Saturday, November 15, 2025

Town Council selected new leadership, School Committee is up next

With the new Town Council organized around new leadership, the School Committee gets to do the same thing this week.


The School Committee welcomes 3 new members to their organizational meeting on Tuesday. They also have a workshop facilitated by the area director of the Mass Association of School Committees with lots of good info on rules, regulations and process items specific to School Committees.


The Town Council gets into their second meeting with some serious business on the agenda for their Wednesday session.  The second FY 2026 budget adjustment of approx. $280K is scheduled for discussion. An organizational change to remove the Deputy Town Administrator and replace that role with one focused on communications and returning a part-time administrative assistant provides some of the savings needed. There is an adjustment to local receipts as well as a reduction to the Tri-County school building assessment due to a lower interest rate actually achieved vs. the original forecast.


The first adjustment was made in August to account for a reduction in State local aid revealed when the State approved their budget in July with a lower amount than already included in the FY 2026 budget by the Town.


The requested rescission of the Town Council approval of the 444 East Central St development proposal is also on the agenda. 1 or 2 of the Council won’t be able to vote on this to avoid a conflict of interest as they are either direct abutters to the property or in the immediate neighborhood. 


Part of the discussion should also include consideration of all the options for what to do and what consequences might occur. If nothing is done to interfere with the due diligence process at the ZBA, and they deny the proposal, the Town is in good position as we are above the minimum 40b percent and an appeal to the State would likely not be overturned. As I understand the situation, most other options for appeal to the State could result in additional legal costs to be assumed by the Town to defend its actions.


The ZBA is scheduled to continue their due diligence at their Thursday meeting. The 250th Anniversary Celebration committee also meets for the first time Thursday.


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-1581-fm-weekly-outlook-lookback-combo-11-16-25/




*** Meeting schedule and agendas as of Town page 11/14/25, 6:00 PM   ***



Planning Board Meeting

Monday, November 17 Time: 7:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_11172025-2005 


Recreation Advisory Board Meeting

Monday, November 17 Time: 7:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_11172025-2003 


Franklin School Committee MASC Workshop

Tuesday, November 18 Time: 5:30 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_11182025-1982 


Franklin School Committee

Tuesday, November 18 Time: 7:00 PM

https://core-docs.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/4780/FPSD/6138802/SCAGENDA11-18-25.pdf 


Board of Assessors Meeting

Wednesday, November 19 Time: 4:30 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_11192025-2009 


Town Council Meeting

Wednesday, November 19 Time: 6:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_11192025-2010 


Town Council Office Hours

Thursday, November 20 Time: 8:30 AM

No agenda for this session


250th Anniversary Celebration Committee Meeting

Thursday, November 20 Time: 7:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_11202025-2007 


Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) Meeting

Thursday, November 20 Time: 7:30 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_11202025-1997 


FOFE Meeting

Friday, November 21 Time: 9:00 AM


Council on Aging Meeting

Friday, November 21 Time: 1:30 PM



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


The Town Council met for the first time since the election brought 7 new members to the table. Dellorco was voted as Chair. Grella as Vice-chair, and Cormier-Leger as Clerk. Griffith was appointed temporarily as Clerk to cover the absence of Cormier-Leger for 2 meetings. Franklin TV video is available for replay -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsYVvhWdqWs


The Conservation Commission met on Thursday as scheduled. Franklin TV video is available for replay -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojepfHYFuow


On the Franklin High School sports front, there were 3 live streamed events broadcast by Franklin TV


Volleyball on Wednesday, Nov 12 -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FLttuyC6NQ 

Girls soccer on Thursday, Nov 13 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6k4hfKdJ1w 

Football on Friday, Nov 14 ->  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGPwJa8sz_s 


On the Youth Football front, 3 teams are scheduled to play in their respective Super Bowl games this weekend. A special 3 part series provides info on the G5, G6 and G8 team success this season

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/11/the-g5-football-teams-journey-to-emass.html

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/11/the-g6-football-teams-journey-to-emass.html 

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/11/the-g8-football-teams-journey-to-emass.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 


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