Franklin MAtters Weekly: Franklin News in 5 minutes 02/01/2026 (audio)

Yes, it is cold outside.

Inside, in the warmth of the public meeting places, volunteers will be working with the appropriate Town and School staff planning to deliver services with improvements where possible for life here in Franklin in the short term and longer term.

For example, the Franklin 250 Celebration comes along in 2028 but the planning is starting now. The budget & fundraising subcommittee is scheduled to meet Sunday evening to conduct their work.

The School Committee has added a special meeting to vote on the proposal to realign their health care costs with the Town budget line 910. This will ensure continued focus at the Town level on minimizing health care costs, won’t change the coverage provided, but will enable a better apples to apples comparison for each of the Town Department budgets. Schools were the only department to have to account for these health care costs within their own budget.

This step continues the efforts the Town started years ago with taking over the custodians, and then facilities, to enable the schools to focus on education as it is their primary mission. However much the Town does to support the Schools it all ends up getting sorted out financially with the reporting to DESE resulting in the per pupil cost and Net School Spending calculations done at the State level to ensure consistent accounting across the 351 Mass communities.

The Cultural Council and Board of Health are scheduled to meet on Wednesday respectively addressing their arenas.

The Town Council meets on Wednesday to set up goals for their term of office; what they can, should, and might be possible to accomplish this year and next. “They” doesn’t refer to the Council alone. As a policy making body, they approve of the goals and budget accordingly (we hope) but don’t do the detailed work required. That work is done by the many departments and talented personnel across the Town and Schools.

Another item on their agenda is an attempt to put a closing time on their regular meetings through a revision of their operating rules. Meeting length is generally determined by the items on the agenda. Given an inexperienced Council, meetings generally will take longer as each item is going to be their ‘first’ time around, requiring extra explanation. As their term of office progresses, the cyclical nature of their work could become more evident and hence respectfully more ‘routine’. Until then, it will take time, and forcing a closing time is ‘one’ way to address it. We’ll all see how that works.

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-1646-fm-weekly-outlook-lookback-combo-02-01-26/

*** Meeting schedule and agendas as of Town page 1/30/26, 5:30 PM ***

250th Anniversary Celebration Budget and Fundraising Subcommittee Meeting

Sunday, February 1 Time: 7:30 PM

https://ma-franklin.civicplus.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02012026-2114

Franklin School Committee- Special Meeting

Tuesday, February 3 Time: 6:00 PM

https://ma-franklin.civicplus.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02032026-2116

Board of Health Meeting

Wednesday, February 4 Time: 5:00 PM

https://ma-franklin.civicplus.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02042026-2115

Town Council Meeting

Wednesday, February 4 Time: 6:00 PM

https://ma-franklin.civicplus.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02042026-2120

Franklin Cultural Council Meeting

Wednesday, February 4 Time: 7:00 PM

https://ma-franklin.civicplus.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02042026-2117

Bi-County Collaborative Joint Board of Directors & Operating Comm. Mtg. (Walpole)

Thursday, February 5 Time: 9:00 AM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02052026-2122

Franklin Commission on Disability

Thursday, February 5 Time: 4:00 PM

https://ma-franklin.civicplus.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02052026-2110

Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) Meeting - NO Meeting

Thursday, February 5 Time: 7:30 PM

https://ma-franklin.civicplus.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02052026-2112

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

As a result of the major snow storm last week, schedules were changed. School cancellations happened on Monday and Tuesday. Town meetings on Monday were also canceled.

The School Committee did meet on Tuesday and got their first look at the Superintendent’s Recommended budget for FY 2027. Excluding health care, the schools come in with a 2.5% increase.

There is a proposal to move the health care costs to the Town budget item, line 910. This step continues the efforts the Town started years ago with taking over the custodians, and facilities, to enable the school to focus on education as it is their primary mission. This will also enable a better apples to apples comparison of the Town Dept budgets. Schools were the only department to have to account for these health care costs within their own budget.

Meeting recap and video -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2026/01/school-committee-get-preview-of-fy-2027.html

The Conservation Commission met on Thursday. The Franklin TV video is available for replay -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8r0Lbg2a1M

On the FHS sports live streaming front