I have not yet seen the census figures on the number of residences in town in 2020, which will be essential for determining our 40B safe harbor status.
Posted onAugust 13, 2021|Comments Off on MAPC’s Climate Resilient Land Use Website
Email from MAPC this morning –
You don’t want to miss this.
Announcing: MAPC’s Climate Resilient Land Use Website
This vast new resource has the tools your community needs to combat the growing impact of rainstorms, sea level rise, heat, and drought. It features regulatory language from MAPC municipalities and beyond, background information, and resources – on floodplain and wetlands restrictions, tree protection and water conservation, design standards, and zoning incentives. New information is being added all the time.
Does your community have regulations that should be included? Is there something you would like to see on the website? Let us know – contact Principal Environmental Planner Anne Herbst aherbst@mapc.org!
MMA Website Weekly Review A digest of all the latest updates we’ve posted this week on MMA.org.
State officials explain ARPA reporting requirements for metropolitan cities On Aug. 11 The MMA today hosted a Zoom webinar, featuring officials from the Executive Office for Administration and Finance, presenting information regarding the American Rescue Plan Act’s reporting requirements for Metropolitan Cities. … DPH launches new online Environmental Justice Tool On Aug. 12 The Massachusetts Department of Public Health Bureau of Environmental Health announced the launch of its new online Environmental Justice (EJ) Tool in late July. … Registration opens for DLS’s “What’s New in Municipal Law” seminar On Aug. 9 The Division of Local Services will offer its annual “What’s New in Municipal Law” seminar for local officials on Sept. 23 at The Lantana in Randolph and on Sept. 30 at the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House in Holyoke. …
Lunenburg, Sudbury and Wellesley police take part in empathy training program On Aug. 9 After a chance conversation between a police chief and a community member, several police departments across the state are participating in a new empathy training program adapted from a program for medical professionals. …
Newton restricts zoning for firearms businesses On Aug. 9 The city of Newton last month adopted zoning changes that limit locations and restrict operations for firearms businesses that want to open within city limits. …
In Case You Missed It
MMA relaunches MassTown Careers campaign to promote municipal jobs As we emerge from the pandemic and many people are reassessing their career paths, the MMA is relaunching its MassTown Careers campaign, an initiative aimed at attracting a new generation of workers to rewarding careers in the state’s 351 cities and towns. …
Let us know about your local news Every day across the Commonwealth, municipal leaders are figuring out ways to deliver services more efficiently, save taxpayers money, engage more citizens in the vital work of local government, or generally improve the effectiveness of the layer of government that has the most direct impact on people’s lives. …
ARPA, CARES and FEMA
Federal Funds Resource Area The MMA has gathered a wide range of resources related to the three key federal pandemic-related funding streams: ARPA, CARES and FEMA. This page will be continuously updated with all the resources local government needs to make use of these funding streams.
We’ve added 65 new listings to our municipal job board this week, including openings for Payroll Manager, Director of Public Works, Recruitment Manager, ARPA Director, Deputy Town Clerk, Town Treasurer, Staff Librarian and Planner. View these listings, and more, on our job board.
PETERSON | Law Osler “Pete” Peterson 617-969-1500 – Newton August 2021
Mental Health Support During COVID-19 COVID-19 has affected us all, both physically and mentally. Anxiety, exhaustion, frustration, and loneliness are influencing our daily lives and can be overwhelming. As the pandemic lingers, it is important to care for your mental and physical health. If you or someone you love needs mental health support during this difficult time, help is available. Check out these resources from Mental Health America, including guidance for frontline workers, wellness and coping, caregiving, parenting, marginalized communities, and more. Continue reading.
The COVID-19 pandemic upended how we shop, educate, socialize, and of course, work. And while many people were able to work from home, there are those heroes who venture out every day for their jobs, putting themselves at great risk. Some companies protected their employees … and some definitely did not. Read on for our overview of workplace safety during COVID-19 and what we might expect for an uncertain future. READ MORE BY THE NUMBERS 40% According to one study, restaurant workers saw their chances of dying during the pandemic double to 40%. READ MORE
VIDEO BOOKMARK Extreme Stress on Health Care Workers Many healthcare and frontline workers suffered from overwhelming mental stress during the pandemic. VIEW VIDEO
CORONAVIRUS OVERSIGHT The U.S. Government Accountability Office tracks the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic and more than $4.7 trillion in spending. READ MORE
Comments Off on What COVID-19 Has Taught Us About Worker Safety
If you are fully vaccinated, you can participate in many of the activities that you did before the pandemic.
To maximize protection from the Delta variant and prevent possibly spreading it to others, wear a mask indoors in public if you are in an area of substantial or high transmission.
Wearing a mask is most important if you have a weakened immune system or if, because of your age or an underlying medical condition, you are at increased risk for severe disease, or if someone in your household has a weakened immune system, is at increased risk for severe disease, or is unvaccinated. If this applies to you or your household, you might choose to wear a mask regardless of the level of transmission in your area.
You should continue to wear a mask where required by laws, rules, regulations, or local guidance.
band aid light icon If you haven’t been vaccinated yet, find a vaccine.
COVID-19 vaccines are effective at protecting you from getting sick. Based on what we know about COVID-19 vaccines, people who have been fully vaccinated can do things that they had stopped doing because of the pandemic.
These recommendations can help you make decisions about daily activities after you are fully vaccinated. They are not intended for healthcare settings.
Have You Been Fully Vaccinated?
In general, people are considered fully vaccinated: ±
2 weeks after their second dose in a 2-dose series, such as the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or
2 weeks after a single-dose vaccine, such as Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine
If you don’t meet these requirements, regardless of your age, you are NOT fully vaccinated. Keep taking all precautions until you are fully vaccinated.
If you have a condition or are taking medications that weaken your immune system, you may NOT be protected even if you are fully vaccinated. You should continue to take all precautions recommended for unvaccinated people until advised otherwise by your healthcare provider.
What You Can Do
If you’ve been fully vaccinated:
You can resume activities that you did prior to the pandemic.
To reduce the risk of being infected with the Delta variant and possibly spreading it to others, wear a mask indoors in public if you are in an area of substantial or high transmission.
You might choose to wear a mask regardless of the level of transmission if you have a weakened immune system or if, because of your age or an underlying medical condition, you are at increased risk for severe disease, or if a member of your household has a weakened immune system, is at increased risk for severe disease, or is unvaccinated.
If you travel in the United States, you do not need to get tested before or after travel or self-quarantine after travel.
You do NOT need to get tested before leaving the United States unless your destination requires it.
You still need to show a negative test result or documentation of recovery from COVID-19 before boarding an international flight to the United States.
You should still get tested 3-5 days after international travel.
You do NOT need to self-quarantine after arriving in the United States.
If you’ve been around someone who has COVID-19, you should get tested 3-5 days after your exposure, even if you don’t have symptoms. You should also wear a mask indoors in public for 14 days following exposure or until your test result is negative. You should isolate for 10 days if your test result is positive.
What You Should Keep Doing
For now, if you’ve been fully vaccinated:
You will still need to follow guidance at your workplace and local businesses.
Wearing a mask over your nose and mouth is required on planes, buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation traveling into, within, or out of the United States and while indoors at U.S. transportation hubs such as airports and stations. Travelers are not required to wear a mask in outdoor areas of a conveyance (like on open deck areas of a ferry or the uncovered top deck of a bus).
Fully vaccinated international travelers arriving in the United States are still required to get tested 3 days before travel by air into the United States (or show documentation of recovery from COVID-19 in the past 3 months) and should still get tested 3-5 days after their trip.
You should still watch out for symptoms of COVID-19, especially if you’ve been around someone who is sick. If you have symptoms of COVID-19, you should get tested and stay home and away from others. If your test is positive, isolate at home for 10 days.
People who have a condition or are taking medications that weaken the immune system, should continue to take all precautions recommended for unvaccinated people until advised otherwise by their healthcare provider.
What We Know
COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective at preventing COVID-19, including severe illness and death.
COVID-19 vaccines are effective against severe disease and death from variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 currently circulating in the United States, including the Delta variant.
Infections happen in only a small proportion of people who are fully vaccinated, even with the Delta variant. When these infections occur among vaccinated people, they tend to be mild.
If you are fully vaccinated and become infected with the Delta variant, you can spread the virus to others.
People with weakened immune systems, including people who take immunosuppressive medications, may not be protected even if fully vaccinated.
± This guidance applies to COVID-19 vaccines currently authorized for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration: Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson (J&J)/Janssen COVID-19 vaccines. This guidance can also be applied to COVID-19 vaccines that have been listed for emergency use by the World Health Organization (e.g. AstraZeneca/Oxford).
Posted onJuly 30, 2021|Comments Off on MMA Weekly Review
The email below is from the Massachusetts Municipal Association (NB – its graphics mainly did not copy -click to view in browser for those).
I attended the Massachusetts Select Board Association’s program on July 28, and afterwards suggested to our Town Administrators that Medfield should buy some of the featured Owl meeting cameras, given how impressive they are at broadcasting meetings: 360 degree view, tracks speakers when moving, and contains a contemporaneous transcript (for the hard of hearing and to solve poor quality audio).
MMA Website Weekly Review A digest of all the latest updates we’ve posted this week on MMA.org.
Gov. signs law extending voting provisions through Dec. 15 On July 29 Gov. Charlie Baker today signed a $261.6 million supplemental budget for fiscal 2021 that includes provisions to extend early voting through Dec. 15, 2021. …MMA relaunches MassTown Careers campaign to promote municipal jobs On July 25 As we emerge from the pandemic and many people are reassessing their career paths, the MMA is relaunching its MassTown Careers campaign, an initiative aimed at attracting a new generation of workers to rewarding careers in the state’s 351 cities and towns. …Select board group discusses the future of public meetings On July 28 The future of public meetings was the topic of the fourth and final webinar in the Massachusetts Select Board Association’s Leadership Conference series today. …MMA HSC discusses ARPA funding for human services On July 29 The MMA Human Services Council’s Annual Business Meeting on July 29 featured a discussion about American Rescue Plan Act funding for human services. …Management Association awards 4 Galkowski scholarships On July 25 The Massachusetts Municipal Management Association in June awarded scholarships from the Nancy Galkowski Legacy Fund to four local officials. …Maintaining HVAC systems will reduce health, equipment risks On July 28 As students return to classrooms and employees return to their offices, it’s vital that communities make sure their HVAC systems are operating efficiently and effectively. Doing so will reduce the risk of equipment failure and provide a safer, healthier environment. …In Case You Missed ItLet us know about your local news Every day across the Commonwealth, municipal leaders are figuring out ways to deliver services more efficiently, save taxpayers money, engage more citizens in the vital work of local government, or generally improve the effectiveness of the layer of government that has the most direct impact on people’s lives. …New in Advocacy
We’ve added 65 new listings to our municipal job board this week, including openings for HR Director, Network Administrator, Planner, DPW Foreman, Tourism Marketing Manager, Assistant City Clerk, Public Space Planner, Project Engineer and Assistant Accountant. View these listings, and more, on our job board.
Posted onJuly 27, 2021|Comments Off on SBC’s July Community Conversation -7PM Thursday – in person & by Zoom
From Susan Maritan –
All Invited to Community Conversation Regarding Proposed New Elementary School
Medfield residents who are interested in learning more about the proposed new elementary school for grades 4 and 5 are encouraged to attend or tune in remotely to the July Community Conversation with the School Building Committee (SBC). The presentation will be held on Thursday, July 29th at 7PM at Wheelock School or can be viewed online via Facebook Live or Zoom.
“The SBC is looking forward to connecting with the community and sharing progress to date on this important project,” said Anna Mae O’Shea Brooke, SBC member. “The key topics for this month’s discussion are the educational benefits of both the new school building and the Wheelock campus location. We will also be presenting the most recent architectural renderings of the site. This is especially exciting as the drawings bring the vision of the proposed school to life for all to see.”
“Today’s modern learning environment has evolved with regards to space planning and technology. The classroom is no longer constrained by physical boundaries and is more dynamic than our traditional view of teachers presenting a lesson in front of their students. We want to highlight some of the key features that the new school will offer not only inside the building but also how the abundance of outdoor space will create educational opportunities that were not available to our grade four and five students in the past,” continued O’Shea Brooke. “We hope residents will come and see for themselves the benefits the new school could provide to our young learners and dedicated educators.”
The SBC will also be taking questions from residents and addressing other topics such as cost planning including the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) reimbursement currently estimated at approximately $18 million, and the next steps in planning as the SBC prepares to present the final project to the community for a town wide vote this Fall.
The Community Conversation will be held at Wheelock School or can be watched remotely on Facebook Live and Zoom. Please visit the Facebook page – Elementary School Project Wheelock Campus – to watch there, or join the conversation via Zoom. Join from a PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone or Android device:
Questions for the SBC may be submitted to: NewElementarySchoolProject@gmail.com, and for more information on the Medfield Elementary School Project, please visit: tinyurl.com/mednewschool. Those interested in receiving future school project updates may enter their email addresses at the bottom of the home page.
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‘Dead something:’ Heavy rain leaves Charles River reeking of death
NATICK, Mass. —
“Love that dirty water”?
Not so much these days if you’re upwind along the Charles River in several Metrowest towns. Residents in Medfield, Dover, Sherborn and Natick say the river smells of something putrid and foul.Advertisement
“Dead something,” one resident described.
The stench accompanies dead fish and an oily sheen on the water’s surface. The Charles River Watershed Association said they think they know what’s causing it.
“The investigation is concluding that it’s probably more natural,” said Emily Norton, executive director of the Charles River Watershed Association.
The runoff from recent heavy rains has gathered pollutants such as fertilizers and oils, and that is leading to bigger problems in the river.
“In this case, it appears that the impact is such that it caused the river in that area, the Stop River, to be completely depleted of oxygen. And fish do need some level of oxygen to survive,” Norton said.
The dead fish, scientists think, is responsible for the foul odor and the oily sheen on the river is from the fish decomposing.
I started this blog to share the interesting and useful information that I saw while doing my job as a Medfield select board member. I thought that my fellow Medfield residents would also find that information interesting and useful as well. This blog is my effort to assist in creating a system to push the information out from the Town House to residents. Let me know if you have any thoughts on how it can be done better.
For information on my other job as an attorney (personal injury, civil litigation, estate planning and administration, and real estate), please feel free to contact me at 617-969-1500 or Osler.Peterson@OslerPeterson.com.
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