Welcome back to Franklin, MA. You may have been away for some, or all of the summer, or newly arrived. This recaps what you might have missed during the summer and what might be on the agenda for the remainder of the year.
Week of July 14
The only meeting broadcast or recorded by Franklin TV was the Conservation Commission - July 10, 2025
Franklin TV video -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuhuJNjwcrk
The Memorial Day breakfast was published to YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04CztHlxZKE
The Memorial Day parade and ceremonies was published to YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79er1B_Cpd0
And from the archives of Franklin TV, the video of Poetry Day at the Senior Center held Oct 25, 2017 was published to YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4LPTfBJ_vk
Week of July 21
The Economic Development Subcommittee met on Wednesday, July 16, 2025 in the 3rd Floor Training room. 3 members were present and participated in the first agenda item. Once that was complete, the 4th member, Cobi Frongillo joined them for the remainder of the session. He had recused himself from the Crossing Neighborhood District discussion to avoid a conflict of interest. His father's business is located in that potential district. Franklin TV video replay is available -> https://www.youtube.com/live/6hKdQIw9rpQ
Franklin Matters recap -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/07/economic-development-subcmte-spends-3.html
Two musical performances were recorded at the Franklin TV Studio and now available for replay via YouTube:
Week of July 28
The major meeting of the week was the single July meeting for the Town Council. It was a lengthy one consuming almost 5 hours. The recap, video and audio of the meeting is available.
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/07/town-council-spends-almost-5-hours_26.html
The Town Council Quarterbacking session for the July meeting is available
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/07/4-hour-plus-town-council-meeting-try.html
There are two worthy interviews to share:
Chris Flynn talks about his Horace Mann project. He has developed a script for a 4-part video series on the life of Horace that he is ready to film and is looking for actors to fulfill the roles in Horace's life. Listen here -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/07/actor-chris-could-use-your-help-in-this.html
Amy Adams talks about her "Healing with HeART" projects, the newest of them opens on the Natick Town Common. She creates a "wind phone" following the lead of a Japanese gentleman initially although there are hundreds if not thousands of "wind phones" around the world. Listen here -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/07/amy-adams-talks-about-wind-phone.html
Week of August 4
The Planning Board met on Monday, July 28, 2025. The Franklin TV video is available for replay -> https://www.youtube.com/live/esjFezYI2ls
The Zoning Board of Appeals met on Thursday, July 31, 2025. The Franklin TV video is available for replay -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aomZAxoWXRw
Franklin artist Amy Adams revealed her ‘wind phone’ in Natick on Sunday, the video of her remarks is available -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXkf_qo7Tiw&
Week of August 11
The Police Station Building Committee met on Wednesday, August 6 at 5 PM to tour the existing station facility. Additional opportunities for the community will be announced for Sept/Oct time frames. There is also work underway to create a video walk through of the facility for those who might not be able to participate in person. A recap of the tour is found https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/08/police-station-building-committee-tours.html
The Commission on Disability met on Thursday, August 7 beginning at 4 PM. Mary O'Neill, was taken by surprise with the gathering of more than the Commission members and with the presentations of proclamations by State Rep Jeff Roy and Town Administrator Jamie Hellen. Among the many things Mary is known for it is her inspiration and persistence that produced the "Kindness Matters" signs seen around town. A recap of the meeting including some photos https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/08/mary-oneill-and-randy-jay-surprised.html
The Conservation Commission met on Thursday, August 7. The Franklin TV video is available for replay on YouTube -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4kHhc-j_KE
Week of August 18
The Finance Committee met on Monday and voted to recommend Model B to the Town Council. We all should spend some time with this meeting for the 5 Year fiscal forecast. There is more discussion here. The Town Council took up the budget adjustment and also decided on Model B, but spent little or no time discussing the forecast. Franklin TV is working on producing the video of this FinCom meeting. The audio and transcript is already ready for your review https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/08/finance-committee-aug-11-2025.html
video link -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVIWsqxNQsQ
The School Committee met on Tuesday to get an update on Summer Learning and the work preparing the schools for implementing redistricting this September. You can watch or listen to the meeting. You can also get the Chalkboard Chat condensed version of the meeting in conversation with Chair Dave Callaghan
Video link -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/08/school-committee-catches-up-on-summer.html
Chalkboard Chat -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/08/dave-condenses-school-committee-meeting.html
The Town Council met on Wednesday with a full and varied agenda. The key decision aside from the Model B mentioned above, was the vote to not accept the private donation to fund the health and wellness nurse for the Senior Center. The good from the decision was the action to find a way to restore the position and to develop a Town policy for such circumstances in the future. The School has a policy the Town does not.
You can watch the video of the 3 hour session -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/08/town-council-responds-to-budget.html
You can get the condensed version in conversation with Chair Tom Mercer https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/08/town-council-chair-tom-mercer-condenses.html
Other shareworthy news of note:
The Franklin Food Pantry received a new refrigerated truck via donation from BJs and donated their existing truck to the Natick Service Council. A real helpful collaborative effort of neighbors helping neighbors https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/08/one-truck-arrives-one-truck-leaves.html
Week of August 25
The only meeting broadcast by Franklin TV in the short week of meetings was the Conservation Commission meeting on Thursday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpuG9wRB0mg
While there was only one meeting broadcast, a couple of videos ended up getting finished for publication recently.
The individual video links can be found on Franklin Matters Weekly or use the Bit.ly link to go directly to the Franklin TV All Access page -> bit.ly / FTV - AllAccess -> https://bit.ly/FTV-AllAccess
Quick highlights as we look ahead
3 tours of the current Police Station 911 Panther Way are scheduled for residents to view the existing conditions
The Biennial Election is scheduled for Nov 3, 2025. The "Election collection" will gather all the info on the issues and candidates as time marches to election day
