After hiring freeze, an early thaw

The Oct. 21 hiring freeze didn't apply to 11 new town employees added to the payroll just a week later. Along with three pipelayers for the water and sewer divisions, whose salaries come from a fund not affected by the freeze, seven new police officers were sworn in and one firefighter reinstated. The appointments were approved prior to the freeze, and are "totally necessary for the quality of life in Brookline," said Selectman Richard Benka. Moreover, even with these add-ons, the Police Department is down by five, soon to be six, officers, he said. Among this year's rookies are Brendan Kelliher, son of Sergeant Paul Kelliher, and Brendan Morgan, son of Captain Mark Morgan. Most of the remainder are residents or were raised in Brookline: Morgan Lee, David Avila, David Hill, and Michael O'Connor. Ryan Lee, a Canton resident with roots in New York, will have some catching up to do.

The six-story 1960s box at 333 Washington St. will see service as a public building again soon. According to project manager Tony Guigli, bureaucrats now working in temporary offices on Boylston Street or other satellite locations will need to have their files back in boxes by early December. "There are a million little details left," he told selectmen last month, "but we are very excited to see this project coming to a close."

Pundits predicted that as soon as she attained the lofty position of selectwoman, Jesse Mermell would run again. Only this time, her goal is truly ambitious: the Boston Marathon. The board's youngest member, at 28, is currently rising at 4:45 a.m. and donning a neon yellow jacket and sneakers to prepare for next spring's race. It would be Mermell's first full marathon - she has completed sprints and two half-marathons, she said. Finishing won't be just a personal milestone - Mermell has committed to raise at least $3,000 for a local charity. As for her next political race, Mermell said she is looking forward to a reelection run in 2010.

Got a news item for Brookline? E-mail Andreae Downs at andreaedowns@yahoo.com.

At the polls on Tuesday, a glitch left 6,400 names - about one-tenth of the city's registered voters - off the voter list that was initially distributed to the polls, according to a statement from Marsha Weinerman, executive director of the Cambridge Election Commission. "We deeply regret the problem that occurred at the polls this morning," she said in the statement. The problem was fixed by 10:30 a.m., but approximately 300 voters had to fill out provisional ballots after being told that their names were missing, according to Ini Tomeu, the city's spokeswoman. All of the ballots were counted Tuesday evening, she said. Cambridge receives a series of disks from the state containing lists of voters, and in a Cambridge-specific human error, one of the disks was not transferred to the polling stations, Tomeu said.

In light of heavy-hitting state budget cuts to the Cambridge Health Alliance, a special meeting was held Thursday so that residents and community stakeholders could provide direct input into the alliance's strategic planning process. The alliance engaged Ernst & Young to develop a strategic plan. The state recently slashed $40 million from the Harvard-affiliated hospital system's expected revenues, as part of a $200 million state budget cut in Medicaid payments to providers. Before the announcement of the budget cuts - which came last month - the alliance was already operating under a deficit and had instituted a hiring freeze in February as well as cutbacks in spending.

A bicycle-sharing program might be in the works for Cambridge. A rental bike system - already in place in European cities such as Paris and US cities such as Washington, D.C., and Portland, Ore. - could potentially put more cyclists on the road and simultaneously decrease automobile traffic. The City Council on Monday asked City Manager Robert Healy to look into any regulations that might impact the feasibility of bringing a bike share program to Cambridge. The council also noted that that for the program to be successful, it must also work in Boston. Other considerations include advertising on public space (bike-share programs usually have sponsors) and the potential obstruction of public ways by bike racks.

Jennifer Schwartz wrote this week's briefs. E-mail Cambridge news items to Victoria Cheng at vcheng@globe.com.

Everyone knows you don't shout "fire" in a crowded theater. What about saying it over the phone? On Tuesday, the city's automated 311 phone alert system accidentally warned its 24,000-plus subscribers about a three-alarm fire - at 3:45 in the morning. According to a statement released by the city, the alert should have gone out only to emergency responders. The fire, at 79 and 81 Walnut St., left six people homeless and is under investigation. The city urged subscribers to stay on the 311 list, especially with snow emergency season approaching. Perhaps for the next fire they'll use an older alert technology: a siren.

According to unofficial results from the city Elections Department, a record 32,815 Somervillians voted Tuesday. Barack Obama won 26,450 of those votes and John McCain 5,197. Despite conventional wisdom, not everyone came out for the historic presidential race - more voters left the president field blank (308) than chose Ralph Nader (295) or Libertarian Bob Barr (200). If you haven't slaked your thirst for political participation, the Charter Advisory Committee will be holding a public hearing at 7 p.m. tomorrow in City Hall.

October was high season for election commentators; in November, artists take over. A few events on Somerville's packed arts calendar: The Vernon Street Studios wrap up its open studios weekend today with 52 artists on hand at 6 and 20 Vernon St. Tomorrow, Oaxacan father-and-son woodcarvers display their dancing chicken sculptures at the Taqueria La Mexicana restaurant. The Nave Gallery's "Kitchen Stories" exhibition of hearth-and-home art ends Saturday. The Joy Street and Brickbottom artist buildings beat Black Friday with their open studios on Nov. 22-23. Learn more at www.artsomerville.org.

Got a news item from Somerville? E-mail Danielle Dreilinger at djdreilinger@comcast.net.