School break, check. Time to listen, yup !! What's up for the week of Feb 17 - 21

2 public meetings on the Town/School calendar for this week. One of which is directly budget related, that being the Joint Budget Listening Session on Wednesday, Feb 19, 2025. The other being the Conservation Commission meeting scheduled for Thursday, Feb 20.

Yes, there is also a Town official breakfast/coffee hour at the Senior Center Thursday morning at 8:30 AM. Good breakfast at a great price and the opportunity to talk about Franklin with the Town officials gathered there.

Oh, and a slight personal plug, there is a Franklin Q&A session also scheduled for the Senior Center (or remotely) on Wednesday, Feb 19 at 11:00 AM. A quick recap of what has happened in the past month, and then we discuss your questions. If I don't have the answers, I get them. We finish by noon so you can grab a decent lunch at the Senior Center cafeteria (yes, at a great price).

Franklin Q&A

11:00 AM at the Senior Center (or via remote)

Get on the email list for remote access info ->    https://forms.gle/Nh8RxkMtG1J1DGwj9

Joint Budget Subcommittee Meeting (3rd session of 6 scheduled)

Wednesday, February 19, 2025   7:00 PM at the Senior Center

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02192025-1559 

Town officials Office hours

8:30 AM at the Senior Center 

Conservation Commission Meeting

February 20, 2025, 7:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02202025-1589

Looking back at the week that was

Tuesday, Feb 11 = Franklin School Committee hears concerns from teachers before vote to approve FY 2026 budget (audio)

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/franklin-school-committee-hears_01287051187.html

Wed, Feb 12 = 2nd Joint Budget Listening Sessions gets more questions & answers (video)

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/2nd-joint-budget-listening-sessions.html

Jamie leads the group on 5 hot topics in this "Talk Franklin" episode (audio)  https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/jamie-leads-group-on-5-hot-topics-in.html

Glenn Jones shares lessons learned from the Master Plan process (audio)

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/glenn-jones-shares-lessons-learned-from.html

This Chalkboard Chat session condenses the School Cmte Mtg of Feb 11 (audio)  https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/this-chalkboard-chat-condenses-school.html

--------------

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

• 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

Budget, budget, budget - oh, and the 'Master Plan' are key topics for the week beginning January 27

Looking ahead to the week beginning January 27, 2025

Yes, the FY 2026 budget and "Master Plan" takes center stage this week. 

Monday begins with a couple of key sessions: 

• School Committee Chair Dave Callaghan amd Vice Chair David McNeill hold a "State of the Schools" session at the Franklin TV studio at 7 PM. https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/01/reminder-state-of-franklin-schools-jan.html
• The Master Plan Update committee mets at 6:00 PM to finalize their doc and presentation of the "Master Plan" to the Planning Board meeting at 7 PM the same night.  https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_01272025-1476

The School District brings the "Superintendent Recommended Budget" forward at the School Committee meeting on Tuesday, Jan 28.  https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/01/franklin-ma-school-committee-agenda-for_01254023424.html

The Town Council Capital Budget subcommittee gets their view on the capital budget approved last week by the Finance Committee  https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/01/franklin-ma-capital-budget-subcommittee.html

The first of six Listening Sessions begins Thursday, January 30 at the Elks Lodge. https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/01/all-of-us-are-worthy-of-welcome-video.html

Note: only the March 8 session at the Council Chambers is scheduled to enable remote participation. All six sessions will be broadcast to Comcast, Verizon, & YouTube. 

ONLY, the March 8 session will include Zoom to enable a question or comment. If you want to ask a question, make a comment, or suggestion, you need to be there for the other 5 sessions.

https://www.franklinma.gov/Calendar.aspx

Looking back at the week that was 

(January 20 - 26, 2025)

The Town of Franklin updated its webpage (breaking all prior links). If you set up an account, you can enable more notifications for specific topics (i.e meeting agendas, etc.) than previously. I did so and they are working well.

The School Committe and the Town Council both met at the same time on Wednesday, Jan 22. While Chris broadcast and recorded the Council meeting, I was upstairs in the training room recording the audio for the School's budget workshop. 

School Committee budget workshop recap & audio (exclusive) ->   https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/01/school-committee-gets-preview-in.html

Town Council Quarterbacking session condenses the meeting ->   https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/01/tom-mercer-condenses-jan-22-2025-town.html

Town Council video & audio links ->  https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/01/town-council-meeting-of-jan-22-2025.html

Budget, budget, budget - oh, and the 'Master Plan' are key topics for the week beginning January 27

--------------

For all the meetings and cultural eventss, check out the calendars, or visit Franklin Matters 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

Happy New Year Franklin, MA - What's happening this week ?? Dec 30, 2024 to Jan 5, 2025

• No school until Thursday, Jan 2
• very limited Town meetings
• lots of closures for the holiday period
• trash and recycle pickup delays one day from regular schedule for the holiday, etc.

Check out the Noon Year's Eve Party at Franklin Public Library for families and young at heart on Tuesday, Dec 31. Fun things to do and then the balloon drop happens at noon time for yes, noon year's eve.  The Library closes at 2 for the holiday

Take in the Polar Plunge on New Year's Day. 10 AM at Beaver Pond. The weather seems to be forecast to be rather warm for this time of year so it might be a good intro to this event.

Electric Youth 2025 give their debut concert on Friday, Jan 3 at THE BLACK BOX. Tickets are on sale (this usually sells out). https://theblackboxonline.com/

Looking BACK

The last 2 significant meetings were the Town Council on Dec 18 and the Joint Budget Subcommittee on Dec 17.

The Recap (including links to the audio & video for each)  

Town Council on Dec 18

• https://www.franklinmatters.org/2024/12/town-council-recognizes-youth-football_23.html

Joint Budget Subcommittee on Dec 17

• https://www.franklinmatters.org/2024/12/joint-budget-gets-updates-sets_20.html

Check out the meeting archives for other meetings during 2024 (all the way back to 2008)  https://www.franklinmatters.org/p/meeting-notes.html

** Check the Community Calendar for updates ->      https://bit.ly/FranklinCommunityCalendar

Happy New Year Franklin, MA - What's happening this week ??