Franklin, MA: Town Council - Agenda - Dec 11, 2013

A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

B. ANNOUNCEMENTS
This meeting is being recorded by Franklin TV and shown on Comcast channel 11 and Verizon channel 29. This meeting may also be recorded by Franklin Matters.

C. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS

D. CITIZEN COMMENTS

E. APPOINTMENTS

F. HEARINGS
Tax Classification Hearing – 7:10 PM

G. LICENSE TRANSACTIONS
2014 Annual Alcoholic Beverages Licenses Renewals

H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS
Guidelines and Criteria for Penalizing Alcoholic Beverage License holder Violations

I. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS

J. LEGISLATION FOR ACTION
1. Resolution 13-85: Classification Tax Allocation – Residential Factor
2. Resolution 13-86: Classification Tax Allocation – Open Space Exemption
3. Resolution 13-87: Classification Tax Allocation – Small Business Exemption
4. Resolution 13-88: Classification Tax Allocation – Residential Property Exemption
5. Resolution 13-89: 2014 Schedule of Town Council Meetings
6. Resolution 13-90: Legal Notices
7. Zoning Bylaw Amendment 13-726: Amendment to Chapter 185, Attachment 9, Schedule of Lot, Area,
Frontage Yard and Height Requirements – Referral to Planning Board

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

P. ADJOURN


The full set of documents for the agenda as published can be found here
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_CouncilAgendas/2013/1231113.pdf

Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Letter

This letter was posted to the "News" section of the Franklin home page. It is unsigned and lacking a description as to who or what group authored it.

MPO seems to be the acronym for Metropolitan Planing Organization. MassDOT has 13 MPOs to cover the state according to the map located here. It appears that Franklin is part of the Boston Region MPO which would explain why getting assistance and funding from the MPO is difficult.

A Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is a transportation policy-making organization made up of representatives from local government and transportation authorities. Federal legislation passed in the early 1970s required the formation of an MPO for any urbanized area with a population greater than 50,000. MPOs were created to ensure that existing and future expenditures for transportation projects and programs were based on a continuing, cooperative and comprehensive (3-C) planning process. Federal funding for transportation project and programs are channeled through this process. 

As transportation policy-making entities, MPOs have five core functions. 

1. Create a fair and impartial setting for effective regional decision making in the metropolitan area.
2. Evaluate transportation alternatives and needs through appropriate studies and activities as detailed in the MPOs Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP)
3. Maintain a Long-Range Transportation Plan (RTP). Develop a 20-year transportation planning document which identifies existing infrastructure conditions, projects future transportation needs and provides a plan or program to attain the stated goals and visions.
4. Develop a Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). Develop a program based on the long range plan and designed to serve the MPO’s goals using spending, and other financial tools.
5. Involve the public. Involve the general public and all significantly affected sub-groups in the four essential functions listed above.

More about the MPO and process can be found on this MassDOT page
http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/planning/Main/PlanningProcess/RegionalPlanning.aspx

ECDC Open House - Jan 13th

The F.X.O’Regan Early Childhood Development Center located at 224 Oak Street Franklin, Ma, will have an Open House on January 13th and January 21st from 3:30pm-4:30pm. This will be for new parents who are considering sending their child/children to the preschool in the fall of 2014. Please check our website (www.franklin.k12.ma.us) for more program information and if you have any questions, call 508-541-8166 ext. 2938

FX O'Regan Early Childhood Development Center

The application can be found here
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_News/01C2B3B5-000F8513.1/NEW%20APPLICATIONS.pdf

"We had time to kill"

Milford Daily News reports on the blood drive at the Franklin Public Library on Saturday.

At the Franklin Public Library, Mike Green was also donating blood to the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in honor of his sister, Meredith, a 2008 graduate of Franklin High School who was diagnosed with cancer in January of 2012. 

With his sister in remission as of July of last year, Green said he hopes people realize the need to give blood, especially since his sister required transfusions when she was hospitalized. 

"It’s just a good thing to do," he said. "People don’t realize the need for blood."

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x915450921/Blood-drives-help-children-cancer-patients-in-Milford-Franklin#ixzz2mt0Cy9It

Hockomock Area YMCA: Holiday Gift Drive

holiday gift drive

Attached is an invitation to participate in the YMCA's annual giving tree program.  Sharing gifts with families in need this holiday season exemplifies the caring of our community, our staff, and our YMCA members.  On Christmas morning last year, 705 gifts found their way to the homes of 118 Y families, for which we were truly thankful to all involved.  That meant together we brightened the lives of 357 children, women, and men in our community. 

Thank you in advance for your consideration in printing the attached release to help make the holidays much brighter for those families with tags remaining on our lobby trees. 

Scholarship Fund in memory of Colleen Ritzer

From the Essex County Community Foundation website:

To carry on the legacy of our beautiful daughter and sister Colleen and her passion for teaching, we have established the Colleen Ritzer Memorial Scholarship Fund. This scholarship will be awarded to students who are pursuing a degree in education so they can continue her legacy of making a difference in a student's life. 

Colleen Ritzer

The Colleen Ritzer Memorial Scholarship Fund is managed by Essex County Community Foundation. If you have any questions regarding your online donation, please contact Kathy (978) 777-8876 or k.moriconi@eccf.org. If you prefer to make a donation by mail you can make a check payable to: 

ECCF/Colleen Ritzer Fund and mail to: 

Essex County Community Foundation
175 Andover Street
Danvers, MA 01923

You can donate online via this link
https://secure.etransfer.com/ecomm/donation/donation1.cfm?d2org=EssexCCF&d2tool=ColleenRitzerMemorialFund


Who was Colleen Ritzer? An Assumption College graduate and teacher at Danvers High School.
http://www.massteacher.org/News/archive/2013/ms_ritzer_scholarship_fund.aspx

"the regulations tighten the town’s rules on smoking in public places"

The Milford Daily News reports on the public hearing being set up for Jan 7th to review proposed new tobacco regulations for Franklin.

The Board of Health will hold a public hearing next month on whether to pass comprehensive new tobacco regulations. 

The three-member board scheduled the hearing for its Jan. 7 meeting, set to begin at 10 a.m. at the Municipal Building, 355 East Central St. Health Director David McKearney wrote the proposed regulations. 

If passed, the controls would reshape how the town handles tobacco sales, raising the legal age to purchase tobacco products to 19 and establishing a tobacco and nicotine delivery products permit, administered by the board. Currently the town does not have a local tobacco permit for businesses, which still must acquire a license from the state Department of Revenue in order to sell cigarettes and other tobacco products.

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/blog/healthconscious/x915450461/Franklin-Public-hearing-set-for-new-tobacco-regulations#ixzz2mnGuTbfg

Franklin Elks - BPOE 2136

The membership and association clubs such as the American Legion and Elks would also be included in the new regulations to ban smoking within their facilities.

I would hope that there would also be a hearing scheduled for some evening as any of the voters/residents who work during normal business hours are disenfranchised by this particular time of day for the 'public hearing.'