Franklin Library: All In - Dec 16th

There will be a discussion and activities around the book "Divergent" lead by Horace Mann Middle School reading specialist Ms O'Leary. The discussion will focus on chapters 11-25.

Additional info can be found in this posting by the Library:

Divergent - discussion and activities

This was originally posted to the Franklin Library webpage here
http://franklinpl.blogspot.com/2013/12/all-in.html

In the News: Dean Bank, license penalties

Bellingham Police look into Dean Bank robbery

Authorities are probing a Monday robbery at the Dean Bank on Pulaski Boulevard and say they believe the suspect is the same man who robbed that bank in October.

Franklin council to review penalties for liquor license violators

Town Councilors tonight will discuss new guidelines for penalizing businesses caught selling liquor to minors.

Note: This item was posted to the MDN website at 6:08 AM on Wednesday morning. The timing of the post by MND caused it to miss my posting yesterday. Since there is not yet a post on the meeting last night, i suspect something similar is happening. Whether this timing of the posts MDN makes is deliberate or accidental, doesn't matter to me. My radar should pick it up eventually.

Live reporting - Closing

K. TOWN ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT
thanks to the Downtown Partnership and Dean for a wonderful Holiday Stroll

package provided to the Council as reviewed with the FinCom on Tuesday

reminder on snow event forecasted for this weekend
secondary roads have secondary priority for salting

thanks to the assessors for the recap and while it looks seemless
it is thousands of hours of work and we'll start on next year's tomorrow

estimate approx $270 for the average residence assessed at $364,000
except for market conditions, housing values rarely decrease
of the $270, approx 50 is the new high school


L. OLD BUSINESS
Padula - thanks to Mark Cerel to go over some of the questions I had at the last meeting

M. NEW BUSINESS
Jones - propose that the draft of license penalties as discussed be put on the agenda for formal adoption

Bissanti - Citizens committee to appoint Judy Pfeffer, add to next agenda
re- the flag situation,
Nutting - it is all fixed, we will work it out, we will get another set of flags for the Elks
contractually some days the DPW needs to do the flags

N. COUNCIL COMMENTS
Williams - happy and safe holiday's hug your kids
Jones - thanks Mass Development for hosting the event last week
Pfeffer - thanks for the holiday covers on the parking meters
Happy Birthday, Victor Pisani

Mercer - thanks for the Holiday Stroll, wish weather was a little better
we are building tight and roof tight for the winter
looking forward to either Jan or Feb to bring the Council up to date

Padula - happy holidays to all

Feldman - thanks for the good time at the ribbon cutting at the Abbey solar farm

P. ADJOURN
motion to adjourn,  passed

Live reporting - License renewals, Legislation

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

discussion on guidelines
there are two scenarios (1) police stings
ABC Board doesn't like these sting operations and doesn't feel that licensee should be penalized
(2) other operational violations - where an incident or accident occurs and underage drinking was found to have occurred. These are much more case by case. Could use compliance check and then at the mitigating factors to consider.

Williams - Nice work, I see nothing inconsistent with what we have done in prior Councils. Send them out to the renewals, then there is no excuse for someone saying I wasn't aware of that. Our hands aren't tied, these are the minimums and we can do more as required

Nutting - we could send them out with the renewals and then every year thereafter

Jones - I am happy to see that we have this in writing, it is good to have.

Bissanti - I want to applaud Mark Cerel for tackling this. I think the penalties are reasonable. I think attaching this to any license is a good idea.

Williams - as a rule, there is a notice out to the establishments that a sting is forthcoming.
Cerel - there is a set of guidelines on how to conduct

this will come up for a resolution and or as a bylaw for January meeting

Motion to approve the license renewals
seconded, approved 7-0-1 (abstain - Padula)

Padula - will abstain for the whole vote to avoid conflict of interest



I. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS


J. LEGISLATION FOR ACTION
1. Resolution 13-85: Classification Tax Allocation – Residential Factor
residential factor set as 1
motion to approve, 8-0

2. Resolution 13-86: Classification Tax Allocation – Open Space Exemption
There will not be an exemption for open space
motion to approve, 8-0

by not having these exemptions, everyone is treated the same

3. Resolution 13-87: Classification Tax Allocation – Small Business Exemption
There will not be an exemption for small business
motion to approve, 8-0

4. Resolution 13-88: Classification Tax Allocation – Residential Property Exemption
There will not be an exemption for residential property
motion to approve, 8-0

5. Resolution 13-89: 2014 Schedule of Town Council Meetings
motion, seconded, approved 8-0

6. Resolution 13-90: Legal Notices
designated the Milford Daily News as the legal source
motion, seconded, approved 8-0

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

Mercer, Bissanti, Padula  recused themselves from this discussion

Motion to refer to Planning Board, seconded

impervious coverage chart wasn't adjusted for the unit density calculations
looking to get the impervious change for Zone 7, not in any other zone
looking only to affect multi-family in Zone 7

Passed 5-0

live reporting - Tax Classification Hearing

F. HEARINGS
Tax Classification Hearing – 7:10 PM

The documents associated with the tax rate hearing can be found here

http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_CouncilAgendas/2013/1231113.pdf

reference to the booklet shown by Ken Norman, the documents contained in the booklet are found in the link above.

Kevin Doyle, Director of Assessors

Ken Norman, Chairman - Board of Directors

Chris Feeley, John Neas

discussion on single vs. split tax rate, most communities inside the 128 beltway

the single rate is the fairest given the disproportionate groups residential vs. commercial industrial

Bissanti - a dual tax rate is burdensome upon the businesses, businesses have left communities for that

the high school building raised the taxes about $48 dollars on the average

My personal notes: this simpler quicker presentation was not very informative. If folks have seen this before, it is a minor rate change. If people have not seen this before, then they don't get much info in this forum.

Live reporting: Town Council - Dec 11, 2013

Present: Feldman, Padula, Mercer, Vallee, Pfeffer, Jones, Bissanti, Williams
Absent: Kelly


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.

No meeting Dec 18th, next meeting Jan 15th


C. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS
none

D. CITIZEN COMMENTS
Mark Ellis - Franklin Elks
regarding flags on Main St for veterans funerals
offering to keep tradition of putting the flags up
will take down and store, coordinate with the funeral homes


E. APPOINTMENTS
none

(three minute recess)

Senior Center: parking lot expansion making progress

The plans for expanding the Senior Center by finishing the second floor are underway. There is money being set aside in a Senior Center Stabilization Fund to help with the cost of the completion. The additional space would bring more people so the parking at the Senior Center would need to expand. Franklin jumped on the chance to purchase the property next door to provide space to do so.

The property purchase was authorized earlier this year and the house was just recently demolished. The before and after photos are below.

From October - the 'before' picture

Beaver St house purchased by Franklin

From this past weekend - the 'after' picture

Now an empty lot on Beaver St

Some time in the future, the Town Council will need to approve the plans and funds for the parking lot expansion work.