[1:24] Good evening, everyone.
[1:27] I would like to call the City Council meeting, Monday, August
[1:30] 31st, 2026 to order.
[1:34] And could we all stand to salute the flag.
[1:37] Join me as we salute the flag. Thank you.
[1:41] I pledge allegiance to the flag
[1:44] of the United States of America and to the Republic for which
[1:48] it stands, one nation under God, indivisible,
[1:52] with liberty and justice for all.
[2:05] Councilor Priebe, do we have any veterans that have
[2:09] passed?
[2:16] I guess.
[2:18] Councilor
[2:22] Jacobson will be joining us by Zoom,
[2:26] so I need a roll call vote to accept him.
[2:30] First of all, Councilor Jacobson?
[2:37] Yes.
[2:40] Could you explain why you're not with us this evening, and do you
[2:44] have anyone with you?
[2:47] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I am, once again, on a work assignment outside of
[2:51] the state and unable to attend in person.
[2:54] I am alone.
[2:58] Thank you. Now, I will take a roll call vote.
[3:08] Could I have a motion
[3:10] to accept
[3:14] Councilor Jacobson to join us this evening? Councilor Warner?
[3:18] I move to allow Councilor Jacobson to participate
[3:22] remotely.
[3:23] Second.
[3:25] A motion has been made and seconded. Any discussion?
[3:30] If not,
[3:31] roll call vote.
[3:33] Councilor Boyce?
[3:35] Yes.
[3:38] Councilor Hoppe isn't here. Councilor Johnston?
[3:42] Yes.
[3:45] Councilor Priebe?
[3:46] Yes.
[3:48] Councilor Forge?
[3:50] Yes.
[3:52] Councilor Warner?
[3:53] Yes.
[3:57] Councilor Hallie Cook isn't with us. Councilor Carrier?
[4:02] Yes.
[4:07] The motion passes with six votes in
[4:10] favor. City manager?
[4:14] And just as a point of information, I did receive a text right
[4:18] before the meeting started from Councilor Cook saying she was running late.
[4:21] So I expect she will be joining us as soon as she can.
[4:27] Thank you.
[4:29] Councilor Priebe, do you know of any veterans that might have passed
[4:33] this past month?
[4:35] I have no notification of any Franklin veteran passing away.
[4:40] But I need everyone to remove your hats and bow your heads for a moment of silence
[4:43] for the veterans who are still out there fighting for our freedom.
[4:57] Thank you.
[5:00] Thank you, Councilor Priebe.
[5:02] Welcome.
[5:08] We will now move on to the public hearing.
[5:11] The first item to come before the council
[5:16] or the public is the school board
[5:19] clarification C-13 and
[5:23] C-14. The charter inconsistently refers to
[5:27] the city school governing body as both
[5:32] Board of Education and school board.
[5:35] This proposed change would
[5:38] standardize the term as school
[5:42] board.
[5:44] Is there anyone from the public that would like to come forward and
[5:47] comment on this change?
[6:01] Seeing no one coming forward, I will close the public
[6:04] hearing on this item and move on to the next
[6:11] Neutralizing gender bias
[6:14] municipal order sections uses gender-specified terms that
[6:18] do not reflect the current historic
[6:21] composition of city office holders.
[6:25] This proposed change would replace such language
[6:30] with gender-natural terms throughout the sections
[6:34] listed. Is there anyone that would like to come forward and comment?
[6:45] Seeing no one coming forward, I will now close the public hearing
[6:49] on this item,
[6:52] and we will move forward onto legislative update.
[6:56] Do we have any representatives,
[6:59] legislative representatives here this evening?
[7:09] I don't see anyone coming forward, so we will move
[7:13] on.
[7:17] We will now move on to
[7:20] comments from the public.
[7:22] Persons wishing to address the council may speak for a
[7:26] maximum of three minutes. No more than 30
[7:30] minutes will be devoted to the public comment.
[7:33] When you come forward, please sign in your name and what ward,
[7:37] and then
[7:39] speak out loud so that we can record it. Thank you.
[8:04] Can you hear me?
[8:07] Okay. Good evening. I'm going to start out on a very positive note.
[8:10] I'd like to publicly acknowledge and thank-
[8:13] Oh, oh. What's your name?
[8:13] Oh, Judith Ackerson, Ward 3. I'm sorry.
[8:16] Thank you.
[8:18] Okay. I know who I am.
[8:20] I would like to publicly acknowledge and thank Sam Jacobson for the
[8:24] excellent Franklin Forward blog, which he produces several days before
[8:28] each council meeting. His review of the issues, with comments
[8:32] about each, helps us to be prepared for the upcoming meeting and
[8:36] gives us insight into his thoughts on each issue.
[8:39] He also presents on committee work as well.
[8:42] I appreciate the energy he puts into reviewing all data presented to
[8:46] him and the remarkable job he does in producing this blog.
[8:50] Even though I cannot vote for Sam, as he is Ward 2 and I am Ward
[8:54] 3, every one of the votes cast by the nine councilors
[8:58] on this council affects every resident in all
[9:01] wards. So, I thank you, Sam.
[9:25] Hey, Karen Darling, Ward 3. I want to
[9:29] invite, make sure all the council and the city
[9:33] manager and the mayor
[9:35] know about the candidate forum is here,
[9:38] Sunday, September 27th, by Choose Franklin.
[9:41] I'm here representing Choose Franklin.
[9:43] I have flyers for each of you that I'll pass out afterwards, and a few to put on
[9:47] the table. And just to remind, any of
[9:51] you can also submit questions,
[9:54] which are until September 5th. So, there's a link on the flyer.
[9:58] They can submit questions to be considered for
[10:02] asking at the candidates forum. So, we're collecting those for
[10:06] about another week. And I did send follow-up
[10:10] invitations to each of the candidates.
[10:12] So Tim Johnson, I printed yours because I wasn't sure if you got my email,
[10:16] because I sent a second follow-up email today. So I knew you'd be here.
[10:20] And there are a few other people who haven't responded, so I was
[10:24] hoping maybe I'd see some of them. So anyway, it's September
[10:27] 27th, which is Sunday at 6:00 PM here at the ELKS.
[10:34] City manager.
[10:35] I know I'm not supposed to say anything, but thank you for working around the city
[10:38] council schedule, too.
[10:48] Okay.
[11:19] Good evening. Jim Jones, Ward 2.
[11:24] This is to the city council. As you consider the
[11:27] MOU this evening for the Franklin Outing Club,
[11:31] I implore you to vote
[11:33] for it without further ado. There's been a lot of
[11:37] negotiations, a lot of give and take.
[11:40] I think it's well prepared
[11:42] and genuinely beneficial to both parties.
[11:44] And what I need you to know is that in order for the Outing
[11:48] Club to continue to run the Veterans Memorial Recreation Area,
[11:52] this MOU being adopted is imperative.
[11:55] There is grant money on the line that we won't be able to get without this
[11:59] MOU.
[12:00] We're in the midst of a capital campaign with donors sitting on
[12:04] the sideline to see how the city handles this, and if they
[12:08] agree to a long-term relationship
[12:11] In order to continue improving
[12:14] program and infrastructure, it's imperative that we move this
[12:18] forward. I ask you to put your biases behind your
[12:22] preconceived notions and listen to the citizens this
[12:26] evening and in your emails. Thank you.
[12:46] I would need this moved closer.
[12:48] Let's move.
[12:49] Oops.
[12:56] Just when we get you on camera. Hey.
[13:03] I'm going to leave this blank because I think I just sorted this one.
[13:08] Do I push the whole? I thought it was
[13:12] off all the time.
[13:14] Good evening. Bob Lucas from Ward One.
[13:18] For several years now, a group of civic-minded people have placed
[13:21] kayaks and flowers at several places around town.
[13:26] These kayaks and flowers, along with flags, banners, and
[13:29] hanging baskets, have served to beautify Franklin and to
[13:33] demonstrate civic pride.
[13:36] All materials and manpower come by way of volunteerism.
[13:40] They do not support any one business.
[13:43] Instead, they serve to promote this city and its economic
[13:46] vitality.
[13:48] Most recently, a lone naysayer complained to our city manager,
[13:53] claiming the kayak planters were a traffic hazard and
[13:57] demanded, under a threat of a lawsuit,
[14:00] that they be immediately removed.
[14:02] I would never allow myself to be bullied in this manner, and I don't think the
[14:06] city should either. The decision may not be
[14:10] overturned, but we should always carry the banner of economic
[14:14] growth and revitalization. Thank you.
[14:55] Thank you.
[14:56] Good evening. Good evening, council. Andrew Duguay, Ward 2.
[15:01] I should be at home right now with my family, having
[15:05] dinner. My daughter just had her first day of first grade at
[15:08] Paul Smith School, but I'm here in front of you guys because I feel that
[15:12] this is important to show that
[15:16] me and my family, as residents of Franklin,
[15:20] it's very important to us what the Franklin Aming Club does and
[15:24] the value that we get from the Veterans Memorial Ski Area and we hope that
[15:29] you move forward with the MOU that you'll be discussing later tonight.
[15:33] I think by approving the MOU,
[15:35] you're supporting families like mine who choose to live here in Franklin
[15:39] because of community resources like the vets.
[15:42] My daughter, Autumn, is five years old.
[15:44] She learned to ski at the vets last winter through the ski program.
[15:48] We sled, ski, and have lunch together as a family almost every weekend in the
[15:52] winter, and it's the most meaningful part of my week.
[15:56] It's affordable, family-friendly, local, and it's a special
[16:00] place for my family and many other families in Franklin.
[16:04] Please know that you have a really good thing here, and that it deserves a
[16:07] long-term commitment and support from the city of Franklin.
[16:11] Thank you.
[16:23] I am Mila Albert.
[16:26] And speaking of good things in Franklin.
[16:30] I'm from Ward One.
[16:35] And I want to tell you about two good things in Franklin.
[16:38] Get your name for the button so that they-
[16:40] Mila Albert, if you didn't know.
[16:45] Ward One, you might not.
[16:48] Anyway, I am here to remind you and to invite you
[16:52] that two weeks from tonight, I will be collapsed
[16:56] because the Franklin Renaissance Fair will be
[16:59] over. We are, on the 12th and 13th,
[17:03] going to be down at O'Dell Park.
[17:06] We have a lot of vendors, food vendors,
[17:10] a lot of entertainers.
[17:12] In fact, all history buffs should be wanting to come because we have a
[17:16] group that's a national group that is here, and everything they do is
[17:20] 100% renaissance.
[17:24] The other hat that I'd like to put on is to remind you that two
[17:28] weeks after the Renaissance Fair, we're going to have the Fireman's
[17:31] Muster, and I'm getting real excited about it. Not that I really know.
[17:35] I'm not quite old enough to remember how they did that,
[17:39] but I put it
[17:40] forward.
[17:50] Getting hired already.
[17:52] Yeah. No, you're welcome to.
[18:05] Good.
[18:05] Good evening.
[18:07] Good evening.
[18:09] Just a few comments on the upcoming agenda items. I'm Lee Webb, Ward 3.
[18:13] I signed it, so at least you know, and most people will recognize me by
[18:17] my voice anyway, but
[18:21] I'm curious, and these
[18:24] questions can be during your deliberation of the agenda
[18:28] items upcoming.
[18:30] I'm curious as to the purpose of moving the rec fees out of the city code,
[18:35] and also
[18:37] redefining park assets. Maybe you can
[18:41] just briefly go over that when you start your discussion as to why those things are
[18:45] needed.
[18:48] The public hearing, I was in attendance at the
[18:52] legislative committee meeting that discussed this.
[18:56] And I just want to make sure that
[18:59] the language that you are looking to adopt tonight has been
[19:03] vetted properly by legal,
[19:06] as well as maybe a second legal opinion from the NHMA.
[19:11] And just a reminder that I said to the committee and I will say to the
[19:15] entire council
[19:17] is that
[19:19] you can always have more public hearings, but the
[19:22] RSAs do not allow you to have fewer.
[19:25] And I'm always an advocate of more public participation
[19:29] only because it fosters transparency.
[19:33] And I hope that's part of your deliberation tonight.
[19:39] Project.
[19:45] Something I want a whole lot more of this
[19:48] transition,
[19:50] and whether it is
[19:52] a benefit that is perceived rather than real.
[19:56] And I would hope that if this transition goes through,
[20:00] that there is a positive benefit for Franklin,
[20:04] and there are no, as you used to say in the legislature, no
[20:07] unintended consequences. So,
[20:10] take that very seriously when you deliberate it.
[20:13] And I thank you for your attention.
[20:39] Leanne Feasel, Ward 2.
[20:42] Couple of things on the agenda items
[20:45] regarding the MOU.
[20:48] This has been here I don't know how many times. It's time to move on.
[20:51] This is important to our community.
[20:53] You're hearing people talk about their families using it.
[20:56] Let's just move on with this.
[20:59] Item seven,
[21:02] electronic
[21:04] use. I agree with it, and I think you should move forward with it.
[21:07] But I will also remind you, I've been coming here for years asking you to set a
[21:11] policy for social media,
[21:15] because I get pretty tired of the stuff that happens on social media with our
[21:18] elected officials, and I would really hope that we could set a policy
[21:23] just like we're doing with the electronics.
[21:27] And I would be remiss if I didn't just say a little something about the kayaks.
[21:32] I'm not going to say everything that I wrote.
[21:34] I'm just going to say that I was pretty disappointed.
[21:38] Sounds like one individual from the 91A information,
[21:42] what little there is out there,
[21:46] uses the threat to sue this community for something that has sat there for six
[21:50] years. If the DOT had a problem six years ago, it would've been dealt with.
[21:55] So,
[21:56] we're Franklin. We don't get bullied.
[22:00] Bring this to the council
[22:02] for next year. Let's get our kayaks back on.
[22:42] I'm Kathy Rago, Ward 3.
[22:45] One of the things I wanted to talk about tonight
[22:48] seems to be a hot button issue lately.
[22:51] I want to talk about data centers.
[22:54] Data centers are the new industrial revolution,
[22:58] and I'm here today to ask you to consider setting up a
[23:01] committee
[23:03] of citizens to do research on the pros and cons of a data center
[23:07] in Franklin.
[23:09] Just as the combustible engine replaced the horse and buggy, data centers
[23:13] are coming, and they're here to stay.
[23:16] This city always seems to have a revenue problem, and you can't
[23:20] put the tax burden solely on those of us who have worked hard for 30
[23:24] years to pay off our houses and then find ourselves
[23:28] taxed out of our homes. It's not right.
[23:31] I don't think anyone really wants to do that.
[23:35] At least I hope not.
[23:37] The handout is basically about a small town in the state of
[23:40] Washington. The population is about 8,100.
[23:45] It's about our size. Started building a data center
[23:48] about 20 years ago. They also were on the Columbia River.
[23:52] We're on three rivers.
[23:55] The result was years of data center tax
[23:58] revenue helped to build a state-of-the-art high school, a hospital,
[24:02] and a new aquatic center for the community.
[24:05] There were already a handful of data centers in New Hampshire, and I believe the
[24:09] newest one's in Hooksett.
[24:12] I'm not 100% sure, but that's what I was told. I haven't read it.
[24:16] People use data centers every day.
[24:19] Every time you send an email Stream a video, make an online
[24:23] purchase, use Google Drive, a data center is working hard
[24:27] behind the scenes. The amount of data processed by
[24:30] data centers every day is equivalent to streaming 18,000
[24:34] hours of high definition video every second.
[24:39] The latest in the news is in Loudoun County, Virginia,
[24:43] which if anybody's paying attention, they've been on the news a lot lately.
[24:46] In 2024, the data centers across Northern Virginia
[24:50] paid an estimated $1.3 billion directly in property taxes
[24:54] to the local government.
[24:57] So all I'm suggesting is, let's not base decisions on
[25:01] emotions, but on facts.
[25:04] There are a lot of myths and propaganda out there about data centers.
[25:08] There's a lot of good points, there's a lot of bad points.
[25:10] I concede that. I'm just asking if you'd
[25:14] consider appointing a committee to do the research to dispel
[25:18] the facts and the myths. Actually, to dispel the
[25:22] myths and bring forth the facts,
[25:24] and base those decisions on facts. Bring that certainly to the community.
[25:29] That's all I'm asking. Thank you.
[25:44] Is there anyone else that would like to come forward before I close the public
[25:48] comment?
[26:09] Good evening, Dean Laffey, Ward 3.
[26:12] I was going to be quiet tonight.
[26:15] But Kathy brought up the point about data centers, and I just ran through some
[26:19] rough numbers.
[26:20] Going through this budget process this year was painful,
[26:26] but it's exactly the same pain we've had for the last 12 to
[26:30] 15 years.
[26:32] Same spots of my body hurt, the same chairs hurt. It's the same.
[26:36] If we don't change what we're doing,
[26:39] we're trying to write the definition of insanity.
[26:42] Keep doing the same thing, expect a different result.
[26:45] What Kathy brought up is
[26:48] exactly where we need to go. Not necessarily a data center, but that's a very good
[26:52] option. The city is short about
[26:55] $5.4 million budget annually
[26:59] if we add up the school, the roads, the
[27:02] CIP, and the police and fire.
[27:05] In order to gain that amount of revenue inside the budget,
[27:11] we need to raise an asset base for taxes of about
[27:14] 250 to 275 there.
[27:18] And in doing that,
[27:20] we'd be able to fund the businesses the way we want or the areas that
[27:24] we want. But without doing that, having a
[27:27] high asset value, low employee content inside the city,
[27:31] we're going to continue to struggle where we are.
[27:34] We're never going to make it any other way.
[27:36] So, I think she's right on the mark, and I think it would be great
[27:39] if the council, the mayor, and city
[27:42] manager would move on this much quicker.
[27:46] We're working on projects that aren't going to help the city of Franklin, and not
[27:50] working on where we need to go economically for the city.
[27:54] And $5.5 millions would change the world here for the kids in the city.
[27:58] Thank you.
[28:09] Anyone else that would like to come forward?
[28:13] If not, is there any city councilor that may have a letter that they would
[28:17] like to read this evening?
[28:26] Councilor Warner?
[28:29] Yeah. I would just like to say, I may have had one.
[28:32] I think we've all experienced the
[28:34] problem with our email since about lunchtime.
[28:37] So if anyone has sent a letter to be read and
[28:41] no one happened to check their emails
[28:44] before that letter came in or whatever,
[28:48] my email has not updated since about lunch, so
[28:52] there's a good possibility that there are letters out there that are not going to
[28:55] be read that were not to me.
[29:00] Thank you, Councilor. Councilor Jacobson?
[29:04] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
[29:06] A second what Councilor Warner just said.
[29:07] I've been having the same trouble with my email, but this came in earlier.
[29:14] Mayor, City Councilor, City Manager, it is unconscionable that the city has
[29:17] responded to the mere threat of a suit and moved the kayaks at the intersection of
[29:21] Central and Main Streets. Set aside whether the individual making the threat
[29:25] has his primary residence in Franklin, where is the harm to this
[29:28] individual which would be the basis for a suit?
[29:31] It is my understanding that the DOT has said they have no concern about the
[29:35] placement of these kayaks. The kayaks are part of a project that the
[29:38] city's recreation department started several years ago,
[29:42] and for which it collects donations.
[29:44] So it has the city's official seal of approval.
[29:47] There has been no incident related to the placement of these kayaks as long as
[29:50] they've been there.
[29:51] It's bad enough that these works of beauty have been impacted, but it's worse that
[29:55] the city government has wasted any time on this issue when there are so many issues
[29:58] of greater import that need your attention.
[30:01] It's clear that the vast majority of Franklin residents appreciate these displays
[30:05] and want them to remain on the medians.
[30:07] Therefore, I urge the council to pass a motion approving their placement there and
[30:10] move on to real issues. Thank you for your time. Vince Rivas, Ward 2.
[30:19] Councilor Warner?
[30:22] Okay.
[30:23] Anyone else?
[30:25] If not, I will now close the public
[30:29] Comment section.
[30:31] And we will move on to city council acknowledgement.
[30:35] Any city councilor have anything to-- Council Warner?
[30:42] Yeah, given the many changes that have occurred in the last
[30:46] few months really, with the city's website,
[30:51] the interactive
[30:54] components of it. We can now track service requests.
[30:57] We have
[31:00] a public comment section. The new website is
[31:04] being updated, and it's certainly more attractive.
[31:08] I just wanted to commend the city staff.
[31:10] I may be incorrect, but I believe
[31:14] that the executive assistant to the city manager, Brenda
[31:17] Demers, is the
[31:19] spearhead
[31:21] on this spear. And I just wanted to
[31:25] point out that I think that these are good changes.
[31:28] They're appreciated, and communication
[31:32] is what lends to greater transparency.
[31:40] Councilor Johnston.
[31:42] First, I'd second what Councilor Warner just said.
[31:45] Brenda's doing an awesome job. I'm glad Mitch hired her.
[31:51] Second, I don't know how many people are
[31:55] aware of this, but there actually is a little bit of movement as far as getting
[31:59] a couple of roads paved. So I wanted to thank the city manager
[32:03] and the municipal services department for actually
[32:08] starting to move forward with getting a couple of roads paved here and there.
[32:11] And, hopefully we'll see that continued into the years in the future.
[32:20] Any other councilors?
[32:23] If not, then we will move on to
[32:26] the mayor's update. And, first off,
[32:30] I would like to invite Myla Everett forward
[32:35] so that I could read a proclamation for
[32:39] Renaissance Fair Weekend.
[33:02] Good night. Thank you.
[33:05] Mayoral proclamation in honor of President.
[33:11] In honor of.
[33:15] What is that slip about?
[33:18] Myla Everett's
[33:22] Renaissance Fair Weekend.
[33:26] In the year of our Lord, 2026, in proclamation
[33:30] relating to Renaissance Fair Weekend in Franklin, New Hampshire.
[33:34] And in the keeping of our city's efforts to encourage
[33:37] opportunities of culture, art, and activities,
[33:41] we celebrate the European Renaissance
[33:44] period with fostering
[33:46] community among our residents.
[33:50] Whereas, Renaissance Fair Weekend began in
[33:54] 2016 in Franklin, first at the Elks Field, and
[33:58] has continued each year on the weekend following Labor Day.
[34:02] Whereas, the Renaissance Fair serves as an
[34:05] educational experience combining historic
[34:09] period elements, spiritual with
[34:13] traditional grab
[34:16] and artistry ware for sale. And whereas, the Renaissance
[34:19] Fair is a family-friendly event that brings our community together in the
[34:23] spirit of celebration. And whereas, the
[34:27] festivities shall be held in accordance with the tradition
[34:31] at Odell Park for the two-day weekend in the
[34:34] spirit of celebration and community.
[34:38] Now, therefore, be it resolved that I,
[34:41] Glenn Morrell, Mayor of the City of Franklin, New Hampshire, do
[34:44] hereby proclaim
[34:47] Saturday, September 12th and Sunday, September 13th,
[34:51] 2026 as Renaissance Fair Weekend for the
[34:55] City of Franklin and urge all citizens to join with
[34:59] family and friends in celebrating this event by attending the
[35:03] festivities and partaking in the merriment,
[35:07] traditional costumes, food, and activities.
[35:12] Thank you, Myla.
[35:21] Can I ask a question?
[35:23] Sure.
[35:24] How many of you have heard our ad on the radio?
[35:28] Nobody?
[35:29] We started Friday.
[35:31] One.
[35:32] One.
[35:32] I heard it.
[35:33] Thank you.
[35:34] Myla, I've heard it, too.
[35:38] Which station?
[35:38] The Franklin
[35:39] station.
[35:43] Mr. Gary?
[35:44] Okay.
[35:56] Also, I would like to
[36:00] continue with the mayor's update.
[36:04] I attended phase two of the groundbreaking ceremony at the
[36:08] Easter Seals of New Hampshire Military Veterans Campus.
[36:13] When phase two is completed, the campus will expand to include an
[36:17] equine and recreation center, as well as an
[36:20] empowerment and personal growth center.
[36:24] These two facilities, along with the other planned
[36:27] projects, will transform this campus into something truly
[36:31] special for our veterans, and Franklin is proud to have
[36:35] this campus
[36:37] here in our city
[36:39] So, it was a great event attended by many
[36:43] city of
[36:44] state officials, a great turnout, and
[36:48] they have started work on this new
[36:53] facility. So, it was a great event. So.
[36:58] That's all I have. So I will now pass it on to the
[37:02] city manager for his update.
[37:07] Thank you, Commissioner.
[37:10] I wish mine were going to be quite that short, but it won't be the longest one I've
[37:13] ever done.
[37:15] Good evening, everyone.
[37:18] So I'd like to start off tonight and talk a little bit about the kayaks.
[37:23] Moving the kayaks was not an easy choice or one that I made quickly.
[37:28] However, there is a legitimate legal/safety
[37:31] ambiguity around having them in the medians.
[37:34] It's a wonderfully gray area, like a lot of our state law and
[37:38] even more of our local law as written.
[37:42] I had consulted or have consulted with experts,
[37:45] including at the New Hampshire DOT,
[37:49] several road agents.
[37:51] I have reports provided by individuals who state they were experts but would
[37:55] not sign them. I have lawyers weighing in on both sides of the
[37:59] legality, and it's still a wonderfully gray area.
[38:03] Of everyone I talked to, no one could confirm that
[38:07] there was not an increased risk of liability to the city by having
[38:11] them in the median based on the fact that they are in
[38:14] violation of the engineering guidance and clear spaces.
[38:18] Now, having said that, there was never any discussion of trying to get rid of the
[38:22] kayaks. We were simply going to move them from the center to the sides of the road.
[38:27] And I know that there's a lot of
[38:30] discussion on Facebook.
[38:33] I would not characterize a threat or bullying to be
[38:36] done to this. It was a legitimate safety concern that I can't make go
[38:40] away. Now, what I would like, instead of the city having to
[38:44] pay for the lawyers to do the work, is the nonprofits to
[38:48] bring me back
[38:50] the studies that show why it is safe, why it's not a violation of
[38:54] the engineering guidance. And I would love to have that presented to the council so
[38:58] that next spring they can be put back in the medians.
[39:01] But I don't have that right now. And as many people have stated tonight,
[39:05] I don't believe it's a good use of either city employee time or
[39:09] city money to do that research that a nonprofit could do for us.
[39:14] So I know I've received several
[39:17] emails.
[39:19] And in fact, I would argue that City Hall, my office, was the
[39:23] subject of a denial of service attack, where people repeatedly
[39:27] called our phones simply to tell us not to move the kayaks
[39:30] without even understanding that there was an issue just beside one
[39:34] individual having an issue with them.
[39:37] There is a legitimate safety concern.
[39:40] So, having said that, that's probably more time than I want to spend.
[39:44] I am hoping that the work will be done, and we'll be able to return them,
[39:48] with all legal necessity,
[39:50] the next time they go out. And I will say,
[39:54] I love them. They're beautiful. I get more compliments from both people
[39:58] in Franklin and people who just drive through Franklin every day on how
[40:02] beautiful the flowers are. I am a big supporter.
[40:07] On other business. First, it's been noted today, if you sent
[40:11] an email to any city official after
[40:15] 12:30 this afternoon, 12:36 to be exact,
[40:19] it has not been delivered, nor has any email that a city official
[40:23] has sent back to you since that time been delivered.
[40:26] It's sitting in our outboxes.
[40:28] This is a Microsoft issue, or at least that's what CCS tells me.
[40:32] It's not a local issue.
[40:34] So,
[40:36] I apologize. If there's any information,
[40:39] please give me a call.
[40:41] If you need to talk to me directly, I am hoping, knock on wood, hope is not the
[40:45] best course of action, but it is definitely one we can take, that Microsoft will
[40:49] have this resolved by tomorrow morning.
[40:53] Roads were mentioned. Thank you for that.
[40:55] And, what I will let you know is that the proposals and
[40:59] cost estimates that I received, I received this afternoon
[41:04] and didn't have the heart to put a late item out.
[41:06] Well, even if I could have, I didn't have the email capability to get a late item
[41:10] to you, but there were already 14 agenda items.
[41:13] So, with any, again, hope being the best course of
[41:17] action I have, that may be something we discuss at the workshop,
[41:21] if we do set a workshop up on the 14th.
[41:23] Or it will certainly be an agenda item you see at the meeting at the end
[41:27] of next month.
[41:32] A few councilors had asked for an update on the Whitewater project.
[41:35] We have received two invoices since the work resumed on the project.
[41:39] I have a meeting with the city manager, or excuse me, with the project manager.
[41:42] I am the city manager. I have a meeting with him, too,
[41:46] this Thursday to ensure that these two and all other remaining invoices that
[41:50] we have from earlier in the project are placed in the proper, I'm going to put
[41:54] buckets in air quote, the proper areas in the HUD
[41:57] website so that we can be properly reimbursed for them.
[42:01] Once submitted, that process has taken about three days for us to get our money,
[42:05] and it has been fairly seamless from this point.
[42:08] With the budget passed, the city is moving back into our normal operating tempo,
[42:12] and I expect this to be taken care of this week.
[42:15] The project has spent just over $2 million total,
[42:19] and the city has been reimbursed for all of that except just under
[42:22] $300,000. And again, I expect to have that back next week.
[42:27] And that includes the new invoices that we're holding right now.
[42:33] In regard to Soldiers Memorial Hall, we are still on schedule for returning to
[42:37] Soldiers Memorial Hall in December of 2027 I attended a meeting
[42:41] in ARCOV last week, and they have identified some engineering issues that
[42:45] I need to meet with the Franklin Opera House folks about, along with the ARCOV
[42:48] folks to give them full explanation,
[42:51] as the new budget does not allow us to totally rebuild the balcony the way we were
[42:54] originally going to. So there's going to be some limitation to the number of seats
[42:58] that we will be able to put up there, and we need to make sure we're all on the
[43:01] same page before we start that.
[43:09] Additionally, I have a draft RFP to hire a construction management company
[43:13] for the project. The RFP will go out shortly, and it will
[43:16] solicit multiple bids for
[43:20] construction management. These bids are going to be for total project
[43:23] completion, and the hope is to have a construction management team contract
[43:27] for the council consideration by next month.
[43:30] They will be the city's primary conduit for the entire project's
[43:33] completion. This process was recommended to me by the ARCOV folks
[43:37] over the old and the tried and true general contractor bid
[43:42] because it will actually give us more visibility on a regular basis with
[43:45] professionals driving the contract.
[43:47] It will not increase the cost, as most general contractors also now
[43:51] do construction management. It's simply a new process.
[43:54] They will owe us either a weekly or a monthly report that I'll be able to then
[43:58] pass on to this council and probably post publicly, as long as it
[44:02] doesn't have any type of proprietary information on it, so that the public will
[44:06] know exactly where we're going. In addition, I am working with,
[44:10] although I don't think he knows it yet, the fire marshal.
[44:13] I want to get Soldiers Memorial Hall open for one day before the construction
[44:17] crews actually get in there to allow the citizens of Franklin to walk through and
[44:21] see the shape it's in now. I challenge anyone who doesn't believe it needs a
[44:25] renovation to walk through that basement with me and then look me in the eye and
[44:29] honestly tell me it doesn't need to be renovated after you do that.
[44:33] Likewise, I will set up a day before we move back in next
[44:37] December, for people to come and see what your money has purchased
[44:41] prior to the city hall moving in and it actually becoming office spaces that we're
[44:44] using on a daily basis.
[44:47] Finally, tonight, I have a request.
[44:50] If you have not noticed, as it was mentioned tonight, the new website's up and
[44:54] running, and it's a very different look, and it works much better.
[44:58] There are still a few glitches, but there are far fewer glitches on the new website
[45:02] than there were on the old website.
[45:05] If you were signed up for the email alerts from the city, we need you to go back
[45:08] and please sign up again. When we switched from the old to the new, it
[45:12] basically dropped that entire system.
[45:15] When you go to the website, it should give you a pop-up page asking you to renew
[45:18] your subscriptions. If you do anything, that pop-up page just
[45:22] disappears and either goes down to the bottom of the stack of all your windows
[45:25] open. So if you don't click on it first, it kind of
[45:29] disappears. Brenda has put on the scrolling advertise,
[45:33] and so if you sit there long enough, a window will pop up that says, "Click here to
[45:37] renew your subscriptions." Please go there.
[45:39] That's step one of two that are required, however.
[45:43] After you put your email address in there, it's going to send you an email.
[45:47] It requires you to actually click the link on the email that you're sent,
[45:51] so
[45:52] you'll be accepted on the list. So it needs you to do the two-step process to get
[45:56] back on the list to be notified.
[45:59] And then you get Brenda's email every week telling you what's going on in the
[46:03] city, as well as all the other alerts that we push out for needed information.
[46:07] So please, go back on there. Check out the new website if you haven't yet.
[46:11] It's actually worth a few minutes of your time to take a look at the difference
[46:15] because it is really good compared to what we had before.
[46:19] I will echo the councilor's appreciation.
[46:21] Brenda has put a tremendous amount of work in it, and it is truly appreciated.
[46:27] And that's all I have.
[46:31] Thank you. Do any councilors have any questions for our city manager?
[46:35] Councilor Boyce.
[46:37] Thank you, Mayor. City manager, could you please elaborate on the new
[46:41] hours for the clerk's office, as there's a lot of chatter going around?
[46:45] So the clerks are still going to be open. The clerks are open 40 hours a week.
[46:51] If you looked at when they were open before,
[46:54] we talked about that a little bit in the budget hearing.
[46:57] The
[46:59] operating tempo to keep the old hours open actually
[47:02] required four people to do it, and they were never funded to have four people in
[47:06] that office.
[47:08] They were burning the clerks out. They were eating lunch at their desks
[47:12] and not getting paid for it. And they were taking
[47:16] shorter breaks than they should. They were often working before and after
[47:20] they were off the clock, and the city was not paying them overtime.
[47:25] So we've adjusted their hours.
[47:28] The actual hours that the office is open allow
[47:32] them to do the jobs they need to do in addition to
[47:36] being able to answer that window.
[47:38] And there are substantial jobs they do, especially this time of year with
[47:42] elections.
[47:44] So, does that answer your question, sir?
[47:48] Councilor Boyce?
[47:50] It wasn't me. I was just addressing the public why it was done.
[47:53] Thank you, appreciate it.
[47:57] I have a question.
[47:59] Councilor Jacobson.
[48:02] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. City manager, for the
[48:05] new engineering that you're talking about in Soldiers Memorial Hall, is
[48:09] the reduction in seats, is that on top of the
[48:15] presentation you gave earlier this year that reduced a few number of seats and
[48:19] changed the layout of the plan?
[48:24] City manager.
[48:25] So it is part of that plan. I don't have the exact number of seats.
[48:28] That's one of the things I need to sit down with the ARCOV engineers and the Opera
[48:32] House so we can get that exact number.
[48:36] But it is part of the plan I presented earlier.
[48:41] Thank you.
[48:42] Any other councilors
[48:45] If not, we'll move on to the school board update.
[49:32] Okay. Good evening, everyone.
[49:34] I want to start out with our staff return last week,
[49:38] last Wednesday, from their summer break, and I want to thank Mayor Moral
[49:43] for coming to our opening day breakfast, and welcome.
[49:47] We had a great morning at Franklin High School.
[49:50] I appreciate, Glenn, your kind words to the staff,
[49:54] and your welcome back address. I also want to thank Fire Chief Mike Foss for
[49:58] attending and addressing the staff as well.
[50:01] It's a nice tradition we have every year, and I'm very grateful for the
[50:05] mayor and fire chief for attending.
[50:09] Today was our opening day of school.
[50:12] We welcome back our students today at all three schools.
[50:15] It's great to see the smiling faces return and bring the schools back to life.
[50:20] I'm pleased to share that Ms. Judy Tibbetts, our family and consumer
[50:23] science teacher,
[50:25] started her 57th year of teaching today.
[50:34] WMUR caught word of this somehow on, guessing, on Facebook.
[50:38] I think they hit Facebook. They will actually be joining us tomorrow at the high
[50:41] school to do a nice story on her, which I think will be great for Franklin as well.
[50:45] So,
[50:46] be sure to be on the lookout for that.
[50:50] Fiscal year '26 budget update. We're getting close to closing the
[50:54] books for the fiscal year '26. Jefferson anticipates having
[50:58] final fund balance information in the next couple of weeks, and I'm sure I'll have
[51:01] that for you at our next city council meeting together.
[51:05] As a reminder, we budgeted for FY27
[51:08] $150,000 in revenues from the fund balance.
[51:12] So that is our target number that we're hoping to hit.
[51:16] And like I said, as soon as we know that number, we will make sure we get that to
[51:19] you.
[51:21] And if there are no questions, I'll turn it over to Liz.
[51:30] Thank you. So,
[51:33] I want to talk briefly about a public policy hearing that we will be
[51:37] having on Tuesday, September 22nd, at
[51:41] 6:00 PM at the district office. There will be
[51:44] a public hearing on policy JICK,
[51:49] which is entitled Bullying Prevention, Pupil Safety, and Violence Prevention.
[51:54] This is mainly because of the passing of House Bill 131,
[51:58] which comes with the part, and I quote, "With the intent of
[52:02] recommending changes to the policy while retaining those portions that
[52:06] are required by the statute."
[52:08] So essentially, we're doing this because the House
[52:12] bill updated an RSA, and because of that, the
[52:16] policy was impacted, and so it's being recommended that we
[52:19] bring this to a public hearing.
[52:22] The goal is to hear from pupils, parents,
[52:25] administrators, school staff, school volunteers, community representatives,
[52:29] and local law enforcement agencies at this hearing, specifically
[52:33] regarding feedback for the policy.
[52:36] So the policy is linked in the
[52:40] digital version of these notes, which will be provided to Brenda,
[52:44] and also it is right on the SAU website.
[52:48] There's a link to policies, and it is against policy
[52:51] JICK. And so we encourage people to-- We will be collecting
[52:55] feedback in the meantime, but the public hearing is a great place for people to
[52:58] come and voice
[53:00] any thoughts they have about possibly improving the policy, which we,
[53:04] the policy committee, will then be meeting and working on with the
[53:08] goal of having everything amended and passed for January.
[53:13] And finally, want to pass along a quick legislative update.
[53:17] There are two that I believe everybody in the city should be
[53:21] aware of in particular.
[53:24] So to summarize, approximately 60 bills regarding education
[53:28] became law this past legislative session.
[53:31] As it does every year, the NHSBA has created a document that tracks
[53:35] all of these, as well as their real and possible
[53:39] policy and district implications.
[53:42] It's also conducting a webinar on Wednesday to review key bills and themes.
[53:46] No small feat. So two that I would like to call attention to.
[53:50] One of the most important for Franklin is HB 1817,
[53:54] which is entitled Relative to Access to Curricular Courses and
[53:58] Co-Curricular Programs Within School Districts.
[54:03] No, honey.
[54:06] Yeah, okay. That is right. Okay.
[54:07] So, this one states that the school board must amend the local
[54:11] policies allowing resident EFA/voucher
[54:15] students to attend or participate in school district
[54:18] curricular programs and extracurricular activities
[54:22] at no cost to the student/parent.
[54:26] So prior to HB 1817, school districts were allowed to
[54:30] charge or assess fees on such students.
[54:35] So what this essentially means is that,
[54:37] students who are taking advantage of the vouchers offered by the state, they're
[54:41] getting between $4,600 and $4,900 to go
[54:45] to private or other institutions.
[54:48] They are now also allowed to come back to
[54:52] Franklin Public Schools and Participate in
[54:56] courses and extracurricular activities for free.
[55:00] So whereas before we could recoup some of that money that we're not getting
[55:04] from the state by charging a fee,
[55:07] we now will not be able to do that.
[55:09] So just a note from the NHSBA is that the fiscal impact of this bill
[55:13] is indeterminable, as it may result in significant costs at the
[55:17] local or state level, depending on how many students take advantage of the
[55:21] expanded access.
[55:23] So that's one.
[55:25] The other one is HB1300,
[55:29] and this one is entitled, "Establishing a school district tax cap
[55:33] question for the state general elections of 2026 and
[55:36] 2028 and related limitations on central office administrative
[55:40] expenses in school districts." Such a concise title.
[55:45] So some of the wording, to summarize this, is that every school district
[55:48] must have a combined tax cap and SAU budget limitation
[55:52] question placed on the November 2026 ballot by operation
[55:56] of law. So that needs to happen. That will be happening.
[56:02] Lot of questions around this one. So currently, there is little to no
[56:06] guidance yet on how this would interact with things like existing tax
[56:10] caps or charters. The current information
[56:13] that we have is that NHSBA and its member school boards are awaiting
[56:17] technical guidance from the NHDOE, the Attorney General's
[56:21] office, and the NH Department, the DRA, the Toronto Revenue
[56:25] Administration. NHSBA will update its members accordingly
[56:29] when such technical guidance becomes available.
[56:33] So this bill's interesting. So it's voted on.
[56:36] It's on the ballot in 2026 and 2028. That's going to happen.
[56:40] It also includes a sunset provision that will cause the tax cap regulations to
[56:44] expire on January 1st, 2032,
[56:47] and it allows taxpayers to enforce compliance with that in Superior
[56:51] Court.
[56:52] It also grants the DRA rulemaking authority for implementing these
[56:56] provisions and requires updates to its reporting systems with an
[56:59] estimated cost of $100,000, and it does not state where that money will come
[57:03] from either.
[57:06] So to summarize, this feels a little-- It's a premature
[57:09] action being taken without an understanding of ramifications to districts and
[57:13] municipalities. So that will be on there in November, and we don't know
[57:17] anything about it.
[57:21] City manager.
[57:22] So just as an administrative concern,
[57:26] I know that we have to submit draft ballots for printing
[57:29] very quickly for the November election.
[57:32] We've already submitted them for the October election.
[57:36] Has there been any consideration for that deadline?
[57:39] I'm guessing the answer's no, but...
[57:41] It should be coming from the state.
[57:43] It's a state-- It was HB 1300, so it should be coming from the state.
[57:47] We don't have anything. So hopefully for sure, but it does sound
[57:51] like it might not.
[57:53] We've talked about hope a lot tonight.
[57:56] Yeah, that's the thing that floats, right?
[57:59] Do any of the councilors have... Councilor Priebe.
[58:04] Thank you both for coming up here. Takes a lot of courage to get up here.
[58:08] And I want to thank you for this. Makes it easier for me to follow what you guys
[58:12] are trying to do. When you were
[58:15] chairman of the school board,
[58:18] when you were saying about
[58:21] the vouchers, I was confused, and it's a sign of old
[58:24] age.
[58:28] The vouchers for the
[58:31] child, the money has always followed the child, so they can go where they were or
[58:34] the parents want them to go. But now they can come back into
[58:38] our programs where we can't revenue.
[58:42] Give me an idea of what course would be affected by it.
[58:45] You must have something in your records as these children
[58:49] come back into our school system, and what particular course did
[58:53] they take so that we're not making-- Because we used to charge for that, if I
[58:57] understood you correctly. So-
[58:59] Yeah
[59:00] ... what course would that be?
[59:03] So just as an example, Councilor Priebe, we have a few
[59:07] students that come in, and let's say they take a drama class at the high school.
[59:11] It used to be if they had an EFA, that we could then charge them
[59:15] and take some of that EFA money into the district because they're coming into our
[59:19] school to take a class. Right now, they can take EFA
[59:23] money and pay to go elsewhere, but they can come back into the Franklin schools and
[59:26] take that drama class for free, and we don't get any
[59:30] adequacy money or any money. Franklin gets no money for those students to
[59:34] come in to take those classes at the high school or any school for that matter.
[59:40] Okay.
[59:44] Any other councilors that have questions?
[59:48] Thank you very much for coming forward.
[59:51] If I could just add real quick, Councilor Warner, do we know if September
[59:55] 16th is a definite on joint finance?
[59:59] Our side is all good to go. I can confirm that.
[1:00:02] You apparently didn't get my email.
[1:00:06] I'm sure I didn't.
[1:00:07] Yeah. I
[1:00:08] was going to try to pull you aside tonight, but now I'll just take this opportunity
[1:00:12] to say yes, I have confirmed the availability of everyone.
[1:00:15] Okay. I'll let our side know too. Great.
[1:00:18] So
[1:00:19] we're go. All have been reserved,
[1:00:23] meant to attend. I was just wondering what your side was.
[1:00:26] Yeah. We're good. As long as it's at 6:00, we're good to go.
[1:00:30] Six o'clock is the time.
[1:00:31] All right. Fantastic. Thank you.
[1:00:44] We will now move on to agenda item number one,
[1:00:48] council to approve the minutes for August 3rd, August
[1:00:52] 11th, and August 14th, 2026
[1:00:59] Councilor Carrier.
[1:01:01] Thank you. I move to approve the minutes from the August 3rd, August
[1:01:05] 11th and August 14th, 2026 meetings.
[1:01:10] Second.
[1:01:11] A motion has been made and seconded. Is there any discussion?
[1:01:17] Councilor Previ.
[1:01:19] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Is there a chance that I can get a printed version of those
[1:01:22] minutes?
[1:01:23] Sure.
[1:01:24] Because they aren't in this packet, so just submit it to me on the Outlook page
[1:01:28] if the emails are working. And that way, I can print them out and
[1:01:32] put them in my copy okay.
[1:01:41] Any other discussion on the minutes?
[1:01:46] If not, I will take a roll call vote.
[1:01:51] Councilor Johnston.
[1:01:53] Yes.
[1:01:55] Councilor Jacobson.
[1:01:57] Yes.
[1:01:59] Councilor Previ.
[1:02:01] Yes.
[1:02:03] Councilor Forge.
[1:02:04] Yes.
[1:02:06] Councilor Warner.
[1:02:08] Yes.
[1:02:10] Councilor Hallett Cook.
[1:02:12] Yes.
[1:02:15] Councilor Carrier.
[1:02:16] Yes.
[1:02:19] Councilor Boyce.
[1:02:20] Yes.
[1:02:24] The motion passes with eight votes.
[1:02:32] We will now move on to
[1:02:36] agenda number two.
[1:02:42] Memorandum of Understanding with the Franklin Outing Club
[1:02:45] Inc., for operation of the Veterans Memorial
[1:02:49] Recreation Area.
[1:02:51] Councilor Carrier.
[1:02:54] Thank you. I move that the City Council approve the memorandum of
[1:02:57] understanding between the City of Franklin and the Franklin Outing Club Inc.,
[1:03:01] for operation of the Veterans Memorial Recreation Area, and
[1:03:05] authorize the city manager to execute the agreement.
[1:03:08] Second.
[1:03:10] A motion has been made and seconded. Do we have any discussion?
[1:03:16] Councilor Warner.
[1:03:19] Yes, I want to get this done myself.
[1:03:22] I was wondering, can we get the
[1:03:25] dates on item number two
[1:03:28] on or before
[1:03:29] blank date blank?
[1:03:32] And then further down under that, I wanted to know, do we
[1:03:36] have a completion date
[1:03:38] for their master plan? You cannot implement a master plan if you don't
[1:03:42] have a master plan.
[1:03:45] Also, I want to make sure that we're completing annual financial
[1:03:49] reporting for RSA 72, colon 23,
[1:03:53] paragraph six.
[1:03:55] I don't see where that's totally covered in here.
[1:03:58] It may be
[1:03:59] you could say it was part of,
[1:04:02] oh,
[1:04:05] 3C
[1:04:07] or something like that, but it's not explicit.
[1:04:12] And I'm not going to go so far as to read
[1:04:15] RSA in facility two. It's there.
[1:04:18] But I
[1:04:19] would be
[1:04:23] totally agreeable to
[1:04:25] voting to accept this agreement tonight if we had
[1:04:29] some of the blanks and questions filled in.
[1:04:37] Councilor Johnston.
[1:04:40] So looking at this, I know I had brought up before at the
[1:04:44] last meeting about the outing club, as far as us paying, the city paying for the
[1:04:48] insurance.
[1:04:49] I do see now that the insurance is going to be split 50/50.
[1:04:54] I'm okay with that to begin with.
[1:04:56] But
[1:04:57] in the terms,
[1:05:01] section 3B says, "The
[1:05:05] club shall have the right to make reasonable charges for the use of the facility it
[1:05:09] has developed and further develops and maintains in the area.
[1:05:13] The process for establishing the charge amounts and when they will be
[1:05:17] applied shall include the city manager." I would like to
[1:05:21] include and City Council.
[1:05:23] City Council
[1:05:25] decides on all fees and all charges every year in the
[1:05:28] budget process, and this should not be any different.
[1:05:33] Other than that, I don't have an issue with it.
[1:05:37] City manager.
[1:05:39] So my recommendation would be that shall include the city
[1:05:42] manager with City Council approval, because I don't think the
[1:05:46] council wants to be part of the negotiations and process.
[1:05:49] I think you guys would just want to slap the table at the end.
[1:05:52] Correct, sir. With City Council approval.
[1:06:02] Any other discussion?
[1:06:10] City manager.
[1:06:11] So Councilor Warner, I know you didn't want to read all of RSA
[1:06:15] 72. Was there some specific language of RSA 72 you wanted
[1:06:19] included in paragraph,
[1:06:23] 3C?
[1:06:26] Annually towards the end, post file with the municipality in which the
[1:06:31] property is located, upon a form prescribed and
[1:06:34] provided by the Board of Tax and Land Appeals, a statement of financial condition
[1:06:38] for the preceding year and other such information as may be necessary
[1:06:42] to establish its status and eligibility for tax exemption.
[1:06:47] And there's more to that, but I think that would
[1:06:50] cover it.
[1:06:51] City manager.
[1:06:53] So would it be satisfactory then, if we were to say that the club shall
[1:06:57] keep adequate bookkeeping records in accordance with RSA 72
[1:07:01] or with state RSAs?
[1:07:03] State RSAs
[1:07:06] Our state RSA 72,
[1:07:11] colon 23-Roman
[1:07:15] numeral six.
[1:07:21] I have a comment.
[1:07:26] Councilor Jacobson.
[1:07:28] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
[1:07:31] Councilor Warner, I think what you're suggesting
[1:07:33] makes sense. I'm hesitant to
[1:07:38] be that specific on the reference in
[1:07:41] here.
[1:07:45] Would you be more comfortable with just state RSAs rather than
[1:07:49] the specific reference,
[1:07:51] in case those RSAs change, that we need to come back, and
[1:07:56] it could conceivably create a headache without much improvement
[1:08:01] or change in reporting.
[1:08:06] I think that would lack a certain specificity that I would like to see.
[1:08:10] Of course, there are nine of us. We all have a vote.
[1:08:21] Councilor Forge.
[1:08:24] I agree with
[1:08:26] Councilor Jacobson. And reason being, this is
[1:08:30] a 21-year
[1:08:33] agreement. There's a lot of time in between now and 21
[1:08:36] years from now for those RSAs to change.
[1:08:39] I think we can maintain the integrity of that
[1:08:43] wording with
[1:08:44] something more general, like in accordance with state RSAs in
[1:08:48] that section.
[1:08:57] Councilor Hallett Cook.
[1:09:00] Would it suffice to say all applicable RSAs?
[1:09:07] Instead of being-
[1:09:10] Instead of being specific to an exact, or even just the
[1:09:14] number and not going down to the colon,
[1:09:18] because those things can change.
[1:09:23] Councilor Warner.
[1:09:26] I think it would be acceptable to just designate that or be
[1:09:30] specific about RSA 72I.
[1:09:40] Councilor Carrier.
[1:09:42] Thank you.
[1:09:43] What we have before us here tonight is a really abbreviated version
[1:09:47] of what we had last month.
[1:09:50] Part of
[1:09:52] the overall agreement is that the club will also provide financial
[1:09:56] reports,
[1:09:57] statements of good standing with the state, statements about
[1:10:01] their status as a nonprofit. And I believe all those other things
[1:10:05] combined should cover the concerns that are
[1:10:09] being addressed within this specific request.
[1:10:16] Councilor Warner.
[1:10:18] I went through the 68 pages in last month's packet,
[1:10:22] and this is what stands out to me as not
[1:10:26] being in the packet.
[1:10:29] So
[1:10:30] I'm just asking for this one simple addition.
[1:10:40] City manager.
[1:10:42] So with the council's indulgence, I would actually ask if we can have the president
[1:10:46] of the outing club come forward.
[1:10:51] We would need amendments from the council
[1:10:54] to put that wording in. But I would also like to ask him what the
[1:10:58] dates are on their operating plan, because I thought we did have that filled in.
[1:11:02] As for the agreement, the date of the agreement is left blank
[1:11:06] because until this council says I can sign it, it was kind of pointless to put
[1:11:10] dates in, but it will most likely be
[1:11:14] if you slap the table tonight, tomorrow, or whenever I can arrange
[1:11:18] both of us to be sitting at the table to sign it.
[1:11:21] However, I don't
[1:11:23] know when they do their annual operating plan.
[1:11:25] So with the council's indulgence, I would invite him forward to answer
[1:11:29] that question and to see whether or not he can accept the
[1:11:33] changes the council is proposing tonight or if it will require him to go back
[1:11:37] to the outing club's board in order to make those changes.
[1:11:43] President Morrill, could you please come forward?
[1:11:56] There we go. Thank you for having me up.
[1:11:58] What questions can I answer?
[1:12:03] City manager.
[1:12:04] So the first one is on section two, on or before which
[1:12:08] day, and then it would be 2020, I'm assuming either
[1:12:12] 2026 or 2027, is it that
[1:12:16] the club
[1:12:17] actually publishes its annual operating plan?
[1:12:22] So I believe that will be in June, as our physical
[1:12:26] year ends, starts in June. So it'll be June.
[1:12:33] City manager.
[1:12:34] So I believe, was the 2026 one provided?
[1:12:37] It was in last month's packet, I thought, or there was one there, or an example of
[1:12:40] one.
[1:12:42] Is this year's complete then? Or would
[1:12:46] 2025s that was complete and you're currently working on 2026s that will be
[1:12:50] complete next year?
[1:12:52] Well, the one that we
[1:12:54] gave was kind of a template to make sure that's what you guys
[1:12:58] wanted in the next year. That's the information you will get in June.
[1:13:05] City manager. So on or before the 1st day of June or the last
[1:13:09] day of June?
[1:13:10] The first day sounds good
[1:13:21] City manager.
[1:13:22] And then the additional question,
[1:13:25] if this council does make the amendments proposed, there are two of them
[1:13:29] that we're discussing but are not on the table yet.
[1:13:32] Would you be able to accept for the club, or would it have to go back to the club
[1:13:36] for their approval? I know I had your and the club's approval on the printed
[1:13:40] document I have. How would amendments work by your bylaws?
[1:13:47] I'm not quite sure. I think I have due diligence within
[1:13:51] reason to say yes.
[1:13:54] But I guess it depends what it is. I think the first one
[1:13:58] was, can you-
[1:13:59] So the first one was to add city council approval on any fees
[1:14:04] that the club would be charging.
[1:14:07] So the negotiations on when and when they would be established would be worked out
[1:14:11] between the club and the city manager. The city council would have final approval.
[1:14:16] And what are those fees considered?
[1:14:18] Just like our lift tickets or our-
[1:14:20] So-
[1:14:20] ... concession? What does that mean?
[1:14:23] It would essentially, the way I read this, it's fairly broad.
[1:14:26] It would be essentially any fees you charged,
[1:14:29] the council would have the authority to approve or disapprove.
[1:14:33] But I'm assuming if you come to this board with a reasonable reason for why you
[1:14:37] wanted to change them, they would accept that.
[1:14:40] So from my clarification, every time we change our
[1:14:45] food, which happens often because food costs go up, we'd have to
[1:14:49] come to council?
[1:14:53] Councilor Johnston.
[1:14:55] Well, in your memorandum of agreement, right, it says in
[1:15:00] turn, section 3B, it says, "The club shall have the
[1:15:03] right to make reasonable changes for the charges for
[1:15:07] the use of the facility it has developed and further develops and maintains
[1:15:11] in the area. The process for
[1:15:15] establishing charge amounts and when they
[1:15:19] will be applied." So to me that means
[1:15:22] like if somebody wants to come and have a birthday party up at the rec
[1:15:26] or at the vets, and
[1:15:30] you decide, "Okay, you can have a birthday party.
[1:15:32] We're going to charge you $100." Well, that would
[1:15:35] be a discussion between you guys
[1:15:39] and the city manager with the city council's approval.
[1:15:42] I'm not looking at
[1:15:44] how much you charge in alcohol or how much you charge for food. That's up to you.
[1:15:49] But when you're talking about adding other charges
[1:15:53] on top of stuff,
[1:15:57] like
[1:16:00] renting. Renting the building, renting the ground, or anything like that.
[1:16:04] It's still city property, so it should go to the city manager to run the city
[1:16:08] council's approval. Just like any other fees at the rec department,
[1:16:12] or trash, anything else that goes through the city and we have fees,
[1:16:17] it's negotiated with the city manager, and it comes to the city council every year
[1:16:20] for approval. And I don't see why the Franklin Outing Club
[1:16:24] and the memorandum of agreement should be any different.
[1:16:29] City manager.
[1:16:31] So I would suggest
[1:16:33] two amendments then. The first one being with the city council approval
[1:16:36] for that, and those, in my opinion, should be fees.
[1:16:41] If the club is going to allow things like that to happen,
[1:16:44] that schedule should be set in advance,
[1:16:47] and it should be a predetermined amount.
[1:16:49] It shouldn't vary for each event that happens.
[1:16:52] And then an additional amendment to D that says, "The
[1:16:56] club shall have the right to operate concessions for the sale of food and
[1:17:00] alcohol, including individual prices of these items
[1:17:04] on premises." And that way, that clarifies for
[1:17:08] future councils that you guys have the right to set your prices for individual
[1:17:12] concessions.
[1:17:14] But for rental of the property or large things, lift tickets, any major
[1:17:18] changes to fees collected in the area for use of the
[1:17:21] facilities,
[1:17:23] would have to come before the council before you could change or set them.
[1:17:28] So events. Does that-
[1:17:30] And I just--
[1:17:34] Are, can we speak as board members?
[1:17:37] So just, any?
[1:17:39] I mean,
[1:17:41] your
[1:17:43] president's up here right now. Your president-
[1:17:45] Excuse me.
[1:17:46] Excuse me, sir.
[1:17:47] The president is up here right now.
[1:17:48] If he wants you to come up and speak, he can, sir. That's all I'm saying.
[1:17:53] So don't get mad at me for
[1:17:55] answering your question.
[1:17:58] City manager.
[1:18:00] I actually was just going to echo that, that if
[1:18:03] President Morrill would like them to come up and add,
[1:18:07] phone a friend is allowed.
[1:18:09] All right. I'm Tom Hombart. I'm the secretary-
[1:18:12] Sir. Yeah. Can I have you wait till the microphone so the folks online can hear?
[1:18:17] Okay. I'm Tom Hombart-
[1:18:18] Put your own. Thank you.
[1:18:20] All right. I'm Tom Hombart. I'm the secretary for the board.
[1:18:24] I just want to make it clear that you review those budget
[1:18:28] items because that's part of the budget of the city.
[1:18:31] We're a nonprofit, and we have to work our own
[1:18:35] bottom line that works for us. I mean, we change prices for
[1:18:40] ski lessons, snowboard lessons,
[1:18:43] tickets. I mean, to come back to the city, we're talking about trying
[1:18:47] to have a long-term agreement. I think you're setting yourselves up for
[1:18:51] more work than you want to do, and it's basically going to mean we can't
[1:18:55] really function effectively if we have to come back every time
[1:18:59] something's different.
[1:19:01] I don't think you're going to want the Opera House coming in every time they change
[1:19:04] an amount for a show. So I just
[1:19:09] want it to be something that we can actually work with because if we have to come
[1:19:13] back all the time, it's more than we can do. Honestly.
[1:19:17] That's all I wanted to say.
[1:19:23] Councilor Boyce.
[1:19:25] Thank you.
[1:19:27] I've got a couple of questions regarding
[1:19:30] having the outing club come back to the city manager and then
[1:19:34] being proposed in front of the city council.
[1:19:36] What happens if a resident is two weeks
[1:19:41] schedules...
[1:19:42] Sorry, is that better?
[1:19:44] What happens if we got a resident that wants to rent property in two
[1:19:48] weeks and
[1:19:50] our council meeting has already gone by?
[1:19:53] We've got to figure something out that works for both.
[1:19:59] Councilor Johnston.
[1:20:02] So, they should have set fees for a
[1:20:05] specific thing. Like if somebody wants to rent the hall for a couple of
[1:20:09] hours, they should have a set fee.
[1:20:11] Mm-hmm.
[1:20:11] And those fees should be good for at least a year.
[1:20:14] That way, people aren't guessing, "Well, how much am I going to have to pay this
[1:20:17] month?" Or, "How much am I going to have to pay this week?"
[1:20:23] Councilor Boyce.
[1:20:24] Thank you, Councilor Johnston.
[1:20:27] Is that the plan, to have a set fee
[1:20:29] when you rent the property?
[1:20:35] We have not been renting the property.
[1:20:37] I believe in the agreement we cannot
[1:20:40] sublet.
[1:20:44] So how we operate is we do events, and we operate the
[1:20:48] ski area, and we do fundraisers. And that's how we keep
[1:20:52] funding the ski area.
[1:20:56] Councilor Boyce.
[1:20:57] So this is kind of you if he's not renting the property.
[1:21:07] City manager.
[1:21:08] So,
[1:21:13] section 3B
[1:21:16] was put in there for largely things like lift tickets.
[1:21:20] If that charge were to be changed or added,
[1:21:24] and major things that they are doing now, I didn't
[1:21:28] foresee other additional stuff. If there is additional
[1:21:32] things that come up, we can bring that in front of the council.
[1:21:36] I was not aware that things like ski lessons changed.
[1:21:39] I
[1:21:40] guess I was under the assumption, bad word, assume, that you set
[1:21:44] those charges at the beginning of the year, and they lasted at least for the year.
[1:21:49] And again, as Councilor Johnston put out, I don't think there's any
[1:21:53] desire by this council to
[1:21:56] figure out how much you charge for a hot dog,
[1:21:59] because that could be market-driven week to week, especially in the economy
[1:22:03] we've got right now.
[1:22:06] So it was for big things, and when things changed from,
[1:22:11] let's say that in order to cover the cost of the insurance,
[1:22:16] they would have to charge for skiing on Saturdays and Sundays.
[1:22:20] If that's what they need to do, that would have to be brought to the council.
[1:22:24] That was my impression and my intention.
[1:22:26] Okay.
[1:22:28] It was not worded with specific in there having to come to the council.
[1:22:34] Councilor Boyce.
[1:22:35] Oh.
[1:22:38] I'm sorry, Councilor Johnston.
[1:22:40] And that's all I'm talking about. This whole paragraph
[1:22:44] is talking about
[1:22:46] future charges that you guys may come up with.
[1:22:49] That's what this whole paragraph is talking about.
[1:22:51] It's not talking about what you're charging right now for food or for lift tickets
[1:22:54] and things like that. I understand you got to charge for stuff.
[1:22:58] But the process for establishing
[1:23:02] charge amounts and when they will be applied
[1:23:06] shall include the city manager with the city council's approval.
[1:23:09] I don't think you're going to be coming to the city manager every month asking them
[1:23:12] to change your fees or approve a change of your fees.
[1:23:17] If you do, then something's not right.
[1:23:21] But I'll leave it at
[1:23:25] that and
[1:23:26] Councilor Boyce can continue.
[1:23:29] So are we kind of talking about the lift
[1:23:32] tickets? That's what we're talking about, not the programming or any of
[1:23:36] that stuff?
[1:23:42] Councilor Boyce.
[1:23:44] Tim, do you have a set fee that you
[1:23:48] charge for all this, or does it change per group or anything like that?
[1:23:52] I guess if you could just explain that, maybe it'll
[1:23:56] make this all go away, I guess.
[1:23:58] Yes, some things change, but when we come
[1:24:01] across a kid that can't afford to do a ski lesson or something like that,
[1:24:06] we change prices for that, or a group, or something like that.
[1:24:10] So
[1:24:11] it's just frustrating a little bit that I feel you guys don't trust the city
[1:24:15] manager or... Just let me finish, please.
[1:24:20] We've been operating this place a long time, and have done a great job.
[1:24:23] When I got involved, the place had $6,000 in the bank.
[1:24:27] We have a lot more in the bank now because we're doing a great job
[1:24:31] fundraising and doing these charges.
[1:24:33] And a lot of the city councilors have not been up, so
[1:24:37] how
[1:24:38] can you vote on it?
[1:24:40] I'm sorry, I'm just getting frustrated a little bit.
[1:24:44] This should...
[1:24:49] Councilor Boyce.
[1:24:50] Thank you.
[1:24:52] Tim, I've been an advocate. All I'm asking is if this
[1:24:56] is simplified. You gave us the explanation.
[1:24:59] That satisfies what I'm saying. I understand what you're saying.
[1:25:01] You get somebody that can't afford it. I appreciate that. Thank you.
[1:25:07] City manager.
[1:25:09] So again, this would be mostly applied to anything
[1:25:12] new that you would want to change. That's how I saw it written.
[1:25:16] That was
[1:25:17] what the intent behind it was. And I think that getting the city
[1:25:20] council's approval is not necessarily a
[1:25:25] reach too far
[1:25:27] if you want to make a major rate change.
[1:25:38] Councilor Hallard-Crook.
[1:25:42] Maybe I'm reading this wrong.
[1:25:47] "The club shall have the right to make reasonable
[1:25:51] charges for the use of the facilities it has
[1:25:54] developed and further develops and maintains in the
[1:25:58] area." If I just read that first sentence,
[1:26:04] it's reasonable charges for the use of the facility.
[1:26:07] Now, I believe
[1:26:10] you just had said that you're not necessarily
[1:26:14] renting, right? So how are we
[1:26:17] defining use of the facilities? Because
[1:26:21] to me, use of the facilities would indicate that there is a
[1:26:26] rental for a birthday party, not lift tickets.
[1:26:31] City manager.
[1:26:32] So in this case, use of the facilities basically includes use of the mountain.
[1:26:36] The mountain itself, the ski area, the lift, all of that are the
[1:26:40] facilities that we're talking about, not just the lodge.
[1:26:43] In fact, I would argue the lodge is probably one of the smallest parts of that,
[1:26:48] and probably the least impacted by the ability to move these
[1:26:51] rates.
[1:26:57] Councilor Forge.
[1:27:01] Thanks, Mayor.
[1:27:04] Tim, I'm looking at, you were talking about the annual operating plan
[1:27:08] being submitted on the first day of June. We agreed to that.
[1:27:13] Sounds like that was agreed to.
[1:27:16] Your
[1:27:18] fiscal year,
[1:27:20] around when you're talking about your budget and whatnot,
[1:27:24] does that first of June revolve around-- Does your
[1:27:28] fiscal year end in June, start in July? Is that how you guys function?
[1:27:33] Yes.
[1:27:35] Would it be reasonable for you guys to name your fees at
[1:27:39] the time of the beginning of the tail end of
[1:27:43] your
[1:27:44] fiscal year to be going into the next year as part of your
[1:27:48] operating plan?
[1:27:50] I think it would be better to do it before the fall, because you never know where
[1:27:53] fuel and different things like that are.
[1:27:59] Thank you.
[1:28:01] Councilor Boyce.
[1:28:04] We are just getting into the weeds here.
[1:28:07] This is-- We're making more of a ruckus than we need to
[1:28:11] here.
[1:28:12] The outing club is not looking to charge exuberant fees
[1:28:16] for lift tickets. It sounds like if he's going to make
[1:28:19] changes, it's like cost of living. It's like repairs and stuff like that.
[1:28:23] But he's not going to, "Oh, we got to fix this.
[1:28:25] Let's charge an outrageous amount." We are just
[1:28:28] so far in the weeds here. This needs to be taken care of now.
[1:28:37] Councilor Priebe.
[1:28:38] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
[1:28:40] Tim, thank you for coming up.
[1:28:42] We're forgetting to say those two magical words, thank you, with reverence.
[1:28:47] The only thing I can see, and this is in
[1:28:50] where you might-- My personal opinion.
[1:28:52] I'm not going to talk for the rest of the council, just my thoughts,
[1:28:56] is where you may need the city council's approval is if you apply for
[1:29:00] a grant and you have to use the city to administer the
[1:29:04] grant like the water park people have done.
[1:29:07] It's been administered by the city and accounting by the city.
[1:29:10] That would have to come in front of the council. Okay.
[1:29:13] That's just the way it is.
[1:29:15] So
[1:29:17] you,
[1:29:19] come fall, you have no idea how much snow
[1:29:23] we're going to get. You don't know how cold it's going to get.
[1:29:27] You don't know how your equipment's going to be.
[1:29:31] The one thing that I guess that,
[1:29:33] where you say to it, "The club shall have its right to keep all funds
[1:29:37] determined from here on for its own use,"
[1:29:41] can you give me a little definition of your own use with that?
[1:29:44] Just give me a small one. I don't want to get into the weeds like Councilor Boyce
[1:29:47] said.
[1:29:50] Pretty much all our use, all our funds goes back into the
[1:29:55] operation of the ski area, buying new equipment, upgrades,
[1:29:59] things like that.
[1:30:03] Thank you.
[1:30:09] Councilor Warner.
[1:30:14] I see the point here.
[1:30:17] I think one thing we kind of need to remain focused on
[1:30:21] is not just the outing club issues, but try
[1:30:24] and keep in mind
[1:30:27] the overall process of doing MOUs
[1:30:31] as a committee
[1:30:33] defined over a period of several months last year.
[1:30:37] And that's the only reason, I think, annual financial reporting
[1:30:41] per the RSA.
[1:30:42] That is just something that I'm not picking on the outing
[1:30:46] club. I think every MOU needs to conform to that because when
[1:30:50] the RSA says every charitable organization shall,
[1:30:55] it's not an option.
[1:30:58] It's not engineering guidance.
[1:31:02] City manager.
[1:31:04] So in response to that, I can tell you the reason we've only seen this one, because
[1:31:07] I think there are currently 15 in the hopper.
[1:31:10] We're waiting on this one to be the template to push them forward.
[1:31:14] So that type of guidance is exactly what I'm looking for and will be applied to all
[1:31:17] of them going forward.
[1:31:21] Councilor Warner.
[1:31:23] And I fully understand that, City Manager, and
[1:31:26] appreciate the awkward position you're in as you do
[1:31:30] the first one, and sit here in your fishbowl with
[1:31:34] everybody looking in. And
[1:31:36] I'm just trying to hold the line on what we call an MOU
[1:31:42] Councilor Carrion
[1:31:45] Thank you. I
[1:31:47] think Councilor Warner pointed out an important
[1:31:51] point there.
[1:31:53] When referring to RSA 72, we're referring to
[1:31:57] state law, which supersedes anything we do here in a council, and
[1:32:01] certainly supersedes anything we might say
[1:32:04] in an MOU. And therefore, it seems to me to be completely
[1:32:08] unnecessary to restate in our MOU,
[1:32:12] especially to hold up the process that's been going on for months here.
[1:32:16] The MOU needs to state
[1:32:20] the agreement between the organization and the city,
[1:32:24] and
[1:32:28] by state law, they have to follow the state RSAs, including
[1:32:32] RSA 72. So I don't see
[1:32:35] it as necessary to be in here,
[1:32:37] and I'd like to call the vote to
[1:32:41] approve the MOU as presented.
[1:32:55] Do I have a second on-
[1:32:56] Yeah, I'll second that.
[1:32:58] All right.
[1:33:00] Question has been called, been seconded.
[1:33:03] Now I will take a roll call vote.
[1:33:07] Councilor Prieb?
[1:33:09] Yes.
[1:33:11] Councilor Forge?
[1:33:12] Yes.
[1:33:14] Councilor Warner?
[1:33:15] Yes.
[1:33:17] Councilor Hallock-Cook?
[1:33:19] Yes.
[1:33:21] Councilor Carrion?
[1:33:22] Yes.
[1:33:24] Councilor Boyce?
[1:33:25] Yes.
[1:33:27] Councilor Johnston?
[1:33:29] Yes.
[1:33:31] Councilor Jacobson?
[1:33:33] Yes.
[1:33:36] The motion passes with eight votes.
[1:33:43] That was calling the question. Now we have to vote on the actual motion.
[1:33:55] Now we're calling on the
[1:33:58] vote on the original motion.
[1:34:02] Councilor Forge?
[1:34:05] Yes.
[1:34:07] Councilor Warner?
[1:34:12] Yes.
[1:34:14] Councilor Hallock-Cook?
[1:34:15] Yes.
[1:34:16] Councilor Carrion?
[1:34:18] Yes.
[1:34:20] Councilor Boyce?
[1:34:21] Yes.
[1:34:23] Councilor Johnston?
[1:34:34] Councilor Johnston?
[1:34:40] Abstain. Abstain.
[1:34:47] Councilor Jacobson?
[1:34:50] Yes.
[1:34:53] Councilor Prieb?
[1:34:55] Yes.
[1:34:59] We have seven yeses and one abstained.
[1:35:02] The motion passes.
[1:35:15] Now, we will move on to agenda item number three.
[1:35:20] Council to consider appropriation for fire equipment sale
[1:35:24] funds. Resolution
[1:35:26] number 05-27.
[1:35:43] Councilor Hallock-Cook?
[1:35:47] I move that the Franklin City Council set a public hearing date
[1:35:52] for
[1:35:53] 6:00 PM at the September 28th,
[1:35:56] 2026, meeting of the city council to
[1:35:59] adopt resolution number
[1:36:02] 05-27. Adoption of the
[1:36:05] resolution
[1:36:07] 05-27 would allow for the appropriation
[1:36:11] of $10,582 received
[1:36:15] from the sale of surplus fire, rescue, and
[1:36:18] EMS-related equipment towards the purchase of
[1:36:22] a replacement fire engine.
[1:36:25] Second.
[1:36:27] A motion has been made and seconded.
[1:36:31] Is there any discussion?
[1:36:36] City manager.
[1:36:37] So if there's any question, this is simply housekeeping.
[1:36:40] This council approved the fire chief to be able to sell this equipment.
[1:36:44] He has sold it. It's now in the general fund.
[1:36:46] We need to move it into the capital fund that allows it to be
[1:36:49] spent on fire equipment. That's all this resolution is asking to do.
[1:36:59] Any discussion? Councilor Boyce?
[1:37:02] Has everything been sold as far as the surplus, or is there still items
[1:37:06] left?
[1:37:08] I know we-
[1:37:08] I know the majority was sold. I don't know if the fire chief wants to answer that
[1:37:12] question.
[1:37:14] I know he's bored over there. He's just itching to get up. How are you?
[1:37:17] Chief Forrest, could you come forward, please?
[1:37:40] Good evening. To answer your question, the majority of the items were actually
[1:37:44] sold, but there were some city departments that wanted to reutilize those in their
[1:37:47] departments. Specifically MSD with some hoses, shovels, things like that.
[1:37:52] But the majority was sold, different methods.
[1:37:56] Thank you
[1:37:58] Any other questions for the chief before he sits back down?
[1:38:03] Councilor Boyce?
[1:38:04] Kind of off the
[1:38:06] subject, but
[1:38:08] I thought we had a
[1:38:11] burn going on at the old campground.
[1:38:14] That's been postponed from what I understand, right?
[1:38:18] Yeah, correct. The burn was scheduled, but when we did the final labor
[1:38:22] quote with new pay rates and everything, when we gave them
[1:38:26] that figure that the owners of that property would have to pay, they
[1:38:30] declined us to have it burned, and they were able to get it.
[1:38:33] Or they're planning on demoing the building on their own.
[1:38:37] Thank you.
[1:38:43] Is there any more discussion on this motion?
[1:38:48] If not, I will take a roll call vote.
[1:38:52] Councilor Johnston?
[1:38:54] Yes.
[1:38:55] Councilor Jacobson?
[1:38:59] Yes.
[1:39:00] Councilor Prevey?
[1:39:03] Yes.
[1:39:04] Councilor Forge?
[1:39:06] Yes.
[1:39:07] Councilor Warner?
[1:39:09] Yes.
[1:39:11] Councilor Hallett Cook?
[1:39:13] Yes.
[1:39:14] Councilor Carrier?
[1:39:16] Yes.
[1:39:19] Councilor Boyce?
[1:39:20] Yes.
[1:39:22] The motion passes with eight votes.
[1:39:31] Yes, you're right.
[1:39:33] Is there anyone in the council that would like to read the resolution?
[1:39:44] Council Forge.
[1:39:46] Thanks, Mayor. Resolution 05-27,
[1:39:50] a resolution granting authority to transfer
[1:39:53] $10,582
[1:39:56] received from the sale of surplus fire and EMS equipment
[1:40:00] in the year of our Lord, 2026.
[1:40:04] Whereas
[1:40:05] the City Council of the City of Franklin, New Hampshire, adopted a
[1:40:09] budget for fiscal year 2027, beginning July 1st,
[1:40:13] 2026, and whereas the
[1:40:17] City Council authorized the Fire Department administration to
[1:40:21] sell and/or scrap surplus fire,
[1:40:25] rescue, and EMS-related equipment at the January 5th,
[1:40:29] 2026 Franklin City Council meeting.
[1:40:32] And whereas it was the intent of the revenue
[1:40:35] generated to go towards the purchase of a new replacement fire
[1:40:39] engine,
[1:40:41] and whereas the Fire Department administration
[1:40:44] sold the pre-approved surplus items for a total value of
[1:40:48] $10,582. Now,
[1:40:51] therefore,
[1:40:53] be it resolved that at a regularly scheduled meeting
[1:40:57] of the City Council on Monday, September 28th,
[1:41:00] 2026, the City Council of Franklin, New Hampshire,
[1:41:04] does hereby vote to adopt resolution
[1:41:07] 05-27 to transfer proceeds
[1:41:11] in the amount of $10,582
[1:41:14] from the sale of surplus fire and EMS equipment.
[1:41:18] A decrease in account
[1:41:21] 01-0-000-40970,
[1:41:27] transfer to capital reserve fund, fire equipment,
[1:41:30] $10,582.
[1:41:34] An increase in account
[1:41:37] 70-0-000-39110,
[1:41:44] transfer from gen fund,
[1:41:46] $10,582.
[1:42:03] All right. We will now move on to agenda item number four.
[1:42:06] Point of information.
[1:42:10] Councilor Jacobson.
[1:42:12] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
[1:42:14] Sorry, Councilor Forge, I think there's a by roll call vote on the second page
[1:42:17] there. Just want to make sure the entire resolution is read so there's not a
[1:42:21] technical issue later on.
[1:42:22] By roll call vote.
[1:42:23] Thank you.
[1:42:37] We will now move on to agenda item number four.
[1:42:42] Working to obtain approval of a proposed local
[1:42:46] emergency operation plan
[1:42:49] and contingency of operations plan at the August
[1:42:53] 31st, 2026, Franklin City Council meeting.
[1:42:57] Council approval
[1:42:59] is required for the City of Franklin to formally adopt and implement
[1:43:03] these plans, which will help ensure the city's
[1:43:07] preparationist
[1:43:09] contingency of essential operations and the
[1:43:12] safety and wellbeing of the community.
[1:43:19] Councilor Hallett Cook.
[1:43:22] Try and stay awake. I'm doing my reading tonight.
[1:43:25] I move that the Franklin City Council formally adopt the
[1:43:29] proposed local emergency operations and continuity of
[1:43:33] operation plans as prepared by Hubbard Consulting
[1:43:36] LLC.
[1:43:38] Second.
[1:43:41] The motion has been made and seconded. Do we have any discussion?
[1:43:49] If not-
[1:43:50] I have a question.
[1:43:52] Councilor Jacobson.
[1:43:54] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. My only question is,
[1:43:57] this plan was made public in May 7th, I think.
[1:44:01] I'm just curious, what if any,
[1:44:05] information was put
[1:44:07] Integrated from that discussion to the plan?
[1:44:11] Did you get good feedback, essentially?
[1:44:16] City manager.
[1:44:18] So I'm getting the signal from the fire chief in the back that there was no input.
[1:44:23] Thank you.
[1:44:27] Any other discussion on this motion?
[1:44:33] If not, by roll call vote.
[1:44:36] Council Jacobson.
[1:44:39] Yes.
[1:44:42] Councilor Previ.
[1:44:44] Yes.
[1:44:45] Councilor Forge.
[1:44:47] Yes.
[1:44:50] Councilor Warner.
[1:44:51] Yes.
[1:44:53] Councilor Hallock-Cook.
[1:44:55] Yes.
[1:44:56] Councilor Carrier.
[1:44:58] Yes.
[1:45:00] Councilor Boyce.
[1:45:01] Yes.
[1:45:04] Councilor Johnston.
[1:45:06] Yes.
[1:45:09] The motion passes with eight votes.
[1:45:18] We will now move on to agenda item
[1:45:22] number five, council to consider
[1:45:27] FEMA and mandated floodplain
[1:45:31] amendment, Chapter 170.
[1:45:39] Councilor Johnston.
[1:45:44] I make a motion to approve the recommended amendments to Chapter
[1:45:48] 170, Floodplain Management of the Franklin City Ordinances.
[1:45:52] Second.
[1:45:55] A motion has been made and seconded.
[1:45:58] Is there any discussion on this motion?
[1:46:01] I have a question.
[1:46:03] Councilor Jacobson.
[1:46:07] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. My only question here is, the
[1:46:12] red line strikeout that's included here, is a date in the future,
[1:46:16] November 13th, 2026. City manager, can you describe
[1:46:20] what's planned for that date or
[1:46:24] why we're looking forward to that date?
[1:46:29] City manager.
[1:46:30] I have no explanation for why that date was provided by FEMA.
[1:46:34] I only know it was provided by FEMA, and they told us that it had to be there.
[1:46:39] Thank you.
[1:46:41] Councilor Johnston.
[1:46:43] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The only thing I want to do is I wanted to
[1:46:47] let the public know that what they are talking about, Chapter
[1:46:50] 170-1, scope and statutory authority, Section C.
[1:46:56] There is a date that was already on there for January 23rd,
[1:46:59] 2026, and that has been changed to November 13th,
[1:47:03] 2046. There was also
[1:47:06] dates on there for the flood insurance rate maps,
[1:47:10] dated April 19th, 2010, and January 23rd,
[1:47:14] 2026.
[1:47:16] Those were changed to the maps dated January
[1:47:20] 23rd, 2026, and November 13th, 2026.
[1:47:24] So I'm assuming, to clarify for Councilor
[1:47:28] Jacobson, that the November 13th is going to be a
[1:47:32] new floodplain map possibly.
[1:47:36] City manager.
[1:47:37] So I apologize for my sarcasm.
[1:47:40] The expectation is that they will publish those on that date.
[1:47:44] Again, this is one of those things that FEMA gave us and
[1:47:48] didn't give us a whole lot of options.
[1:47:49] They said, "Do this
[1:47:52] or you won't have federal flood insurance." So...
[1:48:00] Any other discussion on this motion?
[1:48:05] If not, by a roll call vote.
[1:48:10] Councilor Warner.
[1:48:12] Yes.
[1:48:13] Councilor Hallock-Cook.
[1:48:15] Yes.
[1:48:17] Councilor Carrier.
[1:48:19] Yes.
[1:48:21] Councilor Boyce.
[1:48:22] Yes.
[1:48:24] Councilor Johnston.
[1:48:26] Yes.
[1:48:27] Councilor Jacobson.
[1:48:29] Yes.
[1:48:31] Councilor Previ.
[1:48:33] Yes.
[1:48:34] Councilor Forge.
[1:48:35] Yes.
[1:48:36] The motion passes with eight
[1:48:39] votes
[1:48:41] in favor.
[1:48:51] Now, we will move on to agenda item number six.
[1:48:57] Council to consider moving the Park and Rec fee schedule out of the
[1:49:01] city code.
[1:49:07] Do I have a motion?
[1:49:10] I have a motion.
[1:49:12] I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
[1:49:15] Councilor Hallock-Cook.
[1:49:20] I move the
[1:49:21] Franklin
[1:49:25] City Council of the city of Franklin remove Chapter
[1:49:28] 309, section 15C of the city
[1:49:32] code and replace it with,
[1:49:35] "Fees for use will be published annually as part of the budgeting
[1:49:39] process," and that the fee schedule for the Parks and
[1:49:43] Recreation Department
[1:49:45] and Parks and Recreation Department services published as
[1:49:49] Chapter 160-1 be
[1:49:52] removed and replaced with, "See the schedule of fees
[1:49:57] published by the Parks and Recreation Department annually."
[1:50:03] Second.
[1:50:05] We have a motion and a second. Do we have any discussion?
[1:50:10] Councilor Warner
[1:50:12] Yeah, I was sort of curious as to when this discussion
[1:50:16] that
[1:50:17] is mentioned in the history took place.
[1:50:20] I am a member of the legislative committee.
[1:50:23] I have not missed any meetings this year.
[1:50:26] I could not find this in any of our minutes.
[1:50:28] I was wondering
[1:50:30] if perhaps this was a discussion outside of the committee.
[1:50:36] I have a comment.
[1:50:40] I'm in agreement with Councilor Warner.
[1:50:43] I'm on the legislative committee also, and I don't remember having a
[1:50:46] talk with Director Carmichael about these changing
[1:50:49] fees and moving them outside the charter.
[1:50:54] I have a comment.
[1:50:55] Councilor Jacobson.
[1:50:58] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. My apologies to the council.
[1:51:00] There's an error in this council agenda report.
[1:51:04] This was brought before the Parks and Recreation Committee,
[1:51:08] which is
[1:51:09] the folks that discussed this. And so we discussed this
[1:51:12] at least
[1:51:16] during the July 1st Parks and Recreation Committee
[1:51:20] meeting, as well as the
[1:51:23] August 19th Parks and Recreation Committee
[1:51:27] workshop. And so, that's a
[1:51:33] mistake on my side,
[1:51:34] Councilor Warner and Councilor Johnson.
[1:51:36] We've had a lot come through the legislative committee, but not this.
[1:51:39] And I'm happy to talk a little bit more about the thinking behind this,
[1:51:43] but I'll leave it there for now.
[1:51:47] Councilor Hallett Cook.
[1:51:50] Just as a follow-up, yes, this was part of our conversation in our
[1:51:54] Parks and Rec committee meetings, because
[1:51:58] fees are tied to our budget,
[1:52:02] and
[1:52:05] if you had them in the charter,
[1:52:08] it was a little bit harder to update them than doing it
[1:52:12] this way.
[1:52:14] City manager.
[1:52:15] So, yes, just to echo that, in the past, the city budget's been
[1:52:19] passed, and then all the fees would had to be gone in and the council,
[1:52:23] or not, has gone in and updated Chapter 160 for the
[1:52:27] fees. The intent here is to move all the city fees to Appendix One as part of
[1:52:31] the budget that the council will approve as the budget and go
[1:52:35] in and figure out these are the first two sections that we know need to be
[1:52:39] changed to, say, refer to the fiscal year budget.
[1:52:41] I'm sure there will be others that will come up as we go along.
[1:52:45] But the intent is to give the citizens of Franklin one spot, which is the
[1:52:48] current fiscal year budget, Appendix One, where all of the city fees will be
[1:52:52] located.
[1:52:54] If you've looked at Chapter 160 for past years, there are some of the fees there
[1:52:57] that haven't been updated for 14 years, even though there are budgets that were
[1:53:01] passed
[1:53:02] that did update those fees because either, for whatever
[1:53:06] reason, it never came before the council to change 160.
[1:53:09] The intent is to alleviate that by making it all one document that gets
[1:53:13] approved and passed during the budget process.
[1:53:22] Any other discussion on this motion?
[1:53:25] Council Carrier.
[1:53:27] Thank you. So, City Manager, does that mean that
[1:53:31] we're going to go through and do all of these different sections one at a time, or
[1:53:34] is there a simpler process for
[1:53:38] just taking all of this out and putting it into an appendix?
[1:53:41] City manager.
[1:53:42] So the appendix was actually given as part of the budget, and it was approved as
[1:53:46] part of the budget.
[1:53:48] And I think that you'll find a large portion of this by
[1:53:52] amending Section 160 and 309
[1:53:56] here will take care of it. There's probably going to be some cats and dogs,
[1:54:00] as there are a lot of those in our city code that I'm finding that we'll come
[1:54:03] across, but I think this will be the one that is going to--
[1:54:07] This will be the major heavy lift for it.
[1:54:09] Parks and Rec just beat me to the punch on this one.
[1:54:14] Thank you.
[1:54:19] Any other discussion on this motion?
[1:54:22] If not, I will take a roll call vote.
[1:54:27] Councilor Hallett Cook.
[1:54:28] Yes.
[1:54:30] Councilor Carrier.
[1:54:32] Yes.
[1:54:34] Councilor Boyce.
[1:54:38] Yes.
[1:54:41] Councilor Johnston.
[1:54:47] Yes.
[1:54:49] Councilor Jacobson.
[1:54:52] Yes.
[1:54:57] Councilor Prevy.
[1:54:58] Yes.
[1:55:00] Councilor Forgey.
[1:55:02] Yes.
[1:55:04] Councilor Warner.
[1:55:05] Yes.
[1:55:07] The motion passes with a vote.
[1:55:23] We will now move on to agenda item number seven,
[1:55:27] council to consider electronic
[1:55:30] use policy.
[1:55:35] I have a motion.
[1:55:38] Councilor Jacobson.
[1:55:40] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move the Franklin City Council adopt the attached
[1:55:44] electronic device use
[1:55:47] at council and subcommittee meetings policy.
[1:55:53] Second.
[1:55:55] A motion has been made and seconded.
[1:55:58] Do we have any discussion on this motion?
[1:56:02] Council Carrier.
[1:56:05] Thank you. I have
[1:56:07] two comments, if I may.
[1:56:09] Under section-
[1:56:10] Point of order.
[1:56:12] He's looking for a second for the motion.
[1:56:14] All right. Second
[1:56:15] I thought we already had a second.
[1:56:17] Oh.
[1:56:17] Then Councilor Forde
[1:56:20] had seconded that, so we're in discussion now.
[1:56:27] May I continue?
[1:56:29] Councilor Cari, you now may continue. Sorry about that.
[1:56:32] Thank you. So I have two questions here.
[1:56:34] Under permitted use, one of them says, "Communicating with city
[1:56:38] staff for the limited purpose of obtaining information needed to discuss or act on
[1:56:42] the agenda item."
[1:56:46] I guess I would like to see,
[1:56:49] in addition to that, to say, "With prior knowledge of
[1:56:53] the chairperson." I think
[1:56:57] part of what we're missing here that we discussed the last time this came forward,
[1:57:01] was to not have
[1:57:04] discussion between members of the council or board,
[1:57:08] whatever it is, and
[1:57:11] members sitting on the other side of the table, whoever they may be,
[1:57:15] without
[1:57:17] the chair of the board or committee
[1:57:22] specifically allowing that discussion.
[1:57:25] So that's my first comment there. My second one is under
[1:57:30] prohibited use,
[1:57:33] and it's essentially
[1:57:36] to not allow communications with
[1:57:40] other people or members of the public outside of the meeting participants.
[1:57:50] And I would just add that I believe through
[1:57:54] the
[1:57:55] last couple of years, and this discussion has been
[1:57:58] ongoing in and outside of the council.
[1:58:03] And the complaint that I'm
[1:58:07] trying to make sure that we address is that we don't have members
[1:58:11] of the council communicating
[1:58:14] with, and receiving communications from, members of the public
[1:58:18] during meetings to
[1:58:23] cause effect on the meeting itself.
[1:58:30] Councilor Warner.
[1:58:33] Just a quick question. Is that not covered under RSA 91-A?
[1:58:43] Councilor Cari.
[1:58:49] I suppose people could start asking for our cell phones, but I'd rather
[1:58:53] not
[1:58:55] be going down that road. The purpose of this was to
[1:59:00] build trust with the public and make sure that we're all
[1:59:04] acknowledging the rules, before we sit down at the
[1:59:08] table.
[1:59:11] Councilor Previ.
[1:59:12] Mayor Cavanagh.
[1:59:15] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
[1:59:18] How would we enforce this? We're not policemen.
[1:59:22] We
[1:59:24] head down a really serious road to violating someone's First Amendment
[1:59:27] right. That's my only concern. It's a policy that
[1:59:31] we've talked about for a long time to put it in place,
[1:59:35] but how are we going to enforce it? We're not any policemen up here.
[1:59:39] We have no legal rights to do this.
[1:59:44] I have a comment. Jacobson.
[1:59:47] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
[1:59:49] I guess in response to Councilor Warner, your comment, I
[1:59:53] could be wrong, but
[1:59:55] RSA 91-A...
[1:59:57] I'm not sure, actually, if RSA 91-A covers a discussion with a
[2:00:01] member of the public,
[2:00:04] rather than another
[2:00:06] elected member of the body in your example.
[2:00:09] It may or it may not. And I think that what this tries to do is say that...
[2:00:13] Or I think what Councilor Cari is talking about is regardless those kinds of
[2:00:17] private discussions with business before the council,
[2:00:20] or council or committee are not appropriate.
[2:00:24] And,
[2:00:27] Councilor Previ,
[2:00:30] you're picking up on something that we discussed in the legislative committee.
[2:00:33] We had
[2:00:34] maybe a half hour, 45 minute discussion about that exact issue.
[2:00:38] The enforcement of this is difficult.
[2:00:40] And I think that this is more of a commitment and a signal to the public
[2:00:44] about our behavior.
[2:00:46] Fundamentally, the enforcement mechanism is RSA
[2:00:50] 91-A.
[2:00:52] We're not going to be turning in our cell phones or turning in our computers
[2:00:55] unless, of course, they're part of a records request.
[2:01:01] City manager.
[2:01:02] So,
[2:01:04] I would stress that from my understanding of 91-A,
[2:01:08] hardware is not included in the ability to request it.
[2:01:11] They can request specific information off of it, so no one should be
[2:01:15] requesting your computer or your phone.
[2:01:18] They could request all texts that you received on your phone from
[2:01:22] this time to that time, or from a specific recipient.
[2:01:27] But no one has the right, at least in my interpretation of 91-A.
[2:01:31] Again, I've said many times, I'm not a lawyer.
[2:01:33] No one has the right to actually take your phone and search it.
[2:01:36] They can only ask you for specific information that is on it.
[2:01:40] Having said that,
[2:01:43] I will agree with
[2:01:46] Councilor Previ. This is nearly impossible to
[2:01:50] actually enforce, and I would disagree with
[2:01:54] Councilor Jacobson in that it's not something the council can enforce.
[2:01:58] This is something only the voters can enforce, and it's only going to be
[2:02:01] enforceable every three years for city councilors.
[2:02:05] I would say the voters have to watch our conduct, watch the conduct of the
[2:02:08] council and mine.
[2:02:11] If they feel our conduct is inappropriate, they can then vote
[2:02:15] you out of office, or they can write you guys to have me removed and replaced.
[2:02:20] But the truth is, this is nearly impossible to actually
[2:02:23] police at this table,
[2:02:26] as only the council can hold the council accountable
[2:02:29] by the way the charter is written.
[2:02:33] Councilor Johnston.
[2:02:35] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
[2:02:37] So as Councilor Jacobson said, we talked about this for
[2:02:41] well over an hour in the legislative committee,
[2:02:45] half an hour now, so an hour and a half for something that we
[2:02:48] can't enforce. This is a policy that
[2:02:53] is not enforceable. It's a feel-good policy. That's all it is.
[2:02:58] Just like when
[2:02:59] people bring up conflicts of interest and ask people to recuse themselves, there is
[2:03:03] no mechanism to follow. There is no enforcement.
[2:03:06] There's no penalties or anything like that. You can do whatever you want to do.
[2:03:10] This is just a feel-good policy, and as I said in the legislative committee,
[2:03:14] I don't agree with it. I don't think we should be wasting our time on it.
[2:03:22] Any other discussion on this motion?
[2:03:25] If not, I will take a roll call vote.
[2:03:29] Councilor Boyce.
[2:03:31] No.
[2:03:35] Councilor Johnston.
[2:03:37] No.
[2:03:41] Councilor Jacobson.
[2:03:46] Yes.
[2:03:50] Councilor Priebe.
[2:03:52] No.
[2:03:54] Councilor Forge.
[2:03:56] Yes.
[2:03:59] Councilor Warner.
[2:04:00] No.
[2:04:02] Councilor Hallock-Cook.
[2:04:09] Yes.
[2:04:12] Councilor Carrier.
[2:04:15] Yes.
[2:04:20] We have a tie.
[2:04:26] I, as mayor, vote yes.
[2:04:30] So it's
[2:04:31] five to four.
[2:04:39] We will now move on to agenda item number
[2:04:43] eight.
[2:04:49] Council,
[2:04:52] to consider expanding
[2:04:54] the definition of park
[2:04:57] access in city code
[2:05:00] chapter 309.
[2:05:04] I have a motion.
[2:05:08] Councilor Jacobson.
[2:05:10] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move the Franklin City Council of the city Franklin remove
[2:05:15] references to community center in chapter 309 of the city policy and replace
[2:05:19] it with parks and recreation asset.
[2:05:22] Second.
[2:05:25] A motion has been made and seconded. Do we have any discussion?
[2:05:31] I have a comment.
[2:05:35] Councilor Jacobson.
[2:05:38] Once again, I apologize to my fellow esteemed members of the
[2:05:41] legislative committee for the
[2:05:43] error here. This was discussed in the Parks and Recreation Committee and not the
[2:05:47] Legislative Committee.
[2:05:50] I don't have the dates in front of me, but I think it was the same ones, the July
[2:05:54] and August meetings.
[2:05:59] City manager.
[2:06:01] So in answer to
[2:06:04] Lee's question earlier, although I don't think he hung
[2:06:08] around.
[2:06:10] Sorry, I missed
[2:06:13] him. All right.
[2:06:16] If you read through the current code,
[2:06:19] community center can sometimes refer to the Besty Ross,
[2:06:23] sometimes it refers to Proulx.
[2:06:26] This is to standardize and get it all through to make sure that we're talking about
[2:06:29] parks and rec assets and not certain city buildings.
[2:06:33] Again, it's a clarification for code, trying to clean stuff up and do some
[2:06:37] housekeeping.
[2:06:38] I
[2:06:41] would ask the Parks and Rec committee, but these are no major muscle
[2:06:44] movements. It's all housekeeping and making our code read cleaner.
[2:06:53] Councilor Carrier.
[2:06:55] Thank you. So should we then also change the title of chapter
[2:06:59] 309 to Parks and Rec Assets?
[2:07:08] I have a comment.
[2:07:09] Councilor Hallock-Cook.
[2:07:12] I think that that would make sense for the chapter
[2:07:16] to have the appropriate title.
[2:07:28] I have a quick comment.
[2:07:30] Councilor Jacobson.
[2:07:33] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
[2:07:36] Councilor Carrier, is that a friendly amendment to change this for the motion?
[2:07:42] Absolutely.
[2:07:44] Thank you.
[2:07:48] City manager.
[2:07:52] So as a point of order, friendly amendments come to the chair.
[2:07:55] Although, again, when we get to later in here, we'll talk about Robert's rules a
[2:07:59] little bit.
[2:08:02] If we're using a friendly amendment policy, the chair would then ask if there are
[2:08:05] any objections to it.
[2:08:09] Are there any objections to the friendly amendment to the motion that
[2:08:13] was made?
[2:08:20] I don't see any. Any more discussion on this motion?
[2:08:28] Councilor Dunstan
[2:08:30] In actuality, I don't see where we have to have a friendly amendment because
[2:08:35] the motion reads, "I move Franklin City Council of City of Franklin remove
[2:08:39] references to community center in Chapter 309 of the city
[2:08:43] policy, and replace it with parks and recreation assets."
[2:08:47] So I don't think it's a friendly amendment.
[2:08:50] I think it
[2:08:51] should've been done to begin with.
[2:08:58] Any more discussion on this?
[2:09:02] Councilor Carrier.
[2:09:04] I would ask your advice on the best course of action.
[2:09:08] Should we remove or rescind the friendly
[2:09:12] amendment?
[2:09:14] And it has a city manager.
[2:09:18] City manager.
[2:09:19] So I would say the amendment as put in clarifies.
[2:09:22] It doesn't change the meaning, and
[2:09:26] we would cause more headache trying to take it back out at this point.
[2:09:29] We're fine. I would say we should just vote on the question. My two cents.
[2:09:36] Any more discussion?
[2:09:39] If not, I will take a roll call vote on the motion.
[2:09:44] Councilor Johnston.
[2:09:48] Yes.
[2:09:50] Councilor Jacobson.
[2:09:53] Yes.
[2:09:57] Councilor Priebe.
[2:09:59] Yes.
[2:10:01] Councilor Forge.
[2:10:02] Yes.
[2:10:04] Councilor Warner.
[2:10:06] Yes.
[2:10:07] Councilor Hallett Cook.
[2:10:09] Yes.
[2:10:12] Councilor Carrier.
[2:10:14] Yes.
[2:10:16] Councilor Boyce.
[2:10:18] Yes.
[2:10:21] The motion passes with eight votes.
[2:10:28] We will now move on to
[2:10:31] agenda number nine.
[2:10:43] Council, to consider public hearing,
[2:10:48] Chapter 31.
[2:11:00] Go ahead. I'm sorry, Councilor Warner.
[2:11:04] I move to accept the revisions to Chapter 31 of the city code as
[2:11:07] described in the attachment to this report.
[2:11:11] Second.
[2:11:12] A motion has been made and seconded. Do we have any discussion?
[2:11:17] Councilor Warner.
[2:11:18] Yeah, one reason that I voted to move this from the legislative committee to bring
[2:11:22] it before the council is to discuss the, I believe it's of
[2:11:27] great importance that we realize we are removing the requirement to
[2:11:31] post
[2:11:32] notice of public hearings at a local newspaper.
[2:11:35] I
[2:11:37] have tremendous reservations about this.
[2:11:39] I, at this point, am willing to hear my fellow councilors
[2:11:44] on this issue, but I think that we need to be very
[2:11:48] circumspect in our consideration of removing the
[2:11:52] requirement to post at a local newspaper.
[2:11:55] I realize it's a $300
[2:11:58] per hearing cost,
[2:12:01] but,
[2:12:03] I'm upset by that. I'm also upset by the fact that I don't believe we've
[2:12:07] actually been following this requirement for some time.
[2:12:13] Councilor Carrier.
[2:12:16] Thank you.
[2:12:19] I guess posting in newspapers nowadays is probably a lot less effective than it
[2:12:23] was when this was originally written.
[2:12:27] My
[2:12:28] question in reading through the revisions is essentially,
[2:12:33] how do we define posted, as in these
[2:12:37] notices need to be posted. But, we have currently had
[2:12:42] the assumption that posted means is posted in two public locations on a piece of
[2:12:46] paper hanging on a bulletin board,
[2:12:49] and on the city website. So if there
[2:12:52] are more effective ways of getting the
[2:12:56] information out to the public, which is the intent,
[2:13:00] how should we
[2:13:02] proceed with defining posted?
[2:13:08] Councilor Priebe.
[2:13:11] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
[2:13:14] Every day when I swing by, I pick up a Laconia
[2:13:18] Sun.
[2:13:19] In there
[2:13:21] is a whole bunch of publications to other cities in the area.
[2:13:25] It goes right along with the inventorial page.
[2:13:27] It's a free paper, so I'm not paying anything.
[2:13:31] It's there,
[2:13:33] and taking and removing this from that
[2:13:37] small paper, which is a small paper for us in this area.
[2:13:40] I'm not trying to promote the Laconia Sun, but it's free.
[2:13:45] People pick it up all the time. It's everywhere.
[2:13:49] And to
[2:13:51] remove this from a local paper,
[2:13:54] people don't have computers.
[2:13:56] I'm not on my computer every day. I constantly have to bother Brenda to find
[2:14:00] out what's going on some days. But in here is the local
[2:14:04] paper. You open it up, you read it.
[2:14:07] It's there. And to remove that
[2:14:11] is going to not allow someone
[2:14:15] to have local communications with their local government.
[2:14:19] Be very careful of that, because once you start down that slippery slope,
[2:14:24] it'll lead to other things,
[2:14:26] and closing the loop is something you folks don't want us to do.
[2:14:32] I have a comment.
[2:14:35] Councilor Jacobson.
[2:14:38] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
[2:14:39] Once again, this came before the legislative committee,
[2:14:43] and we spoke about it for, it's probably about an hour,
[2:14:47] maybe
[2:14:48] 75 minutes. It was a long meeting.
[2:14:52] Anyway, the issues that you're bringing up, Councilor Warner and Councilor Privy,
[2:14:56] are exactly what we discussed there.
[2:14:59] We didn't really come to a resolution other than this
[2:15:03] requirement for posting in the newspaper, I don't think is as effective
[2:15:07] as, Councilor Privy, you're describing.
[2:15:10] And the reason I say that is not because folks don't
[2:15:14] pick up the
[2:15:15] Laconia Daily Sun, for instance. Some people don't.
[2:15:18] But rather that posting in the paper
[2:15:22] only puts it for one day's worth of circulation, unless we
[2:15:26] pay for it to go multiple days. And so now you're playing a game
[2:15:30] that's not only do you need to pick up a paper, but you need to pick up the
[2:15:34] right paper on the right day to see that notice that's required
[2:15:38] by this. Which I think does not represent the spirit of
[2:15:41] communication that we have in this city,
[2:15:45] and that follows the purpose of this ordinance.
[2:15:48] I said then, and I'd say it again,
[2:15:51] the purpose of this is not to hide what the city council is
[2:15:55] doing. Rather, it's to enable the city
[2:15:59] to post in areas that meet people where they are.
[2:16:02] That might mean posting it
[2:16:05] on a paper in the clerk's office. It might mean sending an email blast
[2:16:08] out. It might mean putting it on the electronic sign, as we have for some public
[2:16:12] hearings. All of those are on the table, but this is a
[2:16:16] restriction that is not necessary, in my opinion.
[2:16:22] Councilor Hallett Cook.
[2:16:27] Thank you. Just a quick question, and that is, have we been posting it
[2:16:31] in the Laconia Sun
[2:16:34] in the recent past?
[2:16:37] City manager.
[2:16:38] So,
[2:16:40] I've been told to stop saying "so." I apologize.
[2:16:44] The answer to that is yes and no. When the state required it to be posted in the
[2:16:48] paper, it has been posted in the paper.
[2:16:51] My predecessor, the interim manager, was not doing it, and I
[2:16:55] continued the process of that. And then I found this
[2:16:58] in here, and part of the reason
[2:17:02] I had sent it to the legislative committee was striking it was
[2:17:06] because we had not been doing it. Going back in history, it does appear
[2:17:10] that
[2:17:13] City Manager Milner was doing it. I am happy to pick up the process again.
[2:17:17] However, as stated earlier,
[2:17:20] it is approximately somewhere between $80 and $100 per
[2:17:24] notice.
[2:17:25] I can tell you we've spent almost $600 for the two public hearings
[2:17:29] that we had tonight, because we've had to notice them twice.
[2:17:33] It is not inexpensive. Oh, no, by the way, we set a public hearing
[2:17:37] tonight.
[2:17:39] It's not inexpensive to do that, which is
[2:17:43] really the reason we were discussing it.
[2:17:46] I agree with Councilor Jacobson. If we would like to replace it with
[2:17:49] something that I think would actually receive or be received
[2:17:53] more than the newspaper would, I would highly encourage that,
[2:17:57] because the intent is not to prevent it from being circulated.
[2:18:01] It's actually to circulate it in a way that could potentially save the
[2:18:05] city money, in the same time actually get it in the hands of people.
[2:18:08] I don't know what the current circulation of the Laconia Sun is.
[2:18:13] Councilor Privy, you're right, it is a free paper, but it's not free to post things
[2:18:16] in. So, that's where the city was.
[2:18:21] If this council says put it back in, I will absolutely,
[2:18:25] indeed, every meeting from this point forward, public hearing will be
[2:18:29] posted.
[2:18:31] Councilor Warner.
[2:18:33] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
[2:18:37] We have an upcoming item on this agenda
[2:18:41] that's almost identical to this. It's talking about the posting in
[2:18:45] the newspaper.
[2:18:47] I'm not nearly as concerned about that as I am about this.
[2:18:51] This
[2:18:52] is regarding
[2:18:54] public hearings where there are seven days notice for a public
[2:18:58] hearing. If someone doesn't hear about that in the seven days
[2:19:02] preceding the public hearing, they miss the public hearing.
[2:19:05] I think that's a tremendous shortfall in our
[2:19:08] efforts to be transparent.
[2:19:11] I
[2:19:12] am more than willing to look at that.
[2:19:17] Getting feedback that tells me we have an email blast or some sort of
[2:19:21] system in place that's reaching a significant proportion of people
[2:19:25] within the community,
[2:19:26] but I'm not seeing that at this point.
[2:19:29] I've asked the questions, and we're not able to get the metrics
[2:19:33] that tell us how many people receive the email blasts.
[2:19:37] I don't know how many people walk by the bulletin board in the
[2:19:41] library on a daily basis, but I have a feeling it's not a great number.
[2:19:46] And so,
[2:19:51] how many people are on Facebook? We can put it on Facebook.
[2:19:53] I guarantee you, that's not the majority of the people in Franklin, regardless
[2:19:57] of how it feels sometimes.
[2:20:04] I
[2:20:05] really wasn't trying to be humorous at this.
[2:20:07] I just think that we need to be very careful in
[2:20:12] shooting this horse before its time.
[2:20:15] And I advocate for keeping the
[2:20:19] public notice in the newspaper, at least for the time being.
[2:20:23] It's not like I'm an old guy that
[2:20:26] is afraid of change. I'm an old guy that really wants to see some
[2:20:30] change. This is
[2:20:34] I believe we
[2:20:37] owe it to the people that they have access to that
[2:20:40] information. And I don't know how many people, I know a lot of the people here are
[2:20:44] very conversant
[2:20:47] in social media and email and things like that.
[2:20:50] The people sitting in this room, they obviously watch these things and
[2:20:54] they watch what's going on. But I have neighbors that are like,
[2:20:58] "Oh, you're on the city council? Oh, I've been your neighbor for
[2:21:03] 20 years, and I've been on the city council for over a year and a half." They don't
[2:21:06] know. So it's
[2:21:10] I just think we owe it to our constituency
[2:21:14] to at least look at migrating to something
[2:21:18] better, not just dropping this, not just shooting this horse dead on the spot.
[2:21:23] Councilor Hallock-Cook.
[2:21:28] I agree that we can't just drop
[2:21:31] that idea of notice. However, we also don't have
[2:21:35] the funds to be putting it in the newspaper.
[2:21:40] So I would suggest that we look at things like the
[2:21:44] electronic signs that are out there,
[2:21:47] and maybe do some brainstorming around other
[2:21:50] places that we can put this
[2:21:54] that might have a better reach than the newspaper without costing
[2:21:58] the city the money.
[2:22:01] I have a comment.
[2:22:02] Councilor Warner.
[2:22:04] Yes, I agree with that, Councilor Hallock-Cook, and that's
[2:22:08] exactly what I'm saying.
[2:22:09] But I think we should keep this
[2:22:12] until we come up with what she's talking about.
[2:22:14] Yes, we should do those things, and we've been saying we should do those things for
[2:22:17] some time. They're not done.
[2:22:20] Councilor Jacobson.
[2:22:23] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. One of the other ideas that was kind of batted around at the
[2:22:26] legislative, and this will be familiar, I think, to Councilor Warner's concerns
[2:22:30] here, is the pairing of this operation with the establishment of
[2:22:33] a policy by the city manager.
[2:22:37] And the policy choice there is
[2:22:40] intentional because it's flexible, and allows
[2:22:44] the city manager to adapt posting to ways
[2:22:48] when the
[2:22:49] city manager gets new data that says that the signs are really working or that the
[2:22:53] email blasts are working, they can kind of flex more into that
[2:22:57] as a potential way to augment
[2:23:01] this code.
[2:23:07] Councilor Warner.
[2:23:09] So in the meantime, my question is,
[2:23:13] are we going to continue to do notice in the Laconia Daily Sun?
[2:23:25] Councilor Carrier.
[2:23:28] I essentially agree with Councilor Warner here.
[2:23:31] Without
[2:23:33] a clear definition of
[2:23:36] where and how we're going to post and get the information out, I would not want
[2:23:40] to
[2:23:42] change the process, and I suggest we send this back to legislative maybe for
[2:23:46] some more definition in that
[2:23:50] area,
[2:23:51] and we can come back with some more clarity.
[2:23:56] Councilor Hallock-Cook.
[2:24:01] I agree with both what Councilor Carrier and
[2:24:05] Councilor Warner have said. Concern again is
[2:24:09] we haven't been doing this. This is...
[2:24:12] Right? I mean, that's what...
[2:24:16] And this is a cost.
[2:24:20] Maybe we modify this at this
[2:24:23] point to say, "Okay, we all agree that these are the locations."
[2:24:30] City manager.
[2:24:31] So I'll agree, we haven't been doing this.
[2:24:33] It was out of ignorance, not out of malice.
[2:24:36] As of tonight, if we send this back to legislative, I will start following the
[2:24:40] ordinance as written.
[2:24:41] I just want to make that clear. It will be posted in the newspaper.
[2:24:45] The
[2:24:49] public hearing we set tonight will be posted in the newspaper seven days before
[2:24:53] it happens. Until I'm directed otherwise, that will start happening
[2:24:57] effective tonight.
[2:25:02] Councilor Priebe.
[2:25:04] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. How much do those electronic signs cost us to
[2:25:08] operate?
[2:25:10] Those things ain't cheap.
[2:25:12] Every time they go down or repair, that's money that we have to really
[2:25:16] cough up.
[2:25:19] City manager.
[2:25:20] So I don't have a report at my fingertips.
[2:25:23] I have not heard of a repair we've had to make on them.
[2:25:27] So I'll ask the MSD department how much we spent on them.
[2:25:31] They were purchased with a grant,
[2:25:34] so they didn't cost the city anything, and I need to find out if they're
[2:25:38] actually run on gasoline or solar powered. I'm not sure.
[2:25:44] Councilor Priebe.
[2:25:45] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
[2:25:48] With the computer going down today,
[2:25:50] that's all part of the computer. You send it on a computer, send it to that little
[2:25:54] machine, or you send somebody over there to go ba-dink, ba-dink, ba-dink, and get
[2:25:58] it up and running.
[2:26:00] That's a personnel that you've now sent over, typed it in,
[2:26:04] it comes up on it, and if it doesn't work for whatever reason,
[2:26:09] here's where the paper, you send it to them,
[2:26:13] they publicize it. Yes, it costs us money, but it's out there.
[2:26:17] There's a transparency, the accountability for the citizens
[2:26:21] of Franklin to see it.
[2:26:24] City manager.
[2:26:25] I would be remiss if I didn't point out the flaw in your logic.
[2:26:28] If my computer's down, I can't send anything to the paper for them to publish.
[2:26:34] So we want to send out the flag over here, "Hey, let's see."
[2:26:38] I'm just saying it's happened one time in the entire time I've been the city
[2:26:42] manager. It's not a recurring thing that my outlet goes down.
[2:26:46] I would also argue that sending a city worker over to do our signs is a sunk
[2:26:50] cost. We do that all the time anyway.
[2:26:53] And I'm not advocating that we need to get rid of the
[2:26:56] paper. If the council wants to keep it, that's great.
[2:26:59] I would advocate we actually add the variable message
[2:27:03] boards and some other methods to this as well.
[2:27:05] 91A indicates that it needs to be posted in two spots.
[2:27:09] One of them can be the website. That's pretty much the guidance 91A
[2:27:12] gives. Doesn't mean that the council can't add more sites.
[2:27:15] And I'm all for public knowing and getting it out
[2:27:19] to the public. I would just rather have ones that didn't actually cost the city
[2:27:23] money.
[2:27:29] Council Forge.
[2:27:31] Is everybody ready to table this one? Move on?
[2:27:39] I-
[2:27:39] City manager.
[2:27:41] So point of order, I would recommend we not table it, as it's very
[2:27:44] difficult to get things back off the table.
[2:27:47] However,
[2:27:49] we can actually either vote to
[2:27:53] postpone this vote, or we can move to actually send it back to
[2:27:56] legislative, as it's not ready to be voted on tonight.
[2:28:02] Councillor Forge.
[2:28:04] Thank you. I move to send this back to legislative if we're not
[2:28:08] ready to vote on this tonight.
[2:28:10] Second.
[2:28:11] A motion has been made and seconded. Any more discussion?
[2:28:17] Councillor Hallett Cook.
[2:28:20] Again, just me looking for clarity.
[2:28:23] If we send this back, then the current
[2:28:27] Chapter 31 that says the newspaper shall be...
[2:28:32] We'll go back to what you are following. Correct? Okay.
[2:28:36] Thank you.
[2:28:36] Absolutely.
[2:28:39] Any more discussion on this?
[2:28:43] Uh, Councillor Johnston.
[2:28:45] I just need a point of clarification.
[2:28:48] Are we going to be voting on the motion that we read or the motion
[2:28:52] that he just made? So that's two motion.
[2:28:57] City manager.
[2:28:58] So as a point of order, a motion to send something back
[2:29:02] back to committee or to the legislative can be done on a motion that's
[2:29:06] on the table.
[2:29:10] Superceded.
[2:29:14] Any more discussion?
[2:29:16] If not, roll call vote.
[2:29:19] Councillor Johnston.
[2:29:21] Yes.
[2:29:24] Councillor Jacobson.
[2:29:26] Yes.
[2:29:28] Councillor Previq.
[2:29:30] Yes.
[2:29:31] Councillor Forge.
[2:29:33] Yes.
[2:29:34] Councillor Warner.
[2:29:36] Yes.
[2:29:37] Councillor Hallett Cook.
[2:29:40] Yes.
[2:29:42] Councillor Carey.
[2:29:44] Yes.
[2:29:46] Councillor Boyce.
[2:29:48] Yes.
[2:29:51] The motion passes
[2:29:53] by eight votes.
[2:29:56] We will now move on to
[2:29:59] agenda
[2:30:01] 10.
[2:30:13] Council, to consider ordinance revision
[2:30:19] for Chapter 68.
[2:30:26] I have a motion.
[2:30:28] Councillor Jacobson.
[2:30:30] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move to accept the revisions in Chapter 68 of the city code
[2:30:34] as described in the attachment to this report.
[2:30:42] Do we have a second?
[2:30:46] Second.
[2:30:49] A motion has been made and seconded. Do we have any discussion?
[2:30:54] City manager.
[2:30:56] So with all the ordinance changes we've talked about tonight, we probably should
[2:30:58] have done this one first.
[2:31:00] However,
[2:31:02] this is to clarify how
[2:31:06] ordinances get changed by this body.
[2:31:11] One of the things to point out is that in the past, we have not been doing it
[2:31:14] correctly, or we at least have not been doing it as it was written down.
[2:31:24] Under the changes that I did propose to legislative and they sent forward,
[2:31:29] a change can be presented to the city council.
[2:31:33] It should be read in its entirety, the first time, unless
[2:31:37] that is waived by the council.
[2:31:40] If it is not approved by unanimous vote the first time it's
[2:31:44] brought to the council, it gets sent to legislative.
[2:31:47] Some of the language here that I changed is the old
[2:31:51] language says that legislative is supposed to return it to the council at the next
[2:31:55] meeting. It doesn't give them any latitude.
[2:31:57] Essentially, anything sent to legislative or an ordinance sent to legislative
[2:32:00] should trump the entire legislative's agenda and force them to
[2:32:04] look at it to return it. The new language says that they can return it to the
[2:32:08] council as soon as it's practical, giving them time to work it into their
[2:32:12] agenda.
[2:32:15] With exceptions in paragraph C, the ordinance can be passed at the meeting which
[2:32:19] it was presented if all council members present and
[2:32:23] participating remotely approve it for its first and final reading
[2:32:26] unanimously.
[2:32:28] In such case, no recommendation for legislative committee will be necessary.
[2:32:32] Lacking that approval, no ordinance may be passed until the next council meeting,
[2:32:36] meaning you can't debate and change an ordinance the first time it's presented at
[2:32:40] the table. It has to go to legislative for update before anything can be
[2:32:44] done. Our current, uh-
[2:32:47] Ordinance does not require a public hearing, does not even consider a
[2:32:50] public hearing for any type of ordinance change.
[2:32:53] So I added section C for your consideration, that
[2:32:57] public hearings must be held for land use, zoning, and historic
[2:33:01] ordinances. All of that is in RSA.
[2:33:04] And we have followed the RSAs when it is applicable or
[2:33:08] when certain zoning boards or other bodies have met.
[2:33:14] Public hearings are not required for the passage of standard ordinances, but the
[2:33:17] city council should consider public interest and transparency when passing standard
[2:33:21] ordinances and consider if a public forum or a public hearing is
[2:33:24] needed.
[2:33:26] The words both forum and hearing were intentionally put in there because a
[2:33:30] hearing does have certain rules, as we've just discussed on the last item,
[2:33:34] that are associated with it. A public forum does not.
[2:33:38] There is no notice requirement, and in fact, you can have a public forum within 24
[2:33:42] hours if it would be needed to do something quickly.
[2:33:45] That doesn't mean that the public would be disregarded, but it would give the
[2:33:49] council options to bring things forward if they needed to quickly.
[2:33:53] Again, I am not trying to cut the public out.
[2:33:56] I am all about inviting them along.
[2:33:58] But I did want to point out that where we have forced ourselves
[2:34:02] to have public hearings in the past, such as we did when we passed
[2:34:06] the FEMA flood zone stuff earlier this year, the
[2:34:09] ordinance did not require us to do that.
[2:34:18] Any other discussion on this motion?
[2:34:24] If not, I will take a roll call vote.
[2:34:28] Councilor Jacobsen?
[2:34:32] Yes.
[2:34:35] Councilor Prevy?
[2:34:37] No.
[2:34:40] Councilor Forge?
[2:34:42] Yes.
[2:34:44] Councilor Warner?
[2:34:45] Yes.
[2:34:48] Councilor Hallard-Cook?
[2:34:50] Yes.
[2:34:52] Councilor Carrier?
[2:34:54] Yes.
[2:34:56] Councilor Boyce?
[2:34:58] Yes.
[2:35:01] Councilor Johnston?
[2:35:05] Yes.
[2:35:09] The motion passes with seven yeses and one no.
[2:35:19] We will now move on to agenda item number 11,
[2:35:23] council to consider Winnipesaukee River Basin Program
[2:35:28] transition.
[2:35:38] Councilor Johnston?
[2:35:41] The movement Franklin City Council support the efforts to transition the
[2:35:45] Winnipesaukee River Basin Program from the New Hampshire Department of
[2:35:49] Environmental Services to a regional wastewater authority owned and
[2:35:52] managed by the member communities.
[2:35:55] Such support
[2:35:56] will include city council authorizing council members, the city manager, and city
[2:36:00] staff support and transition with any of the Franklin state
[2:36:04] representatives and senators and when it is under consideration by
[2:36:08] the study commission, the legislature, and the governor.
[2:36:12] Second.
[2:36:13] Motion has been made and seconded. Do we have any discussion?
[2:36:18] City manager.
[2:36:19] So before a million questions get asked,
[2:36:23] essentially this is
[2:36:25] having the council consider
[2:36:28] whether or not we want to have a voice in the future for this body.
[2:36:31] There's been exactly one meeting of the Winnipesaukee River Basin Program
[2:36:35] folks who want to set up the consortium.
[2:36:38] It is a meeting of all the different cities.
[2:36:41] What has been made evident is the Department of Environmental
[2:36:45] Services no longer wishes to have high-level management of the
[2:36:49] waste treatment facility that is here.
[2:36:53] They are petitioning the state to find a different way to manage it.
[2:36:57] So if the council does not approve this tonight, all this is, is saying we
[2:37:01] want to support the study and let them know we're interested in working with
[2:37:05] other cities to potentially have a voice going forward.
[2:37:08] It does not commit us to anything. That body is not actually
[2:37:11] defined yet. In fact, it's going to have to be worked out.
[2:37:15] What this does is put the state on notice that says we would like to consider
[2:37:19] having a voice in our own future when you do that study, and it
[2:37:22] allows all the council, the mayor,
[2:37:25] and city employees to discuss it
[2:37:29] with our legislators and say that the city's perspective is
[2:37:33] we would like to be considered to do this.
[2:37:37] Again, we're not establishing anything yet, and in fact, the
[2:37:41] rules for the committee, and how it would be governed have
[2:37:45] not been established. First, the state has to agree that they
[2:37:49] would consider allowing us to do such a thing, and then the city leaders are
[2:37:52] going to get together and figure out exactly how that would happen.
[2:37:56] The one thing that was agreed on at the meeting I did attend was that they wanted
[2:38:00] to look toward a senatorial type of body
[2:38:04] where each city, it was one city, one vote, so that the larger cities
[2:38:08] could not basically dictate terms to the smaller towns.
[2:38:12] And I apologize for rambling on. This is also not about the day-to-day
[2:38:16] management of the facility. This is about the higher level strategic
[2:38:20] management,
[2:38:21] telling them what type of future plans,
[2:38:25] approving types of improvements that the plan
[2:38:28] makes or recommends that they want to make.
[2:38:31] A lot of the background talked about the potential.
[2:38:34] It talked about where there were some mismanagement or perceived mismanagement in
[2:38:38] the past for projects that have been put forward that the state
[2:38:42] has not really been managing or watching this closely,
[2:38:47] or perhaps has endorsed them. I'm not 100% sure how that went
[2:38:50] on. But this advisory board would then have some
[2:38:53] say. Again, how much say would have to be defined by the state.
[2:38:58] And how it would be said would have to be defined by state, and all that will need
[2:39:01] to be worked out in the future. All this is, is a vote of the
[2:39:05] council tonight to say we would like to
[2:39:08] agree with the group of cities and say we would potentially like to have a future
[2:39:12] in how this is decided, and we would like to start working on what we
[2:39:16] would like as that government body to be.
[2:39:19] The alternative, if Franklin does not wish to join the coalition,
[2:39:23] it will most likely not work because we are one of the larger
[2:39:27] cities and municipalities that are in it.
[2:39:30] So the rest of them, if Franklin goes its own way, probably will
[2:39:34] not be able to form a coalition without us.
[2:39:37] If that happens, or if we do nothing tonight, then
[2:39:41] we basically are rolling the dice and allowing the state to define how they
[2:39:45] want to do new management over there, because DES has basically
[2:39:49] said they don't want to do it anymore.
[2:39:51] And given their time and opportunity for the state to come up with its own
[2:39:55] good ideas, without city input, to me, does not seem
[2:39:59] like a good idea to allow them to do.
[2:40:04] Councilor Hallett Cook.
[2:40:09] Thank you.
[2:40:10] Please tell me this is not the state shifting
[2:40:13] their financial responsibility onto us.
[2:40:16] If you're looking right now at
[2:40:21] River Road or whatever, where they have paved it because it's a
[2:40:25] state-owned road, because of the wastewater treatment plant
[2:40:29] at the end of it.
[2:40:30] That's not part of our urban compact.
[2:40:33] I just don't want this to be some way of the state shifting
[2:40:38] the money east to Franklin.
[2:40:42] City manager.
[2:40:43] So the paving of that road, at least as I understand it, and all of the fees
[2:40:46] associated with this are part of the enterprise fund for the sewer.
[2:40:50] So the state...
[2:40:55] Well, if it's a state road, it's still going to be a state road, so that may be a
[2:40:57] bad example. But as far as running the facility, as far as the
[2:41:02] programs that have been suspended or turned out to be
[2:41:05] non-buildable, all of that was paid for with enterprise money.
[2:41:09] So when a $600,000 program comes off the
[2:41:13] rails, then the sewer enterprise fund gets raised
[2:41:17] across the board for all cities who use the facility.
[2:41:21] So no, it should not be a shifting of the burden to the
[2:41:24] cities. But again, that's something that we would like to have
[2:41:29] not just Franklin, but Franklin and a group of our friends all watching
[2:41:33] as hawks, because no city has an interest in accepting that burden.
[2:41:37] I can tell you that other municipalities have had issues where
[2:41:41] parts of their sewer system that should have been covered by state
[2:41:45] repairs,
[2:41:47] the city has actually had to pick up the bill because the state is still deciding
[2:41:50] on whether or not that should've been done.
[2:41:53] And obviously, in the case of Meredith, they actually were
[2:41:57] spilling sewage into the lake at one point.
[2:41:59] They obviously fixed that as rapidly as they could.
[2:42:02] They're still waiting for the state to approve that it's a
[2:42:06] state-funded project and reimburse them.
[2:42:08] Again, that's the kind of thing that this board hopefully would be
[2:42:12] able to circumvent or actually make sure
[2:42:16] things that happened in a timely manner.
[2:42:19] Again-
[2:42:24] Council Warner.
[2:42:27] Yeah.
[2:42:29] Are we talking about some communities that are in the
[2:42:32] P-
[2:42:40] I didn't believe the number was that high, but I don't have the exact number.
[2:42:43] But it's a significant number of communities, yes.
[2:42:47] Okay.
[2:42:49] I guess my concerns are just, voice we want to
[2:42:52] make.
[2:42:54] We want to speak up, make sure we pay our fair share of the cost.
[2:43:00] And I don't know,
[2:43:01] with a
[2:43:03] separate regional wastewater authority, is there any potential that this would end
[2:43:06] up being a private organization, or is it going to be a
[2:43:10] quasi-public kind of thing?
[2:43:15] City manager.
[2:43:16] So again, the part of that is to be determined by the state.
[2:43:19] The state hasn't put out anything yet.
[2:43:21] The desires of the one meeting I went to had nothing.
[2:43:24] No one discussed any type of private co-
[2:43:27] public partnership. It was entirely a
[2:43:31] public-run consortium for the entire management of the
[2:43:35] facility. But if we leave it entirely up to the state, I have no idea what
[2:43:39] the state will dictate to us.
[2:43:42] Well, that
[2:43:43] answers my... Well, it doesn't answer my question, but it's all we have.
[2:43:49] Any other discussion on
[2:43:52] this? Councilor Prevy.
[2:43:55] Thank you,
[2:43:57] Mr. Mayor.
[2:43:59] Sounds like this
[2:44:01] DES
[2:44:04] mismanaged this so that they didn't want nothing to do with it.
[2:44:07] So they created the mess,
[2:44:10] and eventually
[2:44:12] the citizens of Franklin and other cities and towns
[2:44:17] will have to pay for the whole mess-up that they did.
[2:44:20] If they'd have just said that in the beginning,
[2:44:22] maybe this wouldn't be so. But all they did was put as much legal jargon as they
[2:44:26] can so that it confuses the average person.
[2:44:30] And
[2:44:35] 2.5 million, 150, and then they only
[2:44:38] granted 124 million.
[2:44:42] Who was ahead of this?
[2:44:45] Captain Kangaroo?
[2:44:49] Councilor Johnston.
[2:44:51] So I just want to say this. As far as taking this out of the state's hands and
[2:44:54] putting it back into the city's hands, we maybe have some control over how
[2:44:58] much we have to pay for sewer,
[2:45:01] and not just keep raising and raising
[2:45:03] every damn year. So
[2:45:06] Let's call the question.
[2:45:12] Question's been called. Do I have a second?
[2:45:14] Second.
[2:45:17] All right. By roll call vote.
[2:45:22] Councilor Priebe?
[2:45:24] Yes.
[2:45:26] Councilor Forge?
[2:45:28] Yes.
[2:45:29] Councilor Warner?
[2:45:30] Yes.
[2:45:32] Councilor Hallock-Cook?
[2:45:34] Yes.
[2:45:36] Councilor Carrier?
[2:45:37] Yes.
[2:45:40] Councilor Boyce?
[2:45:41] Yes.
[2:45:43] Councilor Johnston?
[2:45:44] Yes.
[2:45:46] Councilor Jacobson?
[2:45:48] No.
[2:45:58] We have the
[2:46:00] call the question motion passes by seven
[2:46:04] with one no. Now we will move on to the original motion.
[2:46:11] Councilor Forge?
[2:46:14] Yes.
[2:46:16] Councilor Warner?
[2:46:17] Yes.
[2:46:19] Councilor Hallock-Cook?
[2:46:22] Yes.
[2:46:24] Councilor Carrier?
[2:46:25] Yes.
[2:46:27] Councilor Boyce?
[2:46:28] Yes.
[2:46:30] Councilor Johnston?
[2:46:31] Yes.
[2:46:32] Councilor Jacobson?
[2:46:37] Yes.
[2:46:40] Councilor Priebe?
[2:46:42] Yes.
[2:46:44] The motion passes by eight votes in favor.
[2:46:58] We will now move on to agenda item number
[2:47:02] 12.
[2:47:03] Council to consider scheduling a September
[2:47:07] council workshop.
[2:47:18] Councilor Warner?
[2:47:20] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move that Franklin City Council set 14
[2:47:24] September as a city council workshop to discuss Robert's
[2:47:28] Rules and council meetings.
[2:47:31] Second.
[2:47:33] A motion has been made and seconded. Do we have any discussion?
[2:47:36] Councilor Carrier?
[2:47:38] Thank you. I'd like to suggest that we move this until after city
[2:47:42] elections on October 6th so that we could also include
[2:47:46] new incoming city councilors and avoid perhaps having to
[2:47:50] do this a second time.
[2:47:56] City manager.
[2:47:58] So the intent is to do this this time, and then again, it will
[2:48:02] be part of the training regimen that is being established for
[2:48:06] January and new incoming councilors as well.
[2:48:09] We're building what will probably end up being an entire day on a
[2:48:13] Saturday to encompass legal as well as other
[2:48:16] things for all incoming councilors.
[2:48:21] Councilor Johnston, I saw your hand up.
[2:48:29] Now I don't remember why I raised my hand.
[2:48:31] But I believe I was going to agree with Councilor Carrier, though, that we
[2:48:35] should move it to change it until the new council or until the elections and,
[2:48:40] that way we would be, yeah, just do it once.
[2:48:45] Yeah, that's all I have to say right now.
[2:48:51] Councilor Warner.
[2:48:53] I would hope that we got back to doing this annually in the
[2:48:56] January-February timeframe. That's just the...
[2:49:00] We have suffered not having that this year.
[2:49:06] Councilor Forge?
[2:49:08] City manager, do you want to give us the test version and then move on to
[2:49:12] the full-blown version in January for
[2:49:15] incoming council?
[2:49:19] City manager.
[2:49:20] So that was sort of the intent. This was going to be an abbreviated
[2:49:24] thing, talking about the different types of council meetings,
[2:49:28] why it's important to differentiate when we set them between workshops and actual
[2:49:32] meetings.
[2:49:33] And then some of the basic Robert's Rules and talking about motions and amendments
[2:49:37] and things that we do lots of different ways, and we probably should
[2:49:41] have one standardized way of getting them done.
[2:49:45] Along with that, I just added that I was going to add on the new
[2:49:49] ordinance procedure and how that would work with a test ordinance to go through it.
[2:49:54] The
[2:49:55] September timeframe also
[2:49:57] would allow the students who are doing student government to potentially come
[2:50:01] to this council workshop if they wanted to as well.
[2:50:05] Although in October one probably would meet their needs as well, except it's going
[2:50:09] to be closer to when they actually do their meeting.
[2:50:13] And I don't know how many students will actually show up to a workshop
[2:50:17] anyway, if they're not required to be here.
[2:50:21] Councilor Carrier.
[2:50:24] Thank you. Do you know when the student
[2:50:28] meeting is? And so we could perhaps
[2:50:31] try to adjust a date into before then in October?
[2:50:37] So I believe the banquet is actually on the 29th.
[2:50:47] Any other discussion on this motion?
[2:50:52] I'd like to make a... Yeah, I have a comment.
[2:50:56] Councilor Jacobson?
[2:50:59] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
[2:51:01] I'd also like to see this move to October,
[2:51:05] and would make a friendly amendment that we set this
[2:51:09] for October 12th
[2:51:12] Monday, October 12th.
[2:51:14] Second
[2:51:15] Monday in October.
[2:51:17] That's Columbus Day.
[2:51:19] City manager.
[2:51:20] So point of order on two things. One, as a point of order,
[2:51:24] Robert's Rules doesn't have anything called a friendly amendment.
[2:51:27] Two, the 12th of October is Columbus Day.
[2:51:37] Any other
[2:51:39] comment? Councilor Keran.
[2:51:43] I would offer an amendment to change the date to
[2:51:46] October 19th.
[2:51:50] Councilor
[2:51:53] Jacobson.
[2:51:56] Motion.
[2:51:59] Second.
[2:52:02] All right.
[2:52:05] Motion has been made and seconded on the
[2:52:08] amendment.
[2:52:11] Is there any discussion?
[2:52:18] Councilor Warner.
[2:52:21] I would just like to
[2:52:23] advocate for keeping it on the 14th of next month.
[2:52:31] Any other discussion? Councilor Priebe.
[2:52:35] Thank you,
[2:52:37] Mr. Mayor. The 14th of September,
[2:52:40] all of the
[2:52:41] people that are running for
[2:52:44] the positions
[2:52:46] on the city council
[2:52:49] are all allowed to come to these public meetings, and they can take
[2:52:52] notes.
[2:52:54] They can't correspond with what we're doing as far
[2:52:57] as from the podium, but they're allowed to come here.
[2:53:01] I did that when I was--
[2:53:03] Even after I was elected,
[2:53:05] I came to them before. So it's not closed.
[2:53:09] They're welcome to come to these meetings.
[2:53:15] Councilor Johnston.
[2:53:17] I would agree with Councilor Warner and Councilor Priebe, where that if we
[2:53:21] keep the meeting for the 14th of September,
[2:53:24] we don't have anything listed for a workshop yet.
[2:53:27] So this will be a workshop for this month.
[2:53:29] Why are we going to schedule a workshop for next month when we won't have one for
[2:53:33] this month?
[2:53:35] And then as the city manager had said,
[2:53:38] later in the future after the elections and after other people take
[2:53:42] office, then we'll have a big meeting on a Saturday with legal and
[2:53:46] stuff like that.
[2:53:48] That's just as a thing. So my hand
[2:53:52] was raised earlier because I was going to ask on September 14th if we were going to
[2:53:56] have legal there. But if this is just going to be a refresher for
[2:54:00] us, then I don't see a reason for them to have to be there on September 14th.
[2:54:03] So I'm all for keeping this on the 14th September.
[2:54:11] Councilor Keran.
[2:54:15] In support of October 19th.
[2:54:18] Once
[2:54:19] new councilors have been elected, they could be allowed to participate in
[2:54:23] that meeting on the 18th.
[2:54:28] City manager.
[2:54:30] So as a city council workshop,
[2:54:33] if the mayor recognizes, then they would be able to participate in the workshop
[2:54:37] anyway.
[2:54:42] Yes.
[2:54:44] Any other discussion? Because we have an amendment
[2:54:48] to vote on.
[2:54:52] Councilor Johnston.
[2:54:53] So that's what I was just going to ask.
[2:54:55] So are we voting on the amendment or are we voting on the motion?
[2:55:00] Well, we have-
[2:55:01] I'm sorry
[2:55:01] ... the motion, and then we have an amendment to that motion, so...
[2:55:08] City manager.
[2:55:09] So do we need to take a vote on the amendment first,
[2:55:12] and then,
[2:55:13] depending on what that is, we'll vote on either the amended motion or the original
[2:55:17] motion?
[2:55:21] Councilor Boyce.
[2:55:22] Somebody re-read the amendment that's on there.
[2:55:29] The amendment was to change the date of the
[2:55:32] original motion from September 14th to October
[2:55:36] 19th.
[2:55:41] All right. Any more discussion on this?
[2:55:44] If not, by roll call vote.
[2:55:47] Councilor Forge.
[2:55:50] No.
[2:55:53] Councilor Warner.
[2:55:54] No.
[2:55:56] Councilor Hallock-Cook.
[2:55:58] No.
[2:56:01] Councilor Keran.
[2:56:03] Yes.
[2:56:06] Councilor Boyce.
[2:56:07] No.
[2:56:11] Councilor Johnston.
[2:56:13] No.
[2:56:15] Councilor Jacobson.
[2:56:17] Yes.
[2:56:21] Councilor Priebe.
[2:56:22] No.
[2:56:27] Six.
[2:56:28] The amended motion does not pass by six votes no
[2:56:33] and two yeses.
[2:56:35] Now we'll move on to the original motion.
[2:56:43] Is there any further discussion on the original motion?
[2:56:48] If not,
[2:56:50] by roll call vote.
[2:56:52] Councilor Forge.
[2:56:54] Yes.
[2:56:56] Councilor Warner.
[2:56:57] Yes.
[2:56:59] Councilor Hallock-Cook.
[2:57:01] Yes.
[2:57:03] Councilor Keran.
[2:57:04] Yes.
[2:57:06] Councilor Boyce.
[2:57:07] Yes.
[2:57:09] Councilor Johnston.
[2:57:11] Yes.
[2:57:12] Councilor Jacobson.
[2:57:15] Yes.
[2:57:17] Council Priebe.
[2:57:19] Yes.
[2:57:21] The motion passes with eight votes in favor.
[2:57:30] Councilor Boyce.
[2:57:32] Is the library available that day?
[2:57:35] It's not scheduled yet, so I will find out and send an email.
[2:57:38] Hopefully, my email will be working tomorrow, so I'll be able to send you an email
[2:57:41] telling you exactly where and what time it will be.
[2:57:43] Thank you.
[2:57:53] We will now move on to agenda item number 13,
[2:57:58] council to consider charter amendment number one,
[2:58:02] school board clarification
[2:58:05] C-13, C-14.
[2:58:09] Do I have a motion?
[2:58:16] Councilor Carrier.
[2:58:19] Thank you. I move that the Franklin City Council
[2:58:23] approve proposed charter amendment number one, school board
[2:58:27] clarification C-13, C-14, as
[2:58:30] presented,
[2:58:32] and direct that it be prepared for submission to Franklin voters at the next
[2:58:36] election at which the question may lawfully be placed in accordance with
[2:58:39] RSA 49-B.
[2:58:44] Do I have a second?
[2:58:46] Second.
[2:58:49] The motion has been made and seconded. Do we have any discussion?
[2:58:53] City manager.
[2:58:56] So I just wanted to point out that there are some steps that happen before the
[2:59:00] Franklin City Council can actually put this question on a ballot.
[2:59:05] It does need to be approved by the Secretary of State, and
[2:59:11] DRA and one other organization.
[2:59:14] It also-
[2:59:14] Attorney General
[2:59:17] Yes, and it also needs a legal opinion, as
[2:59:21] well as it's supposed to be written up and submitted to the clerk
[2:59:24] within seven days of the council deciding or having a public
[2:59:28] hearing.
[2:59:30] Councilor Warner.
[2:59:32] This is a question for the city manager.
[2:59:34] I've heard the,
[2:59:37] I will say, conflicting information or reads on...
[2:59:42] Is there a limit to the number of ballot initiatives we could have
[2:59:46] in a given year?
[2:59:51] City manager.
[2:59:52] So I'm unaware of any limit that's put on.
[2:59:55] I
[2:59:56] don't have even an official thing on this.
[2:59:59] I was told the recommendation is no more than four.
[3:00:03] And that's just because these can be lengthy.
[3:00:11] Councilor Warner.
[3:00:12] So follow-up question to that is then, okay,
[3:00:15] we're looking at the timeline. Obviously, we're talking about
[3:00:19] this being on the ballot at,
[3:00:21] best case, October 2027.
[3:00:26] So that's two.
[3:00:30] Now, if we have any more that we want to get on there, whether it be via a charter
[3:00:33] commission or whatever. Now, a charter commission,
[3:00:36] that's out there because we wouldn't be able to do a
[3:00:40] charter commission until that time.
[3:00:43] But
[3:00:44] yeah, are we shooting
[3:00:46] half our bullets at once here?
[3:00:50] City manager.
[3:00:51] So there's no restriction or limitation to that.
[3:00:53] Just the fear is that if you put a significant number on, it gets really
[3:00:57] confusing to read them all and understand them all.
[3:01:02] But we will be shooting half our bullets in a recommendation, but not
[3:01:06] necessarily a restriction. Does that make sense?
[3:01:10] Yeah, I see. In other words, there's not a
[3:01:14] hard and fast rule.
[3:01:16] Okay, that answers my question. I'll probably still vote for this.
[3:01:22] Any other discussion on this motion?
[3:01:26] Councilor Hallett Cook.
[3:01:30] I think I'm kind of seeing this as let's test whether or not
[3:01:35] we can figure out how this process works and get it on the ballot.
[3:01:39] Is-
[3:01:41] I have a comment.
[3:01:45] Councilor Jacobson.
[3:01:47] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Councilor Hallett Cook, that's exactly right.
[3:01:52] If you'll recall, back in June,
[3:01:55] there were three public hearings that were set to be made.
[3:01:57] Those came out of the legislative committee.
[3:02:00] They were kind of set in order of increasing complexity and potential
[3:02:04] contentiousness. So this is the kind of easiest, I would
[3:02:08] say.
[3:02:10] The next one that we're going to talk about or the next item on the agenda
[3:02:14] is kind of a medium.
[3:02:16] And I think that's reflected in the
[3:02:19] CAR that's presented. The hard one was
[3:02:23] C-32, the tax cap. That has not come before the council,
[3:02:27] or really, it's still in legislative, I think, at this point.
[3:02:29] So already, we've been shot down on one of these things, and
[3:02:33] you're absolutely right. This is an intention to kind of work the muscle
[3:02:37] of this process, see if we can figure it out.
[3:02:44] Any other discussion on this motion?
[3:02:48] If not, I will take a roll call vote.
[3:02:52] Councilor Warner.
[3:02:54] Yeah.
[3:02:57] Councilor Hallett Cook.
[3:02:59] Yes.
[3:03:01] Councilor Carrier.
[3:03:02] Yes.
[3:03:04] Councilor Boyce.
[3:03:06] Yes.
[3:03:08] Councilor Johnston.
[3:03:10] Yes.
[3:03:12] Councilor Jacobson.
[3:03:15] Yes.
[3:03:18] Councilor Priebe.
[3:03:20] Yes.
[3:03:22] Councilor Forgey.
[3:03:23] Yes.
[3:03:26] The motion passes with eight votes.
[3:03:34] We will now move on to agenda item number 14,
[3:03:38] council to consider charter amendment number two,
[3:03:43] neutralizing gender bias.
[3:03:48] I have a motion.
[3:03:50] Councilor Jacobson.
[3:03:53] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move that the Franklin City Council approve proposed
[3:03:57] charter amendment number two, neutralizing gender bias, chapters three, eight,
[3:04:00] nine, 10, 11, 13, 15, 20, 21, 23, 24,
[3:04:04] 25, 28, 46, 51,
[3:04:08] 53, as presented and directed to be prepared for submission to
[3:04:11] Franklin voters at the next election,
[3:04:14] at which the question may lawfully be placed in accordance with RSA
[3:04:17] 49-B.
[3:04:20] Second.
[3:04:21] We have a motion and we have a second.
[3:04:24] Is there any discussion on this motion?
[3:04:33] I don't see anyone raising a hand for discussion,
[3:04:37] so I'm going to move it on to a roll call vote.
[3:04:42] Councilor Hallett Cook.
[3:04:45] Yes.
[3:04:46] Councilor Carrier.
[3:04:48] Yes.
[3:04:49] Councilor Boyce.
[3:04:52] Yes.
[3:04:53] Councilor Johnston.
[3:04:56] Yes.
[3:04:58] Councilor Jacobson.
[3:05:01] Yes.
[3:05:03] Councilor Prevy.
[3:05:05] Yes.
[3:05:06] Councilor Forge.
[3:05:07] Yes.
[3:05:08] Councilor Warner.
[3:05:10] Yes.
[3:05:12] Motion passes, eight in favor.
[3:05:26] Now we will move on to committee reports.
[3:05:30] Does the legislative committee have a report this evening?
[3:05:36] Mr. Mayor, I have a report.
[3:05:39] Councilor Jacobson.
[3:05:41] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The
[3:05:43] legislative committee met on
[3:05:47] August 20th at 6:00 PM in the library.
[3:05:49] We had a lot to discuss, much of which came actually before the city council this
[3:05:53] evening.
[3:05:54] I'm going to run through briefly. We talked about charter amendment procedure,
[3:06:00] and then the different motions that came forward before the council tonight.
[3:06:03] So public hearing, chapter 68, ordinance changes, chapter
[3:06:07] 31, I believe.
[3:06:09] We talked a little bit about winter parking and
[3:06:13] the various ordinances associated with that.
[3:06:16] And where we landed was
[3:06:18] we need some information about from municipal services,
[3:06:22] and that's going to stay in legislative from the other ordinance side of things.
[3:06:27] We also talked about the trash ordinance,
[3:06:30] and maybe some improvements that go with the sticker-based system that passed
[3:06:34] in the budget this year,
[3:06:36] but kind of how we need to align the ordinances as written with that
[3:06:39] system.
[3:06:41] We talked about the electronic use policy,
[3:06:44] and we set our next meeting, which is for
[3:06:48] Thursday,
[3:06:49] the 17th at 6:00 PM in the library. And on that, we plan to talk about
[3:06:53] winter parking, trash,
[3:06:55] charter section to C34,
[3:07:00] short-term rentals, and
[3:07:03] the
[3:07:04] public hearing procedure that got kicked back to
[3:07:06] today.
[3:07:12] Does any of the councilors have questions for the
[3:07:15] legislative committee?
[3:07:22] Thank you for that report, Councilor Jacobson.
[3:07:25] I will now move on to the
[3:07:28] Muster Committee. And I know that
[3:07:33] Councilor Hobby isn't here this evening.
[3:07:35] Is there any other councilors that may have a report for her?
[3:07:38] If not, we could ask her to give us a report at the
[3:07:42] workshop.
[3:07:44] I did not prepare a report. I'm the secretary, but I didn't realize she was absent.
[3:07:48] Okay, thank you.
[3:07:50] We could ask for a report at the workshop or an update on
[3:07:54] the 14th.
[3:07:58] City Finance Committee.
[3:08:02] Councilor Carrier.
[3:08:05] Thank you. The finance committee met on August
[3:08:08] 18th.
[3:08:12] Had some discussion around our audits and
[3:08:16] we're on that process.
[3:08:19] Talked about fiscal year 26 closeout, and based on that
[3:08:23] discussion,
[3:08:25] scheduled our next meeting for October 20th
[3:08:28] at 6:00 at the library.
[3:08:31] Also had just some discussion about the assessment process, and
[3:08:36] there's other options on
[3:08:40] commercial property assessment,
[3:08:42] and also had some discussion on the
[3:08:46] city council part of the annual budget process and to see if
[3:08:52] we can work on ways to
[3:08:55] have a better budget season next year.
[3:09:02] Do any councilors have any questions for Councilor
[3:09:05] Carrier on the finance committee?
[3:09:10] If not, we will now move on to the Park and Recs Committee.
[3:09:15] Do we have anybody here to give that report?
[3:09:19] I know that Councilor Hobby is the chairman.
[3:09:23] Mr. Mayor, I can give a report.
[3:09:25] Okay. Councilor Jacobson, thank you
[3:09:30] Sure thing, Mr. Mayor.
[3:09:33] So the Parks and Rec committee met on the
[3:09:36] 19th of August up at Bessie Rawl at 6:00 PM.
[3:09:40] And we talked about, again, the pieces that came before the council
[3:09:44] today,
[3:09:46] specifically those two CARs, the
[3:09:48] ordinance updates on Parks and Rec assets, and shifting the
[3:09:52] fee schedules.
[3:09:54] The majority of our conversation centered around a draft use
[3:09:58] policy for the Parks and Rec department.
[3:10:00] That's something that
[3:10:02] Director Carmichael has been working on with public input from
[3:10:06] our July meeting.
[3:10:10] And it does things like defines
[3:10:14] how fees are set, it defines what the Parks and Rec assets
[3:10:18] are, it defines
[3:10:20] what priority is given to different organizations for use, and
[3:10:24] getting permits and things like that.
[3:10:27] So it's really trying to lay out
[3:10:30] how the department is going to work.
[3:10:32] It's pretty comprehensive,
[3:10:35] and we talked about moving it forward in the beginning of September here,
[3:10:39] but I
[3:10:41] think it's going to be pushed, and ultimately will come before the council.
[3:10:44] But more to come, I think, on that front.
[3:10:48] And we set our next meeting, I believe, for
[3:10:53] this upcoming Wednesday,
[3:10:55] the 2nd. However, I will not be able to attend.
[3:10:59] Yeah.
[3:11:03] That's it. That's the end of the report. Sorry.
[3:11:08] Any councilors have any questions for Councilor Jacobson on the
[3:11:12] Parks and Rec committee?
[3:11:16] If not, we will now move on to other business.
[3:11:21] We will move on to mayor and council appointments.
[3:11:25] I will start off with the mayors.
[3:11:28] I have been informed by the chairman of the Conservation Commission
[3:11:32] that there are three positions whose terms are
[3:11:37] up in September.
[3:11:39] And I was also informed
[3:11:41] that
[3:11:44] Robert DeRoche, Senior would like to be reappointed to
[3:11:48] another three years on the Conservation Commission, so
[3:11:52] I will be doing that this evening. He will be reappointed.
[3:11:56] But also, we have three vacancies that will be
[3:12:00] posted
[3:12:03] for the openings on the Conservation Commission.
[3:12:10] Yes, we're seeking applicants, and
[3:12:14] Brenda has been notified, and she will be posting
[3:12:17] it on the city website.
[3:12:23] And now we will move on to council appointments.
[3:12:29] Councilor Johnston.
[3:12:30] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move that Franklin City Council appoint
[3:12:34] Deborah Burley to the Ward One moderator seat.
[3:12:37] Second.
[3:12:40] A motion has been made and seconded.
[3:12:44] Do we have any discussion on that appointment?
[3:12:51] If not,
[3:12:53] I will take a roll call vote.
[3:13:00] Councilor Boyce.
[3:13:02] Yes.
[3:13:03] Council Hoppe? Oh, I'm sorry. Councilor Johnston.
[3:13:07] Yes.
[3:13:08] Councilor Jacobson.
[3:13:12] Yes.
[3:13:13] Councilor Priebe.
[3:13:15] Yes.
[3:13:16] Councilor Forge.
[3:13:18] Yes.
[3:13:19] Council Warner.
[3:13:20] Yes.
[3:13:21] Councilor Hallett Cook.
[3:13:23] Yes.
[3:13:25] Councilor Carrier.
[3:13:27] Yes.
[3:13:29] The motion to appoint
[3:13:33] Deborah Burley
[3:13:37] has passed with eight votes in favor.
[3:13:42] Is there any other business to come before this council
[3:13:46] this evening?
[3:13:48] Councilor Boyce.
[3:13:49] Thank you, Mayor. I just have a question for the city manager.
[3:13:51] Do we know when we're expected to
[3:13:54] have all the MOUs
[3:13:57] by people on council that are outstanding?
[3:14:03] City manager.
[3:14:05] So they're in various states. Some of them were coming, but most of them
[3:14:08] were basically waiting for the template that got passed tonight.
[3:14:12] They'll be based on that template, and they should be coming forth regularly.
[3:14:16] I won't give all 15 of them to you in one meeting.
[3:14:23] If you keep your city manager report short, we
[3:14:27] maybe will get
[3:14:30] them out.
[3:14:34] Any other business to come before the council?
[3:14:37] Councilor
[3:14:38] Forge.
[3:14:39] Motion to adjourn.
[3:14:40] Second.
[3:14:44] Motion has been made and seconded.
[3:14:47] All those in favor signify by saying aye.
[3:14:50] Aye.
[3:14:51] Aye.
[3:14:51] Aye.
[3:14:53] Aye.
[3:14:53] Any opposed?
[3:14:55] Point of order.
[3:14:57] Roll call vote.
[3:14:59] Councilor
[3:15:10] Carrier.
[3:15:12] Yes.
[3:15:13] Councilor Boyce.
[3:15:14] Yes.
[3:15:16] Councilor Johnston.
[3:15:17] Yes.
[3:15:19] Councilor Jacobson.
[3:15:23] Yes.
[3:15:25] Councilor Priebe.
[3:15:27] Yes.
[3:15:28] Councilor Forge.
[3:15:29] Yes.
[3:15:31] Councilor Warner.
[3:15:31] Yes.
[3:15:32] Councilor Hallett Cook.
[3:15:34] Yes.
[3:15:35] We are now adjourned with eight votes in favor.
[3:15:40] Okay.