Select Board member Rich Maiore resigned abruptly early Tuesday, April 1, effective immediately. Maiore has served on the board since 2018. 

The owner of a historically significant home in Harvard that is outside the town’s two protected historic districts may tear it down at will. To deter this from happening, the Historical Commission has placed a demolition delay bylaw on the warrant for the May 3 Town Meeting. 

The Devens housing working group heard recommendations this week that the zoning bylaw for Vicksburg Square and other areas within the central Innovation and Technology Center district of Devens be amended to allow construction of several hundred new units of housing.

UMass Memorial Health has chosen a site for the satellite emergency facility it hopes can replace many of the emergency services provided by the Nashoba Valley Medical Center before it closed last August.

Last week’s news that Department of Public Works Director David Smith is resigning after only six months on the job took the town by surprise. But the reason Smith cited for his resignation has uncovered a potentially bigger problem—an allegedly dysfunctional department. 

The state has awarded Harvard a $1,145,000 grant to bring municipal water and sewer to the 8-acre multifamily district at the intersection of Ayer Road and the Route 2 interchange. 

The Devens housing working group is scheduled to hold its third and penultimate meeting April 1, at 2 p.m., in the Vicksburg Conference Room in Devens. The eight-member panel is expected to review draft recommendations for more housing in the Innovation and Technology Center district.

When the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it was cutting the Local Food Access Program, food pantries across the country worried about losing their supply of fresh, local produce, meats, and dairy products. But Loaves & Fishes, the food pantry in Devens is likely emerging unscathed.

A group of firefighters and emergency medical technicians gathered in front of the Harvard Fire Station last Saturday, March 22, for a rare presentation. Five EMTs from Harvard and Ayer were about to receive their stork pins—the award for delivering a baby during an emergency medical call.

Anyone stopping by the General Store for a scone or a cup of coffee recently may have noticed a new sign in the window by the door. The sign reads, “No Firearms Allowed. Violators will be considered trespassing!”

Select Board member Rich Maiore has filed an open meeting law complaint against Chair SusanMary Redinger alleging she failed to follow proper procedure in handling a code of conduct violation he reported in February. 

Department of Public Works Director David Smith is resigning his position effective May 19. In a letter to Town Administrator Dan Nason, Smith cited hostility and harassment by a small group of DPW employees as the reason for his resignation.

Two weeks ago, the U.S. Department of Agriculture notified every state in the country that it was canceling the Local Foods for Schools Program and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program. 

Candidates for elected town boards and committees have been in short supply for the last decade or so, but things are looking up.

It took two sessions of 2024 Annual Town Meeting last year—one in the spring, and another in the fall—to debate and decide 39 articles. But at this year’s Annual Town Meeting, scheduled for Saturday, May 3, voters will be asked to act on 44 items in a single afternoon.

The Select Board voted Tuesday night to reconsider the fiscal 2026 budget it approved just one week ago. The new proposal makes no change to the additional $1.37 million that town departments and the schools say they need to provide the services residents expect. But it does increase the amount included in the first tier of the board’s two-tier tax override by approximately $157,000, with the additional money allocated to the schools.

At Town Meeting May 3, the Planning Board will ask residents to enact a bylaw creating a new zoning district for approximately 89 lots in the heart of Harvard. Adopting a bylaw to create a town center overlay district would make it easier for property owners to renovate, expand, and even change the use of their properties.

In a unanimous vote Tuesday, Feb. 25, the Select Board approved the zero-emission vehicle first policy.

The School Committee’s longtime goal has been to keep the Bromfield School’s 1960s building well maintained and usable as far into the future as possible. Since at least 2015, the building’s heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system has been a major concern. 

The Harvard School District newsletter for March began with a response to the recent federal executive orders aimed at the LGBTQ community.