🔨 No Action on Buses

MBTA Communities Act Hearing Tuesday | The Civic Week Ahead

Countdown the days until 2025, Framingham.

Framingham’s elected leaders put themselves into a time crunch with the holidays looming and work left to do.

With the MBTA Communities joint Council - Planning Board public hearing occurring tomorrow, I’ll have a recap for you on Wednesday.

All eyes will be on the Council and the Mayor this week as Framingham continues to work its way through compliance with the state law.

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Photo by Jackson Simmer on Unsplash

Council Takes No Action on Buses

Bus Stop: The Council voted 10-0 (with Noval Alexander not present for the vote) to take no action on the proposed bus lease to bring school bus in-house.

Executive session: The Council met for 1 1/2 hours in Executive Session to discuss the contract. The City Solicitor, Lincoln Lynch, FPS Director of Finance and Operations, School Committee Chair Jessica Barnhill, and Vice Chair Jennifer Moshe were present for the meeting. Due to the private nature of Executive Session, it is not clear what was discussed or why the Council voted to take no action.

In-house proposal: The School Committee voted to bring busing in-house, no longer depending on a contracted vendor. FPS planned to enter a five year lease-to-own agreement with Anderson Motors out of Rhode Island for 72 buses. Framingham would own the buses after the five years with no further fee or buyout costs, excluding ongoing preventative maintenance and related vehicle operating expenses.

Lease cost: Just under $2.5 million a year. Cost includes the lease, maintenance, inspections and documentation.

What is next?: Now in a bind, the School Committee meets this Wednesday, December 18 with transportation on the agenda.

MBTA Communities Hearing Tuesday

Public hearing occurs Tuesday at 7pm in the Blumer Room at the Memorial Building. (Photo: MK Feeney)

Get there early: The hearing takes place at 7:00pm in the Blumer Room in the Memorial Building. You can also tune in via Zoom - click here for login information found in the Council agenda.

New map: A map showing all the parcels the Council selected to discuss is part of their agenda packet. The parcels are Downtown, Speen Street, The Buckley, 9/90, Pinefield Plaza in Saxonville, Edmands Road and Nobscot Village Center.

Look for an update on Wednesday on what happened the night before. It is expected to be a long night. The Council is also scheduled to meet on Thursday regarding this issue.

The Civic Week Ahead

• Monday, December 16

  • 6:00pm: Harmony Grove School Council Agenda

  • 6:00pm: Keefe Technical High School Committee Budget Subcommittee Agenda

  • 6:00pm: King Elementary School Council Agenda

  • 6:00pm: 325th Anniversary Celebration Committee Agenda

  • 7:00pm: Board of License Commissioners Agenda

• Tuesday, December 17

  • 10:30am: MWRTA Advisory Board Agenda

  • 10:30am: Retirement Board Agenda

  • 4:00pm: School Committee Policy Subcommittee Agenda

  • 6:00pm: Keefe Technical High School Committee Budget Subcommittee Agenda

  • 6:30pm: School Committee Executive Session Agenda

  • 7:00pm: City Council -Joint Meeting with the Planning Board Agenda

  • 7:00pm: Community Development Committee Agenda

  • 7:00pm: Planning Board Agenda

• Wednesday, December 18

  • 8:00am: Barbieri School Council Agenda

  • 5:15pm: McCarthy School Council Agenda

  • 5:30pm: Veterans Council Agenda

  • 7:00pm: School Committee Agenda

  • 7:00pm: Conservation Commission Agenda

• Thursday, December 19

  • 5:30pm: Potter Road School Council Agenda

  • 7:00pm: City Council Agenda

  • 7:00pm: Fair Housing Committee Agenda

In Closing…

Seems like everyone received a letter about the upcoming changes to our water bills. If you missed my summary of the water & sewer hearing last month, you can find it by clicking here. But yes, the bills went up 4% with a new service fee.

See you later in the week,