Category Archives: Town Services

Getting answers during storms

Posted on February 15, 2013 | Comments Off on Getting answers during storms

I had a call from someone last Saturday evening looking to get information on when their street would be plowed (it was not plowed until Sunday morning because the person who usually plows it on Saturday had to deal with a broken fire hydrant and flowing water on Hillcrest).  My caller had only called me after calling the police station.

This morning I asked Bobby Kennedy, Jr. about the best way for people to get questions answered by the DPW during a storm, and he said that during the storms that he always checks in with the police dispatcher, so the best course is to call the police station.

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Posted in Town Services

iPad to Youth Outreach

Posted on January 29, 2013 | Comments Off on iPad to Youth Outreach

I got the iPad today from Constellation Energy, that I won Friday at the Massachusetts Municipal Association’s annual meeting. I have decided to give it to the Medfield Youth Outreach office, as was suggested independently by a reader, by my wife, and by my town administrator.  Dawn and Liz do such great work, and I can see them incorporating the iPad apps into their work with the children.

I won the iPad by making a strategic play for it when I read that Constellation Energy was going to give it to one of the people who attended their lectures at 10 and 2.  How many people would bother to attend?  In fact I was only the second person at the afternoon lecture when I got there 15 minutes late for a 20 minute lecture.  I got comments and kidding  from the Berkley selectman there ahead of me, whose chances went from 100% to 50%, and  whose name was not selected from the fish bowl.

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Posted in Town Services

Discolored water

Posted on January 10, 2013 | Comments Off on Discolored water

More information on the water main break and its repair in this email –

1/10/2013 4:31PM
reverse 911 issued for discolored water
Trierweiler, Kristine
“Kristine Trierweiler”
===========================================================
Hi Everyone,

A reverse 911 was issued this afternoon as it became evident that the water break on high street was causing discoloration issues throughout the entire town. We have asked residents, if they have discolored water, to slowly turn on the cold water tap until it runs clear. We have also suggested that residents refrain from clothes laundering for 24 hours until the discoloration issue has been resolved.

Kristine Trierweiler, AICP
Assistant Town Administrator
Town of Medfield
459 Main Street
Medfield, MA 02052
(P) (508) 906-3011
(F) (508) 359-6182

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Posted in Town Services, Water & Sewer

Notice from town on water

Posted on January 10, 2013 | Comments Off on Notice from town on water

Emailed town notice about water issue –

1/10/2013 9:59AM
URGENT NOTICE FOR YOUR SITE–Water Break
===========================================================
There is a water break in the area of High Street, Granite Street, Garry Drive, Rocky Lane, Plantation Road, and Bridlefield Lane. There is currently no water service in these areas. DPW Crews are on the scene and we predict it will be a few hours before water service can be restored. We thank you for your patience while we work quickly to fix the problem.

Kristine Trierweiler, AICP
Assistant Town Administrator
Town of Medfield
459 Main Street
Medfield, MA 02052
(P) (508) 906-3011
(F) (508) 359-6182

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Posted in Town Services, Water & Sewer

Business of Medfield is homes

Posted on January 7, 2013 | 2 comments

Yesterday, on my way to Shaw’s for the weekly groceries, I made what was for me a long postponed first visit to an open house at Olde Medfield Square, and learned several surprising things.

20130107-Olde Medfield Square-picture

  • it is comprised of 42 customized and all different condo units of 2-3,000 sq. ft. each, on a total of under 7 acres, each selling for upwards of $1 m.
  • 2 school children total live in the 25-27 homes that have been sold – one of whom just moved in and the other will graduate come June (so, basically, one school child)
  • property taxes to the town will run $600,000+ per year, making it a major revenue generator, profit center for Medfield
  • no architect was used, instead Ralph Costello, the developer, Sharon Bartelloni, his Marketing Director, and their staff just work out each unit on their own, saving about $25,000 per unit per Ralph
  • they have copyrighted each design, so they can easily replicate the homes
  • they have had requests form municipal officials in other towns, asking them to replicate the whole project in their towns
  • original plans to construct four large five unit buildings along Rte. 27 were altered when they learned people preferred the detached, but closely situated units
  • this density is allowed, as of right, in our RU zone in the downtown.
  • I really like the look from having the garages in the rear
  • while the units are close together, one can see that the fenestration is planned mainly on only one side of each unit, so that adjoining units  do not have the feel of looking into one another’s homes

Lessons for Medfield:  The business of Medfield can be providing the housing that draws people to town, as it is not just the schools that draw people to town.  Given Medfeld’s distance from major highways, it will always be a hard sell to get large businesses and retail to locate in Medfield, so we cannot count on expanding our tax base in reliance on those fronts.  Therefore, the town will be better served in the long run if it actively promotes more of the type of housing, such as Olde Medfield Square, that requires few municipal services.  Such projects will balance our existing single family housing stock which attracts the high numbers of school children.

Ten years ago, as a new selectman attending a seminar on municipal issues sponsored by the Attorney General, I heard the former town planner for Lexington say that his studies in Lexington discovered that it averaged 1.5 school children per single family detached house, but only 0.15 school children per unit in attached housing.  He recommended to us was building housing to increase our tax base, but the “right” type of housing.

The Olde Medfield Square example shows us that it it not just attached units that have fewer school children, it is also the densely packed detached units without yards large enough for a swing set.  In addition to having dramatic curb appeal and providing a different housing option, these homes are a real fiscal win for the town.

2 Comments

Posted in Budgets, Development, Downtown, Planning, Town Services, Zoning

North Street water main status

Posted on December 17, 2012 | 3 comments

Mike tells me that the rains caused a pothole to form in a recently dug up area along North Street where the water main has just been replaced.  Water filling the pothole to the top, such that drivers could not see the hole.  Unfortunately, a number of cars got flats and/or damaged hitting the hole.  Fortunately for the town, the liability rests with the contractor.

The work is mostly finished now, with just a few house connections left and sidewalk clean up remaining..  I asked Mike if the roadway would be smoothed out so the town does not have to live with it in such poor shape for the whole winter, and he reported that yes it would be.  They need to let is settle and compact for a year before they do the final resurfacing.

3 Comments

Posted in Downtown, Safety, Town Services, Water & Sewer

Sandy reflections

Posted on November 1, 2012 | Comments Off on Sandy reflections

First, I was impressed by the federal responsiveness.  Mike Sullivan told me that two federal FEMA employees stopped by the town house on Tuesday to check on Medfield’s issues and needs.  The FEMA employees were from other parts of the country, but they had been pre-deployed by FEMA to Massachusetts ahead of the hurricane.

Second, I asked DPW Highway Department Foreman, Bobby Kennedy, Jr. his clean up was going when I saw him at the Building Committtee meeting yesterday morning, and he told me that they were doing well, with only three sites then without power and/or with tree and/or power line issues.  He credited a lot of the efficiency of his crews, compared to those in other towns, to the fact that Medfield has bought the DPW good equipment.  He cited the example of their being able to just pick up to haul away the trees they clear from the roadways, whereas other towns have to just push them to the side of the road to be removed later.

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Posted in Town Services

Transfer station open through Sunday

Posted on October 31, 2012 | Comments Off on Transfer station open through Sunday

From: “Donna Cimeno”
Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2012 10:14 AM
Subject: TRANSFER STATION HOURS EXTENDED

I posted on the website, but wanted you to know that we are extending the transfer station hours.

We will be open TODAY – SUNDAY  9am -4pm.

Thanks

Donna

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Posted in Recycling & Solid Waste, Town Services

Town’s Sandy planning underway

Posted on October 26, 2012 | Comments Off on Town’s Sandy planning underway

Email yesterday afternoon from Mike Sullivan –

FYI, Will forward additional information as received. Meeting tomorrow with Chiefs, Ken and Bob Maguire at 12;30 p.m. to get latest update from Taunton NOAA meteorologist and to plan for storm. Started cleaning culverts and lowering boards on dams today and getting equipment ready for use. Talked to NSTAR and they are bringing in additional crews for power restoration and clean-up. Mike

From: “Mannion, James A (CDA)”
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2012 4:53 PM
Subject: Situational Awareness Statement #4

Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency

Hurricane Sandy Situational Awareness Statement (SAS) #4

Date:  October 25, 2012

Time:  4:30 PM

Situation:

Hurricane Sandy, currently a Category 2 hurricane, is located in the Bahamas and is projected to move northward off the eastern Florida coast tomorrow into Saturday. It remains too early to determine Sandy’s precise track for early next week, but the probability of Sandy going out to sea is now very low. Current computer models are showing an increasing degree of confidence that Sandy will impact northeastern United States as a strong tropical storm, with a current projected landfall between Monday night and Tuesday morning. It is important to note that Massachusetts is still well within the margin of error for the predicted track.

 

National Weather Service now has a high degree of confidence that New England will experience significant impacts from Sandy regardless of the location of the landfall.  With landfall south of New England, Massachusetts is still likely to sustain significant impacts from this storm including damaging winds, associated power outages, and freshwater and coastal flooding.

 

A landfall in New England will bring a 3 to 5 foot storm surge to south- and east-facing coasts of Massachusetts. These storm surge totals are in additional to normal tide levels (although we are not expected to see astronomically high tides during this event). A landfall in New England will bring even greater impacts to the region, with Massachusetts potentially experiencing a historic degree of freshwater and coastal flooding, wind damage, and associated power outages.

 

Potential impacts of Sandy include:

 

High Seas: Sandy is predicted to cause unusually high seas (25 feet or greater) off the coast of New England beginning Sunday and peaking Monday and Tuesday. Seas will be dangerous and potentially life-threatening, even for large vessels.  Winds are expected to be at least gale to storm force occasional hurricane force gusts.

 

Winds: Damaging winds and associated widespread power outages lasting as long as a week are likely if Sandy makes landfall across Massachusetts. Wind damage will be exacerbated in southern New England as most trees still have foliage at this time of year. If Sandy makes landfall in or tracks near southern New England, isolated wind gusts of up to Category 2 hurricane strength (96-110mph) are possible.

 

Coastal Flooding: Both east- and south-facing coasts in southern New England have a high risk of minor to moderate coastal flooding beginning Sunday afternoon and lasting through Tuesday.  Moderate to major coastal flooding (up to 3 to 5 feet of storm surge) and significant beach erosion is possible if Sandy makes landfall in southern New England.

 

Rain/Flooding: While it is still too soon to determine where the heaviest rain focus will be, confidence is rising that southern New England will see potentially flooding rainfall from Sandy.  In a worst-case scenario, southern New England could receive as much as 7.5 to 8.5 inches of sustained rainfall, with pockets of 8.5+ inches.

 

The latest 5-day forecast map from the National Hurricane Center is included below.

 

State Actions:

MEMA is actively monitoring the storm and initiating preparedness activities. This afternoon, MEMA held a coordination meeting with state agencies. Tomorrow, MEMA will start holding daily coordination calls with local public safety officials and conducting pre-incident planning with select Emergency Support Functions.  MEMA will continue to monitor Sandy’s progress and issue additional SASs at least daily until the threat to New England has passed.

 

MEMA’s Activation Status: MEMA is currently at Level IV (Steady State).

 

Information for Local Officials:

MEMA encourages local officials to monitor Sandy’s progress and predicted track closely and undertake preparedness activities such as:

 

  • Reviewing emergency plans and procedures
  • Assessing areas that may be subject to flooding and developing plans for communicating with, and potentially evacuating people in these areas
  • Updating emergency contact lists
  • Testing communications and warning systems
  • Reviewing emergency contracts and available resource inventories
  • Testing generators and ensuring emergency fuel supplies for them
  • Assessing local emergency shelter readiness and capacity.

 

MEMA also strongly urges local officials to review their Sea, Lake, and Overland Surge from Hurricanes (SLOSH) inundation maps to pre-identify areas particularly at risk from storm surge flooding.  SLOSH maps and other hurricane preparedness resources can be found on MEMA’s website at http://www.mass.gov/eopss/home-sec-emerg-resp/plan-prep/natural-hazards/hurricanes/.  Please note that you will need to have Google Earth installed on your computer to access the online SLOSH maps that are available through MEMA’s website.

 

Hurricane Preparedness Tips for the General Public:

  • Stay informed by monitoring the storm via the media.
  • Be sure to have a well-stocked Family Disaster Kit in the event you lose power or are isolated for a number of days.
  • Clear clogged rain gutters. This storm brings the potential for torrential rain. Providing clear drainage will help prevent misdirected flooding.
  • Secure outdoor items such as lawn furniture, trash barrels, hanging plants, toys and awnings that can be broken or picked up by strong winds and potentially become a projectile.
  • Elevate articles in your basement that could be damaged from even minor flooding.
  • Keep your vehicles fully fuelled.
  • Have a certain amount of cash available.  If power is lost, ATMs may not be working.

 

Ping4alerts!:

MEMA encourages smartphone users to download the free ping4alerts! app. This app is available free of charge for iPhone and Android phones and receives severe weather alerts from the National Weather Service and emergency information from MEMA based on the user’s location.  Learn more at http://www.mass.gov/mema/mobileapp.

 

Online Resources:

For additional information and resources, visit:

Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency at www.mass.gov/mema (Hurricane preparedness tips and other preparedness information are available through the “Hurricane” link on MEMA’s homepage).

MEMA’s Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/MassachusettsEMA

MEMA Twitter: @MassEMA

Federal Emergency Management Agency at www.fema.gov

National Hurricane Center website at www.nhc.noaa.gov

National Weather Service/Taunton at www.weather.gov/boston

National Weather Service/Albany, NY at www.weather.gov/albany

Mass211 at www.mass211.org

 

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Posted in Planning, Safety, Town Services

Goals for the next year

Posted on September 27, 2012 | Comments Off on Goals for the next year

Selectmen will discuss their goals for the next year next Tuesday.  These are my suggestions.  Let me know if you have ideas for different things the Board of Selectmen and the town administrators should be working on this next year.  I just sent these to Ann and Mark and asked for copies of theirs – as I hope to get them before we meet.

2012 Goals and Objectives for the Medfield Town Administrator
and the Board of Selectmen

By Osler L. Peterson, Selectman
September 27, 2012

1.    Conduct a zero based review and revision of our town government departments and their systems to determine whether we are using best practices.
a.    Establish expectations, policies, and procedures for all town boards and departments.
b.    Evaluate staffing levels and positions.
i.    Consider hiring a Finance Director.
c.    Consider partnering with an educational institution to get interns for this task.
d.    Reconsider using the former selectmen to perform this task.
2.    Have Town Administrator institute use of annual calendar for the Board of Selectmen.
3.    Hold a Board of Selectmen joint meeting annually with all town boards and commissions to review our shared purposes and goals.
4.    Determine road repair plans, priorities, and funding – Superintendent to outline.
5.    Work with Water and Sewer Commission on its operations and its master plan.
6.    Oversee the process of dealing with the clean up and reuse of the Medfield State Hospital site.  Complete the bylaw review for issued related to the Medfield State Hospital site.
7.    Annually get written five year written plans from the Town Administrator and department heads.
8.    Work with planning board for new economic growth, on Town’s master plan, and on  downtown zoning.
9.    Develop a strategy for maintenance and renovation of all town buildings.
10.    Develop a strategy to build a new DPW Garage, Public Safety, and Community Center.
11.    Examine opportunities for additional revenue streams.
12.    Identify opportunities for regionalization of services.
13.    Target completion of union negotiations before contracts expire.
14.    Create an evergreen three-year financial forecast of the town, working with the Warrant Committee and the School Committee.
15.    Implement succession planning for key town staffing positions.
16.    Installation of solar PV arrays on town owned land.
17.    Become a Green Community.
18.    Solve the issues about the Veterans Service Officer position.
19.    Perform an analysis of whether overtime is being used the way the town wants.
20.    Maintain town’s fiscal status.
21.    Plant street trees.
22.    Develop a historic house walking tour.

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Posted in Charter & Bylaw Review, Development, Downtown, Employees, Planning, Select Board matters, Town Services, Zoning