Franklin’s Newest Village Manager Practices Power of Communication
(Charlie Haviland, Feb. 23, 2025)
Franklin, MI – Nearly four months into her role as Franklin Village Administrator, Meg Schubert is using her history of leadership, and her past experience in the village, to foster a spirit of community based on communications.
The Bay City native has worked as a court clerk, child advocate, student organizer, economic development director, assistant city manager, earned a graduate degree in public administration and today runs the day-to-day operations of Franklin, Michigan the small, historic village tucked between Twelve and Fourteen Mile Roads on the west side of Telegraph Road.
“This is fun!’ said Schubert when asked if she feels at home in her new position. “It’s like ripping off a Band-Aid,” she said when asked about what she characterizes as a smooth transition from the former administration. “It feels like home. I couldn’t imagine a better team.”
Schubert came from Troy, Michigan city manager’s office – where she was Assistant City Manager – to Franklin where she finds herself overseeing a locality governing a much smaller population of 3100. Troy has a population of more that 80,000.
What’s one difference between Troy and Franklin?
“Communication, which is the most important part of my job,” said Schubert. “In larger organizations, managers tend to become insulated and bogged down by tunnel vision. In Franklin, my door is always open. In my last job, I was solving problems all day long and didn’t have the time to to meet with colleagues and, more importantly, residents.”
“We are so lucky to have her,” said Franklin Village trustee Pam Hansen. “She is wise beyond her years. She’s got so much going for her, much more than I did at that age.” When villagers have a complaint, they usually reach out to a board trustee instead of going straight to city hall and the administration, said Hansen. “Meg has opened new lines of communication.”
Village president David Goldberg agrees. “You and go ahead and use the word ‘dazzling’ to describe what Meg has accomplished in her first ninety days. Her savvy communication skills are second to none.”
Franklin Village, which is celebrating its 200th birthday and whose mantra is “The Town that Time Forgot,” is not without its challenges. For decades, villagers have been pitted against each other siding either with “historic preservation” or “economic development.” Public disagreements have sometimes become uncivil.
There are few who take a middle of the road where Franklin’s present and future are concerned, says Schubert. But there’s no reason, she says, that we can have it both ways: In with the old AND in with the new.
And in Franklin’s case, there’s very little choice as the downtown village area became the first national historic district in the state of Michigan which restricts, but doesn’t prohibit, architectural changes. Main Street Franklin, an arm of the National Trust for Historical Preservation, according to their website, supports business and safeguards Franklin’s historic legacy. Schubert became the de facto head of Main Street Franklin when she headed the village’s new economic development program prior to accepting the Troy position.
Longtime village trustee Michael Seltzer, who championed Schubert’s hire away from Troy last fall, cites her previous work experience at the village as the perfect stepping stone to being successful today as Franklin Village administrator. “Meg doesn’t need to prove herself, but she has anyway. Her energy is amazing. She is professional, hard working, and fosters confidence in all of us. I knew what we were getting when the village hired her.”
“I’m from Bay City,” said Schubert. “I got my education at Central (Michigan University). I’d never spent any time in Southeastern Michigan and in the summer of 2021, I arrived in Franklin on a Sunday and went to work on a Monday. I haven’t looked back.”
And with that impressive resume of hers, should Franklin Village be concerned that the next highest offer might tempt her away?
“No,” said Schubert. “I’m home.”
Learn more about the Village of Franklin at https://www.franklin.mi.us/
