This session shares the Franklin (MA) Town Council Meeting of Wednesday, Sep 4, 2024.  8 members were present in Council Chambers, Pellegri was absent. 

Quick recap

• A few appointments to close out the annual round of appointments. As announced in the August 14 meeting with the primary set of appointments, a few were in the process of being finalized. This should complete the slate of appointments to renew and fill the open slots for now.
• Public hearing voted to re-open to review the prior BJs & Pour Richard's license transfers. The vote at the June 26 meeting was 6-3 to deny the approval. The denial was not based upon the 2 areas that such a denial could be made, hence the return for a review. Long story short, enough councilors got the message on the legal options and the transfers passed 5-3-1 (Cormier-Leger, Chandler, Dellorco voted no; Pellegri absent).
• Pete Fasciano, Executive Director of Franklin TV provided an update on the operations. 
• The presentation deck can be found ->   https://drive.google.com/file/d/10cRsmUL5lpDkpXoeZdsivJ0M2U-FDK98/view?usp=drive_link
• The wfpr.fm Advertising copy ->   https://drive.google.com/file/d/10gbRqBrGymDvD7gFwFN6vqhZZCbGmUYB/view?usp=drive_link
• Discussion on Right of Refusal for the Maplegate Country Club property. We can't afford it but will gain some revenue as the deal closes completely since they were "under taxed" and the owners will need to 'catch up'. The Council still needs to accept a resolution to formal pass on the purchase option
• The Davis Thayer Reuse report was accepted by the Council. This will take time for the Council to work through the discussion to set up a possible RFP. 
• Health care issue raised will be part of the budget discussions going forward, have seen increase in 6-8 percent range prior years, anticipated increase of about 13%

Let’s listen to the meeting recording which runs just short of 3 hours.  Audio link -> 

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Franklin TV video is available for replay ->    https://www.youtube.com/live/eZ51XEq57_U?si=DnXqGMfyZU1OEX7S&t=89

Agenda doc ->  https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif10036/f/agendas/2024-09-04_town_council_agenda_0_0.pdf 

My notes captured during the meeting and now in one PDF file ->

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ojJYhfyLslZxv7XQ8dhevA3R0jMyHcj5/view?usp=drive_link 

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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

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!

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