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 -> 

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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

• 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

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

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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

• 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, of course! Listening, Why not? Cultural events, sure! All that & more for the week of Feb 10 - 14

Budget season is just getting started and 2 key budget related meetings are up on the calendar for this week. 

• School Committee takes a vote on the recommended Superintendent's Budget at their Tues, Feb 11 session
• The 2nd of the series of Joint Budget listening sessions is scheduled for Wed, Feb 12 at the Remington-Jefferson cafetorium

Whether the weather plays havoc with either of these events, remains to be seen.

Town meetings

Mon 10

Planning Board Meeting         7:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/265?fileID=3584 

Tue 11

Franklin School Committee Policy Subcommittee Meeting         6:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02112025-1569 

Design Review Meeting             7:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/277?fileID=3598 

Franklin School Committee Meeting            7:00 PM

https://ma-franklin.civicplus.com/AgendaCenter/School-Committee-35/?#_02112025-1571 

Wed 12

Joint Budget Subcommittee Meeting            7:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02122025-1560 

Thu 13

Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Meetings            2:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02132025-1572 

Cultural District Committee Meeting            7:00 PM

No agenda at this time

Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) Meeting (No meeting scheduled)    7:30 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02132025-1538 

 

Looking back at the week that was

 

School Committee held their annual public hearing on the Superintendent’s Recommended budget for FY 2026 on Tuesday, Feb 4

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

 

Town Council meeting on Wednesday, Feb 5 approved 

• the use of 'free cash" for the capital budget
• new victualler license 
• gives final approval to sign bylaw changes & water/sewer connections for Franklin Ridge 
• witness the promotions of 2 firefighters to leadership positions
• heard the update on ambulance call volume and approved a rate increase, 2nd approval remains for a Feb meeting 

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/town-council-approves-capital-budget.html

Master Plan Update Cmte met for the final time to approve some outstanding meeting minutes on Wednesday, Feb 5

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/master-plan-update-cmte-spends-few.html

 

The Board of Health also met on Wednesday, Feb 5

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/board-of-health-designates-agent-for.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

• 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