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| Franklin Police with a New Year reminder (or two) |
"Good morning,I wanted to provide an update on the power outage situation from overnight into this morning.I did not want to send emails throughout the night; however, please be assured that we were actively monitoring conditions and remained in close contact with National Grid throughout the event.As of approximately 4:30 AM, there were about 1,600 households without power. By 6:30 AM this morning, that number had been reduced to approximately 600 locations still without power. National Grid continues to work on restoring service to the remaining customers.I hope these updates have been helpful to you as you field questions from residents. I understand that some residents were looking for more detailed information and exact restoration timelines. I want to stress that we share all information as soon as it is provided to us by National Grid.To recap, although there were multiple individual power lines down within our community the primary cause of the widespread outage was damage that occurred outside of town. National Grid advised that the root cause was a failure of a power transfer loop at a substation. This substation failure impacted four communities. The large-scale outage was due to the substation issue, not individual line failures.Throughout the night, our crews kept up with demand and responded to calls for service as power was restored. There were no major incidents reported overnight.We will continue to monitor the situation closely as the morning progresses and provide updates as necessary.Please feel free to reach out if you need any additional information."
"Good morning,The Department of Public Works has crews out this morning continuing with debris cleanup around town.The good news is that we did not need to salt the roads, which saved municipal funds.Have a great week!"Robert CantoreggiDirector, Department of Public Works
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| The NationalGrid outage map as of 7:30 this morning |
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| Deputy Chief James West |
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| Pictures with Santa at the Franklin Police Dept - Saturday, Dec 13 from 10 AM to noon |
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| Franklin Police issue scam alert on cryptocurrency related scams |
Remember:
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| Franklin Police Dept issue "TOY DRIVE ALERT" |
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| FPS Police Station Halloween Event not happening this year |
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| "School Resource Officers don't just wear a badge: they build trust, keep peace, and stay sharp under pressure" |
Shared from -> https://www.franklinma.gov/228/Job-Opportunities
FM #1517 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 1517 in the series.
This session shares the Franklin (MA) Town Council meeting held on Wednesday, September 17, 2025. 7 of the 9 members of the committee were present (Chandler, Pellegri absent).
Quick recap:
Town Clerk Nancy Danello provides update on biennial election status
School Cmte Chair Dave Callaghan provides an update on school opening and traffic issues being worked
2 new hires effectively back filling for positions authorized within the reduced Police Dept staffing were sworn in and pinned by family members
2 public hearings were opened separately; one for the 2 commercial kitchen bylaws to enable the operation of a commercial kitchen within a residence if on septic (not on town sewer); and second, a set of 6 bylaws to create the Crossing Neighborhood zoning district. It would be similar to the Downtown zoning with a couple of exemptions. Councilor Frongillo recused himself from these discussions and votes as his father's business operates in the proposed zoning area
In legislation for action
all 8 of the zoning changes moved to a second reading
The Council voted to formalize the early in person voting schedule for the November election as announced
A couple of water & sewer extensions were approved
A definition of a collection container was accepted and authorized to extend the current use by religious organizations to non-profits, in particular the American Legion and VFW
A presentation on Solicitation Permits by Police Chief Thomas Lynch and Deputy Police Chief James West was made to provide some info on the process in response to an incident earlier this year.
In the Town Administrator's Report 2 key items were covered;
one a series of personnel moves; B Taberner's replacement was announced, M Kinhart and M D'Angelo are retiring, Breeka Li Goodlander to return from pregnancy leave in mid-Oct;
second, the Assessors revealed new growth will be about $271,000 shorter than projected earlier this year. This will need to be adjusted somehow before the tax rate hearing in Nov/Dec. It seems to be reflecting the slowdown in growth due to interest rates, uncertainty, and the 'nimby-factor', etc.
The Council entered into executive session not to return to public meeting
The recording runs about 2 hours & 16 minutes
Audio link -> https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-1517-town-council-mtg-09-17-25/--------------
Franklin TV video available for replay -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQsgBfKN8cY
The agenda and docs released for this session can be found
https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_09172025-1911
My notes in a single PDF can be found -> https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MNwWCGlCOgPnqbmMecTz5TqaesbmSt4z/view?usp=drive_link
-------------
We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial.
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.
How can you help?
If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors
If you don't like something here, please let me know
And if you have interest in reporting on meetings or events, please reach out. We’ll share and show you what and how we do what we do
Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/ or www.franklin.news
If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com
The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.
I hope you enjoy!
------------------
You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"
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| Jalen Samuels & Kyle Vaught |
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| Jalen Samuels & Kyle Vaught getting pinned |
FM #1514 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 1514 in the series.
This session of the radio show shares our “Town Council Quarterbacking” with Town Council Chair Tom Mercer. We had our conversation via the Zoom Conference Bridge on Thursday, September 18, 2025. Our conversation condensed the Town Council meeting of September 17, 2025.
We focus on two questions:
ok, what just happened?
What does it mean for Franklin residents and taxpayers?
We cover the following key topics
Announcements from the Chair
Town Clerk Nancy Danello provides update on biennial election status
School Cmte Chair Dave Callaghan provides an update on school opening and traffic issues being worked
2 Police Dept new hires effectively back filling for positions authorized within the reduced Police Dept staffing were sworn in and pinned by family members
2 public hearings were opened separately; one for the 2 commercial kitchen bylaws to enable the operation of a commercial kitchen within a residence if on septic (not on town sewer); and second, a set of 6 bylaws to create the Crossing Neighborhood zoning district. It would be similar to the Downtown zoning with a couple of exemptions. Councilor Frongillo recused himself from these discussions and votes as his father's business operates in the proposed zoning area
In legislation for action
all 8 of the zoning changes moved to a second reading
The Council voted to formalize the early in person voting schedule for the November election as announced
A couple of water & sewer extensions were approved
A definition of a collection container was accepted and authorized to extend the current use by religious organizations to non-profits, in particular the American Legion and VFW
A presentation on Solicitation Permits by Police Chief Thomas Lynch and Deputy Police Chief James West was made to provide some info on the process in response to an incident earlier this year.
In the Town Administrator's Report 2 key items were covered;
Qne - a series of personnel moves; B Taberner's replacement was announced, M Kinhart and M D'Angelo are retiring, Breeka Li Goodlander to return from pregnancy leave in mid-Oct;
Second - the Assessors revealed new growth will be about $271,000 shorter than projected earlier this year. This will need to be adjusted somehow before the tax rate hearing in Nov/Dec. It seems to be reflecting the slowdown in growth due to interest rates, uncertainty, and the 'nimby-factor', etc.
The conversation runs about 38 minutes. Let’s listen in
Audio link -> https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-1514-town-council-quarterbacking-09-18-25/
--------------
Franklin TV video available for replay -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQsgBfKN8cY
The agenda and docs released for this session can be found
https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_09172025-1911
My notes in a single PDF can be found -> https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MNwWCGlCOgPnqbmMecTz5TqaesbmSt4z/view?usp=drive_link
--------------
We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial.
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.
How can you help?
If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors
If you don't like something here, please let me know
And if you have interest in reporting on meetings or events, please reach out. We’ll share and show you what and how we do what we do
Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/ or www.franklin.news/
If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com
The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.
I hope you enjoy!
------------------
You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"
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| Town Council Chair Tom Mercer condenses the 2+ hour meeting to about 35 minutes (audio) |