Franklin MAtters Weekly: strategic plan

Saturday, May 9, 2026

The meeting outlook in less than 5 minutes for the week of May 10, 2026 (audio)

May is fully here. That means Town & School meetings galore this week.

The schedule has filled out like the tree leaves bringing green and other vibrant colors to the landscape.

Much of the agenda items cover the normal business by the various boards and committees. Of particular interest are the joint Town Council and School Committee meeting Tuesday, the regular Town Council meeting on Wednesday,, and the Economic Development Subcommittee meeting on Thursday.

The joint Council and SchCmte meeting focuses on the selection of a vendor for the strategic plan meant to guide us to an answer for how we will deal with our structural budget issues and maintain some levels of service for the community.

The School Committee separately has an agenda for their own portion of business after the joint discussion is complete.

The Council on Wednesday gets the annual update on the funding requirements and progress made for the Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB) as well as votes on the second readings for the zoning changes to the MBTA Compliance code, the Crossing Neighborhood District and an adjustment to the meeting schedule for October.

The Economic Development Subcommittee meets with the UMass Boston folks who are proposed to develop a unified plan for downtown Franklin during the Fall of 2026. As this project would be as part of the UMass Boston graduate level class work and free, an agreement on scope and approval is likely to be received. The subcommittee is also scheduled for discussion to set their goals and objectives.

If you haven’t had an opportunity to pay attention, this would be a good week to tap in as these meetings can be critical to determining the future for Franklin. And by the way, the budget hearings come up next week on May 20, May 21.

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-1744-fm-weekly-outlook-lookback-combo-05-10-26/

*** Meeting schedule and agendas as of Town pages 5/08/26, 7:30 PM ***

Housing Authority
Monday, May 11 Time: 4:30 PM
https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_05112026-2298

Planning Board Meeting
Monday, May 11 Time: 7:00 PM
https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_05112026-2301

Norfolk County Regional Emergency Planning Committee Meeting
Tuesday, May 12 Time: 10:30 AM
https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_05122026-2292

Franklin School Committee - Policy Subcommittee Meeting
Tuesday, May 12 Time: 6:00 PM
https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_05122026-2303

Communications Subcommittee Meeting
Tuesday, May 12 Time: 6:00 PM
https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_05122026-2310

Friends of the Franklin Public Library Meeting
Tuesday, May 12 Time: 6:00 PM

Franklin School Committee
Tuesday, May 12 Time: 7:00 PM
https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_05122026-2307

Town Council Meeting (at School Committee)
Tuesday, May 12 Time: 7:00 PM
https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_05122026-2302

Charles River Pollution Control District
Wednesday, May 13 Time: 3:30 PM
https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_05122026-2304

Town Council Meeting
Wednesday, May 13 Time: 6:00 PM
https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_05132026-2308

Cultural District Committee Meeting
Wednesday, May 13 Time: 7:00 PM
https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_05132026-2299

Town Council Monthly Office Hours
Thursday, May 14 Time: 8:30 AM

Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Meeting
Thursday, May 14 Time: 2:00 PM
Agenda not available at this time

Economic Development Subcommittee Meeting
Thursday, May 14 Time: 6:00 PM
https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_05142026-2311

ZBA Meeting
Thursday, May 14 Time: 7:30 PM
https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_05142026-2280

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

Town/ School meetings

The Conservation Commission meeting on 5/07/26 was broadcast. https://www.youtube.com/live/lYkjAxgs5tI?

FHS live streaming

Girls lacrosse on 5/04/26. https://www.youtube.com/live/dYG0ucymU9c
Girls softball on 5/04/26. https://www.youtube.com/live/ARr-g_VNQms
Spring jazz 5/05/26. https://www.youtube.com/live/AolLT1skR4I
Boy lacrosse on 5/06/26. https://www.youtube.com/live/e_rZwZwr_Cw
Baseball on 5/08/26. https://www.youtube.com/live/bM5-gVXO9C0

Podcast episodes released

Favorite poem reading at Library in April https://www.franklinmatters.org/2026/05/you-can-listen-to-poetry-conversation.html
Board of Heath audio exclusive of their meeting 5/06/26 https://www.franklinmatters.org/2026/05/franklin-board-of-health-votes-to.html
Talking with Amy Adams about the wind phone https://www.franklinmatters.org/2026/05/talking-with-amy-adams-about-wind-phone.html

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

Saturday, February 14, 2026

School vacation brings a light meeting week (audio)

School vacation is here and thereby a very light meeting week.

Hopefully, the time away will help to settle some things for folks. I had a great deal of hope coming out of the School Committee meeting Tuesday. Many Councilors were viewing the meeting in the Zoom session, one actively participated asking several clarification questions. All that is goodness.

Given the Council had previously seemed to come to consensus on the need for a strategic plan, we could be on the right road. The strategic plan will take some work to put into place and it needs to start with appropriately funding and staffing the Town Administrator’s office. Without resources there, other normal work will be delayed at best or not happen, key among them is that the Town Council subcommittees won’t be able to meet without additional resources.

Unfortunately, Wednesday night saw some of that hope dissipate during the Town Council meeting which discussed the 5 year fiscal forecast and the Capital budget. The discussion on the forecast revealed issues with how to handle the proposed FY 2027 budget. The Capital plan which had already been approved by the Finance Committee saw some heated words expressed by multiple parties.

The prioritization of $100K for chromebook replacements over $75k for camera and related server replacements was not accepted by some. Ultimately, the vote to take out the $100K failed and the vote to add the 75K passed. So much time spent over so little money in the scheme of the $1.8 Million capital authorization was truly making “a mountain out of a mole hill.“

The major concern is still with the lack of trust in accepting recommendations made by the people who are charged with the daily operations and who should know better. The Council position of oversight provides them with opportunity to question and to vet proposals but the nature of the challenge became more than it should have.

Hence, hopefully, the time away for school vacation (no School or Town Council meetings this week) will enable a reconciliation and a return to the hopeful progress that does need to be made to solve our structural deficit. Angry words create problems, they do not resolve them.

WE can only solve our problem with thoughtful civil discourse. The conversations will be difficult but the capability to come up with reasonable solutions is with us.

Audio link - https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-1659-fm-weekly-outlook-lookback-combo-02-15-26/

*** Meeting schedule and agendas as of Town page 2/13/26, 7:00 PM ***

Charles River Pollution Control Meeting

Tuesday, February 17 Time: 4:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02172026-2134

Design Review Meeting

Tuesday, February 17 Time: 7:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02172026-2139

Town Council Monthly Office Hours

Thursday, February 19 Time: 8:30 AM

No agenda for this informal discussion

ZBA Meeting

Thursday, February 19 Time: 7:30 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02192026-2113

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

A full week of Town/School meetings occurred with something every night of the week

Monday, Feb 9 - The Community Relations subcommittee of the School Committee met. The exclusive audio is available

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2026/02/community-relations-subcommittee-20926.html

Monday, Feb 9 - The Planning Board meeting. The Franklin TV video link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMTWLdaCHic

Tuesday, Feb 10 - The School Committee met at 6 PM to provide enough time for their public hearing on their FY 2027 budget. The recap and video of the session can be found

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2026/02/school-committee-hear-details-on-level.html

Wednesday, Feb 11 - The Town Council also started at 6 PM with a time limit of 4 hours for this their first session in the new arrangement, and they needed to vote to extend the meeting in order to complete it. The Council got a preview of the updated 5 year fiscal forecast and ultimately approved the first pass on the Capital budget. The recap and video is available

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2026/02/town-council-adds-to-tier-1-capital.html

Thursday, Feb 12 - The Conservation Commission. The Franklin TV video link -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7914hOHIlLM

On the school front