[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.

[3:14:53] 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.

August 31, 2026 City Council Meeting 2026-08-31 21:49:57

Agenda

Transcript