Monthly Archives: October 2015

Medfield Green’s month continues

Transfer Station sign - Copy

This Saturday,  9-1, will be the fourth Saturday of  Medfield Green Month at the Transfer Station

 Did you recently purchase a new mattress and need to get rid of the old one?  Do you have an old mattress that has just been hanging around taking up space somewhere in your house?  Bring it to the Transfer Station this Saturday, Oct 24th from 9-1.  New Life Home Refurnishing will be on hand to accept clean, usable mattresses.  All others will be dismantled and the parts will be recycled.  Along with the mattresses, New Life will be collecting pots and pans and small kitchen appliances i.e. toasters, coffee makers, toaster ovens, blenders etc. to provide to their clients.  NLHR is a not-for-profit furniture bank which serves area communities. They serve individuals and families overcoming difficult circumstances such as fires or floods, homelessness, veterans of war and recent refugees.  They are in great need of mattresses and boxsprings.  More info at www.newlifehr.org

The discounted backyard compost bins were so popular that we sold out of our stock!  We will continue to take orders (only for compost bins, not the kits with the kitchen buckets and liners) this Saturday and next Saturday from 9-1 at the Transfer Station.  The bins will be available for pick up in a few weeks.  See attached order form.  Checks made out to Town of Medfield.

This is the last full Saturday for the Swap.  Get your stuff to the swap this weekend!

Last day for drop offs is Friday, October 30th. It closes for the season on Saturday, October 31st at noon and volunteers will pack up from 12-3. If you wish to help pack up, let us know by calling 359-7251. BOXES NEEDED!   Thanks!

Thanks to all of the volunteers who spend many, many hours at the Swap!  It is a great example of the purpose of Medfield Green Month –  Donation, Reuse and Recycling and it is open May-October during Transfer Station hours.

See you at the Transfer Station, the place to be in October!

Miscellaneous updates

RR

This email from Mike yesterday afternoon –


We met with the MBTA, Oliveria Construction and Mass Coastal Railroad today and they will be putting the water main under the tracks at the Hospital Road crossing starting at 7:00 a.m. on October 30. No trains will run from Friday morning until Sunday night. After the pipe is installed, they will also replace the grade crossing and on Monday morning, when the asphalt plants are open will pave the disturbed roadway, up to the new railroad crossing. The railroad people would also like to replace the railroad crossing on route 109 the weekend of November 13 – 15, Friday the 13th. We will have a pre-construction meeting before that to work out the details of the traffic patterns, business interruptions, etc. Ken and the Chiefs are aware of this and are on board.

Columbia Gas was here today repairing the sidewalks. We also received the license from the MBTA to work on the Harding Street rail crossing. I’ll sign it and send it back with our insurance certificate. We have to notify them five days before we start, so I’ll check with Ken and Bobby to see when they will be able to do it.  Ken is meeting tomorrow with the Eversource folks to go over the pole relocation on Green Street. We need some kind of approval from the Board for Eversource to work on our public way so we might have something on next week’s agenda for that. The boiler at the Pfaff center has to be replaced so, given the weather, we are trying to get it done as quickly as possible. We will probably need a reserve fund transfer.

 

That’s all for now. Mike

BoS goals for year

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cropped-medfield-town-house1.jpg

Annually the selectmen try to put to writing their goals for the upcoming year, so as both to agree on priorities and to give the administrators guidance to what the selectmen think are the important town issues.  Each selectman authors his own goals, and Richard has taken the three sets and combined them.  This year the combined goals are as follows:


Draft Board of Selectmen Goals 2015-2016

I.    Communications
1.    Promote and encourage a collegial and supportive atmosphere for all volunteer committees and boards, ensure that their voices are heard and their work recognized. Promote and encourage supportive atmospheres with the Board of Selectmen and our Town Administrator,  Superintendent of Schools and all department heads and employees
2.    Improve the town’s web site, including putting the town budget on-line
3.    Working with the Assistant Town Administrator, explore ways to better inform town citizens on the happenings at town hall and on town-wide events, projects, plans, etc
4.    Keep the annual calendar current and on-line

II.    Planning
1.    Work towards completion of a town-wide master plan
2.    Have ongoing discussions with the Town Manager and Assistant Town Manager as to the current and future makeup of the management staff of the Town
3.    Work with all town department heads and committees to get five-year plans
4.    Develop an affordable housing plan
5.    Adopt the Green Community Act
6.    Expand solar power in the town and increase recycling rates
7.    Become a Tree City that is progressive and not in name only, adding money in the budget for tree plantings
8.    Ensure that the town continues to provide a high quality of education to its children and provides a high quality of munici pal services to its citizens in the most cost-effective manner possible.

III.    Capital Projects
1.    Provide direction as the Town moves forward with the clean-up and redevelopment of the State Hospital Grounds. Support and encourage the State Hospital Redevelopment Committee as they move forward with a plan to redevelop the site
2.    Provide support and direction to the Permanent Building Committee as they proceed with the construction of a new Public Safety Building

IV.    Finances
1.    Ensure that the annual budget process and town meeting move forward in a productive and cooperative manner that is always in the best interest of the citizens of Medfield
2.    Work to implement a three-year budget forecast, seek savings and increase revenue and work towards property tax relief for senior citizens
3.    Complete un ion contracts on time.
4.    Analyze overtime expenditures.
5.    implement a 20-year capital improvement plan

V.    Downtown
1.    Promote and encourage the development of a robust and pedestrian-friendly downtown area that will entice the public to embrace our small businesses and help them to grow and thrive
I.    Work with the Chief of police on traffic and parking issues
2.    Support, plan and follow-up on the recommendations from the Downtown Summit and from the Downtown Vision and Action Plan
3.    Complete Straw Hat Park
4.    Open dialog on Design Review and  Sidewalk Master Plan

Community Compact

community compart-2

The Baker Polito administration initiated the Community Compact  to provide state assistance to towns.  Medfield has now applied to be a member, and specified the three areas with which Medfield wants state assistance:

  • capital planning
  • transperancy
  • citizen engagement

This was the state response today to Medfield’s application to join –


Dear Kristine Trierweiler,

Thank you for completing the Community Compact application for Medfield. Your application is now with the Division of Local Services for review.

According to your submission the Best Practices you will commit to are:

Best Practice #1 –  Financial Management

Capital Planning // Best Practice: Funding capital needs on a regular basis is critical to maintaining publicly-owned assets and delivering services effectively. The community develops and documents a multi-year capital plan that reflects a community’s needs, is reviewed annually and fits within a financing plan that reflects the community’s ability to pay.

Best Practice #2 (optional) –  Information Technology

Transparency // Best Practice: There is a documented open data strategy including timelines for making municipal spending and budget information accessible from the city or town website in a machine readable and graphical format.

Best Practice #3 (optional) –  Information Technology

Citizen Engagement // Best Practice: There is a documented citizen engagement strategy for deployment of technology solutions, including a public communication strategy and a professional development strategy to ensure that internal resources can effectively engage with users via technology.

As part of the review process, the Division of Local Services may be contacting Kristine Trierweiler with follow-up questions.  Once the review of your application is complete and the best practice area(s) are agreed upon, I will be in touch regarding the signing of the Compact. We are looking forward to working with your community as you continue to strive toward excellence!

Sincerely,

Sean Cronin
Senior Deputy Commissioner of Local Services
Division of Local Services

MSH committee update – opening & survey results

Medfield State Hospital Master Plan Committee Update

Please Join Us For The

Opening of the Medfield Charles River Gateway
Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

Friday, October 30, 2015 at 10:30 a.m.
At the former Medfield State Hospital
Enter on Hospital Road via Harding Street
Please join Division of Capital Asset Maintenance and Management, Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Town of Medfield, Sen. James Timilty, Rep. Denise C. Garlick, Charles River Watershed Association and The Trustees of Reservations as we celebrate the largest restoration project in the Charles River Watershed, protecting drinking water, creating trails and a canoe/kayak launch, and restoring floodplain and acres of wildlife habitat along the iconic Charles River.

Enter off Hospital Road at the entrance by the security trailer, and follow signs into the campus to the parking lot.

Lee Chapel at MSH

Lee Chapel at MSH

20150920_MSH canoe launch

Survey #2 Results

Thank you to Pat Casey, Teresa James and Jean Mineo, with data analysis assistance from Olivia Taylor and Marykate McNeil, for their efforts in conducting and summarizing the Survey #2 data.

MSHMPC Lightning Survey #2 was conducted via Survey Monkey from July 30 – August 9, 2015. The survey received 1,084 responses.

This second survey focused on topics related to the most frequently mentioned “DREAMS” and “NIGHTMARES” from Survey #1: Open Space / Recreation and Housing. The survey was promoted through email newsletters issued by MSHVision, Park and Rec and Cultural Alliance of Medfield. A link to the survey was also listed and shared through the MSHVision Facebook page, Selectman DeSorgher and Selectman Peterson’s blogs, and shared with town officials in Dover, Sherborn, Millis, Walpole and Westwood. Flyers were posted at Zullo, Starbucks, Blue Moon, Park Street Books & Toys, the Library, and the Council on Aging. Hard copies were made available at the library and at the Council on Aging; none were completed.

Executive Summary
(note: number in parentheses correspond to answers to related questions which are on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) with 3 being neutral)

o With regard to open space and recreation, respondents:

  •  Lean slightly away from private development and operation of facilities (2.87)
  •  Believe strongly that recreational facilities should be for all ages (4.13)
  •  Support a social space for teens (3.89)
  •  Are interested in a pool (3.49)
  •  Lean toward self-funding of facilities through fees (3.21)

o With regard to housing, respondents:

  •  Have a strong desire to minimize impact on schools (4.04)
  •  Believe there should be options for families to downsize & stay in town (3.58)
  •  Lean toward providing housing for teachers and public servants and other with income below 80% of Medfield’s average income level (3.25)
  •  Lean against proactively addressing 40B (low to moderate income) requirements (2.58)
  •  Are generally against providing more rental options (2.43)
  •  Want to minimize housing footprint to allow for open space (3.78)

Full results of the survey will be available on the MSHVision.net web site.

To sign up for our weekly email blasts, get more information,or schedule a MSHMPC representative to speak with your Club or Organization please contact Sarah Raposa, Medfield Town Planner at sraposa@medfield.net

New sergeants

Lars Anderson and John Geary were just sworn in as Medfield’s newest police sergeants.

Aerials of new water tower

DCIM102GOPRO

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Alec Stevens takes pictures with a drone (click here to see all of them), and shared these of the former MSH site, showing both the new water tower and what DCAMM is calling the Medfield Charles River Gateway (the former C&D dump area along the Charles River).

Now we know that our water tower is only painted on one side – which is interesting, because I noticed that when the state repainted the old water tower about six years ago, that they repainted it both inside and out.

The Medfield Charles River Gateway is the subject of an opening celebration that has been scheduled for 10:30 AM on Friday, October 30 at the site, which will be attended by the new DCAMM Commissioner.

I am told that the former DCAMM Commissioner, Carole Cornelison, who engineered the much better clean up of the C&D area for the town on behalf of the Commonwealth is now the Commissioner for DCAM for the State of RI.

Medfield, you have a water tower

The water holding part of the new water tower at the former Medfield State Hospital site was hoisted into place today.

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Westboro surveying WSH

WSH

Medfield State Hospital and Westboro State Hospital were sold to their respective municipalities by the state as part of the same partnership program at about the same time, so it is instructive for Medfield to watch to see how the Westboro project proceeds.

Westboro got a better purchase price than we did, because its site is a great commercial site located just off Rte. 9.  Now they are spending monies for a hazardous materials survey.  We may well want that sort of data  to share with our potential developers in order to eliminate for our prospective developers one variable, so as to allow the developers to better evaluate the costs of any reuse, and thereby get us a higher return.


Posted Oct. 16, 2015 at 8:44 PM

WESTBORO – A hazardous materials survey of the Westboro State Hospital land, a new payroll software system and fire apparatus are among the 20 articles to be presented at the special town meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at the high school, 90 West Main St.

Article 6 seeks a $176,000 transfer from free cash for the survey at the Westboro State Hospital site, including $26,000 for a boundary survey. Asbestos is inside the abandoned buildings, said Town Manager James J. Malloy, and an accurate survey will provide for more complete information once the town puts the property up for sale.

See the Worcester Telegram article

MSH Vic Cevoli photo

MSH-Vic Cevoli-Detail of a fire alarm

Photo from Vic today – detail of fire alarm at Medfield State Hospital.