Hot Stove - Town Council - Top 9

Following up on the “hot stove” topic from yesterday and inspired in part by the “All in Favor” guidelines published by the Center for Public Education, let me define what I think the Franklin Town Council candidates need to provide for Franklin to address its problems and remain one of the Top 10 Ten Places to Live.

The councilors should bring to the table:

• Good community representatives - they should be held to a higher standard as they are the role models for the community to go by. They are the ones entrusted with creating and enforcing the bylaws of the town
• Open minded - able to examine an idea and follow a logical approach to consider multiple solutions to a problem before coming to a resolution on how to proceed
• Good communication skills - once a process or solution has been determined, getting out to effectively communicate or educate the necessary stakeholders, explain to them in their terms and be able to move on
• Complimentary skills - i.e. for the council to effectively work for Franklin, they should have some diversity amongst their skill sets
• Collaborative leanings - for the council to be effective, they need to work with other boards and organizations. They should be able to approach these groups in a collaborative manner, with a win/win desire. They should deal with others in a respectful manner all the time.
• Some public service experience - more is not always better but some is better than none

Based upon these guidelines, I offer the following choices for the top nine slots for the Town Council


Top Three: Bartlett, Doak, Mason

In my mind, there is no question about these folks. They have consistently spoken to, voted for, and worked for the best of Franklin.

Middle Three: Evans, Feeley, LeBlanc

I don’t always agree with what they say but they bring a good deal of background and experience to the position and should continue to provide their collaborative mix of skills to the council

New Three: Bower, Whalen, Zollo

Whalen will bring financial analysis to the role. He has proven himself with work on the Finance committee.
Zollo will bring a great deal of sanity and collaboration to this role. We clearly need to work together to solve Franklin’s problems and he has been consistent in talking that talk.
Bower will bring his “common sense” to the table in addition to the inexperienced set of eyes that a new comer will have.


What do you think? Who would you change? Why?