By Steve Landwehr
HAMILTON — Time is running out to memorialize veterans in the walkway around the town's monument to fallen soldiers, sailors and airmen.
Jack Akin, the American Legion chaplain who's been spearheading the brick campaign said 80 of them have been sold so far, but Dec. 31 is the deadline to purchase any more.
"We kind of want to shut down our committee and hand it over to phase three," Akin said.
Cost of the bricks engraved with the veteran's name is $125, which includes perpetual care. The memorial is one of the handsomest around and, as Selectman Jennifer Scuteri said, the bricks "make great Christmas presents."
One good man ... or woman
Consultant Tom Groux has been hired to help in the search for a town manager.
"He'll help us short-list candidates," Dave Carey, chairman of the Board of Selectmen said at Monday night's meeting.
The board hopes to find 50 applicants initially and is forming a committee to assist it in the process. It will be composed of one member each from the planning, personnel and zoning boards, and the government study and school committees.
Two residents, one preferably from the business community, are also being sought to serve. Call the town administrator's office at 978-468-5572 if you're interested.
Pother at the polls?
Some have questioned why the ballot vote on the heating system replacement at Cutler School on Nov. 24 couldn't have been combined with the Senate primary election on Dec. 8.
With apologies to the Bard of Avon, Lord, what fools these mortals be, to seek good sense, in such simplicity.
According to Town Clerk Jane Wetson, the move would be a logistic headache, at the very least.
Voters would have to enter the polling place, check in to vote on the boiler, check out, leave the building and re-enter to check in for Senate vote.
Wetson thinks that's a recipe for confusion, and she's probably right.
Leaf taking
Tomorrow is the last day that leaves will be picked up curbside. They must be out by 7 a.m., in biodegradeable paper bags or trash cans. Leaves only, no brush, branches or grass clippings.
Building a foundation
There will be a holiday fair in the old library from Saturday, Nov. 28, through Sunday, Dec. 6. Various holiday gently used gifts are sought, and proceeds will benefit the Hamilton Foundation.
The foundation was formed to help neighbors in dire straits due to job loss, illness or disability. All the recipients are shielded from identification, and the foundation can offer up to $500 to pay for food or other necessities.
Hours for the fair Monday through Saturday are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
In perpetuity
The selectmen made resident Julie Einhorn's alternate membership on the Planning Board a full share. Really full.
"Now is this a 50- or 75-year term?" Carey quipped.
Actually, it's an interim appointment until June 31.
Water works
OK. This requires a little explanation, but it is interesting.
The state Department of Environmental Protection recently got itself in hot water over an obscure concept known as safe yield. It's defined as the amount of water that can be withdrawn from any water resource without causing irreparable harm.
Now, irreparable harm itself requires definition, but the DEP put a burr under the saddle of a number of environmentalists by defining safe yield as the amount of water that would remain in a year of drought, meaning the Ipswich River, in this case, could be drawn down to that level every year.
The agency was quickly forced to head back upstream, and is now commissioning a panel made up of a number of state agencies and other interested parties to come up with a more acceptable definition.
The town has been in litigation with the state for years over its water withdrawal permit, and has hired engineers and other experts to bolster its case.
One of those is hydrogeologist Jesse Schwalbaum, and town officials would like to make a case to have him appointed to the advisory board.
That might not exactly make him a Trojan horse, but at least Schwalbaum's positions on some of these issues are a known quantity.
Path of the righteous man
Public Works Director John Tomasz updated the board on a lengthy list of municipal projects in various stages of incompletion, but one that has been beset on all sides has a longer history than the others.
In fact, not so long ago it looked like the pedestrian path along Woodbury Street might never be completed at all, but perseverance has prevailed.
"By Thanksgiving, we may have this whole project done," Tomasz said.
Another project has become a bit ironic.
Repairs to the Winthrop Street bridge, damaged in the Mother's Day storm of 2006, are ready to begin but are being delayed by ... high water in the Ipswich River.
The rainy pattern this summer has carried over into the fall and the normal low levels typically associated with fall and early winter have yet to materialize.
