Just discussed town issues with Mike Sullivan ahead of the Board of Selectmen meeting 9/6, and I suggested to him that I thought in the future that the town should pick up from the curb the tree branches that residents stack there after bad storms, such as Irene last week. Maybe take everything up to 4″ in diameter. The DPW did a great job with the clean up they did this past week, and they have the equipment to handle the tree trunks and limbs that most residents just do not possess. The DPW clean up that happened was an example of government working really well for its citizens.
Mike feels it would cost the town too much to have the DPW pick up everyone’s branches, and that some would take advantage to clean out their brush piles. I suggested that we have Ken Feeney report to the Board of Selectmen on how much it might cost to do in the future, plus I do not think we should scuttle the idea out of fear of a few bad apples taking unfair advantage – they can be spoken to individually and/or their piles just left – perhaps say we will only collect freshly fallen branches. But the cost does need to be considered.
It is really up to residents whether they want such a service or not, as if so, they will pay for it. We would want to know the cost before implementing it. It is probably also another good question to ask the residents in the town by means of the on-line polling that I asked Kristine Trierweiler to implement to ask residents about whether they want the town to pay for mailboxes damaged by the town’s plows. Makes sense to me to ask residents whether they want the town to provide a particular service or not, then, if there is enough support for what is proposed, to consider moving forward.
I wished the town had everyone’s email address this past week so that a blast email notice could have gone out to advise of the transfer station being open every day this past week. Having resident’s email addresses would have been one of the side benefits of the town e-newsletter I proposed, as probably most residents would to sign up for the town e-newsletter in order to stay informed, and then the town captures their email addresses to use for other important communication.
Medfield02052's Blog 
The transfer station was open every day this week? Where was this publicized? As for the branch pickup I support the idea, given its an extraordinary circumstance, and not something to be a regular event just because someone lost a tree limb during a winter. But I’d also perhaps like to see additional burn days added (fire chief advisory allowing) for us to clear out branches during the Fall.
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John,
I learned about the transfer station being open from my tree guy. That was the problem, the town in the communication age has no good way to communicate with its residents. The town website is OK, but not good and up-to-date enough that it is a first choice.
Pete
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That is kind of disheartening. I’d argue that a simple call to you would have prompted a tweet or blog post. That would have been a good start.
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Mr. Trigg and Selectman Peterson,
I would suggest using Medfield Patch as it is updated regularly and followed constantly provided updates when Tropical Storm Irene hit Medfield last week. They also provided updates on the power outages in town throughout the week and had posted in several articles that the Transfer Station would be open throughout the week for residents to use to cleanup their yards from Irene. Truly a good resource. I do agree, with you both, that there needs to be a better form of communication between the town and its residents other than the town website.
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