Bruce Marshall adores Franklin so much that he said he wants his ashes scattered there. Sam Jacobson said he wants a city where he can live and play.

As a result, the two men changed their legal domiciles to the state’s smallest city to run for different seats on the nine-member city council.

For Marshall, his family has owned a home in Franklin since 2016, but his primary residency was in Bow, where his kids are in the school district and he served as the chairman of the select board as recently as last year. Last month, he declared Franklin his primary residency and will vote for the first time here come November.

“To me, it’s my oasis, the more we come up and the more I stay here, now I’m staying here the majority of the year,” he said. “I see the potential of Franklin.”

For Jacobson, the draw to Mill City Park and trails along Winnipesaukee led him to move to Franklin from Manchester last year.

“I moved here for the whitewater park,” he said. “The community here is strong, it is robust and it welcomes people with open arms and that’s what I want to see Franklin do. We have a lot of great momentum.”

State law allows qualifications for local offices to differ town by town. In Franklin, to run for city council or mayor, the only requirement is that the candidate is registered to vote in the city.

“Domicile” is the formal term for someone’s primary residence and is the threshold allowing voters to register in a specific place. An individual can only have one domicile in the state, which is verified by the supervisors of the checklist in that location, according to Secretary of State David Scanlan.

“It’s an individual’s base of operations and it’s a central location where they conduct all their day-to-day and personal activities,” Scanlan said.

To verify someone’s domicile, the supervisors of the checklist can ask for information like a driver’s license, utility bill or notices from the local school district to prove residency. Voters can also sign an affidavit swearing to their principal residence.

In prior elections, Marshall voted in Bow, according to records from the state archives. He also served as the chair of the Bow Select Board before he was voted out in 2023.

Records show that Jacobson was a registered voter in Manchester in 2022, but did not vote.

State law does not limit how many times a person can change their domicile, said Scanlan.

“It really is an issue of circumstance and the facts, and it’s up to the supervisors to make that determination,” he said.

In their commitment to Franklin, both Marshall and Jacobson outlined clear changes they’d like to see in the function of city government at a candidate forum hosted by Choose Franklin.

A new direction for Jacobson comes with the budget process. He proposed the timeline flip, with the council setting financial goals at the beginning of the year, which dictate the spending priorities from the city manager and department heads.

“Right now, the council gets the budget in May and it’s hard to squeeze water from the stones like that,” he said.

Marshall, who is an attorney, positioned himself as someone who knows business development and could help attract new economic interest to the area. To do so, the city needs to revamp its zoning code and assess what development is possible in the city. Without a clear portrait, developers will be deterred.

“When they see that we had a giant issue about a sticker about a donut, it steers them away. When they look at the uncertainty about the tax and the tax cap and what can be done inside that, they get scared because they don’t want uncertainty,” he said. “We need to look at all the available developable land in Franklin and modify the zoning and planning to attract developers there.”

All candidates agree that the roads in Franklin are desperate for repair as a budget priority. Schools in Franklin (like most of the state) are underfunded, with taxpayers bearing the brunt of costs. Safety is paramount and needing to retain city staff is key.

Each race for the city’s three wards is contested.

Marshall and Delaney Carrier, a 20-year resident, local business owner and current school board member, are looking to replace outgoing Councilor George Dzjuna in Ward 1. 

Jacobson is running in Ward 2 against Thomas Boyce, who said he has watched the city fall into a rut and wants to see the community progress. The winner will take Vincent Ribas’ seat on the council.

In Ward 3, Al Warner, is challenging incumbent, Valerie Blake, who is seeking reelection to “help Franklin move forward,” after moving to the city in 2017 and serving one term on the city council. Warner moved to Franklin 20 years ago, and has served on the school board, conservation commission, as a planning board alternative and supervisor of the checklist since. 

Despite being new to the city, Jacobson still presented a list of prior projects he watched leaders place all bets on. When they didn’t come to fruition, Franklin was left in limbo.

“Franklin has hitched its wagon on the Northern Pass, it’s hitched its wagon to I-93 coming through and that’s burned us multiple times,” he said. “My vision for Franklin’s revitalization is really a city on the go. It’s a city that continues to attract and retain lots of people… it’s a small city but it’s mighty.”

In a small city like Franklin, though, online discourse can be a vicious cycle, said Marshall. He’s experienced it leading up to the election, with several posts speculating about his residency status and his family.

If others take issue with his residency status, he has a clear message: “Don’t vote for me.”

“Let’s get rid of the Facebook pages,” he said. “Don’t make my wife and kids feel unsafe to ride their bikes or pick up the garbage. That’s not ‘choose Franklin.’ That’s not the best people in Franklin, why I’m so in love with Franklin, that’s not what they  stand for.”