Recycle for Share – MILFORD – SHARE Outreach has been chosen by the Hannaford supermarket in Bedford as the latest beneficiary of the Hannaford Helps Reusable Bag Program. Every time the reusable Fight Hunger bag is purchased during the month of November, SHARE will receive $1. Visit the store, find the reusable bag rack and buy the Fight Hunger bag. This is the store at 4 Jenkins Rd. at the traffic light on Route 101.

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Tombstone blues

MILFORD – Quite a few people on social media are upset that the granite marker at the entrance to town on Route 101A disappeared after the new “Welcome to Milford” signs went up, Wade Scott Campbell, moderator of the Milford Residents Facebook page, told selectmen recently.

Town Administrator Mark Bender told him it is in storage, and selectmen have not yet discussed its fate.

The Milford Improvement Team replaced the granite slab – sometimes called “the tombstone,” because it is roughly shaped like a grave marker – with new, larger signs at the town entrances.

“It’s an historical marker and was there 70 years,” said Campbell, who also is a member of the town budget committee and town festivities committee.

That was at the board’s Oct. 22 meeting. At its Oct. 29 Fifth Monday Forum, Chris Labonte, also on the budget committee, asked the same question. Chairman Kevin Federico said again no decision has been made, but the granite marker is intact, and “we’ll figure it out.”

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Prioritizing projects

MILFORD – Osgood Pond dredging, pool renovations and a DPW truck are high on the list of capital improvements for the draft 2019 town warrant.

Lincoln Daley, Milford community development director, went over the town’s capital improvement plan recently with selectmen.

Number 1 on the ranked list is the replacement of a 2000 truck costing $180,000. Second is the replacement of a 50-year-old pump motor and chlorinator for the Keyes Memorial Pool, plus sandblasting and painting the pool. Number 3 is the replacement of the town hall HVAC system, and four is the second and final phase of Osgood Pond dredging, with Milford’s share to be half the $350,000 cost.

The total impact of capital expenditures for 2019 would be about $586,000.

There also are capital projects for the water-wastewater department that only effect rate payers.

To get on the CIP list a project needs to cost least $75,000 and have a useful life of at least five years.

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Ceiling fire at school

MILFORD – A small ceiling fire in Milford High School Oct. 30 quickly was extinguished.

Milford Fire Chief Jack Kelly said maintenance workers had noticed an odor and pulled the lever on the nearest fire box at about 5:12 p.m. and firefighters arrived and knocked down the blaze within seven minutes. It was contained between roof joists and not substantial enough to set off the building’s sprinkler system. Kelly said the fire is being investigated, but the cause appears to be electrical.

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2018 tax rate up

LYNDEBOROUGH – The 2018 tax rate has been set at $28.21 per $1,000 valuation, a rise of 57 cents over last year, $27.74.

The breakdown of the rate is municipal $9.02 (up from $8.60); county $1.30 (up 1 cent); local education (schools) $15.63 (up from $15.50) and state education $2.26 (down from 2.33).

Officials cite less revenue as a cause of increases, and, in the schools, a drop of state and federal funding.