Wrapping up an intense two-month search, the Select Board voted Monday night, June 24, to offer the position of town administrator to Dan Nason of Holden. The vote was unanimous.

People in Massachusetts have a long history of filling in wetlands—think of the Back Bay, the Fenway, much of South Boston, and Logan Airport. Only recently have people begun trying to preserve and even recreate wetlands.

In 1984, when Harvard closed its old landfill on Depot Road and built a new Transfer Station, there were no state regulations to cap or otherwise officially close landfills in Massachusetts. 

An unsecured door on a truck led to a major collision with an SUV on Poor Farm Road earlier this week.

When, in early 2023, the state published the total amounts that each of the 351 towns in Massachusetts would receive from seven opioid settlements, the numbers for Harvard, as compared with its neighbors, practically jumped off the page.

Just as the school year was ending for Harvard students, the school district’s leadership went through several major changes. 

For anyone hoping that MassDevelopment was ready to rejoin discussions on a town-supported proposal for housing at Vicksburg Square or the future options for the governance of Devens, last week’s meeting of the Devens Jurisdiction Framework Committee would have been a disappointment.

The Harvard Select Board appointed five new committee members on Tuesday to fill vacancies on the Planning Board, Board of Health, Bare Hill Pond Watershed Management Committee, and the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Bare Hill Pond underwent spring cleaning last week when Pristine Waters, a waterfront restoration company, performed suction harvesting in the swimming area at the town beach to remove non-native, invasive weeds. 

Family members, friends, and fellow students began arriving at the field in front of the Bromfield School well before this year’s graduation ceremonies were scheduled to begin. Despite some doubtful forecasts, the weather was bright and sunny with a soft breeze—a perfect temperature for the graduates in their robes.

In recent arguments for and against additional housing at Devens, the voices of those who live there have been largely silent. But last Wednesday, June 5, the five elected members of the Devens Committee took a stand.

The Harvard Select Board has elected new officers for the coming year and moved the spring session of Annual Town Meeting into May.

Who gives a business away? Restaurateur Reza Rahmani of Bar 25 in Ayer is running a contest with the prize being the business lease to his Main Street bar and restaurant.

Jayden Liu, a 2022 graduate of the Bromfield School, drowned early Thursday morning, May 30, while swimming with friends at Bare Hill Pond. He was 19 years old.

More than two dozen nurses and firefighters gathered at the recently refurbished Ayer MBTA station on Monday afternoon, June 3, to urge the Healey administration not to allow Nashoba Valley Medical Center to close.

The May 29 email letter from school administrators to students’ families was titled “Serious Information,” and the letter’s content justified the heading.

As each of the 351 towns in Massachusetts try to figure out how to spend their share of the state’s $946 million in opioid settlement funds, Harvard’s Board of Health is proposing that it take a leadership role in this town’s spending recommendations. 

Longtime Harvard resident Sharon McCarthy, who currently chairs the Board of Health and has served on multiple town boards and committees over the years, will move to Woods Hole in a few weeks.

Both Town Administrator Tim Bragan and Assistant Town Administrator Marie Sobalvarro are scheduled to end their employment with the town June 30. While a search for both positions is underway, neither is likely to be filled by July 1.