Holden voters choose school committee representatives
Ken Cleveland
Special to The Landmark
HOLDEN Lauren Salmon-Garrett , Linda Long-Bellil and Asima Silva won the three seats on the Wachusett Regional School District Committee from the six-person field.
Salmon-Garrett tallied 1,176 votes, incumbent Long-Bellil 1,156 votes, and Silva, also an incumbent, 1,026 votes.
Barry Dellecese Jr. tallied 749 votes, Aidan Kearney 717, and George Kaminski 705.
The Board of Selectmen plans to vote May 24 on a person to fill a seat on the school committee opened by a resignation that occurred too late to appear on the ballot.
Anthony Renzoni and Richard Bates won the seats up for election on the Board of Selectmen, with incumbent Renzoni collecting 1,111 votes and Bates 861 votes.
Special to The Landmark
HOLDEN Facing concerns about the budget impact of school costs as they put together the town budget, selectmen ended up passing on a Proposition 2½ override to bring in additional revenue.
At least for this year.
Facing a deficit of about $500,000, selectmen had planned the April 2 meeting to consider putting a Proposition 2½ override question on the town ballot to cover the school costs in excess of the $1 million increase the town had already included in its budget.
“It appears that there has been significant opposition to this year’s proposed school budget, both from public officials and from residents,” Town Manager Peter Lukes said.
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Board delays smart meters, pending policy review
Ken Cleveland
Special to The Landmark
HOLDEN The Holden Municipal Light Department got its $9.56 million capital budget, but it has to hold off on spending $1.6 million to purchase smart meters.
Selectmen Dec. 21 put off that part of the light department plans in order to review policies designed to protect residents.
“I don’t think a lot of constituents know we’re moving to a smart meter program,” Selectman Anthony Renzoni said.
The project would involve the light department as well as the water and sewer plans.
Although a policy had been drafted, “I haven’t had enough time to digest it,” Renzoni said.
Special to The Landmark
HOLDEN “It could have gone the other way,” Kim McLaren said of her son’s experience, when emergency responders saved his life.
“As a parent, I hope you never have to have the experience of seeing your child go blue and in an ambulance not knowing if he was alive or dead.”
McLaren praised the personnel who responded in September when her 3-year-old son Max was choking.
The call came in from the home that little Max was choking, and dispatcher Mike McKiernan sent fire personnel to the home, followed in minutes by the ambulance, Fire Chief Russ Hall said.