Franklin City Council to hold public hearing before vote on opera house renovation | Local News

FRANKLIN — City council will consider purchasing a bond for renovations to Soldiers Memorial Hall, which houses both City Hall and the Franklin Opera House. A vote on the bond would only come after a public hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 3. 

After a four-hour meeting Monday night, the vote was unanimous to set the hearing for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 3, at the Elks Lodge 1280. The motion by Councilor Valerie Blake of Ward 3 was for a bond not to exceed $7.8 million with a 30-year term. It would also establish a debt service fund.

Almost 100 people attended this meeting, and the majority of the crowd was in favor of the hearing, with a few email responses read into the record by councilors. Those both for and against the renovations were in favor of the council holding the hearing. Dr. Barry Taylor, who owns the Franklin Veterinary Clinic, wrote a musical when the opera house was open for performances. He advocated for the bond, as well as a public hearing.

“At the opera house, they produced a musical comedy called ‘Run For the Hills’ that I wrote. And I presented it there, not because this was just my town, but because the opera house was beautiful. It was absolutely gorgeous. It was the perfect venue to put on a real play,” Taylor said.

Four options are proposed for the renovation.

Option 1A renovates the building in phases, yield increased capacity in the building and fixes fire, building, and safety code issues. The price is $7.8 million, and cost-sharing with the opera house is possible.

Option 1B is the same as 1A, except it renovates the entire building all at once, and costs is $7.3 million.

Option 2 would renovate the city administration areas of the building and part of the main floor. Use and capacity would be diminished compared to previously. Full occupancy of the basement is questionable with this option, and mezzanine use will be limited further. It would not satisfy all fire, building, and safety codes. The total for that option is $3.89 million, and cost-sharing with the opera house is not possible.

Option 3, which was not outlined in detail on a handout provided during the meeting, comes with a cost of $1.25 million and would not result in a full occupancy permit. Cost-sharing with the opera house is not possible.

Opera house President Jeff Perkins advocated for option 1B. He said this option costs less for the city as the opera house will have a 50% share of the cost, leaving the city paying $3.67 million. The opera house would pay $365,900, with a 10-year monthly rent payment of $3,000, reductions through scaling back the scope and funding through a Congressionally Directed Spending Grant, a Land and Community Heritage Investment Program Grant, Community Development Finance Authority tax credits and Tax Increment Financing funds.

“The bottom line is, this proposed arrangement ultimately gets more for less, and the cost to the city will be actually less than the option two, because the city will not be able to take advantage of opera house grants and fundraisers,” Perkins said.

The tax rate will increase depending on which option, if any, the council selects. Denis Duquette spoke against the bond.

“I got neighbors that are on a fixed income, and they’re already having a tough time,” Duquette said. “Most people can afford it. Most people can, but a lot of people can’t.”

Those who were against the hearing want a different plan for funding the renovation and more time for public input. One such advocate for this was Mayor Desiree McLaughlin, who is in favor of funding the renovations, but not this approach. She believes Blake’s resolution is not well thought out.

“Over 30 years for the Soldiers Memorial Hall project, I have not made it a secret that I think that was a premature move and hope it will not hurt the project more than help its progress,” she said. “I would have liked to survey the community, and, more importantly, engage the community in an effort to increase transparency, something I considered lacking in this project thus far.”