Joan Eliyesil

Just making it through the act of voting support for and choosing who would read each of the 44 articles of the Annual Town Meeting warrant made Select Board members groan at their April 15 meeting. Faced with the reality that Town Meeting attendees will likely pack up and go home as the hour gets late and Planning Board members are deep into explaining complex ideas such as overlay districts and form-based code, the board came up with a contingency plan.

Approximately 25 Depot Road residents turned out at the Water Commission's April 9 meeting to voice their outrage over a possible $25,000 betterment fee, a fee that is typically charged when a public project increases the value of specific properties. The betterment in question would be provided by access to public water from the pipes that were installed along the length of Depot Road as part of the $7.1 million project to connect Harvard's municipal water supply to the Devens water system.

The Park and Recreation Commission voted to sign the purchase and sale agreement for a 6-acre parcel of land at 57 Old Mill Road to construct a multipurpose athletic field. On May 3, Town Meeting will vote on using $440,000 of Capital Planning and Investment Committee funds to purchase the land, a portion of a property owned by Timothy and Sarah Arnold. The agreement is contingent upon Town Meeting vote; a negative vote would void it.

On Tuesday, May 6, Harvard voters will elect six residents to serve three-year terms on four town boards and will vote on three override questions that will decide the fate of two permanent property tax increases. The election will be held in the gymnasium of the Hildreth Elementary School, 27 Mass. Ave., from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The personnel difficulties at the Department of Public Works that reportedly caused David Smith to resign as director after only six months on the job have put a hold on hiring a new full-time director. According to Town Administrator Dan Nason, the town is looking for an interim DPW director to help manage day-to-day operations in the department for the next three to six months. A consulting firm is helping with the search.

In early May, the Harvard Board of Health received a report of a water quality test on a private well with levels of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) more than 20 times the state's maximum contaminant level. The well is located in the area of Warren Avenue where it intersects with the beginning of Tahanto Trail. Tests conducted by the Nashoba Associated Boards of Health confirmed the high levels.

Allyson Mitchell, who has been the town's assistant town administrator and human resources director since last August, has resigned. Her last day will be June 20.

The only public transportation in town, MART, (Montachusett Regional Transit Authority), has expanded its services. Harvard residents can now get rides to Emerson Hospital and nearby Baker Avenue medical offices and are also eligible for MART Connects, which provides rides to and from any location in a 20-mile radius in the towns of Bolton, Boxborough, Littleton, and Stow.

Manganese. Arsenic. Dioxane. In all, eight substances, including PFAS, were found in the groundwater around the old landfill at levels that exceed various state and federal drinking water standards.