A Debate in Print Between Charles Bailey and Jeff Roy #6

Above, Jeff Roy and Charles Bailey.

Long-time Franklin-Medway State Rep. Jeff Roy, who is from Franklin and challenger, Charles Bailey, also from Franklin, agreed to an in-person debate, which was conducted at the Medway Middle School, on Tuesday, Oct. 8, sponsored jointly by the Democrat and Republican

Town Committees. The full debate can be viewed on Medway Cablechannel and in Franklin on Verizon 29 and Comcast 9. In addition, it can be streamed from the Medway Cable Facebook Page and Franklin’s All Access TV on Youtube.

In addition, both candidates agreed to participate in a debate -- responding to questions suggested by Observer readers -- in writing, in the Observer. One question and the candidate's respective responses will be published for a total of seven weeks leading up to the election. The sequence of responses will be altered each week (e.g. Roy first then Bailey first and vice versa).

#6 - What is your position regarding bringing back another
override vote in Franklin and why?

JEFFREY ROY

Out of concern that his comments had been altered by removal of a graphic in a previous posting, he has instead provided a link to his answer to Question 5 on his web site (below) and also asked that the editor acknowledge his own support for Mr. Bailey.

In fact, I the editor, Alan Earls, as an individual, contributed $150 to Mr. Bailey’s campaign. Furthermore, I am the former chair of the Franklin Republican Town Committee and currently serve as the clerk/secretary. This is and has been an open secret. Many people in Franklin are aware of my political affiliation and I am happy to discuss that with anyone. I also always work to deliver balanced coverage of news in Franklin and Medway. No one, that I am aware of, has asked for a political disclosure of anyone else in the local news media, let alone at the state of national level. Perhaps it is time to make this practice universal.

Rep Roy's Responses on Question 6 can now be found at the link, below:

https://jeffreyroy.com/2024/10/23/franklin-observer-online-debate-question-6-overrides/

CHARLES BAILEY

This most recent override has divided the Town of Franklin and the time leading up to it was contentious for all involved. The will of the people was exercised on Tuesday, June 11th at the Special Election and to ignore the results of this vote would only create further division.

How did we get here? Two years ago, the state had so much of a surplus collected through taxes that refunds had to be sent back to the people to remain in compliance with our current statute. Our legislative body on Beacon Hill has been guilty of reckless spending and it was inevitable the towns would eventually feel this burden. As a result, many towns have attempted their own overrides unsuccessfully.

Why didn’t the override pass? People on both sides of the issue were quick to blame each other when in fact it was a disastrous leadership failure of our Town Administrator and Town Council. It is their responsibility to balance the budget. This is not an option but a requirement of the State. Representative Roy went so far as to support the pro-override group OneFranklin by donating $1,000.00 of his personal funds. The optics of this apparent endorsement for the group are concerning, thus sending an ambiguous message to the people of Franklin. Surprisingly, 45% of the 24,891 registered voters in Franklin turned out that day and the override was defeated by a little over 200 votes. There is something to be said for this tremendous turnout and the election result. I believe that a lack of trust in Franklin’s leadership contributed to the override’s failure.

What has been done since the override failed? There has been no visible attempt to curb spending since the special election in June. It has been business as usual with zero fiscal responsibility. The taxpayers were burdened with a $30,000 expense for a special election and talks of another override vote in the Spring of 2025 began immediately after this one failed.

What needs to happen before an override should be considered again? Our leadership needs to stop any unnecessary spending immediately. All wish lists need to be put on hold until we can get our budget balanced. Let’s stop blaming the teachers, our seniors and each other. The needs of the students should be prioritized in the school budget. The teachers are not the problem, and they should feel secure that they have a job from one year to the next. I recommend a third-party audit of all expenditures, and systems to identify duplicate administrative roles, or areas that technology could reduce redundancies. There must be complete transparency in all expenditures and clarity in where the money will be allocated.

It has been reaffirmed repeatedly that the citizens of Franklin care about having a safe community and excellent public schools. Decisions need to be made in the best interest of the whole community; not just those with the loudest voices. We need to be respectful of our seniors and those living on a fixed income. Their voice and ability to pay the increased taxes matters. We should ensure that before imposing any additional burden on our vulnerable population that all resources are exhausted, and all the fat is cut out of the budget. It is going to take a lot of hard work to regain the trust of those who voted “No” and I believe a change of leadership would be a great start.