Monthly Archives: February 2011

Just reviewed new homestead law – existing filings are saved, but the new ones can get you more protection, such as for both owners, trusts

Medfield Foundation Volunteer of the Year – Reception 4-6 on 3/27

EXTRAORDINARY MEDFIELD VOLUNTEERS TO BE RECOGNIZED AT RECEPTION ON MARCH 27 AT THE CENTER

The Medfield Foundation’s annual “Volunteer of the Year” reception has been scheduled for 4:00 – 6:00 PM on March 27 at The Center at Medfield.  This year Whole Foods will provide the refreshments.  The public is invited to attend and to celebrate the efforts of the extraordinary Medfield volunteers who have been suggested this year.   This year those recognized, so far, include:

●    Bill Pope        volunteers by creating, renovating, and fostering the Zullo Gallery, and through the Zullo Gallery the town’s cultural life

●    Kim Agricola     volunteers at the Medfield Animal Shelter, and making an incredible difference in many lives, both human and animal

●    Judy Ambrose     volunteers at the Medfield Animal Shelter, and making an incredible difference in many lives, both human and animal

●    Jeanne Sanfilippo    volunteers as chair for the past eight years of the Medfield High School all night graduation party

●    Susan Holbrook    volunteers with Cradles to Crayons to provide clothing and school supplies to Boston children, while promoting a sense of dignity and value in their community

●    Ron Griffin        volunteers for the Shine program, assisting seniors make health care choices

●    Shonda Schilling    volunteers for the ALS Association, the Shade Foundation, AANE, the schools, coaching, and fund raising for MHS fields

●    John Filip        volunteers to organize and operate St. Edward’s CYO basketball

●    Deirdre Walsh    volunteers as President of Community Teens, attended Girls State, member of Warriors for the Homeless, member of the MHS Guidance Advisory, Alter Server, Lector and Peer minister at Blessed Sacrament Parish, junior volunteer at Falmouth Hospital.

●    Betty Sanders        volunteers for the Medfield Garden Club, Medfield  Community Gardens, Medfield Food Cupboard,  Mass. Hort. Society, and shares her gardening expertise

●    Larry Kramer        volunteers by doing music concerts that fund-raise for Medfield Coalition for Public Education and for Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America

●    Laurie Nealon        volunteers by forming and operating the Medfield Angels Network, a 400 strong network connecting Medfield residents who have the capacity to give with those fellow residents who have short term needs

●    Kathleen Cahill    volunteers by forming and operating the Medfield Angels Network, a 400 strong network connecting Medfield residents who have the capacity to give with those fellow residents who have short term needs

●    Katherine Quinn    volunteers for Wishi project in Ecuador, seeking to build a school

●    Jeanne McKenzie    volunteers as the Christmas Angel, coordinating a Christmas sponsorship program that provides Christmas presents to over thirty Medfield families through Medfield Youth Outreach and other organizations

●    Nicki Gustafson    volunteers as the Christmas Angel, coordinating a Christmas sponsorship program that provides Christmas presents to over thirty Medfield families through Medfield Youth Outreach and other organizations

●    Robert Luttman    volunteers everywhere for everything – started Monday Morning Medfield News and MFi, instrumental in the Community Connections Café, saving the Lowell Mason house, serves on the library board, technology study committee, Medfield Youth and Community Collaborative, Medfield Cares About Prevention

●    Susan Wilson        volunteers running the Friends of the Library twice annual book sales for the past 6 years and doing the necessary weekly preparation

●    Harold Pritoni        volunteers at the Dwight-Derby House using his talents in home repair and woodworking to greatly improve the house and the visitor experience

●    Chris Kaldy        volunteers by educating the public, groups,  and the children in town about how to protect themselves against Lyme disease

●    Lisa Dolan        volunteers by educating the public, groups,  and the children in town about how to protect themselves against Lyme disease

The Medfield Foundation (MFi) recognizes by name as its Volunteer of the Year, those individual volunteers whose extraordinary efforts and activities have made a special marked difference in the quality of life in Medfield.  Annually at a reception at The Center at Medfield on Ice House Road, the Medfield Foundation fetes both the Volunteer of the Year and a Youth Volunteer of the Year, as well as all those suggested for recognition for their volunteer efforts.

Nominations of others for recognition will continue to be accepted through the end of February for both the adult and youth volunteer of the year awards.  Individuals recognized in past years are eligible for consideration, if nominated again.

The Volunteers of the Year are selected from amongst nominations of individuals submitted by the public, based entirely on the information submitted.  Nominations are made online at http://www.medfieldfoundation.org/volunteer.html by describing the activities that make the nominee worthy of recognition.  Past MFi volunteer of the year nominees are listed and described at the website.   The Medfield Foundation believes that people taking the time and making the effort to nominate someone actually already makes Medfield a better place.

Weekly Political Report – Week Ending February 25, 2011

Week Ending February 25, 2011

 

This week the Legislature took its first action on Governor Patrick’s legislation to reduce health care costs and reform payment systems in Massachusetts. The bill was referred to the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, which is chaired by Rep. Steven Walsh (D-Lynn) and Sen. Richard Moore (D-Uxbridge). During a procedural hearing held this week by the committee to establish rules for the committee, Sen. Moore said he anticipates the committee will spend the majority of its time this year working on this single piece of legislation. Currently, the committee is drafting a section-by-section summary of the bill to send to House and Senate members.

 

House Speaker DeLeo (D – Winthrop) and Senate President Murray (D – Plymouth) advocated for a sit-down between legislative leaders and Governor Patrick to discuss the potential for passing expanded gaming bill that would allow resort casinos in Massachusetts. Although both sides were in agreement about authorizing casinos in the state before the end of last session, the issue of slot machines ultimately derailed the bill’s prospects. Speaker DeLeo has been a forceful advocate for racetrack slots while the Governor has insisted that any slot licenses in the state be competitively bid and not restricted to only the state’s handful of racetracks. The Governor on Wednesday remained lukewarm to the idea of meeting with the House Speaker and Senate President to discuss gambling, saying that the gambling bill should not overshadow other legislative priorities and that he speaks with the two legislative leaders every week.

 

During a joint Ways and Means budget hearing held earlier this week in Amherst, municipal officials advocated for the adoption of a resolution in which the Legislature would commit to at least match local aid levels included in the Governor’s budget filed last month. Legislative leaders issued a similar statement last year, agreeing to a minimum commitment for FY2011 local aid levels. According to the Massachusetts Municipal Association, such a commitment would help municipal governments anticipate state aid levels as they craft their own FY2012 budgets. House and Senate debate surrounding the state’s FY2012 budget will take place in April and May respectively.

 

 

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
The Architects Building
52 Broad Street, Boston MA 02109-4301
www.architects.org

 

 

Spring thought – I saw these rain barrels at the Mass Municipal Assoc convention in January, & they looked good http://ping.fm/qDm2s

Weekly Political Report – Week Ending February 4, 2011

Week Ending February 4, 2011

Reacting to Governor Patrick’s proposed FY2012 budget released last
week, Speaker DeLeo (D – Winthrop) reiterated that the House version of
the FY2012 budget would contain no new taxes, fees or other
revenue-generating measures, and would not include budget gimmicks. The
House is expected to release its FY2012 budget in April. Both the
Speaker and Senate President Murray (D – Plymouth) stated before the
start of this legislative session that they would not raise taxes this
year. Although the Governor did not raise any taxes in his budget, some
are arguing that his budget would increase the tax burden by including
an expansion of the state bottle bill, which would add a $.05 deposit to
the cost of water, tea and juice bottles. Speaker DeLeo on Monday called
the bill another form of taxation since it would raise state revenues by
$20 million.

On Wednesday, Governor Patrick met with Secretary of Health and Human
Services JudyAnn Bigby, Secretary of Administration and Finance Jay
Gonzales and other cabinet officials to discuss reforms of the state’s
health care payment system. In his inaugural address Governor Patrick
promised to cut $1 billion in health care spending in the coming fiscal
year. Included in the budget his Administration released last week were
a variety of proposals for cutting health care costs by $1 billion, $798
million of which would come from cuts to MassHealth. Patrick’s proposals
included procurement reform, capitation cost controls, benefit
reductions and provider reimbursement reductions. Because of the lack of
detail in the Governor’s proposals, stakeholder groups such as the
Massachusetts Association of Health Care Plans and Health Care for All
have been cautious in their response.

On Tuesday, the Massachusetts Department of Revenue released the tax
collection figures for the month of January.  The state collected $2.053
billion during this period, an increase of 11.3% from the same period
one year earlier. According to Navjeet Bal, the state revenue
commissioner, income tax estimated payments are also up $239 million or
25% over the first seven months of the fiscal year.  Although tax
receipts continue to exceed expectations, many of the unexpected revenue
has been funneled back towards two midyear spending bills, one for $750
million that has been approved by the legislature and another for $311
million that the Governor submitted last week.

John Nunnari, Assoc AIA
Executive Director, AIA MA
jnunnari@architects.org <mailto:afienman@architects.org>
617-951-1433 x263
617-951-0845 (fax)

MA Chapter of American Institute of Architects
The Architects Building
52 Broad Street, Boston MA 02109-4301
http://www.architects.org <http://www.architects.org/&gt;

CLF’s – how to clean up ones you break (they are low risk) – thanks Fred Davis http://ping.fm/qKoc4

Governor’s budget proposal would reduce Medfield’s local aid by only 1% – education aid up $24K, town aid down $91K – http://wp.me/pwOp1-6g

Governor’s budget would reduce Medfield’s local aid by 1% only

Massachusetts Department of Revenue

Division of Local Services

FY2012 Local Aid Estimates

MEDFIELD


FY2011 Cherry Sheet Estimate FY2012 Governor’s Budget (H1) Difference
Education:      
Chapter 70* 5,590,203 5,620,214 30,011
School Transportation 0 0 0
Charter Tuition Reimbursement 9,307 2,260 -7,047
Offset Receipts:      
School Lunch 9,744 10,893 1,149
School Choice Receiving Tuition 0 0 0
Sub-Total, All Education Items 5,609,254 5,633,367 24,113
       
General Government:      
Unrestricted General Government Aid 1,226,088 1,137,437 -88,651
Local Share of Racing Taxes 0 0 0
Regional Public Libraries 0 0 0
Police Career Incentive 7,305 6,813 – 492
Urban Renewal Projects 0 0 0
Veterans’ Benefits 1,215 520 – 695
State Owned Land 30,265 30,153 – 112
Exemptions: Vets, Blind, Surviving Spouses

& Elderly

27,349 26,482 – 867
Offset Receipts:      
Public Libraries 13,685 13,336 – 349
Sub-Total, All General Government 1,305,907 1,214,741 -91,166
 
Total Estimated Receipts 6,915,161 6,848,108 -67,053
     

 

 

 

*FY2011 Chapter 70 does not include State Fiscal Stabilization Funds of $30,011.

New selectman info – my report on meetings – see http://wp.me/pwOp1-6c. Let me know if this is useful, as if not I will not take the time.

Highlights of selectmen meetings on 1/25/11 & 2/1/11

The board of selectmen met twice this past week, first on January 25, 2011 (a makeup session for the prior week which had been snowed out). That meeting was abbreviated so that the selectmen could attend the Lyme disease study committee meeting which followed., To allow amounts to be spent on snow removal above and beyond what had been budgeted. The following budgets were submitted for review, all of which were level funded from last year: Board of Selectmen, Town Administrator, Human Resources, Work Committee, Planning Board, Zoning Appeals, Town Report/Meeting.

On February 1, 2011 selectmen reviewed the Park and Recreation budget, in which $298,000 was requested as opposed to $283,874 last year. The increase was primarily for maintenance of facilities. John Thompson, chair of SHERD, reported on four areas of environmental cleanup by DCAM at the former Medfield State Hospital site. First, DCAN is performed to new work. Second, the VOCs that were found may require DCAM to redraw the lot boundaries to exclude areas in which the VOCs were found. Third, the building condition status should be queried, given that the buildings have been cold mothballed far longer than anticipated. John referenced the DEP consent judgment against DMH which required the asbestos to be removed from the buildings “as soon as possible.” Fourth, given the impending development of the site, he recommended that it behooves the town to review its bylaws to make sure that the bylaws adequately address that development. The board voted to create a bylaw review committee and to task town counsel to that committee. Interested citizens are invited to apply to serve on that committee. Additionally, John noted that DCAM must submit its draft Phase II Scope of Work by March 1, 2011, and it is that document that will detail precisely what cleanup work will be done and how.

The selectmen voted to send the draft letter to DCAM Re: the Supplemental Phase II Scope of Work. Selectable voted to sign a letter of representation with the town auditor to approve minutes, and to close the Annual Town Meeting Warrant.

The Annual Town Meeting Warrants include articles to authorize borrowing for a town garage, feasibility study for a public safety building accept as public ways Kettle Pond and Cole Drive, amend site plan buffer cards to prohibit use as driveways, amend firearm discharge by law to allow for culling deer to reduce Lyme disease, transfer Hinckley Swim Pond lands to Park and Recreation and allow the lease of the Lowell Mason house site, authorize leases to MAP, appropriate consultant monies for State Hospital reuse, and to qualify for the Green Communities Act by adopting the stretch building code and permitting energy R&D and manufacturing on industrial lands.

Selectmen Fisher and Peterson reported on attending the Massachusetts Municipal Association annual meeting. The governor and his chief budget officials presented on the state budget, and there were a myriad of workshops on municipal issues. It was reported as a inspirational and informational meeting. All selectmen attended the Lyme disease study committee meeting at which the state wildlife biologist documented the overpopulation of deer in Medfield and that the only financially feasible means of reducing Lyme disease is by culling the deer. Selectmen Thompson and Peterson attended the Safety Committee, which focused on high traffic volumes and speeds on Knollwood Road, and a new regional selectmen effort in Medway. Peterson reported that the Medfield Foundation will be holding a reception to recognize volunteers on March 27 at The Center from 4 to 6 PM, and that he attended a Riverside Community Care meeting to highlight its emergency crisis response services to assist municipalities with people having psychiatric issues.