FRIDAY 8AM-12 NOON

on Oct. 17^th from 5-9 PM and Oct. 18^th from 10 AM – 9 PM,

if you are a member of SOLF, you will

get 20% off your purchases

by showing your membership card.

If you are not a member,

become one or

make a $10 donation to SOLF

and get 20% off your purchases.

On Oct. 13^{th ,} we will have a booth at

Heritage Day on St. Mark's field.

Come see a large map of

where our properties are located or

see some of the news about us, past and present.

Buy an all cotton, SOLF T-shirt for $10

while supplies last.

Sunday October 12, 2008

3:00 - 4:30 PM Commemorating the Lost Souls of Southborough

Location: Old Burying Ground St. Marks and Commons Streets

Information: www.southboroughhistory.org

Sponsor: The Southborough Historical Society

Selectmen were kept busy last night with appointments to several committees and approving merit pay increases. The pay increases approved were to David Maida, Communications Officer, Jonathan Cornett, Communication Officer, Cindi Krawczyk, Administrative Secretary, Facilities and Maureen Colleary, Executive Secretary to the BOS. The MBTA Triangle committee gained a new member with long time Cordaville and an original member of the committee Susan Day Witzell. Donn Pushor was appointed to the Southborough Emergency Planning and Management Committee. Resignations were accepted from Dale Burgess from the Southborough Youth and Family Services and Catherine Weber from the Southborough Cultural Arts Council. Also approved was a contract to replace carpet at the Southborough Senior Center.

The Zoning Advisory Committee had two very qualified candidates. The Board of Selectmen had asked the Planning Board for their recommendation of the Candidate they wanted on the ZAC. The Selectmen had asked if there could be ten appointments to the committee rather than the nine presently appointed but the Planning Board held steadfast that it remain at the nine member committee. Kathleen Bartolini was appointed to the ZAC but the Selectmen encouraged the other candidate to apply for positions open on several other boards including the Southborough Housing Opportunity Partnership Committee and the Open Space Preservation Committee. The Board of Selectmen also approved the vendor Community Opportunity Group to conduct a comprehensive review of the Master Plan. COG was chosen as they were aware of the Master Plan and have a working knowledge of Southborough and the work that has been going into the Master plan.

Fire Chief John Mauro asked the Board of Selectmen to sign off on two grants for the fire department. One is be for the continued SAFE (Student Awareness of Fire Education) grant and the other was for replacement of aging fire equipment. The first grant requires no new equipment and will augment supplies, materials and cost of off duty personnel associated with the project to administer the program. The second grant will be replacement of a nozzle that currently requires four people to set up. The new nozzle for a ground gun will require just two people to set up.

The Fire Chief also requested that the Board of Selectmen consider sending a letter to the Zoning Board of Appeals. Several projects are in the works with some buildings four stories and possibly higher that the ZBA and the Southborough Fire Department would like to be able to negotiate for mitigation purposes monies toward the purchase of a replacement for the town’s aerial ladder truck. The truck was recently declared ineligible for service and the town is permanently without a ladder truck at the current time. With two private schools housing students, large homes and business complexes within town Chief Mauro said it is imperative to get the ladder replaced as soon as possible. With the economic crisis looming over the federal, state and local governments the selectmen did not give a likely chance to a warrant article passing at the town meeting. To replace the truck the estimated cost is $900,000. The Selectmen gave their go ahead to have mitigation talks come up for a replacement to the ladder truck. However, they will state in their letter that in no way does it endorse or put pressure on the ZBA for acceptance of a project. If the ZBA approves a project, then it may start negations relative to assisting with replacement of the ladder truck.

In other business, Fay School presented their next installment of plans to expand their campus. A new Pre-K and primary building will be housed behind the existing Goodnow structure on Middle Road. The building will carry on the architectural features of the Goodnow farmhouse of that era. Part of the building will be built in the design of an 1800’s barn with copula. A parking lot will be screened in with plantings of trees and shrubs. Lighting will be similar to what is on campus now and be facing down so as not to be obtrusive to neighbors on Middle Road. Construction is likely to start in spring of 2009 and be completed by the opening of school in 2010. It will house Pre-k, grades one and two. These will be day students not boarders. Residents in attendance wanted to make sure that the traffic pattern is changed from the summer program. Ms Maquire would like to see the drive lane exiting be moved a bit north of her driveway across the street. They have had trouble in the past with people driving on their lawn as they exit and nighttime lights from the cars directly into the house. Fay school will be holding further meetings with the neighbors and has a Conservation Commission and a Planning Board meeting coming up soon.

October 8, 2008 - The Southborough Recreation Committee picked up a new member with the Board of Selectmen’s appointment of resident Joseph Laning He will step into the vacancy left by Ann Marie Angus who recently resigned from the committee after serving for many years. Mr. Laning has had children go through the various recreation programs that Southborough has offered over the years and he would like to give back to the town as a volunteer on the committee. In other Recreation business brought before the Board of Selectmen, Recreation Director Doreen Ferguson went over the new policy of fee structuring for the local and out of town participating sports groups and the field schedule policy.  Discussion centered on in town programs vs out of town, out of town with Southborough residents, private schools in town and the Algonquin Regional School.  Mr. Boland stated if out of town groups are looking to our fields then they probably can't afford the fields in their hometown and advised Ms Ferguson to research what other towns are charging sports groups using town fields.  The BOS also questioned the practice of private groups coming into town to do Southborough Recreation programs and if the fee the town charges reflects the wear and tear of the fields, recreational department expenses and continues to provide a good program to the participant at the lowest cost possible.  They did not want to see for instance a professional soccer vendor coming to town profiting on participants and field use without some payback to the town.  Director Ferguson assured the Selectmen that before a vendor is hired the costs associated with the program are all taken into account.  Mrs. Phaneuf asked if there was a policy in place on how to select programs or how a person or organization would approach the Recreation department to initiate a program.  She would like to see a more specific policy toward developing programs offered by Recreation.  Currently the director replied that residents with an idea for a program come before the committee.  They have rarely had duplication of programs that have come before them and that they try to have programs that serve the entire community.

For general information on the Southborough Recreation Department and Heritage Day events click here.

For the Southborough Recreation Fall and Winter Programs click here

For the Southborough Heritage Day Road Race Registration click here.

Bring your equipment to your soccer game on Oct. 18^th and we’ll have drop off bins available at Choate (Woodward), Lundblad, Kallander,
9-11 and Trottier. Or the drop off at the SOS Sports Equipment Sale at Woodward School on the 18^th.