FHS baseball season ends with loss to Mansfield

In a tie game and with two outs in the fourth inning, Mansfield senior Branden Nevius picked a perfect time for his first career home run.

Nevius smoked a 3-2 fastball over the wall in left field for a three-run home run to put the Hornets up 4-1, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish in a 10-3 win over Franklin in the D1 South Sectional Semifinals.

Mansfield player celebrate win. (Ryan Lanigan/HockomockSports.com)

Continue reading the article in Hockomock Sports here
http://www.hockomocksports.com/blog/nevius-dousa-guide-mansfield-to-south-sectional-finals

In the News: Strawberry Stroll, lawsuit filed

The Strawberry Stroll kicks off downtown this afternoon, with volunteers outside Dean Bank on Main Street expected to dish out more than 700 whipped-cream-topped shortcakes. 

The Franklin Downtown Partnership’s annual event runs from 4 to 7 p.m., rain or shine, and includes 25 local businesses that have planned strawberry or spring-themed specials, including food, giveaways and activities for children. 

“The Strawberry Stroll was the first event the Downtown Partnership organized to bring the community together in the heart of downtown,” said organizer Nicole Fortier. “In the past 13 years the event has grown, but our mission has stayed the same: to give people a fun way to meet up with friends, discover new downtown businesses and create more engagement.”

Continue reading the article in the Milford Daily News here
http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20150611/NEWS/150619118/1994/NEWS

For a map of the events at the Strawberry Stroll check here
http://www.franklindowntownpartnership.org/2015/06/2015-strawberry-stroll-map.html

A local family has filed a civil lawsuit in federal court against the town, police chief and five officers, alleging acts of misconduct and civil rights violations that stem from a violent confrontation in February 2012. 

The plaintiffs, Jeffrey and Amy DeLucia, accuse officers of making false allegations against them in a police report of a Feb. 5 traffic stop on Church Street to cover up misconduct and intimidate the pair so they would not write a complaint, according to the 35-page lawsuit, originally filed in Norfolk Superior Court, but moved to U.S. District Court in March. 

During the traffic stop, Franklin police officer Paul Guarino allegedly struck Jeffrey DeLucia in the face with a metal flashlight “without justification,” giving DeLucia a concussion and an orbital bone fracture, the lawsuit said. The lawsuit also alleged that Guarino fractured DeLucia’s hand after stomping on it.

Continue reading the article in the Milford Daily News here
http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20150610/NEWS/150619088/1994/NEWS

Police Alert: Low Flyer Copters for NationalGRID aerial survey

For those who have not yet subscribed to the alerts sent out by Franklin, the Police Dept issued this one on Wednesday. nationalgrid will be conducting aerial inspections of the power lines starting this week and running through mid-August.

The notice is shown below and can also be found on the Franklin website here
http://franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_News/0211C995-000F8513

National Grid will launch an aerial inspection of all high-voltage power lines beginning Monday, June 8, 2015 through mid-August, 2015. Using continuous infra-red imaging, the Aerial Inspection Program will cover all transmission lines across Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Vermont. Safety will be the #1 priority in all areas of this work. 

National Grid’s certified contractor, JBI Helicopters of New Hampshire, will perform the aerial inspection using its fleet of Bell Jet-Ranger helicopters. Jet-Ranger helicopters are primarily painted blue and yellow with occasional yellow or red striping.

nationalgrid survey copter sample

Live reporting: Closing

K. TOWN ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT
building committee busy

Strawberry Stroll on Thursday

4th of july celebration

downtown project continuing to work on sidewalks on Main and Emmons
then W Central on sidewalks
hopefully moving along at a quicker pace


L. OLD BUSINESS
pipeline project, the project was withdrawn while Jeff was away

DelCarte playground, engineer reviewing the matter, discussions next week with the manufacturer

train noise, complaint passed along to Keolis


M. NEW BUSINESS

thanks for taking care of the train whistle, we now have a freight going down
should be using a flag man at each crossing


N. COUNCIL COMMENTS
Dellorco - went to the Coalition meeting, next one June 30th at the High School
Mr Morrissey will be sending someone who is good and will be a good help

I have connections and if you need help, call me (Dellorco)

Bissanti - should ahve come up on the Committee reports
inquiries are coming in on the Pond St RFP
anxious for the opening on July 9th

Pfeffer - new home signed for Affordable Housing

Feldman - open house last week for the Solar Challenge, series of open houses over the next several weeks, check it out


O. EXECUTIVE SESSION
– Collective Bargaining, Nine Municipal Units

P. ADJOURN
motion to adjourn, seconded, passed 9-0

Live reporting: Legislation

J. LEGISLATION FOR ACTION
1. Resolution 15-36: Salary Schedule: Full Time Elected Officials
motion to approve, seconded, passed 9-0

2. Resolution 15-38: Establishment of a Fire Department Fire Rescue Training Revolving Account for FY 16
motion to approve, seconded, passed 9-0

annual action to set up the annual accounts

3. Resolution 15-39: Establishment of a Council on Aging Senior Center Activities Program Revolving Account For FY 16
motion to approve, seconded, passed 9-0

annual action to set up the annual accounts

4. Resolution 15-40: Establishment of a Council on Aging Supportive Day Program Revolving Account for FY 16
motion to approve, seconded, passed 9-0

annual action to set up the annual accounts

5. Resolution 15-41: Establishment of a Use of Facilities Account for FY 16
motion to approve, seconded, passed 9-0

annual action to set up the annual accounts
discussion on amount, which is actually the limit to be spent from the account
it was at 100K and trying to increase the amount of lighting to be changed in the School facilities to 200K
the money comes from the facilities use fees, pays for the custodian, etc. and then what is left is the town's piece to maintain the facility, i.e. lighting


6. Resolution 15-42: Authorization for Intermunicipal Agreement with County of Norfolk to Provide Veterans’ Services to Franklin
motion to approve, seconded, passed 9-0

we get the same level of service for less money, Dale checked with the State veterans folks

Kelly - excited to have him as our veterans agent

Dale - handles all the veterans questions and assists with processing their education, housing, medical costs


7. Bylaw Amendment 15-747: Amendment of Service Fees - Solid Waste and Recycling- 2nd
Reading
motion to approve, seconded, passed 9-0

approval of the reduction from 216 to 200 for solid waste effective July 1


8. Bylaw Amendment 15-748: Amendment to Chapter 128 Peddling and Soliciting – 1st Reading
motion to move to 2nd reading, seconded, passed 9-0

change in hours, effectively reducing the hours to 'daylight' hours only


9. Bylaw Amendment 15-749: Amendment to Chapter 139-14 Sewer System Map – 1st Reading
motion to move to 2nd reading, seconded, passed 9-0

addition of 14 Crocker Ave to sewer map
house built on ledge, originally had septic, has failed and it can;t be redone with the current process

Pfeffer - objecting to the petitioner not being here to request in person

Kelly - looking for the addition to curb to curb

Padula - there is work there?

there is work being done further down the road

Live reporting: Budget Hearing #1

F. HEARINGS 
– 7:10 PM Budget: FY 2016 Budget Hearing – 1st Reading

Jim Dacey, Susan Gagner, Jeff Nutting

about $2.5M additional revenue, mostly from property taxes, $300K from local receipts

about what we get every year
the Commonwealth is looking at Chapter 70 which is the school aid funding process, maybe it will change but not today
revenues next year to be about the same

the Town Clerk is not running again
therefore 2 different salaries, one for the current, one for the new one (to be elected)

the four fire fighters currently on via a grant are now fully funded

Regional Assessment reduced as the progress is not going as fast

Health insurance change this year, saving money for taxpayers and employees

we were not able to increase the OPEB budget this year, to do so would have required cuts elsewhere

benefits account for over $600K of the increase
1.3M for the schools
the remainder is spread out among the department
reduced unemployment

Vallee announced that he would not hold tonight but would Thursday hold the following -police, fire, DPW, and education

holds:
Town Admin
question on Technology dept expenses, salaries are paid by school
question on salary within TA account, wage increase for only 9-10 months of the deputy; includes in the expense account the public information

Police
are we spending enough to take care of the problems with the drug problem
Semerjian - we have enough people to do what is needed, we are all behind the ball on the drug problem, it is not like motor vehicle incidents can be reduced by folks on the street

salary amount does include the deputy chief

Fire
question on ambulances, we are currently running 2, with what we have is that enough?

with what we have it is not in this budget, it is one of the pressing issues
3 calls 365 times, at least once a day now, it is a pressing issue

it is personnel related, we have a solution to grow the budget this year and the next couple of years to add a 3rd ambulance 

there are so many variable, it is trending, where it goes past that is anyone's guess; we will cover a foreseeable problem

Schools
Mercer - the schools are a major part of the town budget
I think the school departments viewing audience is different from the Town's audience

Sabolinski - thanks for approving the capital budget, we have not had a chance to do so before. we will keep you appraised with how the implementation goes with the chromebooks for the middle schools, different from the high school implementation

budget at 56.9M
48.4% of the budget is funded via Chap 70
anticipate State and Federal grants as well as some one time use of revolving fund to 'balance' the budget
the biggest addition to the budget is staffing
the elementary levels are decreasing, high school grows, middle school increasing but not rapidly
in this budget we reduce 5 elementary positions
added one to the HS; science has exploded
also 4 FTE 2 at Annie Sullivan, 2 at Remington to address class size problems
adding three elementary math specialists, an FTE for an ELL teacher
actually a plus 4 positions

1.3M still accounts for the bulk of the increase

bulk of the increase is the collective bargaining agreement

that clears it up a lot, thanks

retirees, last year 23

attrition can not be budgeted per the forensic audit from 2008

retirees, expecting at least 10 for this year


street lighting
how did the rates stay the same?

we made our solar deal with the nuns, that was number one in maintaining the budget dollars and avoiding the increase

we may still see some increases as there are underground wiring to be replaced for the lights

Library
how close does this put us to the required?
the required is 900K
we are above the minimum hours, above the materials purchased, 
the formula requires a 2.5% increase over a three year average
we are not going to get there
we are getting waivers and will keep asking for them

the waivers are an annual request, we meet 2 out of 3 of their requirements and our budget is going up so that is good. We also hosted the commissioners here recently

once construction gets started, doesn't make sense to add now and have them not working when the library is 

if you were given $200K, how would you use it?
if we got it now, we don't know when we are going to be closed, or some section of the building during the construction
wait until after the construction to get a better answer

we could use for programming and library services

OPEB
what is our total?
as of 2013 it was 89M, we just contracted to update it
we did form a trust, we are investigating investment options
we will transfer the money to the trust later this year

we would need 1.8 or 1.9 to invest each year
we are putting in 400K and should be putting in 2M

we can't put any more in this at this time
maybe some additional free cash from the capital account

the game plan is to put 10% of free cash each year
Wall St looks at the game plan and good faith effort
I think we are covered for now but it will continue to be an issue

what is OPEB?
Other Post Employment Benefits
for retirees and current employees
about 600 people on health insurance
currently pays 68% of the cost

it should be fully funded by 2031
health insurance was a negligible amount fro many years

which is why we are looking for part-timers to avoid paying the health insurance cost now and for the future

Charles River Assessment
an increase of 671K

due to the EPA regulations, this is the renovation of the plant, reducing phosphorous outflows, we own about 65% of the plant so that is our portion

clarification on who is required for Thursday

Live reporting: Town Council - June 10, 2015

Present: Feldman, Padula, Mercer, Kelly, Vallee, Pfeffer, Bissanti, Williams, Dellorco
Absent: none


A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
– May 6, 2015, May 20, 2015
motion to approve, seconded, passed 9-0

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

C. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS
none

D. CITIZEN COMMENTS
none

E. APPOINTMENTS
none

H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS 
– Purple Heart Presentation
Senator Ross remarks on the efforts of the VFW to recognize as a "Purple Heart Community"
a resolution was made on Capitol Hill

a collaborative effort as Representative Roy joined in reading the resolution

design of the purple heart developed early on
oldest medal still being award today

August 7th as purple heart day

"purple is the perfect blending of blue and red" - Senator Ross