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.

The Select Board voted Tuesday night to offer voters a fiscal layer cake at Town Meeting in May, one that allows voters to choose how much they are willing to increase property taxes to pay for the personnel and expenses that town departments and the schools say are necessary to adequately serve the town in the coming fiscal year.

It’s been a week since the Select Board voted unanimously to censure former chair Don Ludwig for his derogatory posts to the X social media platform and asked him to resign.

Last month Harvard took action against four delinquent property owners, placing liens on their properties for a total of $470,000.

“It’s a lot of articles.” That was Select Board member Kara Minar’s comment when the board completed its review of 35 of the 45 articles in this year’s Annual Town Meeting warrant. The board held off reviewing the 10 articles submitted by the Planning Board and scheduled another meeting for March 11 to discuss those.

The Harvard Select Board voted unanimously Tuesday night to censure former Select Board Chair Don Ludwig and request that he resign his seat on the board immediately. The action was in response to numerous complaints by residents about his posts on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, denigrating women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ community.

Alarmed by this year’s 15% increase to the town’s portion of employee pension contributions, Finance Director Jared Mullane has proposed a warrant article that would create a new stabilization fund to help pay for future increases.

When the Select Board voted two weeks ago to approve a cost-of-living raise for the town’s nonunion employees, the board delayed its decision on merit raises. This week, the board returned to the matter and approved merit raises that could range from zero to 3%.

The organization tasked with facilitating affordable housing in Harvard wants to expand its membership from five to seven members and also allow for an additional two associate members.

Select Board Chair Don Ludwig announced in an email to his colleagues Monday afternoon that he was resigning his chairmanship of the Select Board and suspending his campaign for reelection.

All is going well with the $7.1 million project to connect Harvard’s water supply to the Devens water system. Tighe & Bond engineers said the project is on track to meet the scheduled 2026 completion date within budget. 

MassDevelopment announced this week that interim Executive Vice President of Devens Operations Meg Delorier can now remove the word “interim” from her title.