Every Indicator Shows That Combining Framingham's Senior Services and the Library is a Bad Idea

On Tuesday, August 18, 2026, the City Council will meet to vote yes or no on the Mayors departmental reorganization, which was done without charter-required City Council approval as part of the FY27 budget process.

The Mayor is trying to get the City Council to:

1. Repair his trampling of the charter, which specifies that the Mayor shall receive City Council approval before implementing a departmental reorganization
2. Open the door to more budget-driven reorganizations without City Council approval in the future
3. Ignore his lack of planning and justification for the reorganization, including a lack of accurate cost savings, revised job descriptions, and details on how the new structure would function
4. Ignore the fact that 348 out of 350 other cities and towns in Massachusetts think that combining Senior Services and the Library is a bad idea and have not done that
5. Ignore the fact that the two exceptions to that: Yarmouth and Lowell, retained their Director of Senior Services
6. Ignore the fact that if the reorganization is approved, future hiring of a Director of the combined Library/Senior Services division will be a nightmare as the talent pool of candidates with experience and qualifications in both areas is close to zero.
7. Ignore the fact that the advisory bodies for both the Library (Library Trustees) and Senior Services (Council On Aging (COA)) were not consulted, or even informed of the reorganization ahead of its announcement in the budget discussion. See, for example: Heather Klisch Explains How the Library Trustees Were Blind-sided by the Department Reorganization
8. Ignore the subsequent well-argued opposition of the COA and the Library trustees, as evidenced in the letter from the COA to the Mayor & City Council and the video statement from the Library Trustees. The letter from the COA is so convincing that it is included in full at the end of this article for the reader’s convenience.
9. Ignore the warnings from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, on proposals in which a library is grouped with other town departments "for purposes of efficiency": Best Practice for Trustees: Town and City Charters
10. Ignore a petition with almost 1,000 signatures of Framingham residents opposing the changes: Stop the Elimination of Framingham’s Dedicated Director of Elder Services Position
11. Become complicit in a possibly politically motivated removal of the Director of Elder Services as explained in a prior article: New Evidence Suggests the Firing of Framingham's Senior Services Director Was Unjustified Political Payback
12. Give airtime to members of the Friends of Callahan, one (Mary Megill) who is a resident of Ashland, and the other (Steve Kiviat) who engaged in an effort during the Mayoral campaign to pressure the Director of Elder Services to block legitimate access by the Mayor's challenger to meeting space at the Callahan Center. When that event actually happened, Steve Kiviat acted as the Mayor’s operative, pacing up and down in the corridor adjacent to the meeting, monitoring what was going on and reporting back to the Mayor. Further, he wrote an email to Randy Aylsworth, the Director, after the event criticizing him for allowing the Mayor’s challenger access to the Callahan Center. In this current situation, Steve Kiviat is on a political errand for the Mayor, not an advocate for improving Senior Services.
13. Ignore the fact that the Callahan Center is so well regarded today because of the efforts of Randy Ayslworth, who built it up from a 40% staff vacancy 3 years ago, and expanded its services and programs by hiring key staff members, who are now the Assistant Director and the Programs Manager. Yet the termination of Randy is being presented as positive progress.
14. Ignore the fact that UMass Boston is close to completing an assessment of senior needs in Framingham, a project which was devised and funded with grants under the leadership of Randy Aylsworth. With a full report due in the Fall, it made no sense to remove the key leader who would have taken this report and used it to drive the next stage of development for Senior Services in the city.

It is rare to find such an overwhelming array of reasons to condemn the reorganization which aims to combine Senior Services with the Library and eliminate the Director of Senior Services position.

The wisest course for the Mayor would be to withdraw his plan, and come back to the City Council with a much better solution, which keeps Senior Services and the Library as they were before the budget cutting changes, but possibly, with sound input from the community and the Parks & Recreation Commission, provides a plausible blueprint for a merger of Facilities with Parks & Recreation. That kind of merger finds many models to follow across Massachusetts, and is encouraged by the state Division of Local Services.

That approach could also fold in the staffing plan for the Mary Dennison Park, which was a large and egregious omission from the FY27 budget plan.

There is nothing more certain than a City Council YES to the Mayor’s current reorganization plan would go against all the evidence gathered here, destroying the power of local advisory boards, ignoring the voting public and, especially, condemning the Library and Senior Center to wander in an organizational wilderness.

Especially, the 20,000 seniors in the city deserve a City Council which protects their interests, and does not kowtow to the Mayor.

Letter Approved by Council on Aging Board today, June 16, 2026

Dear Mayor Sisitsky and Members of the Framingham City Council,

The Framingham Council on Aging Board, along with many members of Framingham’s senior community, are deeply concerned by the recent unexplained termination of the Director of Aging Services position and the decision to place the management of the Callahan Center, as well as Veteran Services, under the director of the Framingham Public Library.

This significant organizational change has been made without a publicly presented plan outlining how this transition will be managed, what objectives they are intended to achieve, or what budgetary targets they are expected to address. The missions, services, and operational demands of these departments are fundamentally different. As a result, this decision has the potential to negatively affect not only the voice of the seniors of Framingham but also the effective management of the Library itself.

The Callahan Center has experienced remarkable growth in recent years. According to the March 2026 Director’s Report, attendance, program participation, and utilization of services have increased substantially across nearly every area. These trends reflect both the growing population of older adults in Framingham and the increasing complexity of the needs they face. They also underscore the importance of dedicated leadership to guide the continued expansion of programs and services, pursue alternative funding opportunities, and advocate for the interests of older residents.

The Director of Aging Services serves a critical role. The position provides legislative advocacy, community networking, strategic planning, and collaboration with regional and state organizations that support older adults. Consolidating these responsibilities under a single director overseeing two, or perhaps three, large departments jeopardizes the focus and attention that Aging Services requires.

The elimination of this position sends an unfortunate message that the needs of older adults are no longer a priority for the City. This is particularly troubling given that Aging Services represents only a very small portion of the overall municipal budget. We question why a department that is thriving, serving a rapidly growing population, and operating with relatively modest financial resources would be targeted for such a reduction.

We respectfully urge the Mayor and City Council to explore alternative approaches to addressing the City's fiscal challenges and to reinstate the Director of Aging Services position. Framingham's older residents deserve dedicated leadership and continued investment in the programs and services that support their health, independence, and quality of life.

Thank you for your time, consideration, and service to our community.

Sincerely,

The Framingham Council on Aging
Board of Directors