Town of Franklin Press Releases

April 14, 2025
Notice of the Franklin Town Council Special Called Meeting

A Special Called Meeting of the Town of Franklin Town Council will be held on Monday, April 21, 2025 beginning at 6:00 p.m. in the Town Hall Board Room, at 95 E. Main Street, Franklin.

The purpose of this meeting is to consider budget amendments for FY 24/25 and to hold the FY 2025/2026 Budget Work Session.

 

April 01, 2025
Mayor Terminates Fire Danger Emergency Declaration

Effective Wednesday, April 2, 2025 at 8:00 a.m.

The termination is in conjunction with the NC Department of Agriculture, NC Forest Service and Macon County lifting of their burn bans.  

READ THE FIRE DANGER EMERGENCY TERMINATION » (PDF)

 

March 12, 2025
Franklin Seeks Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) and Tourism Development Authority (TDA) Applicants

The Town of Franklin Town Council is accepting applications to fill the following vacancies on two (2) community boards. Applications should be submitted no later than April 25, 2025 for consideration. Applications are kept on fi le for one year.

• Alcoholic Beverage Control Board – three (3) vacancies - there are no residency requirements for this board.

The term for these appointments is three years.

• Tourism Development Authority – one (1) vacancy - one position for a resident that must collect occupancy tax within the Franklin town limits, that could be hotel/motel or other short-term rental such as a bed and breakfast or AirBNB or VRBO to qualify.

This appointment will fulfill the remaining term, which ends June 2026.

Applications are available online at www.franklinnc.com/boards-authorities-franklin-nc.html or can be obtained at Town Hall, 95 East Main Street, Franklin. For more information, contact Town Clerk Nicole Bradley at 828-524-2516 x 312 or via email at nbradley@franklinnc.com.

These appointments will be on the May 5, 2025 Town Council meeting agenda.

 

February 18, 2025
Public Education on Lead in Drinking Water

As part of the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR) published December 16, 2021, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires that all community water systems (CWS) and non-transient non-community (NTNC) water systems develop an inventory of all service line connections, both system-owned and customer-owned. The inventory must identify the potential presence of lead within each service line connection.  The Town completed this inventory and submitted to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NC DEQ) in October 2024.   

Another requirement of NC DEQ is for the Town of Franklin to regularly test 20 sites in various locations within the water system as assigned. During the monitoring period of July 2024 to September 2024, of the 20 sites surveyed, four tested with an amount of lead in excess of the action level indicated by the State. The four testing site property owners were notified regarding the lead levels, as was NC DEQ.  

The testing locations where excesses occurred were inside of homes whose plumbing was older than 1986, which is thought to be the source of the lead and the readings. All other monitoring sites were within normal limits and there were no lead overages at the Water Treatment Facility or in other water system testing sites. Based on the results from July and September, the Town is doubling its monitoring to 40 sites and is sending out information to all water system customers as a means to educate the public regarding lead in drinking water.  “There is nothing to indicate that there is an issue with the water system and the drinking water is of sound quality and cleanliness; however, notifying all customers is the best way to share the required information,” said Town Manager Amie Owens.    

In December 2024, the Town of Franklin was recognized with the NC Area Wide Optimization Program (AWOP) Award from NC DEQ which is a joint program between the EPA and State to enhance the performance of existing surface water treatment facilities.

“The Town’s water treatment processes are being improved and modernized each year as our primary goal is to provide customers with a safe and dependable supply of drinking water,” Owens noted.      

A copy of the educational material that is being sent to all water system customers is available on the Town’s website at www.franklinnc.com/water-sewer-franklinnc.html.