Lowell Mason House Becomes Town Property; DCAM Open to Selling State Hospital to Medfield

The town of Medfield received a historic gift from the Lowell Mason Foundation Tuesday after the Board of Selectmen approved the foundation's request to accept the Lowell Mason House – effectively making 59 Green St. town property.

However, the gift was simply a formality as the town is expected to lease the property back to the Lowell Mason Foundation.

"At some point, the town will venture into a lease of usually $1 per year to lease the house back to the foundation," said Town Administrator Michael Sullivan. "I would just like to thank Town Counsel [Mark Cerel] and Russ Hallisey. They worked out all the details for this."

DCAM Open to Selling State Hospital Property to Town

Selectmen chair Osler "Pete" Peterson told the board Tuesday that DCAM Commissioner Carole Cornelison expressed being open to the idea of selling the Medfield State Hospital property to the town if it was interested in buying it.

"[Town officials] met with DCAM a couple of weeks ago," Peterson said, who was present at the meeting. "The big result that came from our meeting was the commissioner said she would sell the Medfield State Hospital to the town of Medfield. So, if the town was interested, details would have to come later but the town does have an option to buy it from them."

SHERC Encourages Residents to Attend Thursday's PIP Meeting

John Thompson, chairman of the town's State Hospital Environmental Review Committee encouraged residents to attend Thursday's PIP meeting with DCAM on the second floor of Town Hall from 7 to 9 p.m. if they would like to see the hazardous waste found in the construction and demolition area of the state hospital property and along the banks of the Charles River completely removed from the site.

DCAM, according to town officials, is expected to present its plans to address the hazardous waste at Thursday's meeting. DCAM recently informed the town it would be moving forward with its plan to cap the hazardous material in place rather than fully remove it from the site.

Thompson also mentioned the town should consider doing its own testing of the property with DCAM's permission to see if it is satisfied with what the state agency tested.

"I will work with SHERC to come up with a scope to do that and present it to the selectmen," Thompson said. "If the town has an interest in buying the property from DCAM, it would be important for us to have our own independent view of the property."

Sullivan said the town has roughly $105,000 to spend on state hospital related work in town and Thompson estimated the testing he requested would cost about $30,000.

"The $105,000 should be able to cover that," Sullivan said.

Veterans' Service Agent Requests $44,659 Budget for FY13

Ron Griffin, Medfield Veterans' Service Agent presented his budget recommendation for fiscal year 2013 to the selectmen Tuesday.

"I'm requesting $44,659," Griffin said. "That budget is almost flat from last year except for some postage and one line item."

The line item, according to Griffin, is for $36,000 – a significant increase over last year, but provides the town with added benefits.

"What’s unique about this line item is if I don’t use monies, they are returned to the town," Griffin said. "All the monies are for veteran benefits and those monies are all approved by veteran services ... 75 percent of those monies come back into the town."

Griffin said Medfield has about 80 World War II veterans currently receiving veteran benefits and that he believes most veterans requiring services are already receiving them.

"Last year I was conservative [with the budget] and I ran out of money," Griffin said. "You never know who’s going to come forward. I’m predicting that most of the people who would have come forward have come forward so there will be some more but not too many more."

Selectmen Approve Insurance Advisory Committee's Recommendation

The selectmen voted to approve the Insurance Advisory Committee's recommendation to allow retirees to re-enroll in the town's health insurance program to show evidence of continuous coverage from the time of retirement.

"Everyone that retires now is under Medicare and it is a very small group of people not enrolled in the Medicare plan, including myself," Sullivan said.

Selectmen Approve Friends of the Dwight-Derby House's Request

Selectmen voted to approve the Friends of the Dwight-Derby House's request to close off the section of Frairy Street from North Street to Upham Road on Saturday, May 19 from 6 to 10 p.m. for its fundraising Gala to celebrate 15 years of saving the historic house.

Medfield Chief of Police Robert E. Meaney Jr. said there was nothing wrong with the group's request.

"The request appeared to be fine with me," Meaney said. "I talked to the Dwight-Derby folks and it seemed to be safer than alternatives as they have people going back and forth from the tent by the pond. The only [negative] would be people heading towards to _, but we can put up detour signs."

Medfield Music Association Organizing Fundraiser for MHS Jazz Band

Selectmen approved the Medfield Music Association's request to allow members of the Medfield High School Jazz and use several locations in town to play music as a fundraising event to offset costs for their trip to New York City, where the band will participate in the prestigious Ellington Festival at the Lincoln Center. The event will be held Saturday, April 7. Selectmen also approved the MMA's request to place signs to promote the event, "Jazz 'Round Town," the week prior to the event.

"The locations are pretty easy to navigate to," said Medfield resident and MMA member Chris McCue Potts. "We are looking into the gazebo, we were looking at possibly the Transfer Station. The [Police] Chief and I were talking about how to do that and if that was possible.

Potts said the fundraiser should not cause any disruptions in town.

 "We don’t think it would impede traffic at all with the locations we’ve mapped out and the number of kids participating," she said. "We also have some businesses involved who plan to host the students as well. _ and _. It’s the day before Easter so we’re hoping these places will have a lot of traffic. It’s not just about raising money but it’s also raising awareness so if people don’t have money that day they can send a check in later."

Selectman Ann Thompson and Peterson praised the fundraising concept.

"I love it," Thompson said.

Said Peterson: "Great idea."

Other Licenses and Permits Approved

The selectmen approved the following licenses and permits:

• A one-day beer and malt permit for the Questors event on Friday, May 11 at the Center at Medfield from 6 to 9 p.m.
• A one-day wine and malt permit for the Forever Home Rescue silent auction function on Friday, June 15 at the Center at Medfield from 5:30 to 10 p.m.
• The Medfield Youth Baseball and Softball parade for the Opening Day festivities on Sunday, April 29 with a rain date of May 6. Signs will be placed around town to advertise the event. 

Tuesday's meeting adjourned at 7:31 p.m. and was followed by the Warrant Committee's annual budget hearing. The Warrant Committee read aloud the 28 articles on the Town Warrant this year. Log on to Medfield Patch Thursday for more on the Warrant Committee's annual budget hearing.