Framingham Gets New Citizen Participation Officer: Keziah Franca

FRAMINGHAM, MA — The Framingham City Council approved the city's new Citizen Participation Officer at Tuesday's meeting. Keziah Franca is the second person to hold the job, but the first to speak three languages.

Mayor Charlie Sisitsky nominated Franca, 27, for the role earlier this year, and she received unanimous approval in City Council. Franca most recently served as a wraparound coordinator at McCarthy Elementary School, and previous served as a caseworker at the South Middlesex Opportunity Council.

Franca is the first citizen officer who speaks Portuguese — she also speaks Spanish, English and a little Italian.

"I really look forward to getting out there and just connecting with everyone in Framingham," she said Tuesday.

The Citizen Participation Officer role was included in the City Charter created when Framingham became a city. Alaa Abusalah was the first person to serve as the participation officer and began in the job in early 2019. She resigned from the role in October.

The Framingham Citizen Participation Officer works in the mayor's office, and is generally available to respond to public inquiries.

The officer works "with municipal departments and multiple-member bodies to develop and implement strategies to enhance public engagement using current communication and outreach practices, to process citizen complaints and inquiries, and ensure compliance with public notice requirements. The citizen participation officer shall maintain the municipal notification list. The citizen participation officer shall analyze data on citizen engagement, complaints and inquiries, and shall regularly submit reports as directed by the mayor," the charter says.