Franklin Matters

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

In the News: Aubuchon to relocate, electronic recycling, middle school presentations, bylaw changes

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin

"The Aubuchon Hardware Company will close existing hardware and paint stores in Franklin and open a new store in the Horace Mann Plaza.

“This consolidation effort will bring all employees from the two stores under one roof to provide the community with exceptional service for all of their hardware, paint and lawn and garden needs,” said Kenneth Moore, vice president of inventory management and store development."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20160314/aubuchon-hardware-to-close-franklin-stores-open-in-horace-mann-plaza

"The Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public School, 201 Main St., will host an electronic recycling event from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 19 to benefit the eighth grade’s upcoming trip.

The recycling fees are as follows: $20-$30 televisions; $5-$10 towers and laptops; $10 monitors and large appliances; and $5 printers, fax machines, copiers, cell phones and landline telephones, kitchen electronics, gaming systems and VCR/DVD/CD players."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20160314/bfccps-to-host-electronic-recycling-event

"The Franklin School Committee heard presentations from two of the district's middle schools about new science and technology initiatives.

Principals, teachers and students from the Annie Sullivan and Remington middle schools spoke at last week's meeting about ways to encourage student involvement in those topics.

Annie Sullivan teachers Mike Procacini and Julie Viveiros discussed developing scientific literacy in eighth-grade students. Their students had been given a writing assignment about the nervous system - the brain in particular. Procacini said the intent was to have students incorporate literacy, data collection and the study of textural evidence in one project."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20160314/franklin-middle-schools-talk-science-technology

"The Town Council last week advanced two bylaws: one that would assess a penalty on those who do not allow the installation of new water meters at their houses and another that would prohibit parking in town lots during snow emergencies.

The council approved the first reading of both the proposed bylaws. A final vote on the matters will come at a future meeting.

Department of Public Works Director Robert "Brutus" Cantoreggi spoke about both proposals. He said the first would impose a $25-a-day penalty on homeowners who do not let town workers install new water meters in their houses."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20160314/franklin-council-considers-water-penalty-parking-ban

Monday, March 14, 2016

Franklin Democrats to Elect Delegates To State Convention - Mar 26

Registered Democrats in Franklin will be holding a caucus in the Community Room at Franklin Public Library on March 26th at 10am to elect 13 delegates and 3 alternates to the 2016 Massachusetts Democratic Convention, where Democrats from across Massachusetts will gather to adopt a new Action Agenda.

The Convention will be held on Saturday, June 4th at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell.

"There is much at stake in 2016 as big, outside money targeting our Democratic legislators has already been pledged," said Chairperson Denise Schultz. "Our June convention will focus on building up our Democratic Party's grassroots around the values and ideas that improve the lives of working Bay Staters - ensuring we send strong Democrats to Beacon Hill, Capitol Hill and the White House."

Franklin Democrat Town Committee

The caucus is open to all registered Democrats in Franklin, and the Democratic Committee welcomes participants. Delegates will be divided equally between men and women, and all ballots will be written and secret. In the spirit of inclusion, youth, minorities, and people with disabilities who are not elected as delegates or alternates may apply to be "add-on" delegates.

The committee normally meets at 7:00 PM on the third Monday of the month at the Union Street Grill. For more information on the caucus or the committee please contact Denise Schultz at deniselynnschultz@gmail.com / 508-612-5950 or check out their website at FranklinDemocrats.com

FHS hockey tops Marshfield 3-1 to take D1 South Sectional Final

A rebuilding year? Think again.

After graduating 21 seniors from a squad that made a historic run to the Super 8 tournament, there were plenty of questions surrounding this year’s Franklin hockey team.

But those questions have now been answered and this year’s group of Panthers made history themselves, beating Marshfield 3-1 in the D1 South Sectional Final. It marks the program’s first D1 sectional crown just in just its third season at that level.

“People were saying this was a rebuilding year but the guys in the locker room and me, we knew this wasn’t a rebuilding year,” junior forward Adam Assad said. “We were going to get out here and do our best and try to win it.”

Assad scored two goals in the game, including the game-winner late in the second period and an empty netter from his own blue line. Senior Sean Hedvig had the game-tying goal in the second period, just his second goal of the season.

Continue reading the article online
http://www.hockomocksports.com/franklin-hockey-claims-d1-south-title-advances-to-state-final/

Franklin junior Adam Assad scored a pair of goals against Marshfield in the D1 South Final. (Ryan Lanigan/HockomockSports.com)

Additional photos can be found here
https://hockomocksports.smugmug.com/20152016/Winter-201516/Franklin-Marshfield-hockey-03/

In the News: Family Science Night, Dean presents "Hair"

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin

More than 300 children came to Franklin High School Thursday night to - among other things - examine fingerprints, see jousting robots, code programs and design paper airplanes.

The second annual "Family Science Night," an event intended to encourage students in elementary and middle school to take up an interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. The night was put on by the high school's Science National Honor Society.

At the event, families visited various classrooms throughout the building, each with a given theme. The school's video production studio, for example, used green-screen technology to send participants to far-off or imagined places, while the physics classroom had a demonstration on the conservation of momentum using a basketball and smaller ball.

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20160313/franklin-high-school-hosts-showcase-for-stem

The School of the Arts at Dean College will perform “Hair” April 6-10 on the Main Stage in the Campus Center at Dean College, 99 Main St.

Set in the turbulent era of the Vietnam War and “Free Love,” “Hair” presents the rock music and revolutionary culture that went with it on the stage.

The production of “Hair” will take place 7:30 p.m. April 6-9; 2 p.m. April 9-10. Tickets cost $5-$22 and can be purchased online. Parental discretion is advised.
To learn more and purchase tickets, visit dean.edu/boxoffice.

http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20160313/dean-college-to-present-hair

Sunday, March 13, 2016

From the financial audit to mandatory alcohol training, the Town Council meeting covered a lot of topics

financial audit

The financial audit results were shared with the Town Council at Wednesday's meeting. The results are good overall. Part of the unfunded OPEB liability appears for the first time. The full unfunded portion will appear in Fiscal Year 2018. Franklin needs to continue to make progress developing risk plans. It also needs to prepare for new single audit requirements. Both of these actions are from the management letter. The risk planning has been underway for a couple of years and does take time to put into place.

mandatory alcohol training

There was no action yet but the discussion on requiring mandatory alcohol training will be coming to a future meeting. A few of the businesses who came did not object in principle to the concept but did have questions on timing and coverage for part time vs. full time etc. Changes will be made to be brought forward at a future meeting. The measure if approved would likely take effect Sep 1, 2016.

Nu-Style

In action items, part of the land associated with the Nu-Style property on Grove St was declared surplus. This will lead to the sale of the land. It was mentioned in previous meetings that there is an abutter with interest in acquiring the land.

municipal aggregation

The municipal aggregation plan was approved. It will now start going through the state regulatory process with hopes of having it available for residents by the end of this year 2016. One surprise for me was that while I had expected to have to sign up for this, the plan coming out of the gate will include everyone. We can choose not to participate and later come back in. Both the leaving and returning are without penalty. The key reason for the plan will be twofold; stability in price and usually a cheaper price due to the bulk purchase.

Bylaws for first reading

Two bylaws were introduced for first reading. One to provide a process for the DPW to get into residents home to change the water meter. The process to update all meters in underway and working well for those who acknowledge the process. There are about 400 residents who have not responded to multiple notification to set up appointments for the meters to be changed. The whole process in the house takes less than 45 minutes. (I did have it done and it was quick and easy).

The second bylaw was to extend the parking restriction during snow storms to the public lots. Folks were moving their cars off the streets to these public spots and preventing snow removal from being handled.

5. Bylaw Amendment 16-755: Chapter 179, Water – 1st Reading

ACTION: The Council approved the first reading of a bylaw amendment to enforce a reasonable penalty on households that do not allow town representatives into their homes to replace old water meters with new meters that have advanced technology to register more accurate water usage. Approved 7-1 (No: Pfeffer).

6. Bylaw Amendment 16-756: Chapter 170 Vehicles and Traffic Article X Winter Storm Overnight Parking – 1st Reading

ACTION: The Council approved the first reading of a bylaw amendment to prohibit parking in public parking lots during snow emergencies. Approved 8-0.

DelCarte playground

In the Town Administrator update section, Jeff NUtting mentioned that the manufacturer of the DelCarte kids playground was out again to check on the problem. They will return at the end of April to make repairs at no cost to Franklin.

DelCarte kids playground closed until repairs are made in late April

Franklin has continued its recent practice of summarizing the Actions Taken and posting them to the webpage
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0wjbnXDBhczaGkwbURQMzhQQlE/view?usp=sharing

For additional details you can find my notes taken during the meeting here:
Live reporting: to Closing
Live reporting: Legislation for Action
Live reporting: alcohol training bylaw discussion
Live reporting: Town Council - Mar 9, 2016

The full set of documents released for the meeting can be found here
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_CouncilAgendas/2016%20Complete/03092016.pdf

Franklin Police announces new hiring - John F Flynn IV

Chief of Police Stephan H. Semerjian is pleased to announce the hire of a new Franklin Police Officer bringing the Departments sworn police officer number to 46. After an extensive background investigation which included education, financial and personal character components of all potential candidates John F. Flynn IV has been offered employment as a police officer by the Town of Franklin. Flynn is a long time Franklin resident graduating from the Franklin High School and Westfield State University. Flynn was one of 270 interested candidates who took the first non‐civil service department administered entrance examination in January of 2014.

Flynn will begin his rigorous 26 week Basic Police Recruit Training at the Massachusetts Police Training Council’s Plymouth facility in April of 2016. Upon successful completion of all required courses of study Flynn will then report to the Franklin station for the beginning of a 10 week on‐the‐job Field Officer Training component with veteran Franklin Police Officers as his mentors and teachers. After successful completion of his field training Flynn will be given his duty assignment as a full‐time Franklin Police Officer and begin the start of what I expect to be a very rewarding and beneficial career of police work for both Flynn and the Town of Franklin.