Franklin Police Chief Devin Holland gave an update during last week’s Town Council meeting on the department’s recent efforts to curb speeding in town, particularly along Main Street.
Speeding has been a topic at several Town Council meetings and at a past meeting, Council member Rita Salain asked if they could see reports on how many citations and warnings are being issued.
Holland said the “amped up” traffic enforcement on East Main Street and West Main Street in the last few weeks resulted in 40 speeding citations and 24 other violation citations, such as no drivers license, unsafe movement or expired tag. Additionally, there were 52 speeding warning ticket and 26 other violation warning tickets.
“The best I can get data-wise from dispatch is we’ve done 137 traffic stops and logged 298 traffic enforcement activities,” Holland said.
In addition to the increased police presence, Holland said they set up the message board at the bottom of Town Hill warning people of the 20-mph zone, used a decoy patrol vehicle, and placed a new sign at the top of town hill.
He said the highest citation was for someone traveling 43 mph, but most are in the 30s.
“I hope you all notice the difference, because I know I have, on- and off-duty” Holland said.
The police chief said he saw a truck towing a trailer almost stall coming up the hill because it had slowed down.
Salain and Vice Mayor Mike Lewis thanked Holland and the department for patrolling and speed enforcement on Main Street. Lewis said he has not received any complaints about it.
“This is something we’ve been fielding complaints and worries about for a while now, and a lot of merchants on Main Street have had concerns. I mean, they see it. They’re there all day long, every day.” Lewis said.
He said he and other council members have often heard the concerns that “somebody’s going to get killed” due to the speeding on Main Street.
Mayor Stacy Guffey said a friend told him they had received a warning ticket for speeding. When the mayor asked how fast they were going, the person said 30 mph. The mayor replied: “Good.”
Also in his report, Holland said American Legion Post 108 donated $1,500 to the department, which enabled them to buy three more sets of stop stick tire deflators, which now means each officer is equipped with the devices. Holland said they are important to have.
“Considering most of your vehicle pursuits, the majority of them do come to Franklin, so it gives us a little edge to try to get that stopped before it gets into the city limits,” Holland said.
The department also received a $1,000 grant from Walmart and the chief said they will decide how to spend that.
Town budget update
Finance Director Sarah Bishop said her department has been working with department heads to begin preparing the 2026-27 budget.
“Our department has done a great job again this year of putting together thoughtful budgets with necessary items, being mindful of costs because we have seen some escalating costs, obviously.”
Bishop said expenses and revenue are “looking great for this point in the year,” but she again reminded the council that the sales tax collections are starting to moderate compared to the increase seen after the pandemic.
In March 2026, the town collected $156,963.46 in sales tax. “The increase year-over-year for the sales tax this month was about 1.5%, she said. “Last year, the increase month-over-month from the year before was about a 15% increase, I believe. So, we are seeing that slow down.”
Even with the slow down, Bishop predicted sales tax collection would exceed the budgeted amount of $1.2 million. To date, 79.18% of the sales tax budget has been collected for the fiscal year. Bishop did caution it is something to watch since sales tax collections make up a large part of the revenue in the general fund.
“I don’t expect it to plummet by any means, but I want to be realistic,” she said. “We’re still performing well in it – we’re just not exceeding it every month like we had been. So, I’ll keep an eye on it, and I’ll keep reporting it, but I’m not concerned about it. We knew this was going to happen – it just took a little longer than we thought to level out.”
The Town Council will hold its first public budget work session at 6 p.m. Monday, April 20 in the board room on the lower level of Town Hall.
The next regular Town Council meeting is Monday, April 4 at 6 p.m.