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To The Editor:
Now that the dust has cleared...or has it?
Four months ago Franklin voters narrowly defeated the tax override that was put before them. This mirrored the results of a similar attempt at an override that took place less than a year earlier. The sense of anger and frustration on both sides has not subsided. An independent voter, I have been a Franklin resident for nearly a quarter of a century and understand that not everyone will agree with the personal views presented in this letter.
There are a number of hurdles standing in the way of future attempts at a tax override and it would behoove the town itself, including administrators, Town Council, the various boards and committees and, yes, even the schools, to listen to their constituents. In short, the attitude of many of those in charge needs to change, not only in order give future tax overrides a chance, but also to stave off the erosion of public trust and confidence that is very much in evidence. Here are some areas of concern; these are followed by personal recommendations:
(1) Situation: Building
This seems to be the most contentious issue. Over the past decade, there has existed what many perceive to be an excess of new building throughout the town, particularly in the Central Street corridor, that has contributed to already problematical congestion. This will only worsen as the new apartments on Central Street fill up. One must consider how long it took to drive across town ten years ago. How does this compare to today?
Where were interests of the elected Planning and Zoning board members when all of these projects were approved? Were members looking out more for Franklin citizenry than the interests of out-of-town property owners and builders? Or was it the other way around? A recent informal survey put out by The Franklin Observer showed that 92% of the respondents opposed construction of the proposed 264-unit project on the Stobbarts greenhouse property on the east side of town. This of course says nothing about another project on the west side of town: the high-density forty-four unit senior housing project recently approved for the Holmes property on the already inadequate and congested Panther Way.
Recommendation:
Put a moratorium on building, perhaps through declaring a state of exigency or some other means. Some way must be found to counter the “our hands are tied” responses that we often receive.
Another consideration is that, with such an emphasis on senior housing, the town may be shooting itself in the foot. Seniors, particularly those on fixed incomes, usually don’t vote for tax increases…and new commuters generally have no vested interest in the town.
(2) Situation: Administrator Salaries
According to www.opengovpay.com, the Franklin town administrator makes an annual salary of $242,105, significantly more than those of towns of similar size (Milford or Mansfield). This in itself may seem exorbitant, but he is not without company; there are six town employees that make more than $200,000--and all of them received raises from 2023 to 2024. This is not to question the work ethic of any of them, but to question the need for raises at this time.
Recommendation:
Freeze town administrators’ salaries. A more radical suggestion would be to have them take a salary cut. This may seem a bit draconian, but money saved here could restore some of the services that have been reduced.
(3) Situation: Franklin Public Schools:
There exists a problem with distribution of funds, regardless of whether the override would have passed. Page 37 of The Franklin Public Schools FY26 Franklin Budget Book lists a proposed administration increase from FY25 $620,111.50 to FY26 of $861,016.58, some 38%. Was this on account of inflation? No, this increase would have been accounted for by the hiring of an HR assistant director. Where are the priorities? This money could have been put to better use. One has to ask: how many teachers, particularly music teachers, were let go in the past couple of years and, using the moneys from the proposed administration increase, how many of them could have been rehired? By the way, the teachers’ salaries district-wide were to have received a mere 0.30% increase.
Recommendation:
Make teaching the priority. Rather than hiring a new administrator who may have no vested interest, bring up somebody within the system, pay that person a bit more and then, with the remaining money, restore the lost teaching positions.
4) Situation: Deportment displayed by some chairs and board members toward their constituents at public committee meetings:
This condescending attitude from some board members has been going on far too long. Statements such as “He owns the land, therefore he can build whatever the hell he wants” (from a not-too-long ago Planning Board meeting) doesn’t help the quality of the lives of those affected, nor does it reflect the will of the majority of the electorate. This has continued.
Many residents witnessed firsthand the August 29th meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals; others have seen part of it on facebook or simply read about it. The dismissive Putinesque attitude displayed by the chair was clearly unacceptable, but he shouldn’t have even been acting in that capacity; according to the town’s website, his term expired on June 25th! Unfortunately, he wasn’t the only offender at this particular meeting; there was another one--who has put himself up for re-election.
Recommendation:
To all committee and board members: Remember who elected you to represent them. Stop belittling your constituents. When in attendance, citizens should not be made to feel that they have walked into a conclave or into a pack of wolves.
Minutes of meetings could be made instantly available, stating that they are subject to approval. Having to wait a month or two to see the results doesn’t help with the public’s perception. True, videos of the meetings are made available, but these don’t help when people are looking for a singular item.
5) Situation: Reprisals
Certain sectors of the town decided that they would “get even” with the citizenry for not passing the attempted tax override. The Senior Center now has no full time nurse, for a while there was one less ambulance, and now the city has removed the trash/recycling bins from the parks, even though some of these receptacles, such as those at the Sculpture Park, were placed very close to established pickup routes.
Recommendation:
Stop punishing us. Has Franklin stopped encouraging recycling? Restore the trash/recycling bins. If this costs money, find it.
6) Situation: small areas of wasteful spending.
There are additional areas for cutting costs, most of which I’m not aware. A couple of months ago, at 10:07 at night, my wife and I drove past the Franklin High School athletic fields. Not a soul was on the fields, but all of the lights were on a waste of energy. The same comment could be said about leaving the downtown Holiday lights on way past the end of the season. There are other examples that by themselves may not amount to much in savings, but when added together, certainly do.
Recommendation:
Examine these and other areas. Perhaps adjustments could be made as to the automatic lighting timers, etc.
7) Situation: Union involvement from afar
There is a need to divorce the issue of an override from state and national politics. The very existence of multiple hard-sell cards mailed from the MTA (Massachusetts Teachers Association, the union that I was forced into joining) pushed a lot of people—active union members, retired union members, and non-union members alike--against the override. Many union members have problems with union activities that do not directly benefit members. It will get worse--see the August 12th Franklin Observer article “Mass. Teachers’ Association Has a Plan to Dominate Local Elections.”
Recommendation:
Our town elections are over local issues. Questionable tactics offered by state or national union leaders should be rebuffed.
8) Situation: Partisan politics
Regarding the yard signs: different colors may yield different results. In this day of heightened state and national partisan politics, red (No!) and blue (Franklin Together) signs can and do elicit partisan connotations.
Recommendation:
There is an entire spectrum of colors available besides red and blue.
Don’t get me wrong; Franklin is still a good place to live—the Cultural District, Dean College, the Black Box, Historical Museum, the new Children’s Museum, the LiveARTS String Quartet, the Library, Elizabeth’s Bagels, etc., etc., —but it used to be a great place to live.
What can the populace do? Well, we have a town election coming up on Tuesday, November 4th. Early voting starts on the 17th. There is also a “meet and greet the candidates” opportunity at Teddy Galllagher’s Irish Pub set up for Wednesday the 8th at 6 pm. The election is not a simple case of “throw the bums out” as at least some of the people whose names will be appearing on the ballot are sincere in looking out for our interests—but we need to know who these people are. Let’s do our homework first and then vote.
Jon Mitchell
