Swap

Posted on July 24, 2018 | Comments Off on Swap

The Swap area at the transfer station gets more and more organized each year. It is looking really good this year.

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Posted in Recycling & Solid Waste, Uncategorized

State $ for town stays the same in final budget

Posted on July 20, 2018 | Comments Off on State $ for town stays the same in final budget

The final Cherry Sheet numbers for the Town of Medfield in the FY19 state budget agreed upon this week appear below.  Our state aid is up about $61K over last year, and on a percentage basis the state aid continues to decline, so more of the municipal services to residents must therefore be funded from our property taxes.

20180720-cherry sheet

 

Representative Garlick has arranged for the Town of Medfield to also get $30,000 in the state budget this year to combat suicide.

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Posted in Uncategorized

Substance abuse issue

Posted on July 18, 2018 | Comments Off on Substance abuse issue
Interesting article from a Boston Globe email today.  20%  of Massachusetts adults drink excessively, which makes it a major societal issue, as lots of societal costs result from that behavior. –

 

Perspective | Magazine

The legal drug we should be worried about isn’t marijuana

Alcohol is a far more dangerous substance. Yet the state of Massachusetts is thinking about making it easier to get.

Alcohol Silhouette Theme iStock 20crit
Richard Clark/iStock
By Gianmarco Raddi

Massachusetts recently issued its first recreational marijuana license, bringing pot more fully into the ranks of regulated substances. Bravo! Decriminalizing drugs is a tactic that has been demonstrated to reduce their harm, notably in Portugal. And legalizing pot in Colorado and other states has not led to a surge in usage and related crime — or indeed even that collective societal zombification predicted by legalization opponents. But regulation is not a panacea, as we’re seeing with a substance that’s been legal for much longer: alcohol.

Almost 1 in 5 adults in Massachusetts drinks excessively, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one of the higher rates in the United States. Consumption comes with substantial costs. For instance, the Massachusetts economy lost more than $5.6 billion in 2010, according to a 2015 study, from lost productivity, health care expenses, and other costs, including those from accidents caused by drunken driving. About 31 percent of driving deaths in the state in 2016 were alcohol-related. Nationally there are more than 88,000 alcohol-related deaths every year.

Beyond the statistics is the tragic personal impact of alcohol abuse: broken families, physical and sexual assaults, and infants born with physical abnormalities and mental disabilities when expectant mothers consume. Heavy alcohol consumption causes other serious illnesses, too. Liver disease and strokes are the two big killers, but as a medical student on rounds, I saw one patient whose drinking had caused issues leading to the removal of several abdominal organs. I was startled when that patient told me, “I would still drink if I could.” Also, people addicted to alcohol can die if they’re deprived of it, which is not the case with pot or even cocaine. Alcohol withdrawal syndrome claims the lives of between 5 and 10 percent of those who suffer from it.

Yet, we are bombarded with ads selling us on alcohol’s magical properties. Commercials seduce us with the promise that drinking will bring us happy, active social lives featuring sensual, fit men and women. Alcohol is indeed life altering; in 2010, British researchers ranked alcohol as the most harmful drug, legal or illegal, beating out heroin and crack cocaine.

The American approach to drinking is irrational, and must change. Two years ago, public health officials in the United Kingdom cut their recommended alcohol consumption limits to no more than seven 6-ounce glasses of wine or six pints of beer a week, for both men and women. A recent study by scientists at the University of Cambridge made the startling find that after five drinks a week, each one lowers life expectancy by 30 minutes. This is comparable to the life expectancy smokers are expected to lose per cigarette.

Care to guess what the recommended alcohol consumption limit is in the United States? The Department of Health and Human Services dietary guidelines allow men two drinks a day, or about 77 percent more alcohol per week than the United Kingdom does (suggested limits for US women are slightly lower than those in the UK).

From a public health perspective, the answer is crystal clear: We must immediately lower recommended drinking levels in the United States and then strive to reduce alcohol consumption. Following the model used for cigarettes, we should add strongly worded public health warnings on alcoholic beverages, ban alcohol advertisements, and decrease product visibility.

This will not be easy. The alcohol industry is a behemoth — the global alcoholic beverages market was valued at $1.34 trillion in 2015 — and is sure to fight back against attempts to enforce drinking guidelines. But we know it can be done. Tens of millions of people have quit smoking. If you are among them, never even touched a cigarette, or feel under siege for your habit, you are living proof that decades of coordinated assaults by public health experts on tobacco have worked. These efforts are estimated to have saved 8 million American lives over the last 50 years. Turning the public against the Marlboro Man shows societal attitudes toward drugs can change.

This is not a moral call, nor a cry for abstinence: The results of the American experiment with Prohibition were clear. And, drinking wine within recommended guidelines may reduce heart attack risk (sorry, beer and spirits drinkers, the same does not apply to you).

Instead of dogmatic approaches, we need a public conversation on why we drink to stupor, on the damage alcohol can cause, and on how to best regulate its consumption. All the controversy about where to let pot dispensaries open obscures the truth that we already patronize establishments dedicated to the consumption of legal narcotics: bars. Massachusetts is ridiculed for abolishing happy hour, but bringing it back would play into the hands of the liquor industry, which is known to target heavy drinkers, “super consumers” who are highly profitable for the industry. This is irresponsible if not immoral, and it ought to be illegal.

Late last year, the state’s Alcohol Task Force called for major changes in Massachusetts liquor laws, including relaxing some restrictions, which could increase drinking, while also recommending measures that will raise prices, which should lower consumption. The Legislature has since taken little action. You can help counter the power of industry lobbyists: Contact your state legislators and urge them to make sure any revisions to the law rein in cheap alcohol, help reduce binge drinking, and safeguard us from the worst effects of liquor.

Gianmarco Raddi is an MD/PHD student at the University of Cambridge and the University of California at Los Angeles. Send comments to magazine@globe.com. Get the best of the magazine’s award-winning stories and features right in your e-mail inbox every Sunday.Sign up here.

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Posted in health, MCAP - Medfeild Cares About Prevention

Energy Committee doings

Posted on July 16, 2018 | Comments Off on Energy Committee doings

MEC

Medfield Energy Committee

July 19, 2018 Agenda

Location:        Medfield Public Safety Building

Time:              7:30pm

  • Approval of June Minutes
  • Review of Streetlight project
  • Review/Update of The Green Communities Project(s) & hopefully,
  • Jerry’s final report to the Committee
  • DPW Solar Project Update
  • New Business

==============================================

Medfield Energy Committee   DRAFT

Meeting Notes for June 21, 2018

 

Attendees:  Lee Alinsky, Fred Davis, Paul Fechtelkotter, Cynthia Greene, Jerry McCarty, Marie Nolan

 

May 24, 2018 Meeting Minutes accepted.

 

Personnel announcement:

Jerry McCarty announced that he is leaving his position as Medfield Facilities Manager by Fall 2018.  He will be greatly missed by the MEC.  MEC asked Jerry to provide an Institutional Knowledge Report to the Town so that Medfield can continue his work on updating the O&M and capital budgeting plans for town facilities, as well as implementing all the facilities improvements currently being undertaken.

 

Streetlights Project

After the May MEC meeting, Jerry reported to Police Chief Meaney MEC’s recommendations on purchasing streetlights.  Jerry addressed a list of questions asked by the police chief including:

  • How do we report lights that are out? Police officer will call dispatcher and report Pole # has light out. Like they used to call Eversource, Police/Town will now call Maintenance Contractor.
  • Do we wait until several go out before getting replacements? No
  • How does one lodge complaints about lights or request additional ones? Same as today. Report to town hall offices, selectmen need to approve requests for additional lights.
  • Any liability issues? To be handled by maintenance contractor.
  • What happens if there is a downed pole? Eversource will fix pole (as they own pole) but contractor will re-install light.

 

Green Communities Update and Jerry’s Quarterly Report to DOER

MEC reviewed Jerry’s draft Green Communities Quarterly Report to DOER and made comments.  Jerry will send a copy, as amended to DOER.  This is the first report for the 2 energy conservation projects included in the grant of $146,815 from DOER awarded March 23, 2018:

1) LED interior and exterior lighting upgrades of 6 municipal buildings and

2) Blake Middle School’s Remote EMS including upgrades. (See Green Community Grant Progress and Financial Quarterly Report for the 4th Q-May June 2018 prepared June 21, 2018 by Town of Medfield Facilities).

 

MEC cannot submit an application for more grant money until the Town spends all the money from the first grant. Likely next steps are to do preliminary design work for replacement of the Domestic Hot Water (DHW) at Blake Middle School and upgrade the HS software.  MEC can ask for grant monies for a final design, selection of water heater and installation.  (Table 4 cost estimate in the Town’s Green Communities 5 yr Plan may be low as it does not include asbestos removal.)

 

Jerry may ask Rise Engineering to contact DOER to find out what we need to do in order to be able to get funding for upgrading of ? BIM software at the High School.

 

It was thought that a Press Release should be issued by MEC to inform the Town on the progress of the initiatives funded by the grant monies.

 

Next Steps:

Implement the contracts, hold kick-off meetings with contractors.

Rise ordered all the materials for the lighting upgrades.

Rise will do a final Commissioning Report in October 2018 that includes all the savings.

Retro-commissioning will be done in September/October 2018.

Town has a service maintenance contract with Trane.  Trane will conduct training sessions for employees, usually one for the heating season and one for the cooling season. MEC would like to be notified when these sessions are to occur and possibly attend.

 

DPW Solar Project

No progress to date. The Town did not send out request for bids.

 

Review/add/amend draft of Board/Committee Structure Policy Document

The draft is being amended and will be sent around to committee members for final comment and review.

 

Next meeting – July 19, 2018.  August meeting TBD.

 

Meeting adjourned at 9:00 pm.

 

Notes respectfully submitted by

 

Marie Nolan

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Posted in Energy Committee

BoS on 7/17

Posted on July 13, 2018 | Comments Off on BoS on 7/17

Agenda for the Board of Selectmen meeting on July 17, 2018, and ancillary materials:

Contract_Medfield_Goods and Services 2018_Weston and Sampson_ WWTP_DPW2018_03

Letter Agreement 06072018

Meeting Notice Agenda 07172018

Regulatory Draft Hillside Village Signature

TOWN OF MEDFIELD POSTED: MEETING TOWN CLERK NOTICE POSTED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF M.G.L. CHAPTER 39 SECTION 23A AS AMENDED. Board of Selectmen Board or Committee PLACE OF MEETING DAY, DATE, AND TIME Town Hall, Warrant Committee Room Tuesday, July 17, 2018 6:30PM Town Hall, Chenery Meeting Room, 2nd Floor Tuesday, July 17, 2018 7:00PM 6:30PM EXECUTIVE SESSION Potential Appeal of DEP Superseding Order of Conditions for LCB Project 7:00PM Regular Meeting Announcement Disclosure of Video Recording Moment of appreciation for our Troops serving in the Middle East and around the world. Citizen Comment Discussion Items Annual Appointments Financial Policy Town Administrator Search Process Board of Selectmen Goals Medfield State Hospital Action Items Maurice Goulet requests the Board of Selectmen sign the contract for $44,975 with Weston and Sampson for a Phosphorous Study for the WWTP to comply with the DEP Administrative Consent Order. Attorney Matthew Borelli requests the Board of Selectmen sign the Regulatory Agreement for Local Initiative Project, Hillside Meadows, located at 80 North Meadows Road Police Chief Robert Meaney requests Chairman to sign Civil Service Appointee List Edward and Madeline Rodriguez request a rescheduling of the Dangerous Dog Hearing scheduled for July 31, 2018. Licenses and Permits (Consent Agenda) Minutes January 30, 2018 February 6, 2018 March 6, 2018 March 27, 2019 April 3, 2018 April 10, 2018 Town Administrator Update Selectmen Reports Informational Letter from Lowell Joerg, postcard of the Medfield Town Hall20180717-agenda_Page_2

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Posted in Select Board matters

PHONE ISSUE AT PARK & REC

Posted on July 10, 2018 | Comments Off on PHONE ISSUE AT PARK & REC

This email this morning from the Medfield Park & Recreation Commission –

MPR

Good morning,

Please note that the voicemail system with the Park & Recreation office is not functioning correctly. We cannot retrieve any voicemail messages at this time.

If you call the office and are sent to voicemail, please do not leave a message. Instead, please simply reply to this email with your question, comment or concern. We will gladly follow up with you with either a phone call or email response.

Once we are able to fix the situation, we will let you know.

We are sorry for any inconvenience. If you have left a message in the past week and did not receive a response, please reply to this email for a response.

If you need to reach Director Kevin Ryder directly, please email him at kryder@medfield.net.

Thank you.

Medfield Parks & Recreation Department

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Posted in Medfield Park & Recreation Commission

QR signs are up and running on Medfield’s historic buildings

Posted on July 9, 2018 | 1 comment

This is a really cool and a really useful Eagle Scout project by Caillian Sheehy.  Given our critical mass of historic houses in town, Medfield has an opportunity to be a destination for those interested in things historic.  We just need a good “Medfield Trail” for visitors to follow, and now we have a good start on that history trail.

The material below was an email from David Temple of the Medfield Historical Society.  I believe that the Medfield Historical Society funded Caillan’s project.

Dwight-Derby House-3

QR signs are up and running on Medfield’s historic buildings

For his Eagle Scout project, Caillian Sheehy created signs (using the library’s 3D printer) with QR codes on the Peak House, the Dwight-Derby House, the old meetinghouse, the grist mill, the Baptist church, the historical society, Vine Lake cemetery, and the Inness studio.

 

When you go to any of these historic sites, get out your smart phone and use it to read the QR code.  (If you don’t already have one, free downloadable QR code reader apps are widely available.) You’ll be led to the historical society web site, with more information about each historical site, and you can play the one-minute audio intro that Caillian recorded for each site.

 

When Caillian first approached me, I thought it was a great idea – why didn’t we think of this before? But Caillian had the idea and made it happen. Bravo, Caillian!

 

In your reply, please include my original message.

David F. Temple
President, Medfield Historical Society

Co-chair, Medfield Historical Commission

1 Comment

Posted in History, Teens, Trails

BoS hears MSH master plan on 7/10

Posted on July 7, 2018 | Comments Off on BoS hears MSH master plan on 7/10

The Board of Selectmen meeting on Tuesday July 10, 2018 is all about the plans for the former Medfield State Hospital site.

The Medfield State Hospital Master Planning Committee will present its master plan (now 200 pages, down from 500 pages).  I have been asked by the MSHMPC to not share its master plan yet.  I expect I can share it after our meeting on Tuesday, and will plan to do so.

20180712-agenda

20180712-Agenda Materials

TOWN OF MEDFIELD POSTED: MEETING TOWN CLERK NOTICE POSTED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF M.G.L. CHAPTER 39 SECTION 23A AS AMENDED. Board of Selectmen Board or Committee PLACE OF MEETING DAY, DATE, AND TIME Town Hall, Chenery Meeting Room 2nd floor Tuesday, July 10, 2018 7:00PM Announcement Disclosure of Video Recording Moment of appreciation for our Troops serving in the Middle East and around the world. Appointments 7:00 Jean Mineo requests the Board of Selectmen sign letters of support for the following grants for cultural development at Medfield State Hospital: Mass Development Grant National Endowment Grant Jean Mineo requests the Board of Selectmen sign proposal for Architectural Existing Conditions Survey 7:15 Medfield State Hospital Master Planning Committee Review of Final Master Plan for MSH Campus Discussion of Next Steps Plan for Special Town Meeting Citizen Comment Action Items Maurice Goulet requests the Board of Selectmen sign the contract award for FY19 DPW Supplies and authorize Maurice Goulet to sign the contracts from SERSG when finalized. Maurice Goulet requests the Board of Selectmen sign the Philip Street Bridge Reimbursement Attorney Marty Murphy request the Board of Selectmen sign the Regulatory Agreement for Local Initiative Project at 71 North Street Sarah Raposa, Town Planner, requests Board of Selectmen vote to authorize the Chairman to sign the ANR Plan for Hinkley Property Edward and Madeline Rodriguez request a rescheduling of the Dangerous Dog Hearing scheduled for July 31, 2018. Discussion of Water Ban Discussion Pending Items Annual Appointments (Scheduled for 7/17) Financial Policy (Scheduled for 7/17) Minutes (Scheduled for 7/17) Licenses and Permits (Consent Agenda) Mr. Higgins requests permission on behalf of Medfield Youth Basketball to place sandwich board signs at the usual locations in August Town Administrator Update Selectmen Reports Informational  Kleinfelder notification of Submittal of Phase II Comprehensive Site Assessment, Phase III Remedial Action Plan, and Phase IV Remedy Implementation Plan for Cumberland Farms, 560 Main Street.  DHCD notification of Certification of Housing Production Plan  Notice from the Department of the Interior PILT program payment of $1,256.  Notice from DHCD regarding 67 North Street Certified Cost and Income Statement  Letter of resignation from Doug Boyer, ZBA Member  ConCom Notice of Compliance for Homestead Drive and Lawrence Circle20180712-agenda_Page_2

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Posted in Development, Medfield State Hospital, Planning, Select Board matters

AG approved ATM bylaw changes today

Posted on July 6, 2018 | Comments Off on AG approved ATM bylaw changes today

The following is from Carol Mayer, Town Clerk –

 town seal

           TOWN OF MEDFIELD

                                                    Office of

                                        TOWN CLERK

                                 Carol A. Mayer, CMMC

                                                    459 Main St

                                       Medfield, Massachusetts 02052

 (508)-906-3024

Fax: (508) 359-6182

Email: cmayer@medfield.net

 

LEGAL NOTICE

 

In accordance with Massachusetts General Law Chapter 40 Section 32,   Notice is hereby given that Articles 28, 37, 38, 39, 40 and 41 voted at the Annual Town Meeting held April 30, 2018 have been approved by the Attorney General on July 6, 2018 and are available for public inspection in the Office of the Town Clerk. 

 

Article 28:  Amend Bylaws Ch. 170 Licenses and Permits, Section 170-1

 

Article 37:  Amend Bylaws to establish formally and to define the composition and duties of the Permanent Planing and Building Committee

 

Article 38:  Amend Bylaws, chapter 100 Animals, Article II Dog Control

 

Article 39:  Amend Town Bylaws to authorize Water & Sewerage Board to adopt regulations and enforcement procedures

 

Article 40:  Amend zoning Bylaws to allow granting of waivers for landscaping requirements in certain zoning district

 

Article 41:  Amend Zoning Bylaws to create new special permit criteria for multi-family dwelling developments

 

Copies of the above amendments may be examined and obtained at the Office of the Town Clerk.

 

Carol Mayer

Medfield Town Clerk

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Posted in State

MCSP website

Posted on July 5, 2018 | Comments Off on MCSP website

The Medfield Coalition for Suicide Prevention (MCSP) has a website, medfieldcsp.org.

The website is thanks Chloe Dudley, a Medfield High School student, and her teacher, Neal Sonnenberg, in the Tech Help Desk class for creating the website.

Photos on the website are courtesy of Colleen Sullivan. ​

Screenshot-2018-7-5 Medfield Coalition for Suicide Prevention

 

 

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Posted in MCSP - Medfield Coalition for Suicide Prevention