Framingham City Councilors King & Cannon Oppose Smarter Government

In the City Council meeting held on February 20, 2024, the issue of the value to the city of joining the Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA) was finally discussed after being twice placed on prior City Council meeting agendas, and then postponed. This MMA topic was addressed in a previous article:

https://framinghamobserver.substack.com/p/framingham-mayor-collides-three-times

where it was argued at length what a valuable resource the MMA was for learning and collaboration, and how 349 out of 351 municipalities in Massachusetts are members and benefit enormously. It’s worth repeating a paragraph:

“For 40 years MMA has been serving the 351 municipalities in Massachusetts, and is a highly regarded, effective organization. It is important for Framingham city staff to be able to attend, but especially important for the Mayor and City Councilors as well. Unlike the school side, where every School Committee member must, when elected, attend 8 hours of mandatory instruction in their duties, including state law, finance, policy and so on, no such requirement exists for City Councilors. The MMA provides a really important way for newly elected officials to come up to speed, for others to stay current, and for all city staff to keep abreast all the latest developments in their fields, and to keep track of what works and what does not, in other cities and towns across Massachusetts.”

Checkout the MMA website at: https://www.mma.org

Sharing information and best practices and keeping up with the latest developments in their field is a well-established way for any professional to advance their skills and do their job better. It is remarkable that for the last two years, the Framingham City Council has blocked not only its members, but all city staff from engaging in this best practice through membership in the MMA.

Councilors King, Cannon, and Stefanini were the architects of this, as in Finance Subcommittee annual city budget meetings, they voted 3-2 against Councilors Steiner and Alexander to cut the MMA subscription from the annual city budget, and since the other 6 City Councilors were not part of that budget process, it was not obvious to them that the MMA subscription had been eliminated when they voted to approve the annual budget. After all the $20,000 MMA annual subscription is a tiny item in a $300 million budget.

However, that tiny investment of $20,000 has huge strategic importance for Framingham and should never have been killed in the claustrophobic confines of the Finance Subcommittee by King/Cannon/Stefanini.

It took a shift in the power balance on the City Council in the recent elections, where John Stefanini was defeated, supported by increased Mayoral awareness of the critical value of MMA access for city staff, to finally kick the issue of the MMA subscription onto a City Council meeting agenda for discussion.

It is painfully obvious that a strategically important goal for Framingham is to ensure that its staff and its elected officials are well informed on the latest best practices across all municipal operations, and that MMA membership aligns perfectly with that goal.

Remarkably, we have two City Councilors: George King and Mike Cannon, who think they have nothing to learn about municipal government and if they had their way would force all municipal staff and the Mayor and all the other City Councilors to join them on their island of ignorance.

The arguments they use are jaw dropping:

1. The annual MMA conference is just one big party. (King)
2. They never learned anything from the one time they went. (Cannon)
3. Massachusetts cities and town and so different that they cannot learn from each other or share best practices. (Cannon)
4. $20,000 is an enormous amount of money to waste on that frivolous MMA organization. (King/Cannon)
5. MMA is a questionable organization, and who knows what it is doing with all the membership dues paid to it each year. (King)
6. MMA should be declared off limits for Framingham because it will not subject itself to a personal financial audit conducted by George King. (King)

Anyone who has attended a conference knows that some attendees like to spend time at the hotel bar and not at workshops. They are the exception, not the rule. I have attended dozens of conferences on physics, software development and municipal affairs and can personally attest to that.

It is also rare for anyone attending conferences to learn nothing much. That also is the exception, not the rule. It is also especially ironic, as Mike Cannon would have benefited greatly from attending the recent MMA Conference this January with its multiple workshops on diversity, equity, and inclusion, after his obvious lack of understanding of equity and equity audits was on full display when he grilled Jesse Edwards, the Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer, on those issues at the January 11, 2024, City Council meeting.

It is also obvious to most people that cities and towns can learn a lot from each other as they have a great deal in common, and that $20,000 is a relatively small amount to invest in MMA for the benefits received.

Arguments 5 & 6 above, border on the ridiculous.

Just imagine if the city hired a road repair and construction company to do some road maintenance, but then demanded that the company open its books and tell the city what it was doing with all the money it was being paid by all its customers.

Truly mind boggling.

A major central concern is that the point of view put forth by King and Cannon, which disparages a very valuable resource for improving government, is not an aberration. They are 100% focused on cost cutting and spending as little as possible on local government and have a long history of showing no interest in improving Framingham government operations.

It is exactly the approach they have used for years to undermine the property tax revenue stream and oppose important investments in infrastructure, education, climate change action, and competitive staff compensation. In the past two years, they achieved complete control of the city annual budget through their lock on the Finance Subcommittee (with Stefanini).

But times are changing.

On the issue of joining the MMA, we have other City Councilors who robustly disagree with King and Cannon, and are actually interested in getting better at their jobs, and want to find out how other cities and towns attack and solve their problems. An enlightened approach to city government is a wonderful thing to see.

Here are City Councilors Leora Mallach, Brandon Ward, and Leslie White Harvey showing how forward looking City Councilors view the MMA:

Councilor Mallach Explains the Value of the MMA

Councilor Ward Argues for Joining the MMA

Councilor White Harvey Argues for Joining the MMA

The uniquely dystopian King/Cannon views on the MMA give remarkable insight into their general disaffection with the notion of improving city government. It is well worth watching these two in action on the subject of the MMA, to compare that with those other City Councilors who are committed to improving Framingham government.

King Pours Scorn On the MMA

Cannon Entirely Misses the Value of the MMA

It is a relief to see signs that, with two new City Councilors aboard, the balance of power and the approach to government of the City Council appear to be shifting in an encouraging direction.

It would have been even better if the MMA membership could have been activated for the remainder of the year. The $8,000 cost of that proved a bridge too far, but at least we should see full MMA annual membership included in the FY25 budget, and finally obtain City Council approval.

It is remarkable how difficult it has been for Framingham to complete such an ordinary task as joining the MMA. Even getting it on the agenda for City Council discussion was a herculean task. There are many more tasks to complete and many of them much more difficult than approving $20,000 for an MMA membership.

But even small progress needs to be applauded, in the hope that support will grow for commonsense solutions to the raft of fixable problems Framingham has in the areas of finance, infrastructure, education, climate change action and staff retention.

Above all, the wacky ideas some City Councilors have applied to city government for years, need to be confronted and argued into oblivion.