Eldridge to chair water panel

PLANNING FOR ENERGY SAVINGS - Johnson Controls Inc. has been preparing to conduct an energy audit of municipal facilities, among them, Town Hall and the Fire and Police departments. Under the terms of a $22,500 agreement with town officials, staffers in the Milwaukee-based company’s office in Lynnfield will complete plans by mid-February, and will begin implementing cost-savings measures three months later. -Davis Bushnell

FREE FAMILY SWIM - The town’s Department of Youth & Family Services is offering residents a free family swim event at the Bedford Plaza Hotel, 340 Great Road, next Sunday from noon to 2 p.m. Space is limited and entry will be permitted on a first-come, first-served basis. All participants under 18 must be supervised by an adult. This event is part of the Bedford Unplugged initiative, which encourages families to enjoy recreational activities together. Contact the department at 781-275-7727 with questions. - Nancy Shohet West

SHIFT FOR STUDENTS APPROVED - Residents overwhelmingly approved a plan that would move the sixth-grade students from the Berlin Memorial School to a regional school in Boylston. Town Meeting approved the plan by a vote of 90-24 Monday night. The Berlin-Boylston Regional School District is planning to build a new middle school and high school complex on the site of Tahanto Regional High in Boylston. Boylston residents have already approved the plan. Berlin officials plan to go before residents in the spring seeking funds for the construction project. - Jennifer Fenn Lefferts

DELAY IN FLU VACCINE - Local health officials are advising residents to seek H1NI vaccines from a doctor or other sources, since the town is still uncertain when it will receive vaccines from the state, according to an announcement on the municipal website, www.townofbolton.com. The Board of Health is coordinating with town departments to schedule a clinic where the vaccine will be dispensed to residents, once the town’s supply arrives. - Matt Gunderson

NO APPETITE FOR MEALS TAX - Residents at Town Meeting on Monday night rejected a plan to adopt a 0.75 percent local-option meals tax by a vote of 86 to 79. Residents, however, did approve increasing the room occupancy tax for hotels from 4 percent to 6 percent. The change is expected to generate an additional $36,500 for the town this fiscal year. The new tax will take effect in January. Residents at the Town Meeting also voted to place a conservation and historic preservation restriction on the town-owned Steele Farm property. - Jennifer Fenn Lefferts

AFFORDABLE HOUSING PANEL - Town officials are searching for new volunteers to serve on the Affordable Housing Committee, which oversees the creation of affordable housing in town. Interested residents can fill out the Volunteer to Serve form, available at Town Hall and on the municipal website, www.boylston-ma.gov, and return it to the selectmen’s office. - Matt Gunderson

SCHOOL CHIEF RESIGNING - The local district’s superintendent, Marie Doyle, tendered her resignation to the School Committee last week just before the panel voted to restructure the kindergarten-through-Grade 8 system’s administration. The board’s 4-1 vote created a combined superintendent and principal position that a consultant has estimated will save $169,000 per year. Doyle’s resignation is effective June 30. In her sixth year as superintendent, Doyle stated in a letter that she read aloud at the meeting that “it is time to pursue other opportunities that will challenge me to stretch my mind and spirit in new ways.’’ - Nancy Shohet West

EMERSON’S TREE OF LIGHTS - The Emerson Hospital Auxiliary will hold its annual Tree of Lights ceremony at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 8. The public is invited to join Emerson staff and patients for a brief program in the North Assembly Room at the hospital, followed by the tree lighting in front of the White House. Hundreds of tiny white lights, each representing a donation to Emerson in honor of a family member or friend, will illuminate the tree throughout the holiday season. A list of donors and honorees will be displayed in the hospital lobby. All donations made to the Tree of Lights will benefit the Emerson Hospital Auxiliary. For information on donating a light for the ceremony, please contact Denise Haartz at 978-371-7211. A light on the tree with acknowledgement is $10; a light on the star with acknowledgement is $25. All donations should be made by Dec. 15. - Jennifer Fenn Lefferts

TAKING SUPERINTENDENT APPLICATIONS - The Groton-Dunstable Regional School District is seeking a replacement for Superintendent Alan D. Genovese, who plans to retire in June. The district has already received more than 20 inquiries, with many more expected, officials said. The district is forming a screening committee to pare the applicants for Genovese’s job to a list of roughly five. Anyone interested in a position on the screening committee should contact Erik Dichter at erik.dichter@hotmail.com by Dec. 9. - John M. Guilfoil

HUNTING REGULATIONS - The town has posted a set of rules and regulations for hunters on its website, www.townofgroton.org. Unless posted otherwise, hunting and fishing is allowed in conservation areas owned by the town and managed by the Conservation Commission, in season with a license and under all regulations, beginning a half hour after sunrise and ending a half hour after sunset. There is no hunting on Sundays, by state law. - John M. Guilfoil

HELP WITH HEATING BILLS - The town’s Energy Assistance Team is accepting applications through March 1 from low-income residents wanting help in paying their heating bills. Contact Ginger Quarles, director of the Council on Aging, at 978-456-4120 about income eligibility and particulars of the program, which is supported by donations. Financial assistance is provided on a rolling basis. - Davis Bushnell

TAXES APPROVED - Town Meeting voters last week passed a new local-option tax on restaurant meals, adding 0.75 percent to the state’s 6.25 percent levy, and increased the tax on hotel rooms, pushing it from 4 percent to 6 percent. The taxes are expected to bring in about $85,000 this fiscal year and about $170,000 during the 2011 fiscal year, which begins July 1. - Calvin Hennick

SCHOOLS COLLABORATE - Lincoln may already be part of one regionalized school district, but an agreement among four school superintendents may help launch new multidistrict initiatives. At a recent School Committee meeting, a formalized agreement was announced, bringing together the superintendents of the Sudbury, Lincoln, Lincoln-Sudbury, and Wayland school districts. The G4, as the group is known, will also include one School Committee member from each district. The G4 will focus on methods to save money and share resources among the member districts. - Adam J.V. Sell

ASSESSMENTS CERTIFIED - The state Department of Revenue recently notified the Board of Assessors that has given preliminary certification to the town’s real estate and personal property valuations for this fiscal year. The assessments led to residential values being lowered, commercial values staying level and industrial class values increasing for this year. More information on the rates can be found on the town’s website, www.littletonma.org, at the assessors’ office in the Municipal Building at 37 Shattuck St., or at the Reuben Hoar Library. The Board of Selectmen will hold a tax-rate classification hearing Dec. 7 at 7:30 p.m. during its regularly scheduled meeting. - Nancy Shohet West

TAX RATES ON AGENDA - The City Council is slated to set this year’s tax rate for residential and commercial properties on Dec. 21. It could vote to change the split between residential and commercial property tax rates. Last year, businesses paid 150 percent of what they would pay under a single tax rate, shifting some of the tax burden from residents. State law allows taxing businesses at up to 175 percent of what they would pay under a single rate. - Calvin Hennick

SEEKING TOWN ADMINISTRATOR - Selectmen will appoint a nine-member search committee Tuesday to find a new town administrator, with John Curran leaving the post to serve as town manager for Billerica. Cathy O’Dea, Maynard’s assistant town administrator, said she has no interest in the position but may serve in an interim capacity if asked. - Calvin Hennick

THANKSGIVING TODAY - The Northborough Interfaith Clergy Association is hosting its annual Thanksgiving service today at 4:30 p.m. at the St. Rose of Lima Parish, 244 West Main St. The event gives people of different faiths an opportunity to share a Thanksgiving blessing. A 45-minute service, featuring guest speaker Ernie Rivard, the pastoral assistant at St. Rose of Lima, will be followed by refreshments in the church hall. Rivard will speak on “Hearts United in Gratitude through a Generous God.’’ The group, which meets monthly, has representatives from the Church of the Nativity, First Parish Unitarian-Universalist, St. Bernadette’s, St. Rose of Lima, Trinity Church of Northborough, Congregation B’nai Shalom in Westborough, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Marlborough. - Jennifer Roach

REVERSE 911 - The town has implemented a Reverse 911 system to alert residents in case of emergency. Local public safety personnel can identify the affected area and send out a recorded message that describes the situation and recommends protective actions residents should take. The Reverse 911 system will automatically call telephone numbers within a designated area and deliver the message. Visit www.town.pepperell.ma.us to register contact telephone numbers. - John M. Guilfoil

HEATING AID - The town’s Council on Aging is coordinating financial assistance for low- to moderate-income senior residents in need of help paying for heating fuel this winter. Organized in conjunction with the South Middlesex Opportunity Council, a nonprofit organization advocating for low-income and disadvantaged individuals throughout the region, the federally funded program subsidizes electricity, gas, oil, and propane heating. Sharon Yager, director of the Council on Aging, said Shrewsbury’s program experienced a spike in participation last winter, with approximately 80 new applicants registering with Walter Rice, the council’s outreach coordinator. With the application process having started for this winter, Yager said, only about half of last year’s first-time participants have filed for continued aid. “One message we really want to get out there is that this is not automatic,’’ Yager said of the requirement to register every year that help is needed. The council hopes to avoid emergencies when temperatures drop. “A lot of folks misunderstand that, and there’s always a few folks who come in with a crisis situation and say they’re out of oil,’’ Yager said. For a consultation, call Rice at 508-841-8647. - James O’Brien

NEW POLICE CHIEF - Interim Police Chief Jane Moran was unanimously voted in as the town’s permanent replacement for William Webber, who died last year. Moran beat out dozens of candidates over an extensive six-month search process. The Board of Selectmen conducted a final round of interviews Monday night with the four finalists - Moran, Westfield Police Lieutenant Hipolito Nunez, Holden Police Lieutenant David Armstrong, and Framingham Police Lieutenant Paul Shastany - and announced their recommendations at Tuesday’s meeting. The search process included not only a town appointed Citizen Police Search Committee but also an outside evaluation by consulting firm BadgeQuest. Moran’s appointment is official pending credit and background checks, completion of physical and psychological exams, and successful contract negotiations. - Jennifer Roach

LAND LAWSUIT OVER - Marilyn Kunelius says she plans no additional legal action after a federal court tossed out her recent appeal against the town and the Trust for Public Land regarding her property on Red Acre Road. The legal saga started in 2005, when Kunelius alleged the Trust for Public Land, a regional nonprofit conservation group, wrongfully breached a contract to purchase her farmland. Earlier this month, a federal judge dismissed her appeal of a federal court decision to dismiss her charges against the organization. The Trust for Public Land had to back out on the $1.1 million land deal after a fund-raising campaign to pay for it fell short of its goal. - Matt Gunderson

SCHOOL REDISTRICTING - A recently released report on enrollment figures and projections for the town’s schools discusses the possibility for redistricting. The presentation is preliminary and includes no recommendations, but it shows the four elementary schools growing farther apart in population. Among the considerations for a redistricting are long-term stability for the schools, that new boundaries are based on geography, and that it involve the fewest possible transfers in students and staff. - Adam J.V. Sell

HOSPITAL CLOSING EARLY - An earlier deadline for the closure of the Westborough State Hospital has been announced by the state, which now plans to shut down the facility by April. Last summer, the Department of Mental Health said it wanted to have all patients transferred from the facility by June 30 - a significant jump from its initial 2012 closure date - in light of the state’s escalating fiscal challenges. The new deadline is in response to the department’s projected $13 million budget deficit for the current fiscal year. The earlier closure means the state has less time to find temporary housing for hospital residents as they wait for the new Worcester State Hospital site to be completed, estimated to be 2012. The town recently asked the state to add a third Westborough representative to the special commission responsible for determining what will be done with the land once the site closes, Town Manager Jim Malloy said. Though the town has no initial proposals, Malloy said, there is potential at the site for municipal wells or groundwater discharge for the town’s waste-water treatment plant, as well as new athletic fields. - Jennifer Roach

RELATIONS WITH IRAN - “Iran (is not the problem),’’ a documentary that examines how well the American news media provides accurate information regarding relations between the United States and Iran, will be shown Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Ashland Public Library on Front Street. The free screening, part of the library’s documentary film series, will be followed by a discussion. For more information, visit www.friendsoftheapl.com or www.iranisnottheproblem.org. - Rachel Lebeaux

JFK CEREMONY TODAY - It was 46 years ago today that President Kennedy was shot in Dallas. To mark the anniversary, Kennedy’s birthplace at 83 Beals St. is open today from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with a ceremony planned for noon. Also, the National Historic Site’s staff hopes anyone who attended a memorial service there on Nov. 25, 1963, will share their memories. The house museum officially closed for the winter on Nov. 1. For information about the property, visit www.nps.gov/jofi. - Andreae Downs

EPA GRANT - Recent Wellesley College graduate Catlin Powers was awarded a $10,000 Environmental Protection Agency grant to continue her work with the One Earth Designs company she cofounded. The award was given for her work on the SolSource 3-in-1, which uses solar energy for cooking, power generation, and heat. The award was presented through the EPA’s P3 Awards, for students focusing on “people, prosperity, and the planet,’’ according to Wellesley College. The award is not the first for Powers this year - she also won the St. Andrews Prize for the Environment, worth $75,000. - Adam J.V. Sell