Jeffrey Roy submitted his answers to the three questions:
FM - Tell me a bit about yourself, your family and your life here in Franklin?
JR - I have been a trial lawyer in Boston, Massachusetts for the last 25 years. Locally, I have been a member of the School Committee for the last 10 years, and have served as the Chairman for nine of those 10 years. I have also served as a member of Franklin's Horace Mann School Building Committee, and as an elected Town Meeting Member in Milford, Massachusetts.
I am married to Maureen Roy and have two daughters (ages 21 and 18) and a son (age 15). All of my children were educated in the Franklin Public Schools. My oldest daughter currently attends Bates College in Lewiston, ME, and my other daughter is a freshman at Boston College. My son is a sophomore at Franklin High.
I am a 1986 cum laude graduate of Boston College Law School in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. I received my undergraduate degree from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine in 1983, where I served as Editor-in-Chief of the Bates Student newspaper. In addition, I received engineering training at Worcester Polytechnic Institute from 1979 to 1981 and one year of legal training at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois.
After growing up in Milford, I moved to Franklin in 1986 and this has been our family home for the last 25 years.
2 - What experience or background will help you to serve in this role? or What do you think makes you a good candidate to fulfill this role?
JR - I spent the last 10 years working with the Franklin School Committee and enjoyed the challenges of working in municipal government. I am proud of the accomplishments made by the Franklin Public Schools team over the past 10 years and I will bring that spirit of hard work and commitment to the Council. In addition, as a trial lawyer, I am a problem solver. I will bring those skills to the table to address issues that we will face on the Town Council.
I have put together a website at
jeffreyroy.com which more fully articulates my vision and priorities for this community and details why I am running for Town Council.
3 - What do you see as your role’s biggest challenge and do you have any suggestions on how we can resolve it?
JR - From a big-picture perspective, funding for education, public safety, public works, and our other town services is the biggest challenge. Addressing that will require strategic planning. Strategic planning will invite us to visit the questions of who we are and what we want for our community. The Town Council should do everything in its power to bolster and strengthen our programs in education, public safety, public works, and other town services. In addition, as a Town Council, we must develop policies that embrace economic development with the goal of creating jobs, attracting business, and improving our infrastructure. We also need to restore decorum and pledge fairness, integrity, and civility, not only in Town Council meetings, but also in all written and oral communications. Finally, we must deliver a Franklin High School building project that will serve this community and our students for a long time. The project was first advanced in 2005 and I am encouraged that the question will be presented to the voters in the near future. I will devote time, energy, and enthusiasm to completing this project.
