Medfield 02052 - Osler Petersen

The Weekly Political Report is prepared by a political consulting group, Rasky/Baerlein, and shared with me by John Nunnari.

 BRAC Development Preparation
Last week Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that the Obama Administration would request Congressional authority to start a new Base Realignment and Closure Commission process (BRAC) as soon as 2013. In response, United State Senator John Kerry requested a briefing from the Pentagon on a potential round of military base closures while referring to Massachusetts as a key strategic mechanism in the country’s defense. In his letter, Senator Kerry noted that Hanscom Air Force Base provides a strategically located base along the coast that includes key research facilities. The Senator also said that Natick Soldier Systems Center has been able to influence the state’s highly regarded colleges, universities and technical institutions to provide improvements in development for the military. In 2005, both Natick and Hanscom became targets during the last BRAC and both bases have survived closure.

Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray announced this week that he will tour the state’s six military installations starting today at Barnes Air National Guard base in Westfield as the Patrick/Murray Administration beings to focus on preparing for the BRAC process.

Online Gambling Task Force Established
Before taking office in January 2011, Treasurer Steven Grossman identified online gambling as a threat to the state lottery. During budget hearings last year, Treasurer Grossman identified internet gaming as a major competitive threat to casino interests. Treasurer Grossman today named members to a task force aimed at readying Massachusetts for the possibility of internet gaming. Members of the task force include municipal officials, representatives from the Governor’s office, representatives of the Massachusetts Lottery, and business leaders.

Key Political Leaders Differ on Solution to MBTA Funding
As the MBTA struggles with an upcoming $161 million budget deficit, political leaders, including Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and Senate President Therese Murray, differed this week on revenue solutions aimed at delaying fare hikes and service reductions.  Mayor Menino says he wants to work with Governor Deval Patrick and legislative leaders on MBTA financing solutions by looking for an alternative to fare hikes and service cuts. Proposed MBTA service reductions and fare hikes have been estimated to be between 35 percent and 43 percent and service reductions include cuts to subway, commuter rail, and ferry and bus routes to close the budget gap. The Administration and the Legislature have yet to come to agreement on a long term funding solution for the MBTA. In 2009, Governor Patrick proposed a 19-cent increase in the gas tax which was rejected by the legislature in favor of a sales tax increase with a portion going to transportation and the MBTA. On Tuesday, Senate President Therese Murray again expressed her opposition to a gas tax hike.

John Nunnari, Assoc AIA

Executive Director, AIA MA

jnunnari@architects.org

617-951-1433 x263

617-951-0845 (fax)

MA Chapter of American Institute of Architects

290 Congress Street, Suite 200, Boston MA 02110

www.architects.org

I have heard a lot of interest in the past two days about the proposed 40B development on West Street and the whole process under Massachusetts General Laws c. 40B, so this afternoon I put together materials that would assist people to understand the 40B process.  I gathered materials that I have access to as an attorney, and I also went through the materials I accumulated when I sat on the Medfield Zoning Board of Appeals and had to both hear the comprehensive permit application and write the decision for the over 55 project that exists now off of Dale Street, called, I believe The Village at Medfield.

These are my suggested selective Links to Information about Massachusetts General Laws c. 40B:

1.    The statute – http://www.malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleVII/Chapter40b

2.    Repeal 40B site – http://www.affordablehousingnow.org/

3.    Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development (EOHED) – 40B website -  http://www.mass.gov/hed/community/40b-plan/

4.    Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA) -  http://www.chapa.org/chapter-40b

5.    Massachusetts Housing Partnership’s  Local 40B Review and Decision Guidelines A Practical Guide for Zoning Boards of Appeal Reviewing Applications for Comprehensive Permits Pursuant to MGL Chapter 40B – https://www.masshousing.com/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_210_365_0_0_18/Local40B%20ReviewDecisionGuidelines.pdf

6.    Supreme Judicial Court case holding that the town’s taking of land via eminent domain after a 40B was announced was not done in good faith and would be voided – http://masscases.com/cases/sjc/399/399mass771.html

The familiar 10% affordable housing threshold is one of three in the statute.  The other two tests beyond the 10% affordable housing test, that allow towns to keep 40B’s out are:

1.  If 1.5% of developable land is already occupied by affordable housing,  or
2. If development of the proposed site would result in development of more than 0.3% of the town’s developable land that year

There was a 2009 Housing Appeals Commission case (Arbor Hill Holding Limited Partnership v. Weymouth Board of Appeals) which upheld Weymouth’s denying a permit to a proposed 40B project because the town exceeded one of those other standards.

Lastly, attorney Mark Bobrowski authored the excellent Handbook of Massachusetts Land Use and Planning Law, which has a chapter on comprehensive permits, which  is written for attorneys.

Norma Cronin, the town’s stellar staff person for the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals, informed me that I had made an error in the timing for 40B projects before the ZBA.  The ZBA has to convene a hearing within 30 days of its receipt of an application for a comprehensive permit under Massachusetts General Laws c. 40B, and has to render a decision within 40 days after the closing of the hearing.  I had cited the usual ZBA time limits of 65 days to hold a hearing and 90 days to make a decision, but 40B has its own accelerated schedule.

At last night’s state of the state meeting by Representative Denise Garlick at the Medfield Town House after Denise explained her history, the process by which bills are enacted, and how she can assist residents, there was a deluge of questions and comments about the proposed 40B projects on West Street.

Mike Sullivan and I committed at the meeting last night to having soon an open meeting in town to explain 40B’s and the town’s rights and roll when presented by a 40B development.  Today I called Mike and we agreed that the full Board of Selectmen should address setting up the meeting on 40B issues at the Board of Selectmen meeting next Tuesday.  Mike had already spoken with town counsel, Mark Cerel, who has agreed to participate in the meeting.

==================================

I certainly confused many people by my post about the town holding a meeting to discuss 40B projects, and by my emails to those who were in attendance on Wednesday evening – sorry.

To be clear, the detailed discussion of 40B is not intended to happen at next Tuesday night’s Board of Selectmen meeting.  That evening I will only talk with my selectman colleagues about setting up the detailed meeting for a latter time.

The Medfield Youth Action Committee (MYAC) held its first large public meeting yesterday with community leaders they invited to join them.  The half dozen Medfield High School students announced that they intend to

1. do fun events, such as dinners and/or dances to promote the community
2. promote community volunteering opportunities for students
3. prepare a manual that will explain how to do an event

MYAC members said their first event will be a community wide dinner dance they hope to hold on March 23 at the Dale Street School.  They hope to have the MHS Jazz Band and/or jazz combos perform.

The Weekly Political Report is prepared by a political consulting group, Rasky/Baerlein, and shared with me by John Nunnari.

 Governor Patrick files $32.2 Billion Budget

On Wednesday, Governor Deval Patrick proposed a $32.2 billion annual state budget plan for FY 2013. Under Governor Patrick’s budget, major areas that will receive new spending include health care, K-12 education, safety net programs for low-income individuals, and collective bargaining agreements. Budget cuts were made to more than 90 line items totaling more than $200 million in cuts while 243 line items would remain level. The 297 line items that Governor Patrick recommended increased funding for were mainly state safety net programs or part of onetime collective bargaining deals. The budget is aiming at generating $260 million in new revenues through a number of tax increases and reforms. Most notably are the changes to increase the cigarette tax and taxing candy and soda sales. State spending would increase by nearly 3% from the current estimated spending levels and $400 million would be used from the state’s rainy day fund in Patrick’s proposed budget.

MassHealth, Massachusetts’ Medicaid program, consumes the largest share of the state budget by increasing to more than $11 billion to maintain state-funded benefits and eligibility. Health care spending consumes 41% of the budget with spending on subsidized health insurance and state employee insurance coverage. The proposed budget calls for $730 million in new savings from government-funded health care programs with continued procurement and contracting strategies.

Administration officials announced they are proposing eliminating 1,100 state jobs which include 400 in the executive branch that is estimated to save $30 million. New public counsel jobs as well as hundreds of other job positions that are being created will make the net job loss of 300 positions.

Governor Patrick Seeking to Centralize Management of Community Colleges

Under a proposal introduced on Monday to address unemployment and job creation across Massachusetts, Governor Patrick is aiming to unify the state’s fifteen community colleges. The goal of the proposal is for community colleges to offer programs to fill the education gap that is currently leaving approximately 120,000 open positions due to perspective employees being able to find qualified applicants. The Governor included $10 million in his FY 13 budget proposal to unify these schools into a system that would allow the schools to better coordinate with employers, vocational-tech schools and Workforce Investment Boards to meet the workforce needs in Massachusetts. In addition, Governor Patrick proposed the Board of Higher Education to establish a new process for the selection and annual reviews of community college presidents. The board will also be exploring new limits for student fee levels and how those revenues are spent.

Governor Patrick Calls on Legislature to Pass Second Stage of Health Care Reform

On Monday night, Governor Deval Patrick called on the Legislature to pass a health care cost containment bill to reduce costs statewide. Last February, Governor Patrick filed legislation that proposed an overhaul of the health care payment and delivery system that would end the current model in which doctors are compensated based on fee for service rather than the outcome for their patients. Representative Steven Walsh (D-Lynn) and Senator Richard Moore (D-Uxbridge), co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, responded to the Governor’s statement by saying that the Legislature’s payment reform plan was not finished yet and may differ considerably from the Governor’s bill. With health care spending growing at a rate of 6.7% to 8% a year, legislative leaders have indicated that the bill being drafted will tackle medical malpractice, transition the current system to electronic medical records with an aggressive consumer protection structure, and prevent patients from being wrongly denied access to certain treatments.

Wind Siting Bill Sent to Study

A bill envisioned to streamline the permitting process of land-based wind turbines was sent to study on Tuesday by the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, less than two years after it nearly passed the House and Senate. Representative Keenan (D-Salem) and Senator Downing (D-Pittsfield), co-chairs of the committee, said the intentions of their decision is to give the committee more time to focus on advancing particular legislation on the siting standards used for land-based wind projects. Sending a bill to study frequently predicts that the bill will be defeated and was done so without objection. The Patrick Administration has made wind siting reform a top priority and plans to work with the committee to develop siting standards that could be included in a comprehensive siting reform next year.

John Nunnari, Assoc AIA

Executive Director, AIA MA

jnunnari@architects.org

617-951-1433 x263

617-951-0845 (fax)

MA Chapter of American Institute of Architects

290 Congress Street, Suite 200, Boston MA 02110

www.architects.org

Notice today from Annie & David Domeshek -

We are writing to let you know that the nomination period for the Natasha Domeshek Kindness Scholarship opened today, and will run through Feb. 29. There is a link to the nomination form on the home page at www.angelrun.org; we are directing everybody to that location to submit their nominations.

We met with the senior class at Medfield High School yesterday to inform them about the scholarship and the nomination process. In addition, articles about the scholarship will be published this week in Medfield’s local newspapers (in print and online), in local church bulletins, and through Medfield’s various school-based communication channels (to students, staff and parents).

We are excited to have this process underway, and curious to see the response.

Patch limits responses, and this one would be too long there, so here are my responses to the questions raised about the proposed 40B on Wst Stree.

Shawn Collins asked -

“do the Planning Board members and your fellow Selectmen still have the same opinion of 40R, especially with current sentiment from residents over the Gatehouse Group LLC’s proposed project?”

The opinions of my colleagues on the selectmen and planning board about 40R were expressed at one meeting about employing 40R at the Medfield State Hospital project, so I do not know their current opinions with respect to the Gatehouse project.

“Does the Gatehouse Group benefit from the fact that the Medfield North Meadows LLC’s proposed project was already permitted by the Town back in 2008? Are they (Gatehouse) submitting what is essentially the same plan? What kind of timeline for approval are we looking at here?”

The two 40B proposals are very different from one another, as the current proposal is for 96 rental apartments whereas the previously approved and permitted proposal was for around 37 ownership condominiums.  The prior proposal should have no effect on the current proposal.  Almost all town permitting on a 40B is done by the Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Medfield, whereas in the usual course the planning board would permit many aspects of a non-40B development.  Where the ZBA is dealing with so many issues, it often needs multiple hearing dates to get all the information that it needs to be able to make its decision, and each hearing date needs to be advertised weekly for two weeks, so the process can be extended.  Once the hearing is closed, the ZBA has 90 days to issue its written decision.  The members of the Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Medfield are all volunteers, and the decisions must perforce get written around their regular jobs, so they often need all that time to get the decisions done.

Under 40B, only 1/4 of the units built need to be actually affordable, and the rest can be market rate units.  With owned units (condominiums) a town only gets credit on its affordable housing totals for the 1/4 of the units that are actually the affordable units, whereas, with rental units (apartments), the town gets credit for all the units in the project towards its affordable housing despite only 1/4 of them needing to be actually affordable units.

As that applies to the West Street site, if my recollection of the number of units in the prior proposal is correct, the town would have only been credited with an additional nine units of affordable housing, whereas the apartment proposal would credit the town with 96 units of affordable housing.

The current proposal is to have all 96 units actually provide affordable housing, despite only being required to have 24 provide affordable housing to qualify under 40B.

Rich Callahan asked “when does the town meet to discuss this significant matter?
Do you know how many states have 40B, can it be overturned?”

The town can go tot he public hearings before the Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Medfield on the proposed 40B to provide input on the specific project.  The town meetings and/or the Board of Selectmen meetings are the places to have discussions about affordable housing strategies.  I do not know what is done about making affordable housing possible in other states.  40B was the subject of a recent initiative petition drive, asking that it be overturned, and the state’s voters opted to keep it in place.

Errin Chapin commented “I think it is ridiculous that our town cannot protect itself against these situations. How do you go about getting the state to take this burden into consideration when the project is appealed? Given the fact that the state is already in a position to ruin our town, adding this additional potential development is that much more disturbing. Not sure when the state passed this ramrod bill that they even understood the infrastructure domino effect. I will ask again, is there no tax on developers?”

Impact fees on developments in Massachusetts are controlled by the case of Emerson College v. City of Boston, which set forth a three part test of a legal fee from an unconstitutional tax.  Those criteria were used to invalidate Franklin’s $2500 fee per new house to cover increased school costs.  Massachusetts courts have upheld as OK fees for moorings, annual sewer use charges, and  electrical hook up fees.  Towns are not allowed to charge the developers for the costs that may occur because of the 40B development.  The state’s Housing Appeals Commission has rejected town arguments against 40B projects on the basis of school crowding, drainage, traffic, sewers, water, noise, inconsistency with local plans, environmental degradation, open spaces, and density.

The Board of Appeals must approve the 40B, or it will be approved by the state Housing Appeal Commission.  The trick is for the Board of Appeals to attached reasonable conditions.  The standard is that the conditions may not make the project “uneconomic.”

The Massachusetts rulings have been on the more restrictive end of the spectrum.

From the Medfield Energy Committee -

You may have heard about the free thermal imaging happening in Medfield next week to show residents if their homes are losing heat. Make sure you’re included – go to www.sagewell.com/medfield  to sign up.  Almost 200 Medfield homeowners have already registered. It’s free and quick, and there’s no obligation. Should your house be a candidate, there are substantial rebates available for energy-saving improvements.

The Medfield Energy Committee, the Medfield Selectmen, and Medfield Green all recommend this thermal imaging program.

Please forward this message to friends who might be interested, and accept our apology if you receive this message more than once.

For more info: http://hometownweekly.net/residents-show-strong-interest-in-thermal-imaging-to-detect-home-heat-loss-p7124-133.htm

Image via Wikipedia

BMS last night reported, via Susan Cowell and Kelly Campbell, on the results of the results of the November 2010 MetroWest Adolescent Health Survey.  This was the email from Nathaniel Vaughn advising of the event -

MetroWest Adolescent Health Survey Information Night

Every other year our 7th and 8th grade students participate in the MetroWest Adolescent Health Survey. The Education Development Center (EDC) administers the MWAHS to monitor trends in health and risk behaviors among middle and high school adolescents. The survey is funded by the MetroWest Health Foundation, an independent philanthropy providing over $5 million in annual financial support to address the health needs of twenty-five communities in the MetroWest area of Massachusetts. The data from the survey is used to inform planning, policy-making, health education, and prevention programming at the local level. An overview of the data from the 2010 survey for Blake will be presented on Thursday, January 26 at 7:00 p.m. in the Blake Auditorium.

My main take always were -

• minimal drug and alcohol use – later confirmed by my daughter
• BMS kids generally reported that they felt more secure, felt a greater ability to talk to an adult at school, and felt they were having fewer problems than kids from the rest of the area
• 32% reported having been bullied in past year
• 16% reported having been cyberbullied in past year
• 7% have thought of suicide
• 1% have carried a weapon to school

  Image via Wikipedia

   

The Parent Resources handout is available here via this link http://medfield02052.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/20120126-parent-resources-handout.pdf

The Weekly Political Report is prepared by a political consulting group, Rasky/Baerlein, and shared with me by John Nunnari.

$260 Million Revenue Proposal Pursued by Governor

Governor Deval Patrick’s office announced the administration’s revenue plans for FY2013 this afternoon. Governor Patrick plans to include a 50-cent increase on cigarette tax in Massachusetts making users pay $3.01 in taxes per pack of cigarettes. The tax increase would generate $73 million in additional revenue towards the Commonwealth Care Trust Fund to cover half of the cost associated with legal immigrants’ integration into the state’s subsidized insurance program as mandated by a recent Supreme Judicial Court decision. Similar to past revenue proposals, Governor Patrick’s plan will include a state sales tax on candy and soda to generate an estimated $62.5 million and an expansion of the bottle bill to include water bottles, juices, coffee, and sports drinks. The expansion of the bottle bill is estimated to generate $22 million in revenue with the plans of $5 million dedicated towards recycling programs and $10 million towards transportation and school building. In the past the Legislature has rejected Governor Patrick’s call for taxing candy and soda and expanding the bottle bill.

Governor Patrick’s revenue proposal also assures $5.2 billion in local aid to Massachusetts cities and towns. The majority of the local aid plan, $4.1 billion, will be sent to municipalities that classify as Chapter 70 and provide financial support for public education. Included in the aid is a $145 million increase in funding for local school districts which marks the highest level of state aid to local school districts in Massachusetts’ history.

House and Senate Pass $131 Million Budget Bill

This week, the Massachusetts Legislature passed a $131 million mid-year spending bill. The supplemental budget includes $27.6 million for the local sheriffs’ departments, $21.2 million for low-income heating assistance, $35 million for adult day health programs for the elderly and disabled, and $20 million to cover IT costs for various state agencies. House and Senate lawmakers rejected an amendment that would have instituted a meals tax holiday in mid-March.  It was estimated that $8.8 million would have been waived in sales tax during the proposed six-day holiday. The bill also contains language that would prevent a steep increase in the unemployment tax rate paid by Massachusetts businesses. Without the bill, employers would see unemployment insurance taxes increase to $935 cost-per-worker, an increase of 25%. The spending bill will now go to Governor Patrick for his review.

Senators Eyeing Changes to the Green Communities Act

Senate leaders are drafting a bill aimed at lowering Massachusetts energy costs by updating the way utilities are regulated and energy contracts are awarded to utility companies. This move follows a daylong hearing in November where a number of business leaders complained about high energy costs. On Wednesday, Attorney General Martha Coakley called for an end to any “sweetheart deals” between energy generators and utility companies and recommended a switch to competitive bidding for energy contracts. Coakley wants to reform the state’s Green Communities Act, which currently allows no-bid negations between utilities and energy suppliers. Senator Benjamin Downing (D-Pittsfield), co-chair of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, has been tasked with producing a bill in the coming months.

Early Education Funding Boosted

On Tuesday, pre-kindergarten programs received $50 million in federal grant money to be used to support the state’s effort to bring early education to more Massachusetts children before they enter kindergarten over the next 4 years. Massachusetts finished second to North Carolina in the Obama administration’s Race to the Top- Early Learning Challenge. The Race to the Top funding will be spent on a combination of professional development, student assessment programs and support for communities and public school systems. In addition, Massachusetts will also spend $1.6 million on campaigns to promote early literacy and family literacy activities. After a study revealing that 39% of Massachusetts students in the third grade cannot demonstrate proficiency in reading, education officials have identified early education intervention as one of the key strategies to closing the achievement gap.

Massachusetts Unemployment Rate Falls to 6.8%

Massachusetts companies lost 6,200 jobs in December, despite a decrease in the unemployment rate to 6.8%. December’s decrease in jobs came after two consecutive months of employment increases. Massachusetts unemployment rate is at its lowest point since 2008 and is below the national unemployment rate of 8.5%.

John Nunnari, Assoc AIA

Executive Director, AIA MA

jnunnari@architects.org

617-951-1433 x263

617-951-0845 (fax)

MA Chapter of American Institute of Architects

290 Congress Street, Suite 200, Boston MA 02110

www.architects.org

LED streetlights – town owned

At the MMA’s annual convention on Friday afternoon I attended a presentation on energy saving ideas, one of which was to the effect that now is the time for towns to buy the streetlights and installing new LED streetlights, as the savings are running 20-60%.  The presenter, George Woodbury of Republic ITS (www.republicits.com) formerly worked for the DPW in Lexington.

First, the statute requires the utility to sell the town the streetlights at their net book value as carried by the utility, and the utilities have depreciated the streetlights over time such that the values are low.  One city paid $40,000 for all its streetlights.

Second, the LED fixtures are now ready for prime time:
•    the price of LED fixtures has recently dropped 50%, making it economical to install new LED streetlights.
•    With the LED streetlights up to 98% of the light generated leaves the fixture
•    light can be distributed more uniformly over large areas
•    LED’s like to operate in our cooler New England climate
•    55% energy reduction
•    adaptive controls can be installed, which will allow dimming the fixtures, and which will also read the water meters – NB, the utilities do not yet credit towns for the lower energy usages these achieve
•    grants are available from the utilities and the Public Technology Inc (PTI) – faster paybacks if used to but the lower wattage lights
•    night time visibility is actually improved by the elimination of the current hot spots generated by current streetlights
•    expect to get 150-180 lumens per watt

Third, the town would contract with a third party to provide the required maintenance.

Lastly, deciding at what time to adopt a new technology is always an issue (e.g. – do you wait for the next iteration of the cell phone or computer you need to get a better product).  Woodbury opined that the LED’s will improve 20% in  the next five years.  My question would be, how long do we want to wait to save some money?

This link gets you to George Woodbury’s contact information http://medfield02052.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/contacts-business-cards.pdf

Solar Energy Systems - Town owned

It makes sense for the Town of Medfield to look at the installation and ownership photovoltaic arrays to generate electrical power.  The old landfill is an ideal candidate for such an array, which would be mounted on concrete ballasts that avoid damage to the membrane that caps the site.  I saw a presentation on a solar array in Easthampton on top of its capped landfill.

Easthampton installed its solar array by using both Borerego Solar (Borregosolar.com) and Tighe & Bond engineers.  Borrego will actually finance the installation in exchange for a 20 year contract, so the town does not have to put up any money if it opts to go that route.

Figure on using 5 acres per megawatt, or 6 acres per megawatt with the infrastructure included.  Cost tends to run about $4 m. per megawatt, and is more expensive on a landfill due the the higher cost of the ballasts over poles into the ground.

Parts are warranted for 25 years, and Borrego will include a 19th year bond to cover the cost of the decommissioning, if that is what the town wants.

The town can have access to the remote monitoring, and can even set up a kiosk at a school to tie it into the curriculum.

I spoke with Dartmouth’s town administrator, who shared with me that they own five solar arrays, and that it takes only two of them to generate all the electricity that the town uses.

There are other town owned sites that would be suitable, such as behind the Wheelock School.

Here is a link to the contact information of Borrego Solar and Tighe & Bond http://medfield02052.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/contacts-business-cards.pdf

I just got word of a new youth led initiative – their notice follows -

Please join us for a meeting, on February 1, 2012, at 3pm, in Room 125 at Medfield High School to introduce the Medfield Youth Action Committee (MYAC).  Below is our mission statement, a little bit about our group, and what we hope to do!

Medfield Youth Action Committee (MYAC). a newly formed youth-led initiative, seeks to provide a forum for Medfield’s youth to unite with the broader community.  We strive to build bridges by forming mutually beneficial relationships with community leaders.

It is our goal to:

• Act as liaisons to community leaders in developing youth policy and programs

• Provide education to youth regarding social issues with topics such as:  Stress reduction, prevention, and healthy relationships

• Link youth to service, volunteer and mentoring opportunities

You are invited to this meeting because of your important leadership role with youth and for the support you have given youth initiatives in the past.  You represent an important piece of the puzzle. We are looking to build a permanent bridge of communication between the youth of the town and important community leaders.

Ideas for exciting events and creating invaluable community resources are ready to be unveiled at this first meeting! We also suggest that you, or a designee you select from your organization, come with an idea of how you think MYAC can help you. Other ideas about events in the community or ways to strengthen the community are also appreciated! While this is an introductory meeting, it will be beneficial to hear your ideas as well about how we can help you!

Please let us know if you cannot attend the meeting at      MedfieldYAC@gmail.com

Vine Lake Preservation Trust has been doing an excellent job of preserving and restoring the Vine Lake Cemetery, while making the whole process uncannily interesting.  Follow them by subscribing to their monthly newsletter (also excellent), and visit their new website http://www.vinelakepreservationtrust.org/

Also see my nephew Jack Farrell’s two excellent winning photos in their ongoing photo contest – nice job Jack!

The second idea from the MMA’s annual convention is the technology from myGrapevine, which was created last year for Weston to allow the town communication to better get to the residents, and for the residents to be able to filter out all but just what they want to receive.

myGrapevine allows many authors/writers from different town and school departments to write the messages, but also allows the residents to only subscribe only those topics that interest them.  For example, one could sign up to only get the messages about the Medfield High School, the Board of Health, and the DPW, and not all the rest of the town departments.  Delivery can be by SMS (text messages), Facebook, Twitter, or email.  Residents can opt to receive messages as they are written, consolidated in a daily or weekly summaries, or only in urgent situations.  Customized daily summaries  are available, with the new messages, event lists for the day, and reminders.

This from their website – http://mygrapevine.org -

myGrapevine provides smaller towns with the communication infrastructure they need to keep their citizens informed.

myGrapevine is a web-based service, so pretty much anyone can access it. Town residents set up a free account and identify the topics in which they’re interested (say, everything about third and fifth grades, and also environmental conservation). Staff from the schools, the town government and from town organizations classify their messages by topic.

And myGrapevine makes sure every message gets to the right group of people – via email, text message, even Twitter or Facebook.

The cost for Medfield to subscribe would be $3,000/year.  That’s a lot of communication bang for the buck, both for the town government and for our residents.

At the opening session of the Massachusetts Municipal Association’s annual meeting that I attended last  Friday morning, the Lieutenant Governor told us the Governor’s proposed local aid figures for the next fiscal year (FY13) that will be in the Governor’s upcoming budget, which budget I believe will be released tomorrow and which becomes HR-1 (House bill #1).  All local aid is proposed to be funded at last year’s levels, except the Governor proposes to add $145 m. to the education funding levels, so we may get somewhat more.

Secretary of A&F Jay Gonsalves and House Ways and Means Chair Brian Demsey both emphasized that even though the state’s revenues are expected to be up, that the health care costs and some other parts of the state budget will more than eat up those increased revenues, such that they are proposing a tight FY13 budget, with many cuts to make things balance.

The Governor’s local aid summary hand out, with my hand notated local aid numbers for Medfield is attached.  http://medfield02052.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/20120120-governor-local-aid-budget-figures.pdf

Patch is running a mock election, and I am getting my butt kicked.  http://medfield.patch.com/articles/poll-who-in-medfield-would-be-a-good-president

I attended the Massachusetts Municipal Association’s annual convention at the Hynes Convention Center this past Friday and Saturday, and learned at least  five excellent things that Medfield should look to implement.  I will relate them this week as I am able.

The first idea is to institute a system of merit pay for the town’s employees.  Performance based compensation, or merit pay, was the topic of the Massachusetts Selectman’s Association’s Annual Meeting held at the Hynes Convention Center on 1/21/12.

Towns that are already using it include Andover, Natick, and Danvers – Natick has been using it for years.  The presenters opined that there was no perfect system, and that one should just pick one and get going with it.

It boils down to asking

• what do we expect?
• how did you do?
• how will we reward you?

I have attached the materials that were handed out.

http://medfield02052.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/20120121-msa-annual-meeting-performance-based-compensation.pdf

Last night DCAM held the continued technical meeting (continued from last week) by means of its newly enlarged (five LSP’s) collection of environmental clean up experts, and we still did not get through all the town’s issues.  A second continued technical meeting will be held at 7 PM on 2/9/12, with a PIP meeting announced by DCAM for 3/8/12.

What I heard through all the lengthy presentations by DCAM was first and foremost that they are not budging one iota at this time on the town’s main request, that the hospital refuse that was dumped by DMH for decades into the Charles River  be removed where it is below ground water levels – the town is concerned for the long run about having those waste materials located under water within the aquifer that serves town well #6.

If I were to bet, based on the trajectory of the current process, unless DCAM is willing to discuss with the town other resolutions, I would guess that DCAM will only agree to one of the town’s secondary requests, that being to re-build the river bank with a bio-engineered solution, instead of the with granite blocks.

However, if DCAM is willing to continue informal talks, I am hopeful that if we can both have real discussions, instead of what feel like these pre-litigation meetings we have been having, and also that the town and DCAM can come to an agreement that works for both sides.  DCAM told me months ago that the costs of our removal solution ($5m) was not that different than their capping solution ($1.5m), once the cost of monitoring ($2.6m for the first 30 years) the capped site forever is added in – I am assuming that the cost to monitor from 30 years out to forever makes up the difference.