MEMORANDUM
Date: April 25, 2025
To: Town Council
From: Jamie Hellen, Town Administrator
Amy Frigulietti, Deputy Town Administrator
RE: Parmenter Deed recording
The Council will consider recording the deed to the 20 +/- acre site of the former Parmenter School.
On January 28, 2025 the Franklin School Committee voted unanimously to dispose of the site and turn it over to the Town in accordance with state law.
The proposed Deed seeks to name the parcel as the “Gerald Murdoch Parmenter Memorial Complex” thus memorizing his name in perpetuity. If any structure is built upon the parcel, it will always contain the name of Mr. Parmenter. If the current school building is not demolished, it will also maintain the name. The Town Council has naming rights on all town owned public property and can always consider further naming recognition in the future.
We have attached the original deed, which despite some claims in town, did not memorialize that there was to be a schoolhouse permanently on the property. The Town Attorney will answer any legal questions.
We hope to have a Police Station Building Committee meeting later this June or July to provide new updates on the site selection process for a new Police Station. The consultant has now evaluated over 100 sites within town for the station and will provide updates on those options. The Parmenter site, in addition to Davis-Thayer, are being surveyed and analyzed to see what parts of each parcel are buildable and what constraint there may be on the parcels. These sites have been suggested in the past as they are of no new cost to the taxpayers and they are both strategically located to attend to law enforcement’s needs.
The Police Station Building Committee has not selected a site and will likely not select a site until the end of this calendar year, or possibly in 2026.
We expect open houses of the station in the Summer and Fall of 2025.
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| Town Of Franklin Resolution 25-29: Parmenter Deed recording |
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TOWN OF FRANKLIN RESOLUTION 25-29
Transfer of Care, Custody, Management and Control of Town-owned Property Containing the Building Known as “Gerald Murdock Parmenter Elementary School” from the Franklin School Committee to the Franklin Town Council, for Municipal Purposes
WHEREAS, the Town owns improved property containing a building known as Gerald Murdock Parmenter Elementary School, located at the southwesterly corner of the intersection of Wachusetts and King Streets and shown on Franklin Assessors’ Map 297 as parcel 50, Title reference: Norfolk County Registry of Deeds Book 2968 Page 219 (hereinafter: “Property”) for school purposes; and
WHEREAS, “Property” was gifted to Town by Ernest B. Parmenter and Maud A. Parmenter for the construction of an elementary school to be named in memory of their son Gerald Murdock Parmenter, a Franklin resident who distinguished himself during World War Two, and
WHEREAS, GL Chapter 40, Section 15A sets out the procedure to be followed when Town-owned property is no longer needed for the specific municipal purpose for which it is held; and
WHEREAS, the Franklin School Committee has determined that Property is no longer needed for school purposes and, as provided in said statute, has given written notice of its determination to the Franklin Town Council by memorandum dated January 15, 2025, a true copy of which is attached hereto as “Exhibit 1”,
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Town of Franklin, acting by and through its Town Council, hereby transfers the care, custody, management and control of “Property” from the Franklin School Committee to the Franklin Town Council, for municipal purpose(s) as provided in GL Chapter 40, Section 15A, declares that “Property” shall henceforth be formally named and known as “Gerald Murdock Parmenter Memorial Complex,” and directs that a true copy of this resolution be recorded at Norfolk County Registry of Deeds.
This resolution shall become effective according to the Provisions of the Town of Franklin Home Rule Charter.
Copied from the Town Council agenda item ->
