Filling the gap

Ashland's elder affairs director, Joanne Duffy, will provide day-to-day oversight of the town's Youth and Family Services Department following the departure of director Susan William on July 14, Town Manager John Petrin said. A part-timer will oversee the town's food pantry, in the lower level of the community center, while the town advertises for the position. - Rachel Lebeaux

BABYSITTERS IN TRAINING - Registration is open for a Red Cross Babysitters Training Course, which will be held Aug. 11 at the Bellingham Public Library. The course will teach basic first aid, child and infant safety and accident prevention, how to hold a baby, how to prepare healthy snacks, diaper changing, what to do in an emergency, and more. Participants must be at least 11 years old. The registration fee is $60, and students will receive a babysitter's handbook, a first aid kit, and a Red Cross ID card . For more information, visit bellinghamlibrary.org/PDF/redcrossbabysitting.pdf. - Rachel Lebeaux

MAKING AN EXHIBIT - Sawin Museum curator Glenda Mattes is seeking two volunteers: one to help catalog Dover Historical Society's collections, and another to conceive, organize, set up, and label a new exhibit at the Sawin Museum. These activities are part of the exhibit's October opening, during Old Home Day, a series of daylong festivities that aims to bring the town together. The exhibit will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the museum, and will be accompanied by Hodgson Portable Homes and Hodgson Family memorabilia. Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer should contact Mattes at 508-954-2171 or DoverGGM@comcast.net. - Anna Fiorentino

LATE-BUS SERVICE - The School Committee will continue to look at options for retaining late-bus service in some form this school year. Voters in Franklin turned down a $2.8 million Proposition 2 1/2 override in June, despite officials' warning that it would probably lead to the elimination of bus service for students staying after school for extracurricular activities. School Committee chairman Jeffrey Roy said several members remain committed to bringing back the service and will look at possibly instituting fees or working with the Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority to secure additional vehicles. - Rachel Lebeaux

TAX PAYMENTS COMING DUE - First-quarter real estate and personal property tax bills are due to Town Hall by Friday at 4:30 p.m. Bills were mailed in June, and property owners should call the tax collector's office at 508-429-0602 if they haven't received them. Payments can be mailed to Town Hall, paid online at townofholliston.us, or placed in the drop box on the side of Town Hall. Late payments are subject to a 14 percent interest charge. - Calvin Hennick

COMING ON BOARD - Selectmen and Board of Health members last week appointed resident Paul Wright to fill a vacancy on the health board. Wright is a physician specializing in internal medicine and fills the seat vacated by Richard deMont, who resigned to focus on his School Committee duties. The appointment runs until the town election next May. Selectmen also appointed Carole Nathan to the Marathon Fund Committee, which makes recommendations to selectmen on how the town should spend money it receives each year from the Boston Athletic Association after the Boston Marathon. - Calvin Hennick

CAMPAIGN ENTRY - Medfield native Thomas Roache officially kicked off his campaign for state representative last week with an event at the Zullo Gallery. Roache, an independent, is seeking to unseat Wrentham Republican Richard Ross, who has held the Ninth Norfolk District seat since 2005. Roache, 28, is running on a platform of making the state a more affordable place to live, and says he will not hold another job if elected. Ross owns and operates R.J. Ross Funeral Home in Wrentham.

- Calvin Hennick

BOARD APPOINTMENTS - The Board of Selectmen will appoint community members to town boards and committees tomorrow, at 7 p.m. in Sanford Hall on the second floor of Town Hall. The appointments were delayed from the board's July 14 meeting due to an already full agenda that evening. Prospective appointees are asked to attend. - Rachel Lebeaux

NEW ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL - Milford High School principal John Brucato recently announced Carolyn Banach of Marlborough has been hired as the high school's assistant principal. Banach replaces Patricia Canali, who left July 1 to become principal of Joseph P. Keefe Technical School in Framingham. Banach, who will assume her new role on July 28, has worked over the last 20 years as a school counselor, director of school counseling services, and school administrator at St. Mary's High School in Worcester, Littleton High School, and Weston High School. - Anna Fiorentino

CHANGES IN WATER RATES - Selectmen voted last week on changes that will bump up sewer bills and reduce water bills. The base charge on quarterly sewer bills will increase from $26.04 to $27.34, and usage rates will climb from $3.89 per thousand for the first 25,000 gallons to $4.08. Use beyond 25,000 gallons will increase from $5.58 to $5.86 per thousand gallons. A capital expenses charge on water bills will decrease from $36.62 to $31.19, but the base charge of $16.41 will remain the same, as will the usage rates of $2.58 per thousand gallons up to 25,000 gallons, $4.10 per thousand gallons up to 50,000 gallons, and $6.56 per thousand gallons beyond that. The rates are retroactive to July 1.

- Calvin Hennick

SCHOOL COMMITTEE OPENING - Selectmen and School Committee members are seeking residents interested in filling a vacant slot on the School Committee. Member Rick Wynn resigned this month from the board, leaving the spot to be filled by a joint appointment by the Board of Selectmen and the School Committee. Wynn was appointed to the committee in 2004 and was reelected to three-year terms in 2005 and again this year. -Calvin Hennick

NO SALE - The former Caritas Southwood Hospital failed to sell at auction this month, when bidding didn't reach the owner's lowest acceptable amount. In the bidding at the Four Points Sheraton in Norwood, the high offer of $2 million was rejected by owner Caritas Christi, New England's second-largest healthcare system. The nearly 90-acre property, once known as the Pondville State Hospital, was rezoned in recent years for a senior housing complex, but the development plan fizzled because of environmental contamination at the site. The land occupied by the hospital, which opened its doors in the 1920s and closed in 2003, has been sullied by an oil spill and needs remediation. Norfolk has assessed the Route 1A campus at $15 million. - Michele Morgan Bolton

BOOK SALE AT THE LIBRARY - A small summer book sale sponsored by the Friends of the Plainville Public Library continues until Aug. 22. Children's selections are available tomorrow to Aug. 8; suspense books will be sold from Aug. 11 to 22. Books are available for sale during normal library hours at the circulation desk. Other genres will also be available. For information, call 508-695-1784 or visit plainvillepubliclibrary.org. - Michele Morgan Bolton

NEW POLICE SERGEANT - Selectmen recently appointed David Bento as the town's first new police sergeant in 20 years. At the suggestion of Police Chief Gary Hendron, Bento was promoted after a 19-year stint as patrolman with the Sherborn Police Department. In addition to new management responsibilities, Bento will remain in charge of vehicle enforcement and the DARE anti-drug and alcohol program.

- Anna Fiorentino

NOBLE VISTA REDUX - Selectmen tomorrow will resume talks with Lincoln developer Fred Ruland over his proposed Noble Vista Estates development along the town's southwest border with Northbridge. Ruland first proposed the 55-acre development in 2000, but the project has hit various snags. This year, the town and Ruland came to a tentative agreement, said James Bates, administrative assistant to the Board of Selectmen. However, Bates said, talks were put on hold when another company expressed interest in buying the land. That land sale never materialized. Bates said the subdivision would bring about 150 single-family homes, 25 percent of which would meet state criteria for affordability.

- Calvin Hennick

THE FORCES ARE WITH HIM - State Senator Scott Brown, a Wrentham Republican, has nabbed the endorsement of the Massachusetts Fraternal Order of Police. The group has 16 local lodges in the state, with membership made up of municipal and state police officers, county sheriffs, corrections officers, and members of federal law enforcement agencies. "Scott has been a consistent supporter of law enforcement and public safety initiatives and he has a keen understanding of the work our officers," George DiBlasi, the group's director of governmental affairs, said in a statement. Brown, who was first elected in 2004, is running for reelection against Needham Democrat Sara Orozco, a psychologist and political newcomer, this fall. - Calvin Hennick

DEVELOPMENT GAINS MEDICAL OFFICES - Caritas Norwood Hospital has signed a 10-year lease on a 10,000--square-foot space at 15 Payson Road at Chestnut Green, the mixed-use complex under development at the site of the former Foxborough State Hospital. The facility will be used as medical offices for several doctors, most of who will be moving from the hospital's satellite on Walnut Street, which needs room to expand its cancer treatment services. Construction is expected to be completed by Nov. 1. Hospital officials chose the site for its visibility as part of a complex that includes office space, retail stores, a number of housing units, and the town's public safety building. - Joan Wilder

TALKS AT THE LIBRARY - Boston lawyer and Sherlock Holmes expert Daniel Polvere will speak tomorrow at the Lincoln Public Library about the legend of the literary detective, who has been popular for more than 100 years. Then on Wednesday, JoAnne Deitch, founder of Discovery Enterprises Ltd. and publisher of more than 200 books, will give some pointers on how to get published. The programs are free and begin at 7 p.m. in the library's Tarbell Room.

- John M. Guilfoil

GRADE MERGER IS POSSIBLE - The Sharon School District is considering combining first- and second-graders at least at the Cottage Elementary School. The idea was proposed too late in the last academic year to be implemented this coming year, but is on the agenda for September 2009, said Superintendent Barbara Dunham. Children will be randomly selected to participate unless their parents prefer they do not. Dunham said that experience has shown that there are benefits educationally and socially.

- Franci Richardson Ellement

PAY RAISE - Town Administrator Jean Kitchen's salary was increased to $117,853 from $112,350 for the fiscal year beginning July 1, Town Treasurer Brian Ballantine said. Kitchen, who has worked for Southborough since July 2006, oversees most town departments, not including the schools, and answers directly to the Board of Selectmen. - John Dyer

LIGHTNING LEAVES MARK ON HOUSE - Lightning struck a house at 12 Trafalgar Lane Monday, causing a fire in the roof and attic that took firefighters about two hours to extinguish and secure. "No one was home, and a neighbor heard a bang and saw fire and called us," said Fire Chief Tim Bailey. At about 12:15 a.m., the bolt hit the wood-frame, asphalt-shingled house at the corner of the peak of the roof and blew debris onto the front yard. It also cut an inch-wide, jagged, 10-foot slice into the house extending from the site of the strike. "It was like someone took a knife and sliced down through the house," Bailey said.

- Joan Wilder