Monthly Archives: October 2012

No NSTAR smart meters in town

Posted on October 12, 2012 | Comments Off on No NSTAR smart meters in town

Penni Connor is by day the Vice President for Customer Relations at NSTAR and by night a member of the Medfield Energy Committee (MEC) (thank you Penni), and she recently shared the following information with the MEC about smart meters –

Here is some data on the NSTAR electric meters in Medfield, as well as information on the meters in our entire service territory.

Meters installed in Medfield are not smart meters. Instead, they are solid-state residential meters that only collect electric usage for billing purposes. No other advanced data is collected by this meter. These are one-way meters. Please know that these are not two way meters, which are they types of meters that have received attention recently in the media.

NSTAR started installing these solid-state one way meters in 2001. These meters are proven to operate safely in hundreds of thousands of homes in NSTAR’s service territory and in millions of homes across the country.

I know that there has been much written about smart meters lately but I want to assure you that these meters are not being installed at homes in NSTAR’s service territory. I hope this clears up any confusion. If not, I am more than happy to arrange for a metering expert to meet with the Medfield Energy Committee if you think it might be helpful.

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Posted in Energy Committee, Utilities

Fire in heat motor at BMS interrupts day

Posted on October 12, 2012 | Comments Off on Fire in heat motor at BMS interrupts day

Email 20 minutes ago from Nat Vaughn –

Good afternoon –

This afternoon (around 12:30 p.m.) our fire alarms went off due to a ‘burning smell in the art wing’ and we evacuated the building. The fire and police department investigated, and the cause of the smell was a burned out heat motor in the ventilation system. The problem has been addressed and all students have returned to their last period class for the afternoon. As a safety precaution, we are keeping the art rooms clear while the space is ventilated. We commend our students and staff for their cooperation and responsibility during our evacuation.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Take care.

Nat Vaughn

Nathaniel Vaughn

Principal

Thomas A. Blake Middle School

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Posted in Schools

BoS agenda for 10/16

Posted on October 12, 2012 | Comments Off on BoS agenda for 10/16

AGENDA (Subject to change)

Appointments

7:00 PM           Housing Authority

7:30 PM           Discussion of Medical Marijuana Ballot Question

Action Items

  • Medfield Coalition requesting signs for town wide fund raising appeal in honor of the 25thanniversary of the Coalition. Coalition is requesting:
    • Nov 5th to Nov 19th at Route 27/South Street, North Street/109, and MTS
    • Dec 3rd to Dec 21st at Route 27/South Street, North Street/109, and Hartford Street/109
  • Memo from the Medfield Energy Committee in response to Selectmen’s memo regarding potential revisions/updates for the Bylaw Review Committee
  • MEMO announces the Annual Holiday Parade will be Saturday, December 8, 2012 at 1PM, Selectmen are invited to participate in the parade. Annual Tree Lighting will take place on December 7, 2012 at 7PM in Baxter Park. MEMO requests a Parade Permit to be issued for December 8th.

Pending Items

  •  Annual Selectmen’s Calendar
  • Selectmen’s Goals and Objectives for 2013

Medfield State Hospital Update

 Informational

  •  ComCom Legal Notice 10/12/12
  • Letter from Xfinity regarding changes to cable packages
  • MIIA Wellness Program for Town Employees—Back Injury Prevention
  • Con Com Extension Permit 10/4/2012
  • ZBA Decision 10/4/2012, 312 South Street
  • Letter from MAPC regarding municipal elections to the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization

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Posted in Select Board matters

Time’s running out on free energy-saving programs

Posted on October 8, 2012 | Comments Off on Time’s running out on free energy-saving programs

Press release from David Temple of our Energy Committee-

Serious energy cost savings – via free insulation and interest-free loans for high-efficiency heating and cooling systems – are staring hundreds of Medfield homeowners in the face.

Alas, most residents are letting the opportunity slip by – even though it’s so easy to take advantage of these opportunities.

Last winter the Medfield Energy Committee arranged for Sagewell, Inc., of Woburn, to conduct a thermal imaging survey and analysis on some 3,000 Medfield homes.  A thermal image is somewhat akin to a photo of a house, with orange and yellow in the thermal image showing areas of heat loss.

The study showed that about 700 families could save substantially on energy costs if the homeowners logged on to www.sagewell.com and click for help…or just call 617-963-8141.

Potential savings are greatest for those who heat with oil, electricity, or propane, although gas customers will save as well.

So far only 341 residents have gone to www.sagewell.com and looked at the thermal images of their houses.  Only 123 have asked for the free energy audit.

The free energy audit will point to ways to ways to get free insulation and weatherization, if you qualify.

And if your furnace or boiler is old and inefficient, the energy audit can set you on your way to getting a seven-year interest-free loan of up to $25,000 for installing a safe, new, high-efficiency HVAC system.

This interest-free loan program runs out December 31.

There are thermal images of over 1,000 Medfield homes that have been analyzed by Sagewell but haven’t been looked at by the homeowners.  There are another 1,500 homes that have been imaged but haven’t been analyzed yet by Sagewell, because so many Medfield residents have shown they don’t seem to care about their energy costs.

The Medfield Energy Committee was established in 2008 to find ways to cut the annual energy cost for the town-owned buildings.  Since then the school department’s annual energy bill has dropped $180,000, an amount equivalent to several teachers’ salaries. Significant energy cost savings have also been realized in other town departments – the search for energy savings is a continuous process

Most of the committee members are professionals in an energy- or environment-related field. The chair is Marie Zack Nolan.  Other members are Lee Alinsky, Fred Bunger, Penni Conner, Fred Davis, Cynthia Greene, Charles Kellner, Pete Peterson, Emre Schveighoffer, Mike Sullivan, and David Temple

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Posted in Energy Committee

Garden Club meeting

Posted on October 8, 2012 | Comments Off on Garden Club meeting

Garden Club president, Nancy Tella and I met this morning for almost an hour to discuss the possible expansion of their volunteer services to the town, in response to my queries.

First, she was suggesting changing the plantings at the traffic islands on Hospital Road where it meets Rte. 27, to match the traffic islands at the intersections of Hartford Street and Rte. 108 or Harding Street at Hospital Road, where they is an actual planting bed inside a ring of cobblestones.  The Hospital Road location would need the installation of a water spigot, as the DPW did for the Hartford Street traffic island, and there is a water line that goes past the site.

Second, she was suggesting installing raised planting beds around the four major Medfield town signs on Rte. 109 and Rte. 27., created by rings of granite stones.  Again, the installation would need to be done by the DPW.

Third, she indicated that she would be willing to ask the Garden Club membership if they would be willing to co-coordinate with others the planting of street trees in town.  My inchoate idea is that we first get technical assistance from a local arborist about what street trees to plant, have a resident/DPW committee work through where to plant the trees, them have some interested group and/or groups coordinate the effort, enlist families to sponsor individual street trees by underwriting what I think might be about a $200-300 cost to buy the tree and the watering bag, and use the DPW’s expertise to actually plant the trees.   Nancy mentioned the importance of follow up care and watering to have the trees survive.  I suggested that I would favor the won paying to acquire a vehicle that could water the trees for them, which could also be used to water the 21 sites currently maintained by the Garden Club already.  The town gets such huge benefits from the tremendous volunteer efforts of the Garden Club, that the town should invest in providing the Garden Club members the tools to better serve the town’s interest.  It would be short money for the amount of return we would get.

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Posted in Garden Club, Nature, Volunteers

Swap year round

Posted on October 8, 2012 | Comments Off on Swap year round

Yesterday I visited the Sherborn swap to see how they operated.  They have a series of small buildings, which allow them to operate year round. The largest is a metal building, perhaps 20′ X 30′, which housed furniture, board games, myriads of items, that seemed well organized.  I especially liked the foosball table.  There were at least two other wooden sheds, one housing sporting goods, and the other from a glance seemed to be skis.

I met two of the three volunteers who were manning the swap.  Carol Rosenberg of the Recycling Committee and I discussed the differences of our two systems, and possible opportunities for synergies from coordinating services.  She asked if Medfield might even consider taking Sherborn’s trash and whether Medfield residents might be interested in dropping things off at the Sherborn swap.  Sherborn currently lets anyone take away swap items, but only Sherborn residents are allowed to leave items.  I retorted that we should always be willing to discuss opportunities to work together, and so she took one of the selectmen business cards I paid to get printed up to assist with such communication, saying that she would be talking to the chair of their Board of Selectmen this week, and would let me know.

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Posted in Recycling & Solid Waste

Electronic recycling & swap

Posted on October 6, 2012 | Comments Off on Electronic recycling & swap

Full load at transfer station by the private company that has been doing the monthly electronic recycling.  Town used to pay to provide this service, and lost money on it because we did not charge enough. 

I paid $10 to drop off a small TV won in a raffle at a golf tournament10 years ago.

Company worker told me the TV's were really loss leaders, but that the whole experience of being at the transfer station has generally been a good thing for their company. 

Busy day at the swap.  Solid waste committee should figure out how to have buildings or trailers for storage so the swap can be open year round, like in our neighboring towns.

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Posted in Uncategorized

Funny political ad

Posted on October 5, 2012 | Comments Off on Funny political ad

After suffering through so many political ads this year that now all just all annoy me, I finally found a political ad I like.  However, even this one could probably get pretty annoying after seeing it more than three times.

The political ads this year in Massachusetts are making a great argument for laws imposing spending limits on political campaigns.

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Posted in Elections

Ann & Mark’s goals

Posted on October 4, 2012 | Comments Off on Ann & Mark’s goals

The town administrator had scheduled at our Tuesday meeting this week the Board of Selectmen to discuss our goals, both for ourselves as selectmen and also for him, for the upcoming year. This was the first item to be scheduled from the new annual calendar for the Board of Selectmen.

I emailed my goals to my colleagues in advance, the same day I posted them here, so they could give them due consideration.  I asked them to do the same.  Ann responded that she was afraid sharing hers ahead of time would violate the Open Meeting Law.

At our meeting this week, Ann stated a couple of goals at the meeting,  but had nothing written out to distribute.  I noted that she mentioned the Medfield State Hospital, buildings, sidewalks, and finances.  Mark handed out the following goals, and I suggested that we consider the goals at our next meeting where Ann and Mark had not distributed theirs ahead of time.

Mark Fisher Selectmen’s Goals for 2012 and 2013

1) Promote and encourage a collegial and supportive atmosphere for all the volunteer committees and Boards that offer their time to the Town. Ensure that their voices are heard and that their work is recognized and incorporated into the Town’s mission.
(2) Promote and encourage a consistent, supportive and positive atmosphere with the Board’s interaction with the Town Manager, Assistant Town Manager, the Superintendant of Schools, and all of the Department Heads and employees.
(3) Ensure that the annual budget process and town meeting move forward in a productive and cooperative manner that is always in the best interests of the citizens of Medfield.
(4) Provide support and direction to the Permanent Building  committee as they wrestle with the design of a new DPW facility, and a new facility campus at Dale and North Streets.
(5) Continue to move forward with the cleanup and redevelopment of the State Hospital Grounds.
(6] Ensure that the Town continues to provide a high quality of education to its children, and provides a high quality of municipal services to its citizens in the most cost effective manner possible.

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Posted in Select Board matters

Globe’s Medfield website

Posted on October 4, 2012 | Comments Off on Globe’s Medfield website

The Boston Globe now has a website entirely devoted to Medfield news.  From their home page you can get to it by paging down and looking for the Your Town sign on the left (looks like the old Massachusetts town sign), with a drop down menus of the covered towns.    http://yourtown.boston.com/medfield

The editor in charge of this effort had called me several weeks or  months ago to tell me it was in the works and to ask if they could link to my blog.  I agreed, but jokingly asked for them to comp my subscription going forward – he just laughed.

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Posted in Information