A relatively quiet week ahead, let's enjoy it while it lasts

A less busy meeting week down from 14 meetings to only 5 on the calendar.

Like the humidity that seems to have gone for now, we can enjoy the lack thereof and the less busy week while they last.

The Cultural Council meets on Monday and among other things starts to discuss priorities for the next grant cycle, how would the funding be allocated?

The Design Review Commission is scheduled to meet virtually on Tuesday. Recall the hot item on the calendar was the Depot Plaza proposal which is being withdrawn and resubmitted to better align with the Planning Board timeline.

The Town Council holds their monthly office hours at the Senior Center on Thursday morning. Recall they expanded this option with a session at the Library, Saturday, August 15. They plan to add other locations and days/time of day to try and meet folks.

The 250th Celebration Events subcommittee meets on Thursday. The Horace Mann Legacy Subcommittee has a meeting scheduled for Friday afternoon to allow for participation of as many members of the committee as possible at the Farmers Market table. Stop by and find out what they are planning!

On Wednesday, the monthly Conversation and Q&A I conduct at the Senior Center comes around at 11:00 AM. You can participate in person, or remotely, I provide an update on what has happened the past month and take your questions on what is on your mind.

Also of note: 2 Fallen Hero recognitions are scheduled for 9 AM on the 20th and 22th This approx. 5 minute program will include the placing of a Memorial Wreath for the day, the playing of Taps, a salute from those present, and a reading of whatever history may be available for that veteran.  This is a way of keeping the memory of that veteran alive.

For all the meetings and cultural events, check out the calendar at Franklin.news/ where each day, that day's events are posted on the top of the page, the TV and radio schedules are on the bottom, and all the other goodness falls in-between.

Audio link - https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-1799-fm-weekly-outlook-lookback-combo-08-16-26/

*** Event & Meeting schedule (with agendas) as of Town pages 8/14/26   7:30 PM   ***

Franklin Cultural Council

Monday, August 17 Time: 7:00 PM

https://ma-franklin.civicplus.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08172026-2456 

Design Review Meeting

Tuesday, August 18 Time: 7:00 PM

https://ma-franklin.civicplus.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08182026-2461 

Town Council Monthly Office Hours

Thursday, August 20 Time: 8:30 AM

No agenda for this informal discussion

250th Anniversary Celebration Events Subcommittee Meeting

Thursday, August 20 Time: 7:00 PM

https://ma-franklin.civicplus.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08202026-2462 

ZBA Meeting - No Meeting

Thursday, August 20

Franklin Public Schools Horace Mann Legacy Subcommittee Meeting (Farmers Market)

Friday, August 21 Time: 2:00 PM

https://ma-franklin.civicplus.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08212026-2458 

—-----------

*** Looking back at the week that was ***

Town/ School meetings

The School Cmte Horace Mann Legacy Subcmte met on Mon Aug 10. The recap & exclusive audio - https://www.franklinmatters.org/2026/08/audio-recording-of-horace-mann-legacy.html 

The Planning Board met on Monday, Aug 10. YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U5X9j_ytEs 

The School Cmte Policy Subcmte met on Tuesday, Aug 11. the recap & exclusive audio is available

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2026/08/school-cmte-policy-subcommittee-reviews.html

The School Committee met on Tuesday, Aug 11

Recap and video link - https://www.franklinmatters.org/2026/08/school-committee-gets-multiple-updates.html 

Town Council met in Executive Session for 4 hours and public meeting for about 10 minutes to vote on the updated contract for the Town Administrator

The recap including audio & video links as well as links to the current and prior contract https://www.franklinmatters.org/2026/08/town-council-votes-to-approve-town_01711482811.html 

The Joint Budget Subcmte met on Thursday. The recap and video link -

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2026/08/joint-budget-subcmte-in-healthy.html 

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For all the meetings and cultural events, check out the calendar at Franklin.news/ where each day, that day's events are posted on the top of the page, the TV and radio schedules are on the bottom, and all the other goodness falls in-between.

Town calendar -> https://www.franklinma.gov/Calendar.aspx       

Community calendar -> https://bit.ly/FranklinCommunityCalendar     

Subscribe for the daily dose of information -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/p/welcome.html       

Subscribe for the weekly dose of information -> https://www.franklinmattersweekly.org/p/subscribe-for-email.html    

Middle of August and the summer might be already over (audio)

For the summer Town and School meetings, the relatively quiet short list of meeting weeks are behind us now. We are faced with a week chock full of sessions. Yup, from 4 meetings last week to 13 this week.

On Monday, the Franklin Housing Authority starts off with a session at 4:30 at Central Park Terrace.

Franklin Public School Horace Mann Legacy Subcommittee meeting at 7 PM has State Rep Jeff Roy scheduled for a visit to get an update on the work of the committee. The Planning Board also meets at the same time (this session is broadcast). Note that the Depot Plaza development proposal was withdrawn and resubmitted so that item will be on the August 24th agenda.

Closing out Monday, the 250th Anniversary Committee meets virtually to continue their planning.

On Tuesday, the Franklin School Committee Policy Subcommittee meets at 6 PM to get into a bunch of potential policies for review & revision. 

At 7 PM, the Franklin School Committee meets. Among the standard agenda items is the approval of the submission to the Town Annual Report, and a 2nd reading on the restraint policy reviewed at a prior meeting.

On Wednesday, the Charles River Pollution Control meets at 3:30. The Tri-County School Committee Nomination Committee is scheduled to meet at 5:15 to confirm an appointment to an open seat on the Committee. 

The Town Council meets at 6 PM mostly in Executive Session negotiating the Town Administrator's contract and then in public session to vote on such an agreement. 

On Thursday, the Municipal Housing Trust and Conservation Commission have regular sessions scheduled. The Joint Budget Subcommittee is also scheduled to meet either for a short session in Chambers, or a ‘normal’ session in the 3rd floor conference room. Stay tuned for an update on this.

On Saturday, the Town Council added an “Office Hours” session at the library beginning at 10 AM.

The complete agenda for each of these meetings are listed below.

For all the meetings and cultural events, check out Franklin.news/ where each day, that day's events are posted on the top of the page, the TV and radio schedules are on the bottom, and all the other goodness falls in-between.

Audio link - https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-1794-fm-weekly-outlook-lookback-combo-08-09-26/

*** Event & Meeting schedule (with agendas) as of Town pages 8/07/26   7:30 PM   ***

Franklin Housing Authority Meeting

Monday, August 10 Time: 4:30 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08102026-2437 

Franklin Public School Horace Mann Legacy Sub Committee Meeting

Monday, August 10 Time: 7:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08042026-2436 

Planning Board Meeting

Monday, August 10 Time: 7:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08102026-2438 

250th Anniversary Celebration Committee Meeting

Monday, August 10 Time: 7:30 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08102026-2439 

Franklin School Committee Policy Subcommittee Meeting

Tuesday, August 11 Time: 6:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08112026-2442 

Franklin School Committee Meeting

Tuesday, August 11 Time: 7:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08112026-2448 

Charles River Pollution Control Meeting

Wednesday, August 12 Time: 3:30 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08122026-2435 

Tri-County School Committee Nomination Committee Meeting

Wednesday, August 12 Time: 5:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08122026-2446 

Historical Commission

Wednesday, August 12 Time: 6:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08122026-2450

Town Council Meeting

Wednesday, August 12 Time: 6:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08122026-2444 

Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Meeting

Thursday, August 13 Time: 2:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08132026-2453

Joint Budget Subcommittee Meeting

Thursday, August 13 Time: 6:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08132026-2445 

Conservation Commission Meeting

Thursday, August 13 Time: 7:00 PM (3rd Fl Trng, updated 8/10)

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08132026-2452

Town Council Open Office Hours

Saturday, August 15 Time: 10:00 AM

No agenda for this open discussion session

—-----------

*** Looking back at the week that was ***

Town/ School meetings

The Economic Development Subcmte met on Tuesday, Aug 4. The recap and TV link can be found https://www.franklinmatters.org/2026/08/econommic-development-covers-variety-of.html 

The Zoning Board of Appeals met on Thursday, Aug 6. Franklin TV video can be found on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex5AJ_0B8Ik

The Commission on Disability met on Thursday at the Senior Center. The recap and audio of this meeting can be found https://www.franklinmatters.org/2026/08/audio-recording-available-for.html 

All Access Programming

A new Once Upon a Town episode on the Ray Block can be viewed on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmvrPrdW3qM 

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For all the meetings and cultural events, check out the calendar at Franklin.news/ where each day, that day's events are posted on the top of the page, the TV and radio schedules are on the bottom, and all the other goodness falls in-between.

Town calendar -> https://www.franklinma.gov/Calendar.aspx       

Community calendar -> https://bit.ly/FranklinCommunityCalendar     

Subscribe for the daily dose of information -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/p/welcome.html       

Subscribe for the weekly dose of information -> https://www.franklinmattersweekly.org/p/subscribe-for-email.html    

Another short list of meetings yet development projects are a key topic

Yet another short set of meetings on the schedule for this week, August 2 through August 8, 2026.

The Economic Development Subcommittee meeting on Tuesday reviews a plan for a Downtown study to be done with UMass Boston students along with a proposal for a revision to the Friendly 40b policy.

The Commission on Disability meets on Thursday at the Senior Center discusses multiple topics including consideration for adding a virtual option to the meetings to improve accessibility.

The Charter School Board meets to among other things set objects & goals for the Executive Director as well as the Board.

Finally, the Zoning Board of Appeals gets to take up the proposal for the 39 unit condo development on Washington St.

The complete agenda for each of these meetings are listed below.

For all the meetings and cultural events, check out Franklin.news/ where each day, that day's events are posted on the top of the page, the TV and radio schedules are on the bottom, and all the other goodness falls in-between.

Audio link - https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-1790-fm-weekly-outlook-lookback-combo-08-02-26/

*** Event & Meeting schedule (with agendas) as of Town pages 7/31/26   8:30 PM   ***

Economic Development Subcommittee Meeting

Tuesday, August 4 Time: 6:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08042026-2434 

Franklin Commission on Disability Meeting

Thursday, August 6 Time: 4:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08062026-2427 

Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public School Meeting

Thursday, August 6 Time: 7:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08062026-2431 

ZBA Meeting

Thursday, August 6 Time: 7:30 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08062026-2429 

—-----------

*** Looking back at the week that was ***

Town/ School meetings

The only meeting broadcast this week was the Conservation Commission session on Thursday - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXCJw2kre3Y 

The Planning & Community Development shared the Zoom copy of the Design Review session held July 21 which introduced the Depot Plaza project. The video is available

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2026/07/design-review-commission-meeting-july.html 

All Access Programming

Frank Falvey interviewed Norfolk County District Attorney candidate Bob Jubenville https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg8KlpKhxl0 

There is a new episode of the Aging Agenda https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXTYChTbE-c 

A new episode of Aging Boldfully 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFLTNIpNsWw 

Jason Poulos, candidate for the MA 4th District was interviewed for Franklin Matters

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2026/07/jason-poulos-explains-his-stand-on-key.html 

—-----------

For all the meetings and cultural events, check out the calendar at Franklin.news/ where each day, that day's events are posted on the top of the page, the TV and radio schedules are on the bottom, and all the other goodness falls in-between.

Town calendar -> https://www.franklinma.gov/Calendar.aspx       

Community calendar -> https://bit.ly/FranklinCommunityCalendar     

Subscribe for the daily dose of information -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/p/welcome.html       

Subscribe for the weekly dose of information -> https://www.franklinmattersweekly.org/p/subscribe-for-email.html    

Only 2 meetings this coming week gives time to discuss the new topics raised last week

This week has the shortest list of meetings this year, only 3 on the calendar with one of them canceled.

This would be a good time to get into some of the topics that arose this week that should be further discussed. 

Tuesday’s Design Review Commission got a presentation on the proposal for redevelopment of the Depot Plaza. The owner/developer is asking for 2 variances: 1 for 4 stories and 1 for a reduction in the parking requirements.

Objections have already been raised against the 4 stories and around the parking, generally from the same folks who advocated for the street scape project (which changed the look and feel of downtown) but didn’t bring in the additional economic development it hoped for. The developer has expressed willingness to work to adjust the proposal. However, the 4th story is what makes the project financially doable.  Maybe it is time to change the approach.

Wednesday’s marathon Town Council session also raised a couple of items for discussion, first up, the potential sale of some of Franklin’s excess sewer capacity. THere is a discussion around how much is excess and what the pricing should be, but there is excess, and if the sewer rate payers can get dollars back, that is a good & neighborly thing to do. More to come in September on this topic.

The 300 Fisher St superfund site is under remediation by the EPA. They are conducting the remediation with Federal funds as the current property owner is not the business that created the mess. The EPA is looking for community input on the potential reuse of the site in order to determine the next steps in remediation. Stay tuned for that opportunity reportedly coming in a couple of months.

One other topic (the audit result) should also help to put to rest the recurring comment around mismanagement of Town finances. There are always going to be differences in priorities, but the Town (yet again) is confirmed as financially in good shape. The AAA rating is a good thing. 

So what kind of Town do we want to be? Do we want good revenues to meet the service demands of the community? Our revenue options are limited so the discussion needs to happen.

For all the meetings and cultural events, check out the calendar at Franklin.news/ where each day, that day's events are posted on the top of the page, the TV and radio schedules are on the bottom, and all the other goodness falls in-between.

Audio link - https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-1783-fm-weekly-outlook-lookback-combo-07-26-26/

*** Event & Meeting schedule (with agendas) as of Town pages 7/24/26   6:00 PM   ***

Franklin Agricultural Committee Meeting

Monday, July 27 Time: 7:00 PM

https://ma-franklin.civicplus.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_07272026-2425 

Planning Board Meeting - Cancelled

Monday, July 27 Time: 7:00 PM

https://ma-franklin.civicplus.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_07272026-2415 

Conservation Commission Meeting

Thursday, July 30 Time: 7:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/620?fileID=9803 

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*** Looking back at the week that was ***

The light meeting week that was, resulted in 2 broadcasts   

Town/ School meetings

Town Council meeting TV link and recap -

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2026/07/franklin-town-council-votes-to-extend.html

Economic Development Subcmte TV link and recap - 

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2026/07/economic-development-subcommittee.html 

All Access Programming

Porchfest 2026 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlre--9Cq9Y

—-----------

For all the meetings and cultural events, check out the calendar at Franklin.news/ where each day, that day's events are posted on the top of the page, the TV and radio schedules are on the bottom, and all the other goodness falls in-between.

Town calendar -> https://www.franklinma.gov/Calendar.aspx       

Community calendar -> https://bit.ly/FranklinCommunityCalendar     

Subscribe for the daily dose of information -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/p/welcome.html       

Subscribe for the weekly dose of information -> https://www.franklinmattersweekly.org/p/subscribe-for-email.html