Saturday, January 10, 2009

Streaming Video - Historic event

There was a significant historical event this week. The first Town Council meeting was streamed live over the web on Wednesday evening.

What does that mean?
Instead of being in your home with a cable subscription, you can now view a town meeting via your computer. This means that anyone with interest to find the meeting can view it anywhere in the world via the internet and their computer.

Since only 90+% of the town has access to cable, how much this will enable those who don't have cable access is open for discussion.

What will this streaming live change?
I think it will be interesting to see how this will change the meetings, if anything changes at all.
  • Will the various board and committee members improve their personal behavior and conduct now that they can be viewed around the world?
  • Will the nature and presentations of the meetings themselves be modified now that there is a worldwide audience?
  • Will there be an increase in viewing amongst the people in the town?
The one drawback I see is that the availability of the meeting via the internet may reduce the actual physical attendance in the room. Only those who actually need to be there to participate in the meeting will continue to be present. On the other hand, the worldwide audience may actually increase the participation due to the exposure.

How do you view the meeting?
  1. On your computer, open your favorite browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.)
  2. Navigate to the Franklin website home page
  3. Follow the link on the notice for the live streaming (I have not yet found another way to get to this live streaming or archive. I assume there will be an additional path put on the site at some time.)
  4. The first time you view a meeting, Microsoft Silverlight will require to be installed. Once installed, you'll need to close your browser and restart the browser. After this installation, you should be able to go direct to view either the live or an archived program.
  5. You can view the meeting from beginning to end or skip to sections according to the published agenda.

Have you viewed a meeting yet?

What do you think of this?

Friday, January 9, 2009

Northborough pursues wind power

"This could cut taxes, eliminate the electric bill of the regional high school, and decrease our dependence on the Middle East," said town resident Bob Giles, a retired engineer who has spearheaded support for the proposal. He said the turbine, once up and running, could save the town up to $600,000 annually.

.....

As Giles and selectmen move ahead with their plans, they are looking to Hull for guidance. Since 2001, the seaside community has set up two wind turbines that provide about 11 percent of Hull's electricity, according to Town Manager Philip Lemnios, and is looking to build four more turbines offshore, which could potentially meet 100 percent of the town's electricity needs.
Read the full article in the Boston Globe West edition here

Can green jobs solve poverty?

There is an interesting conversation about
Can green-collar jobs clean the "dirty-energy economy" and lift people out of poverty?
The discussion revolves around education in California where the drop out rate from public schools is now 25%. 41% for Blacks and 31% for Latinos.

Van Jones and California State Senator Darrell Steinberg discuss a unique solution for our economy and environment. Together they offer a clear vision for green economic development and its potential.

Click through to listen here.

Well worth listening to!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Peter Light will serve as acting principal

GHS
Posted Jan 07, 2009 @ 09:12 PM

FRANKLIN —

Peter Light will serve as acting principal of Franklin High School for the remainder of the school year, Superintendent Wayne Ogden announced yesterday.

Light, an assistant principal at the school, has worked in the district for 12 years. He will replace Pamela Gould, who has been hired as the new assistant superintendent of human resources for the Plymouth School Department.

One of four assistant principals at the high school, Light began his tenure in the district as a teacher. His academic background is in music and educational administration.

Gould announced her departure just before Christmas break, giving administrators time to talk with students and faculty about the upcoming change.

"Peter let me and (assistant superintendent) Maureen Sabolinski know if called, he would serve. He became the logical choice," Ogden said. "Plus he's a talented young administrator and we thought he had the skills to do what we need done."

Students shared their desire for consistency in the remaining school months, Ogden said.

"To bring somebody in midyear who doesn't know the school, students or faculty ... it's a terribly awkward situation," Ogden said. "When (we) talked to students in focus groups, they were talking about stability and a need to continue the improvement projects they were working on."

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here


"I apologize for this happening"

An apologetic Michael P. D'Angelo, director of public facilities, explained what happened over the New Year's holiday to councilors. His recap revealed staff did not realize until a day later that electricity had been lost in spots throughout town for about an hour. The high school's and Senior Center's backup generators did not restart heating pumps, which contributed to the damage, D'Angelo said.

The Senior Center will reopen today, after being closed this week because of the damage. The John F. Kennedy Elementary School and high school never had to close, though some classrooms were shifted around and the smaller gym's floor at the high school needs to be replaced.

Insurance will cover all but $5,000 of the damage, said Town Administrator Jeffrey D. Nutting. Most of the repairs are already done.

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here

My live reporting from the same meeting is available here.

Town Council Mtg Summary 01/07/09

This is the collection of posts for the Town Council meeting on Wednesday 1/7/09


Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Incident Summary Water loss 1/1/09

This was the handout provided and reviewed by Mike D'Angelo

-----------------------------

Incident Summary Water loss 1/1/09

Apparent power loss between 3:00 and 4:00AM


KENNEDY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
  • Custodian shoveling reported school cold at about 10:00 AM
  • Sent heating company to investigate
  • ATC (heating contractor) found problem and got heat back on

Damage: Broken coils in two rooms and the cafeteria, food loss in the cafeteria fridge and freezer. Rooms soaked with water

Status: Coils all repaired, Carpets shampooed, Fridge fixed


FRANKLIN HIGH SCHOOL

  • Athletic director reported a big water spill on gym floor and it being very cold in the High School about 5 :00 PM
  • Checked school on computer and called people to investigate pump problem
  • Custodian found pumps down
  • Called heating company and they isolated gym coil and got heat back on approximately 10:00 PM
  • Custodian cleaned up water in gym and one room

1/2/09

  • Heating company on site as coils started to unfreeze and leak. Isolated coils and removed 3 for repair. Problems with 5 areas. Cleaned up water spills

1/3/09

  • Heating company and I on site to work more on heat after building still cold
  • Returned full heat to building and 7 more coils unfroze and leaked, isolated and custodians cleaned up water. Building secure with full heat.

Damage: 10 classrooms heating coils, gym coil, greenhouse heat, floors damaged in 8 rooms and gym floor buckled.

Status: Heat repaired in all 10 rooms and greenhouse. All rooms cleaned. Starting tile removal tomorrow and possibly replacement next week. Start to work on procuring gym floor replacement next week.


FRANKLIN SENIOR CENTER

1/2/08

  • Received call from fire that senior center had problem fire alarm going off, checked on computer and saw no heat. Sent heating company
  • Restored heat but sprinkler piping had froze and broken flooding multipurpose room
  • Sent Compton sprinkler and custodians to clean up water
  • Custodians returned Saturday and Sunday to do more cleanup

1/6/09
  • Sprinklers repaired
  • Pressure valve in dishwasher replaced, heat in attic repaired

1/7/09
  • Affected rugs in 3 rooms re-shampooed
  • Drying system set up in multipurpose room

Damage: Sprinkler system heads and piping including outside heads, dishwasher valve, fill tube in attic, wet sheetrock in multipurpose, $3,000 in computers, multipurpose flooded, 3 rooms flooded.

Status: Sprinkler interior repairs complete, rooms cleaned and shampooed, dishwasher valve and fIn tube repaired/replaced.

Open: Outside sprinkler heads on order, multipurpose drying, misc. ceiling tiles to replace


GENERAL

  • Insurance claim proceeding after meeting with adjuster on Tuesday. Approval given by MEGA to complete items and forward bills
  • Norma Collins got verbal approval from State DCAM Department of Asset Management Attorney George Matthews office to expedite all repairs with reduced procurement requirements
  • No school time lost from incidents in schools
  • Senior center will open tomorrow for all areas excluding multipurpose room
  • Investigating monitoring system for heating system points. Approximate cost for 16 properties is $25,000 to install and $5,000 per year in monitoring costs

Live reporting - Legislation for action

I. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS - none

J. LEGISLATION FOR ACTION
1. Resolution 09-01: Acceptance of Grant of Easement and Water Booster Pump Station

approved 7-0

K. TOWN ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT

$371,000 of our $700,000 snow/ice budget had been spent before today.

Thanks to Jim Vallee for another grant of $7,000 for Fire Dept student education

No hiring to replace vacancies, in anticipation of 9C cuts (Mid year cuts per legislature that are provided to the Governor). It might happen just about the time that the Governors' budget is due out. With reduced state funding and reduced local revenues, this will be as bad as it has been in a long, long time. We are not the Federal government, we can not go a trillion dollars in the hole.

Whalen - there has been a lot of talk abot Obama's stimulus package for local "shovel ready" projects. Where are we with this? What have you heard?

Nutting - The high school is 3-4 years away from being shovel ready. I am on a task force to deal with these proposals. We will submit some projects, what will get selected remains to be determined. Sewer work, water work, maybe the small school projects, would be candidates. They are working hard to collect a lot of information to be prepared. They can't give us anything definitive.

  • Old Business - none
  • New Business - none

Council Comments
Zollo - happy birthday to Connor for his 7th birthday

McGann -

Doak - happy New Year, this year will be a big challenge.


Executive session
roll call 7-0

Live reporting - 2 minute recess

two minute recess

Live reporting - Incident summary 1/1/09

(A copy of the incident report will be added later)

Mike D'Angelo, Facilities manager
provided a brief overview of the incident over New Year's weekend

Kennedy School

McGann - questioning the presence of a sensor that could have caught the problem.
D'Angelo - yes, the sensor would be valuable, it would not have tripped due to the temperature level in 2 of the 3 buildings as the temp had not dropped enough

Bartlett - I lost power and when it came back, the heat kicked in as well, why not here?
D'Angelo - These motors are protected by circuits and code to protect it from severe spikes in power. Normally, when the power returns, they would have come back. When the power did return, it only came back with 2 of 3 phases. Sensing that, the motor required a manual restart.
Nutting - The motor is about the size of a full keg of beer.

Doak - clarification on what the problem really was, temperature monitors are not going to solve this problem. Why couldn't we get notification from the power company?

Whalen - I am focused on how we can try and avoid this going forward. Anytime the power goes out we have to be notified?
D'Angelo - yes, we should. The boilers were sitting with hot water but it wasn't circulating.

High School

McGann - generator at the high school?
D'Angelo - generator was on and ran all the time

McGann - with the generator on, how did we get the freeze up?
D'Angelo - motor starters did trip, likely because of the 2 of 3 phase power return

McGann - with the money we paid for those generators at the high school and senior center, we should not have had this
D'Angelo - they were in the trip position when we arrived. The heating contractor reset the trips.

Doak - is there a test we can do to see if everything is running properly?
D'Angelo - I think if there is one leg off, this would happen.

McGann - on the power side yes, on the generator side, that is three phase power, this should have come right back on

Zollo - 2 high level principles that I am looking at here. There are experts in these areas, yourself and others, let's get a plan to solve the problem for these extreme contingency events. There will be capital required, and I understand that.

There needs to be monitoring with call outs to multiple points so that when something else comes up, we'll at least have been alerted to address something sooner rather than later.

Pfeffer - if it seems like you are being picked on, you are. You are the Director of Facilities. People are not happy with what happened. The Senior Center was 38 degrees on Friday. Some seniors are dependent upon the center for their food. That is unacceptable.

D'Angelo - getting to the actual root of the problem will help us prevent this in the future. The eyes and ears of a person walking in to check a building will be done over long weekend and other periods going forward.

Doak - will we get a break from the insurance company for putting these other monitoring devices in?
Nutting - Not sure, our out of pocket is $5,000. The insurance will cover the repairs.

Senior Center

Heard about it first on Friday with the Fire Department picking up an alarm.

McGann - Do you have the generators on a cycle?
D'Angelo - yes, they are run once a week, I don't remember the day of the week.

McGann - When all things are back and ready, I would suggest that some time, off hours, we do a test. Make sure that all things are working as they are supposed to be. It doesn't seem right to me.

Pfeffer - Do we have to worry about mold?
D'Angelo - with what we are doing, I don't expect to but if necessary we will.

Feeley - would it be reasonable to come back in 2 weeks with a plan?
D'Angelo - It would be better to do it a little later. Early in February would be better.

Gym floor will be a big one to replace. It really crimps the high school to ahve the gym out. All the recreation programs are already taking space in the other gyms in town.

Live reporting - license transactions

E. APPOINTMENTS - none

F. HEARINGS - none

G. LICENSE TRANSACTIONS –
. Cottage Street Pub & Grill, Inc. – Pledge of License approved 7-0
. Franklin Lodge #2136 BPOE., Inc. – Change of Manager approved 7-0 as amended
. Applebee’s Northeast, Inc. – Change of Manager approved 7-0

Live reporting - Town Council meeting 2

Attending: Whalen, Bartlett, Feeley, Pfeffer, Doak, McGann, Zollo

Absent: Mason, Vallee


A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – November 19, 2008, December 3, 2008, December 10, 2008,
and December 17, 2008 Regular & Executive Session

approved - 7-0


B. ANNOUNCEMENTS none

C. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS none

D. CITIZEN COMMENTS

Robert Dean, Chairman of the Cable Advisory Committee, talks about the new live feed of the Town Council meetings. Chapters will be available in the archive.

Live reporting: Town Council Meeting

The Town Council meeting is being streamed live on the internet this evening.

Go to the Town home page, and click on the first announcement to get the streaming feed.

"not all the projects can be ignored even when money is tight."

GHS
Posted Jan 06, 2009 @ 10:37 PM

FRANKLIN —

Town Administrator Jeffrey D. Nutting is recommending spending nearly $1.5 million on capital items this fiscal year, but that number would likely shrink if the state cuts local aid.

Finance Committee members started their review of the recommendations last night with the increasing possibility of cuts in mind. Chairman Jim Roche, for example, said he wants to avoid spending on items that would sit idle should officials have to cut staff.

He said it would be "foolhardy if we spend money on things that may be sitting empty or be better spent elsewhere."

The money for the capital items comes from the town's "free cash" account, essentially comprised of higher-than-expected revenue and unspent money last fiscal year, which ended June 30.

Some of that money could be used instead to cover deficits if Gov. Deval Patrick makes midyear local aid cuts, which he has said are possible. Cuts to next fiscal year's aid are even more likely.

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here


"It's an opportunity to advance her career"

GHS
Posted Jan 06, 2009 @ 11:32 PM

FRANKLIN —

After a little more than a year as the principal at Franklin High School, Pamela Gould is preparing to take a step up the career ladder in another school system.

Gould has been hired as the new assistant superintendent of human resources for the Plymouth School District, a job she will begin later this month. Her last day in Franklin will be Jan. 23.

Gould said that although she is moving up, the decision to leave Franklin so soon after she arrived doesn't come without some regret.

"I feel like there are a lot of things that we started here, some good things, that I'd like to see through on the one side," Gould said, but she has "absolute faith" the colleagues she leaves behind will take up her charge and carry it forward.

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here