The tax rate hearing (Weds 12/3/25) officially tied the knot on the FY 2026 budget which means the FY 2027 budget is underway.
A full slate of meetings for this week. Respectfully, the key ones will be the School Committee on Tuesday, Finance Committee Wednesday and the Conservation Commission on Thursday.
The new School Committee gets into full gear with 2 subcommittee (Budget & Policy) meeting at 6 PM before the full committee meets at 7 PM. A first look at the budget and their capital wish list is among the items on the agenda
The Finance Committee on Wednesday gets to the deep dive on Technology (finally). This should be of real interest to the new Council members as the Technology Department services both Town and School operations. Some think because it is in the School budget it only does that. Akin to the Facilities Dept, on the Town side, the Facilities Dept provides support to both Town and School buildings in a joint and cooperative arrangement.
The Conservation Commission ended up postponing their meeting last Thursday as they were unable to address the 444 East Central proposal. The 444 project team was fully engaged with the ZBA in their session on the same evening. While the ZBA meeting started at 6, it didn’t complete until 10 PM.
Assuming that the Conservation Commission can complete what it needs to do this week; then the Zoning Board of Appeals can meet on Dec 23 to make their decision on the project approval or rejection, including a decision on however many variances are required. Then the timeline to write up the decision and to file within the legal time line (40 days after close of public hearing) should be able to be met.
You’ll have time to stop by the Senior Center on Thursday to take part in the Winter Wonderland festivities from 4:30 to 7 PM before joining the Conservation meeting.
And remember to join the Wreath of Franklin festivities all around downtown and the multiple pop up shows located at THE BLACK BOX on Saturday, Dec 13.
Audio link -> https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-1603-fm-weekly-outlook-lookback-combo-12-07-25/
*** Meeting schedule and agendas as of Town page 12/05/25, 6:30 PM ***
Housing Authority
December 8, 2025, 4:30 PM
https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_12082025-2036
Franklin School Committee - Budget Subcommittee
December 9, 2025, 6:00 PM
https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_12092025-2047
Franklin School Committee Policy Subcommittee Meeting
December 9, 2025, 6:00 PM
https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_12092025-2046
Design Review Meeting-CANCELED
December 9, 2025, 7:00 PM
Friends of the Franklin Public Library Meeting
December 9, 2025, 7:00 PM
Franklin School Committee
December 9, 2025, 7:00 PM
https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_12092025-2043
Finance Committee Meeting
December 10, 2025, 6:00 PM
https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_12102025-2039
Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Meetings (Canceled)
December 11, 2025, 2:00 PM
https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_11132025-2004
Charles River Pollution Control Meeting
December 11, 2025, 3:00 PM
https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_12112025-2040
Conservation Commission Meeting
December 11, 2025, 7:00 PM
https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/536?fileID=6995
*** Looking back at the week that was ***
The Board of Health meeting on Wednesday discussed adjustments to Franklin’s tobacco regulations to bring them up to current State standard. The vote to approve what has been discussed is scheduled for their January 2026 meeting. Exclusive recording and recap of the meeting is available at Franklin.News. https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/12/board-of-health-reviews-changes-to.html
At Wednesday’s Town Council meeting, the tax rate hearing came second on the agenda due to a disconnect between the Council agenda showing it at 7 and the public hearing announcements calling for it at 6 PM. Town Administrator Jamie Hellen walked the Council through the 5 year revenue forecast in the meantime.
The tax rate was approved as a single rate however, there is more interest this time around from the Council newbies for a split tax rate and some councilors were complaining about their lack of readiness for this discussion. Plans for a workshop and additional discussions are underway before the next tax rate hearing currently set for Dec 2, 2026.
The Conservation Commission met only briefly on Thursday as much of what they wanted to do required the 444 East Central project team which was tied up in the ZBA meeting that started earlier but continued to 10 PM before concluding. The Conservation meeting was rescheduled to Dec 11.
The Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) meeting spent most of their 4 hours reviewing the draft approval letter for the 444 East Central Project. The last part provided a recap of what was discussed in the first 2 sections of the document. There was an issue with admitting the public participants so the recap was needed to let them know what they had missed. Assuming the ConComm does complete their work at the mentioned Dec 11 meeting, then the ZBA should be inline to complete their discussion and decide at their meeting Dec 23 at 6:30 PM.
An incident report is being prepared jointly with Town Administration and Franklin TV to explain what happened to the Town Council meeting video (it was only available to cable subscribers as audio) and the snafu with the ZBA public admittance process.
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
