Franklin MAtters Weekly: Police Station

Saturday, March 1, 2025

2 Listening Sessions, Senior Center closure, Town Council Mtg; lots happening the week or March 3, 2025

Yes, there are 2 listening sessions scheduled for this week. The first on Tuesday, March 4 at the Senior Center beginning at 9:30 AM. The second in Council Chambers on Saturday, March 8 at 10:00 AM. This session is the only one enabled for remote participation.

At the Senior Center on Tuesday, March 4 and then the last one March 12 (FHS Auditorium), you need to be in the room to ask a question or make a comment. All sessions are broadcast and recorded for replay. A transcript is also made available. Oh, and breakfast is free on Tuesday at the Senior Center.

The Senior Center closes at 1 PM on the 4th and is currently scheduled to reopen on St Patrick's Day, March 17. Many events & activities have been rescheduled to other locations during the closure period. The Center is being closed for phase 1 of the repairs to fix the cold weather leak issue. Stay tuned for updates from the Senior Center on any changes to schedule during this time period.

A Community Conversation is scheduled for noon at THE BLACK BOX on Wednesday, March 5. Michael Bobbitt (Mass Cultural Council) & Emily Devlin (Art Pharmacy) are featured speakers to assist us in exploring how Art Pharmacy—a nationally recognized program—will support substance use prevention, harm reduction, treatment & recovery in our community.

Wednesday continues to be busy with both the Board of Health (at 5 PM) and Town Council (7 PM) with scheduled meetings.

The Conservation Commission is scheduled to meet on Thursday, March 6 at 7 PM

The agenda and released documents for each session are linked to in this post (or show notes)

** Town meetings scheduled for the week of March 3 to 9, 2025 **

Joint Budget Subcommittee Listening Session at the Senior Center (plus breakfast)

Tuesday, March 4, 2025, 9:30 AM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_03042025-1558

Community Conversation at THE BLACK BOX

March 5, 2025, 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM

no agenda at this time

BOARD OF HEALTH MEETINGS

March 5, 2025, 5:00 PM

no agenda at this time

Town Council Meeting

March 5, 2025, 7:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_03052025-1608

Conservation Commission Meeting

March 6, 2025, 7:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/299?fileID=4146

Joint Budget Subcommittee Listening Session - Council Chambers (& remote)

Saturday, March 8, 2025, 10:00 AM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_03082025-1557

** Looking back at the last week of February, 2025 **

Planning Board meeting on Monday got so heated, the meeting was ended. Shame on our neighbors for misbehaving in such a manner. Video link -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZAUfgAGFRk

Police Station Building Committee held its first meeting of 2025 and got an update from the full project team. Plans are underway to schedule open houses at the current station for the community to see the situation on why we need to upgrade. The Committee will also schedule some site visits to recently constructed police stations as examples of what has been done. Recap, audio & video links -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/police-station-building-commitee-gets_0807045574.html

Economic Development Subcommittee met on Wednesday and forwarded an enhancement to enable shared kitchen for operation within commercial zones. The Measure goes to the Council which will refer to the Planning Board for their review before it comes to Council for their deicsion. Recap, audio & video links -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/03/economic-development-subcmte-recommends.html

The Town Council had a short and busy session Wednesday completing work in less than an hour to enable an executive session on negotiation strategy. All the collective bargaining units are up this year (both Town and School). Recap, audio & video links -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/03/town-council-effectively-conducts.html

The Town Administrator's Adhoc Review Committee met on Thursday to discuss and get feedback from Town department managers for Jamie Hellen's review. The final version comes for the Town Council to approve at the March 5 meeting. Recap & video link -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/03/town-administrator-ad-hoc-review.html

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For all the meetings and cultural events, check out the calendars at Franklin.news where each day, that day's events on posted on the top of the page

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

Saturday, February 22, 2025

School is back, Town business returns with a full slate of meetings for week of Feb 24, 2025

Looking ahead, the Town calendar is full of meetings with the school break behind us. Many of them will be live streamed & broadcast.

Monday, we hit the ground running with the Legislative Forum hosted by the School Committee at the FHS Lecture Hall and the regular Planning Board meeting. Both are broadcast, three other meetings are not broadcast.

Tuesday, the Police Station Building Committee gets to work with the project team, architect and others in place. They'll outline the process for community engagement across the project timelone.

Wednesday, the Economic Development Subcmte and the Town Council conduct their business.

February 24, 2025

6:30 PM - Franklin School Committee Meeting (Legislative Forum @ FHS)

https://ma-franklin.civicplus.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02242025-1582

7:00 PM - Franklin Agricultural Committee (not broadcast) https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02242025-1591

7:00 PM - Library Board of Directors Meeting (not broadcast)

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/Library-Board-of-Directors-20/?#_02242025-1593

7:00 PM - Recreation Advisory Board (not broadcast)

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02242025-1535

7:00 PM - Planning Board

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02242025-1594

February 25, 2025

4:00 PM

Franklin School Committee (executive session - negotiations) (not broadcast)

7:00 PM

Design Review (not broadcast)

7 PM

Police Station Building Committee

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02252025-1601

February 26, 2025

5:45 PM

Economic Development Subcmte

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02262025-1600

7 PM

Town Council

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02262025-1602

February 27, 2025

7:00 PM

Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) - no meeting

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

The most significant meeting of the school break week was the 3rd in the series of 6 Listening Sessions hosted by the Joint Budget Subcmte. This time at the Senior Center. The recording video & audio are available. The transcript is ready so you can Watch, Listen or Read -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/watch-listen-read-joint-budget_01215382675.html

Transcripts were provided for the first 2 listening sessions

#1 - https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/watch-listen-read-joint-budget.html

#2 - https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/watch-listen-read-joint-budget_01718995583.html

Laura Doherty, Associate Director of the Franklin Food Pantry shared some insights on The Pantry's straegic plan in this audio session

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/laura-shares-insights-from-pantry.html

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For all the meetings and cultural events, check out the calendars, or visit Franklin Matters where each day, that day's events on posted on the top of the page