My regular monthly selectman office hours are at The Center on the first Friday of every month from 9:00 to 10:00 AM (this Friday).
Residents are welcome to stop by to talk in person about any town matters. Residents can also have coffee and see the Council on Aging in action (a vibrant organization with lots going on).
I can be reached via my cell phone at 508-359-9190 or my blog about Medfield matters, where any schedule changes will be posted.
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Posted in Select Board matters
From Susan Maritan –
Medfield residents who are interested in learning more about the proposed new elementary school for grades 4 and 5 are encouraged to attend or tune in remotely to the July Community Conversation with the School Building Committee (SBC). The presentation will be held on Thursday, July 29th at 7PM at Wheelock School or can be viewed online via Facebook Live or Zoom.
“The SBC is looking forward to connecting with the community and sharing progress to date on this important project,” said Anna Mae O’Shea Brooke, SBC member. “The key topics for this month’s discussion are the educational benefits of both the new school building and the Wheelock campus location. We will also be presenting the most recent architectural renderings of the site. This is especially exciting as the drawings bring the vision of the proposed school to life for all to see.”
“Today’s modern learning environment has evolved with regards to space planning and technology. The classroom is no longer constrained by physical boundaries and is more dynamic than our traditional view of teachers presenting a lesson in front of their students. We want to highlight some of the key features that the new school will offer not only inside the building but also how the abundance of outdoor space will create educational opportunities that were not available to our grade four and five students in the past,” continued O’Shea Brooke. “We hope residents will come and see for themselves the benefits the new school could provide to our young learners and dedicated educators.”
The SBC will also be taking questions from residents and addressing other topics such as cost planning including the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) reimbursement currently estimated at approximately $18 million, and the next steps in planning as the SBC prepares to present the final project to the community for a town wide vote this Fall.
The Community Conversation will be held at Wheelock School or can be watched remotely on Facebook Live and Zoom. Please visit the Facebook page – Elementary School Project Wheelock Campus – to watch there, or join the conversation via Zoom.
Join from a PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone or Android device:
Please click this URL to join. https://medfield-net.zoom.us/j/87390173150?pwd=ZVlSVk5qam05S2ZsUklFZEpzNzNVQT09
Passcode: 245605
Questions for the SBC may be submitted to: NewElementarySchoolProject@gmail.com, and for more information on the Medfield Elementary School Project, please visit: tinyurl.com/mednewschool. Those interested in receiving future school project updates may enter their email addresses at the bottom of the home page.
Posted in Buildings, Information, Schools
From WCVB-TV –
NATICK, Mass. —
“Love that dirty water”?
Not so much these days if you’re upwind along the Charles River in several Metrowest towns. Residents in Medfield, Dover, Sherborn and Natick say the river smells of something putrid and foul.Advertisement
“Dead something,” one resident described.
The stench accompanies dead fish and an oily sheen on the water’s surface. The Charles River Watershed Association said they think they know what’s causing it.
“The investigation is concluding that it’s probably more natural,” said Emily Norton, executive director of the Charles River Watershed Association.
The runoff from recent heavy rains has gathered pollutants such as fertilizers and oils, and that is leading to bigger problems in the river.
“In this case, it appears that the impact is such that it caused the river in that area, the Stop River, to be completely depleted of oxygen. And fish do need some level of oxygen to survive,” Norton said.
The dead fish, scientists think, is responsible for the foul odor and the oily sheen on the river is from the fish decomposing.
Posted in Environmental
From Town Planner, Sarah Raposa –
In December 2020, the Town of Medfield submitted an application to the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) to take part in the Local Rapid Recovery Planning Program (LRRP). The LRRP is intended to provide municipalities in Massachusetts with the opportunity to develop actionable, project-based recovery plans tailored to the unique economic challenges and COVID-19 related impacts to downtowns, town centers and commercial areas across the Commonwealth. Additional information is available on the LRRP website.
There are three phases for this program:
Phase 1 (Diagnostic) was completed from April to June 2021 and included data collection from the study area (see below for a map of the study area, Note: not shown, but the study area includes Basil’s on Frairy Street) to assess the current state of the physical environment and its impacts on customers and businesses and the impacts of COVID-19 on businesses in the study area.
Phase 2 (Project Recommendations) is currently ongoing and involves reviewing data compiled during Phase 1 and obtaining feedback from the community to develop recommendations for projects intended to help Medfield achieve its recovery goals.
Phase 3 (Rapid Recovery Plan Development) will be completed in August 2021 and will involve development of strategic project recommendations based on information gathered in Phases 1 and 2 and best practices collected from communities throughout the Commonwealth and the country. BerryDunn was paired with the Town to serve as Plan Facilitator for the program. On April 14, 2021 a BerryDunn team conducted a site visit of Medfield’s study area. The team collected data on the physical and business environment and presented findings to the Board of Selectmen on June 1, 2021. The BerryDunn team is currently working with Town officials to obtain feedback from the community for Phase 2. Please use the links in the survey to provide your thoughts on the study area, including suggestions for physical improvements, regulatory changes, economic development challenges, or simply your experience as a business owner, employee, customer, resident, or visitor to downtown Medfield.
The LRRP approach considers six facets of downtown economic development including:
Comments, suggestions and ideas are loosely organized in these categories above and can be posted on the Ideas Wall or by using the Study Area Map.
Survey Webpage: https://berrydunn.mysocialpinpoint.com/town-of-medfield
We appreciate your thoughts!
Best,
Sarah
Sarah Raposa, AICP
Town Planner
459 Main Street
Medfield, MA 02052
Office Phone: (508) 906-3027
Work Cell: (339) 206-1773
sraposa@medfield.net
Out of Office: last week of July and last week of August
Email received today from the Division of Local Services (DLS), a part of the Massachusetts Department of Revenue:
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
FY2022 Preliminary Cherry Sheets Estimates
The FY2022 Conference Committee Report was released on Thursday July 8th and approved by both the House of Representatives and Senate Friday July 9th. As a result, DLS has updated the preliminary cherry sheet estimates to reflect these new funding levels. The preliminary cherry sheets can be found on the DLS website.
Click here for Preliminary Municipal Cherry Sheet Estimates or here for Preliminary Regional Cherry Sheet Estimates.
If you have any questions about the preliminary estimates, please contact the Data Analytics and Resources Bureau at databank@dor.state.ma.us.
This from the County Commissioners. It is not clear to me how much they intend to administer our ARPA monies, versus just paying us our ARPA monies. Reading the 2024 and 2026 dates causes me some concern about their planned level and length of involvement.
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Posted in Budgets, Federal Government, Financial
Tagged Norfolk County
From the Medfield Fire Department’s Twitter yesterday –
Medfield Fire-Rescue@medfieldfd
With deep sadness we announce the sudden passing of Captain Michael Harman. Further details on services will be provided when available. Please respect the privacy of Capt. Harman’s family at this time and keep them in your thoughts and prayers.
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Posted in Fire Department, People
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Posted in Select Board matters
From Susan Maritan for the School Building Committee –
Dear Medfield Community,
My name is Leo Brehm. I am a Medfield resident and also a member of the School Building Committee and the School Committee. I’d like to encourage the Medfield community to tune into this week’s School Building Committee meeting on Wednesday, June 23rd at 7pm.
This particular meeting will be an informative one as the committee will respond to the citizens’ petition and review estimated costs, the budget and design updates.
I would like to take this opportunity to address a frequently asked question (that is on everyone’s mind) regarding the reuse plan for the existing Dale Street facility. Planning for the reuse of the building is under consideration by the Medfield Permanent Planning and Building Committee as part of the master planning process the town has been conducting throughout this past year. They will continue to look closely at the feasibility of the Parks and Recreation Department using the space, if it becomes available.
I, and the entire SBC, look forward to sharing more about the proposed new school over the coming weeks and months. We will be holding more Community Conversations during the summer to share updates on our work and to continue engaging with the community. To keep up-to-date, sign up for our weekly Wednesday updates here and follow us on FB and Instagram and please visit our website http://tinyurl.com/mednewschool and sign up on the homepage to receive our updates.
If you have questions for the SBC, please email us at NewElementarySchoolProject@gmail.com
To join the Wednesday, June 23 at 7pm SBC Zoom meeting, use this link: https://medfield-net.zoom.us/j/81837257740?pwd=ZHV0SVpPank1VjJCQUVHNGpiVDVVdz09 Enter Password: 101575
Sincerely yours,
Leo Brehm
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Posted in Buildings, Schools, Uncategorized
Last Saturday, in the morning, Troop 10 held an Eagle Scout Court of Honor for David Jones in the Pavilion at Rocky Woods.
In the afternoon, Troop 89 held an Eagle Scout Court of Honor for Quinn Spitzer, Davin Zehme , Christopher Douglas Page, and Adrian Sheehy at the Medway Community Church.
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Posted in Events
Medfield Select Board member
I started this blog to share the interesting and useful information that I saw while doing my job as a Medfield select board member. I thought that my fellow Medfield residents would also find that information interesting and useful as well. This blog is my effort to assist in creating a system to push the information out from the Town House to residents. Let me know if you have any thoughts on how it can be done better.
For information on my other job as an attorney (personal injury, civil litigation, estate planning and administration, and real estate), please feel free to contact me at 617-969-1500 or Osler.Peterson@OslerPeterson.com.
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