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I. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS - none J. LEGISLATION FOR ACTION – 1. Resolution 10-46: Appropriation – Repaving a Portion of Washington Street McGann recused himself from this vote Developer put the funds aside for this, this is moving the funds from one account to another to actually do the paving. motion to approve, passed 5-0 (McGann recused) 2. Resolution 10-47: Appropriation – Spring Street Culvert
Nutting - during the spring rains, the culvert collapsed, by the time the bids came in, we still need to get it done before the winter
Pfeffer - where about is the culvert?
Nutting - description to be added
H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS – Underground Utilities
From Alpine Pl to the railroad bridge, estimated at $1 million Ranges from 65 to 120 (more than the 65-75 I quoted earlier)
Complications on the utilities coordinating their activities Nationalgrid could do the work within a year, Verizon and Comcast would take more than a year
Zollo - strategic and long term issue for downtown development, need to have more than a one year outlook, reinvestment is needed. I would support to put the utilities underground, it is the most cost effective to do it now. I understand the issues with the current economy. I would support a public hearing on this.
McGann - I second Shannon's issue with this not being the time to do so but let's get the public hearing to have the citizens and businesses express their thoughts on the matter.
Pfeffer - Why the financing up front? I don't understand that part of it. Nutting - we would front the costs and have the utilities pay us back over the term of their collections
If you have a Verizon land line user you get assessed, but not on internet If you have Comcast cable, you get assessed if phone no
Jones - I would approve getting a public hearing on this. I walked this stretch and see only a dozen or so poles. I agree that it would be the time now to do so although not the best time in the economy to do so.
There is a separate issue with how the electric utility would be delivered. The utility will deliver the service two feet inside the property line but where the service entrance is in relation to that is not known.
Vallee - I have always been concerned with downtown as we are behind the scenes where other towns have gone. On Emmons St, from Main to W Central has any one approached Dean if they want to do that?
Nutting - no
Mason - I have a bunch of questions about this. I feel there are a lot of people out there who won't see the the value of this investment. This is not the time to do so. I don't this would be the Council's place to do this without business owner input, and from the citizens to express their thoughts on this. They may feel there is long range benefits to this.
McGann - Some of the dwellings are rental units, so if the landlord does it, the rents will need to go up.
Mason - I thought this was a larger area, from Emmons to Alpine.
Nutting - When we priced that section, the Emmons and W Central streets, the price is astronomical; 4-5 million. Maybe we made a false assumption assuming that that would be off the table. It would be nice to do them but it is a lot of money.
A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – July 21, 2010 motion to approve, passed 6-0
B. ANNOUNCEMENTS
Meetings of the Town Council are Recorded
Steve Sherlock is also recording the meeting for Franklin Matters
Third Thursday
C. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS - none
D. CITIZEN COMMENTS
Tim Conlin - Licensed for work, yet problems with Franklin DPW
needed to get a water/sewer permit signed
Problem with Mr Yadisernia, unresolved, undetermined
A long history of providing service to Franklin yet problems with Yadisernia
E. APPOINTMENTS
Public Land Use Committee - Timothy O'Toole Motion to approve, passed 6-0
Based upon feedback and questions from readers here and on our Facebook page let me add:
A couple of things to be clear about:
1 - SOME of the utilities are going underground per the project funding anyway. That is shown in the green area on the map. The question is do we, Franklin, choose to pay for the 'red' section to also go underground at the same time (to save money as it would be cheaper with the road work already underway) or not. http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/08/franklin-ma-underground-utilities.html
2 - The issue of one way versus two way traffic is open and separate from the utilities. I'll be doing another survey on that aspect once this one finishes.
3 - Yes, the Federal and State grants ultimately came from our pockets. The difference is the money is already here in our Franklin account, collecting interest until spent on this project. The question being resolved by the planning process is to determine exactly how this money is to be spent downtown.
A diverse mix of art appreciation, networking and shopping rounds out the upcoming Franklin Downtown Partnership’s Third Thursday event on August 19 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Jane’s Frames, 11 East Central Street, is hosting an Artist Opening Reception, presenting Oils and Acrylics by Robin Wessman. Kia Olsson will perform live music and refreshments will be served.
Around town that evening several shops will offer specials:
Downtown Consignment on Main Street shoppers can save 50 percent at the Summer Clearance Sale and enjoy refreshments
A Cut Above Salon, 56 East Central Street, will offer free hair cuts with another service, as well as coupons and free hair products
Sarapaan Beads & Jewelry, 21 East Central Street, will demonstrate bracelet making
The Rome Restaurant, 4 East Central Street, will offer dinner for two for $20
As it is every Thursday, the Franklin Historical Museum on West Central Street will be open for tours from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Berry Insurance, 9 Main Street, will host the United Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Young Professionals Organization, a group of people in their 20s and 30s who have an interest in networking, community involvement and professional development. All are welcome to attend the event and can purchase tickets for the First Annual Chowder and Chili Championship in September.
The Franklin Downtown Partnership is a group of community leaders, business owners and residents whose mission is the economic revival of Franklin’s downtown.
The Partnership’s next general meeting is Thursday, September 16, at 8:30 a.m., and its next scheduled event is the Harvest Festival on September 26. All interested vendors should contact Mary Graff at mgraff@berryinsurance.com.
For membership or sponsorship information please contact Executive Director Lisa Piana at (774)571-3109 or downtown.franklin@yahoo.com.
Updated 5/17/11 - sometime in the past couple of months, Downtown Consignment moved to an unknown location in Plainville. The Franklin Art Association now has a gallery in this location.
The Town Council is scheduled to meet this evening at 7:00 PM.
The agenda is not yet available on the Franklin, MA website.
Under the new Open Meeting rules, it is likely posted on a window at the Municipal Bldg.
Updated: 8/18/10 the agenda was added to the website sometime today, hurrah!
A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – July 21, 2010
B. ANNOUNCEMENTS -Meetings of the Town Council are Recorded
C. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS
D. CITIZEN COMMENTS
E. APPOINTMENTS
Public Land Use Committee - Timothy O'Toole
F. HEARINGS
G. LICENSE TRANSACTIONS
H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS – Underground Utilities
I. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS
J. LEGISLATION FOR ACTION –
1. Resolution 10-46: Appropriation – Repaving a Portion of Washington Street
2. Resolution 10-47: Appropriation – Spring Street Culvert
K. TOWN ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT
L. OLD BUSINESS
M. NEW BUSINESS
N. COUNCIL COMMENTS
O. EXECUTIVE SESSION – Negotiations, Litigation, Real Property, as May Be Required
The Long Range Financial Planning Committee is considering expansion of the Committee by two members. The Committee meets approximately 8-10 times per year and is tasked with looking at the 3-5 year financial picture of the Town.
Anyone interested in being considered for the Committee may email a letter of interest to the Town Administrator atjnutting@franklin.ma.us or fax a copy to 508-520-4903.
Letters of interest will be accepted until August 30th.
The committee is currently composed of three Town Council, and two each from the School Committee, Finance Committee and general public. By adding two more citizens, this should help broaden the representation for the citizens.
Current members
Town Council: Scott Mason, Shannon Zollo, Steve Whalen School Committee: Susan Rohrbach, Roberta Trahan Finance Committee: Jim Roche (Vice-Chair), Rebecca Cameron Citizens: Doug Hardesty (Chair), Deb Bartlett
The 14th annual Dean College President’s Cup Golf Tournament is scheduled for Wednesday, September 15, 2010 at the New England Country Club, Bellingham, MA.
Check-in, registration and breakfast begins at 8 a.m. The tournament begins with a shotgun start and scramble format at 9 a.m., and concludes with a luncheon and awards at 2 p.m.
In order to collect data on the behavior of airborne contaminants, the study involves releasing non-toxic, inert, odorless gas and particle tracers into the subway system. Particle and gas concentrations will be sampled in more than 20 stations and in subway cars across the MBTA subway system. The deliberate release of chemical or biological agents is of primary concern, but the study also helps researchers understand airflow for smoke or unintentional spills of chemicals or fuels. This research can be used by the MBTA in developing evacuation, ventilation, and other incident response plans.
The Downtown Revitalization Project is funded by state and federal grants. It is not funded by local taxpayer money. The grant funds are restricted to use in the Downtown District.
Electric wiring near the bridge and that related to street lights along Main St will be going underground regardless as part of the streetscape work in the Downtown District.
The additional stretch of utility wiring that is being considered for putting the utility wires underground is outside the Downtown District according to the grant funding. This area is from the bridge along East Central to approximately Simons Furniture store. This stretch is proposed to be paid for by surcharge fees from the utility companies and paid by their customers (ultimately those of us in Franklin).
The ESTIMATED fees for the average residential customer would be a total surcharge of approximately $65-75. Because multiple companies are involved (electric, and two cable), the specific details on the timing of the surcharge remain to be worked out. The companies would spread the surcharge amount out over time to minimize the effect on an individual utility bill. We would see the minor increase in both the electric and cable bills. The surcharges are finite and will end after being paid in full.
Putting the utilities underground now is drastically cheaper than normal due to the proposed road construction. If the utilities aren’t put underground now, it likely will not be considered until the next major road repair of the area (ideally decades from now).
The area already covered by the grant money is shown on the map in the light green. The area in question is shown in pink.
The poll question can be found in the center column on the top of the Franklin Matters web page. The question asks "Would you pay approx. $70 to put the utilities underground?" and takes a Yes or No answer.
... the recession creates obstacles, Nutting said.
"In the present, we're in a different situation. We have to look at it differently," he said. "We want to make sure we do our due diligence and give citizens and business owners the opportunity to come in and ask questions and have their voices be heard before we make any kind of decision."
But the decision has to be made relatively soon, as downtown construction to widen sidewalks, raise crosswalks, reroute traffic and other improvements are planned to begin next year.
"We have a bylaw in town that says when we re-pave a road, we can't reopen it for five years," Mason said. "We either do it during reconstruction or forget about it."
Victor Pisini, owner of Pisini Shoe Store at 22 Main St., is looking forward to the publicity.
"We're always excited if they're going to promote downtown," Pisini said.
Piana said camera crew will be in town from 11 a.m. to about 4 p.m. During that time, she plans on telling them all about the partnership.
"We have over 130 members now and we've increased out membership quite a bit since last year. It's interesting how our membership has grown so much in the last two years - we've doubled it," she said. "I think it speaks toward how we're a community and how the businesses support each other and work together through tough economic times. The focus is on mom-and-pop-owned (shops), and we have a lot of them."
As promised, the full set of results from the recent Trash and Recycle survey are contained within the links here. I have provided three reports to access the data.
The full and complete set containing the Ref#, the Overall answer (Yes or No), and the comments for both questions. Note: if the comment field is blank, there was nothing submitted. Both comment sections were optional. The Yes/No question was mandatory.
The set of answers for the question: "What DO you like about the process?"
The set of answers for the question: "What DON'T you like about the process?"
One source of additional revenue for school athletics that has been approved is advertising in the high school field house. The program was successfully piloted and expanded to include similar banners for the outside athletic field. These banners are posted along the fence on the "home" side of the stands.
Greetings Franklin! Were any of you able to identify last week's mystery plant?
This is a closeup of goldenrod, which is in bloom now in fields everywhere. There are many kinds of goldenrod, or Solidago L., and they are difficult to tell apart, but all of them are native to North America.
Goldenrod has a reputation for causing allergies. However, this is unfair and incorrect. The real culprit for sneezing right now is ragweed, which is also in bloom. Goldenrod has heavy pollen grans that fall quickly to the ground. The plant relies on insects to carry the pollen from one flower to another. Ragweed, on the other hand, has lightweight pollen which is small enough to float around on the wind.
Goldenrod is perennial that grows in dramatic clusters. It attracts many insects. If you aren't a fan of insects in your yard, consider them to be bird food. All birds, especially baby birds, require insects in their diet.
And here is next week's puzzler, being visited by a hummingbird:
Hint: it's another common flower that is in bloom and feeding hummingbirds right now. Post your answers in the comments section, and have fun!
I slipped in a small trivia question to check on the observational skills of the Franklin Matters readers. The answer to the Spruce Pond sign question is shown below and on the original posting earlier this week.
Updated 8/13/10:
The answer to the question is that the sign is the "old" one and not the one showing today:
The agenda for this Friday's Hopkinton Networkers Group (HNG) meeting will be featured by our speaker, Monica Brunaccini. The facilitator for this week will be Christine Hurley.
We will devote the first hour, from 10 to 11 AM to the following agenda: Welcome, Landings, Announcements, New Member Intros, and Needs/Leads.
Please arrive early, so we can make every effort to start on time. In the second hour, Monica will talk about "How to Standout in the Crowd."
How to Standout in the Crowd: (Making yourself known in this unique employment market)
Why you really need to network
How to build and expand your community
Developing your own approach - one that will work for you
Building your brand - a strong reputation and following
Leveraging your strengths and what makes you unique
Your toolkit - navigation resources and techniques
Q&A - open discussion
The group meets at St John the Evangelist Parish Center in Hopkinton.
Directions:
Take Rt. 495 North/South and get off Exit 21A. Go through three traffic lights. Colella's Supermarket is on the right at the third traffic light. The first street after the third traffic light is Church Street, take a right turn. The church is on the right. Go around to the left of the parking lot and go into the side entrance of the parish hall.
Depending upon where you live, perhaps you may want to use Mapquest or Google Maps for a more direct route. The address of the church is:
St. John the Evangelist
20 Church Street
Hopkinton, MA 01748
From lead organizer, Gil Krispien's email to the Acton Networking Group mailing list.
The Franklin Police Department is looking to residents to help raise money for the annual Jimmy Fund Walk next month.
Chief Stephen Williams, with the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, will be participating in the event for the seventh year in a row and has put collection cans out at local businesses.
"Jimmy Fund canisters will be on display in local Franklin businesses from now throughout September,'' Williams said in a release. "We have always relied on the generosity of the businesses and residents of Franklin to make our fundraising for the fight against cancer a success."
To help Williams, visit www.jimmyfundwalk.org and click "support a walker" to make an online donation.
Town budget status:
Nutting - negotiating the contract with the architect on the high school, still targeting next Nov (Nov 2011) for a debt exclusion question to pay for the renovation
Lost almost $3.2 million in state aid the last couple of years; this was offset by 522,000 in school aid (which still has not been received).
Approx Jun/Jul 2011 should have a proposal for the MSBA to approve by the middle of July so that Franklin could schedule the vote for the regular Nov 2011 scheduled election. Otherwise, a special date would need to be set.
Membership:
Brendan Morrison has left the committee, should there be a replacement? or stay with nine.
Make offer to consider adding any interested, Jeff will post to the Town website. Scott will announce at the Council meeting.
Web site:
Who can take on the task of checking on the posting of the committee documents to the website? Jim Roche will. Jeff will let Diane know that Jim may call regarding the committee documents.
Bargaining Confidentiality background:
No party discusses the status of what is going on until there is an agreement on both sides.
Broad parameters are set during an executive session prior to negotiation commencement.
Committee priorities:
(see listing - to be attached later)
Discussion to clarify what's on the listing and if there needs to be additional items.
Should the committee be "Just the fact's Mame" or should it be an advocacy group?
Creating a generally accessible document is one thing, advocating for the details, explaining the ins and outs is not the same thing as advocating for or against an override.
Need to understand cost control to reference readily
1 - What is under Franklin's control, what is out of our hands and in the hands of either the State (Beacon Hill) or Congress (Washington)
2 - There are two things to show: (1) the number of employees (i.e. Fire, Police, etc.) comparable to a similar sized community and (2) how their salary compares to other similar communities. These are available and updated regularly.
There seems to be a recurring theme around a lack of trust and creditability.
Ongoing item of differentiating the capital budget and the operating budget. How well do we explain the use of free cash and the capital budget?
Anything to add to the listing?
Clarification on the charter of the committee, at least to review and re-evaluate the current charter
If the Administration is already producing a three year outlook beyond the operating budget, why are we producing a report? Should we focus on validating and questioning the current process documents?
For next time: committee to pick three things to do brilliantly well, what would be the most worthy of our time? Also choose two or three things that should come off the listing.
Exceptions: updating the five year plan remains on the listing and does not need to be amongst the three. Monitoring the web site hits is one that can come off the listing. It is necessary but not something that needs to be done everyday.
Next meeting Sep 8th, 7:00 PM
Note email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to view the documents
