distancing’ requirements of this pandemic period.

I’ve split the just almost three hour meeting into three logical segments:

• *** First *** covers the capital budget discussion and vote to approve (approx. 75 minutes)
• Second - covers the public safety presentations and discussion; the MECC, Fire Dept and Police Dept. (approx. 67 mins)
• Third - and last but not least a look at the estimate for revenues for the FY 2022 budget. More to come on this as the budget cycle begins in earnest now meeting (approx. 30 minutes)

The show notes contain links to the meeting agenda and to my notes. 

Let’s listen to this segment of the Finance Committee meeting of Mar 10, 2021

Audio file = https://player.captivate.fm/episode/4e92b9c1-e766-4516-b458-c44837dd8c2d

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Agenda doc   
https://franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif591/f/agendas/revised_fin_com_agenda_complete_1.pdf

My notes from the meeting
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2021/03/finance-committee-meeting-recap-topics.html 
 

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We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm).

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.
 
How can you help?

• If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors
• If you don't like something here, please let me know

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.
 
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/ or www.franklin.news/

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

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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Franklin uses 'free cash' for its capital budget