Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Hearing Prep topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee finalizes public-hearing format and pushes outreach to draw applicants
Summary
Framingham's Community Preservation Committee refined the agenda and presentation format for an upcoming public hearing, agreed outreach tactics, and urged department-head participation to help applicants prepare eligible proposals.
The Community Preservation Committee reviewed draft grantee presentations and public-hearing slides on Monday and agreed to tighten formats and expand outreach to attract project applicants.
Committee members said presentations from recent grantees should be concise and focused on outcomes, budgets and local impact. Judy, a committee member, proposed adding a slide that explicitly lists who can apply under the Community Preservation Act; committee members agreed the list should come from the city's adopted plan and be displayed after the "What can CPA fund?" slide.
Why it matters: the public hearing is intended to encourage eligible applicants to apply for CPA funds and to help city departments and applicants coordinate on project feasibility and approvals.
Members debated presentation length and content for multiple grantees who returned slides. Several presenters' materials were judged too long or too detailed for the hearing format; the committee asked presenters to reduce their decks to core slides with a suggested template (welcome, budget, beneficiaries, and key outcomes) for future applications.
Committee members also discussed who should attend the hearing. Several members recommended inviting department heads for planning, parks and recreation, conservation, and housing so applicants can learn which city offices they will need to consult. Steven, a committee member, recommended a targeted letter to those department heads asking them to attend and bring priorities; the committee agreed to prepare a short template letter and run it by members before wider distribution.
Outreach plans discussed included distributing flyers, placing notices on Framingham Today and public-access TV, staffing a table at the farmers market, and asking current grantees to promote the hearing to their followers. The committee also discussed holding a brief Q&A at the end of the hearing and suggested providing handouts or links for attendees who want more detail.
Next steps: committee staff will provide a recommended slide template for applicants, finalize the additional slide listing eligible applicants, circulate a draft invitation to key department heads, and return to the committee with a refined plan and any submissions from applicants ahead of the hearing.
