Franklin Matters

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

"the project will affect the parking lot"

The town is finalizing a contract with D&F Afonso Builders of Milford to do the work, which includes repairing the municipal parking lot near the Franklin/Dean College MBTA station, Emmons Street between Main Street and Hillside Road, Dean Avenue between Main and Ray streets, Ray Street and Depot Street.

At $883,157, the construction company submitted the lowest of 13 bids, Chief Procurement Officer Norma Collins said.

The work will be paid for with a $1 million state public works grant. It will include fixing deteriorated sidewalks, installing ornamental streetlights, improving drainage systems, reconstructing roads and the parking lot and adding landscaping.

The town has spent about $100,000 to design the project. Officials plan to save the remaining few thousand dollars between the bid price and the grant price for unexpected costs during construction, Planning Director Bryan Taberner said.

Aerial Mosquito Spraying: Apr 19 - Apr 22

NOTICE OF ANNUAL AERIAL MOSQUITO LARVAL CONTROL APPLICATION

The Norfolk County Mosquito Control Project will begin the annual aerial mosquito larval control on April 19, 2011 through April 22, 2011 weather permitting. If the application can not be completed during these dates the application will continue beyond these dates.

As in previous years, the Norfolk County Mosquito Control Project will use helicopters to target large wetland areas in Franklin. The wetlands will be treated with BTI (Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis) pellets to control mosquito larvae.

To view a map of the targeted wetlands in the Town of Franklin, please visit the project’s website at www.massnrc.org/ncmcp

If you have questions regarding the application of the BTI pellets, please contact the Director of the Norfolk County Mosquito Control Project, Mr. John J. Smith at 781-762-3681

This was originally posted on the Franklin website
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_News/016EADEE-000F8513

Franklin, MA

"a situation that requires urgent action"

Unlike the state, municipalities must negotiate with local unions before increasing co-pays or deductibles, a requirement the report's sponsors and the Massachusetts Municipal Association want dropped.

At issue is what role collective bargaining should play in revising the system and whether municipalities should join the state plan or simply use it as a model.

Unions made other concessions to get better health care, state fire union head Ed Kelly said, but are open to deductibles and larger co-pays as long as bargaining is protected and a safety net established for especially sick employees and their relatives.

"We don't have our heads in the sand," he said. "We know this is a problem."

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:

High School Experience 2011

via Lifelong Learning by Pandora Carlucci on 4/4/11

The High School Experience is scheduled for the week of August 15, 2011, Monday through Friday, from 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM. This week is for incoming grade 9 students and is co-directed by Ms. Cerce and Ms. Yankee, faculty members at FHS.

The HSE introduces freshmen to the culture, beliefs and norms of FHS and provides strategies for success in academics, as well as in extra curricular activities. The students will meet other students from all 4 middle schools, meet faculty members from the Freshman Collaborative, as well as administrators and members of the FHS staff, and participate in a variety of project adventure games and activities.

Registration is ongoing. If you would like to learn more about this initiative, please email us: lifelong@franklin.k12.ma.us

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Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Citizens Against Waste - athletic field lights

A question came in about the lights at the athletic field:

This may not quite fit the form of question you are looking for, but we drove by the high school last night at 7 PM, and all the field lights were blazing while not a soul was there. Any idea why that would be? Seems like an awful waste of electricity.

An email from Jeff Nutting revealed:

According to Ryan Jette, a lacrosse game was scheduled to start shortly after 7 pm. The lights are on a timer an go off at 8:30 pm

If you recall last Friday, April 1, we had some typical New England spring weather with about an inch of snow before changing to rain. The fields were too wet to play so the game schedule was changed and the lights program was not.

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If you have a question, please ask and we'll get an answer
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/citizens-against-waste.html

The collection of questions and answers can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/citizens-against-waste-question.html

Franklin, MA

May Road Races

The 3rd Annual Parmenter 5k will be held on Sunday, May 15th. Additional details and registration information can be found on the event website http://parmenter5k.weebly.com/

The 10th Annual HMEA Independence 5K Walk Run Roll and Stroll in the Park will be held on Sunday May 22, 2011. Additional details can be found on the HMEA website

I plan on running the Parmenter 5k as I will be working the registration desk and providing the 2 mile split times for the HMEA 5K. If you are going to either race, say hi!

Franklin, MA