Egg hunt indoors: MILFORD – The Milford Recreation Department Easter Egg Hunt this Saturday, April 20 will be held in the town hall auditorium and banquet hall. The weather isn’t promising and the staff made the decision Tuesday to let residents know ahead of time. The event runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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Diminished appeal

MILFORD – Last week selectmen approved a tax abatement for the Nathaniel Hutchinson House on North River Road, next to the Hutchinson Point condominiums.

Town assessor Marti Noel told them that since the house is now on a very small lot with the condos abutting right up to it, and that “takes away the appeal of an older home.” The historic brick house is at the junction of North River and Mont Vernon roads, and the property operated as a dairy between 1935 and 1949.

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Drainage and paving

MILFORD – Selectmen recently OK’d a request from Department of Public Works Director Rick Riendeau to accept a bid for drainage and paving work on South Street, Webster Street and Prospect Street.

The only bid was from SUR Construction West of Winchester, and its $456,000 offer was $13,400 above the estimate. Riendeau told the board the work has to be done – three homeowners are threatening litigation – and he checked with city officials in Keene and Concord who used SUR and had no problems. Selectman Paul Dargie recused himself because he lives in one of the neighborhoods and Selectman Chris Labonte voted no saying he is concerned about the effect on the town’s road paving plans. Riendeau said “it’s all going to be done.”

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Fire chief retiring

MILFORD – Fire Chief John “Jack” Kelly is retiring on Aug. 1, Town Administrator Mark Bender announced with regret at the April 8 selectmen’s meeting. A search for a new chief will start immediately.

Kelly has been with the department for about 37 years and was appointed chief when Chief Frank

Fraitzl retired in 2011.

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Spring cleaning

AMHERST – A town-wide litter cleanup is scheduled for Saturday, May 4, from 8 a.m. to noon. Blue trash bags and gloves will be available at Moulton’s Market, the Amherst Town Library, Town Hall and at the schools over the next couple weeks. People will be clearing roads, parking lots, canoe ports and trails and then bringing the trash to the town dump or to the South Fire Station at 62 Stearns Road, Old Manchester Road where it meets Williamsburg and Route 101, or the Main Street side of the town common.

Parents with children are urged to pick a quiet road or trail.

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New school official

AMHERST – Michele Croteau was recently hired as business administrator for SAU #39, effective July 1.

Croteau, who lives in Weare, previously served as business administrator for the Goffstown, Concord, and Sanborn Regional School Districts, as well as chief financial officer for the Manchester Community Health Center.

Croteau replaces Stephanie Grund who replaced Adam Steel when he assumed the role of superintendent of schools.

SAU 39 includes the Amherst School District, the Souhegan Cooperative School Districts and the Mont Vernon School District.

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Author visit

Convergence of Valor is a Civil War historical novel centered on the pivotal blockade of Charleston and the invention of the H.L. Hunley, the Confederacy’s first submersible. Goncarovs vividly relates the story of the Hunley and the lives of the eight men who undertook the tragic, historic mission. Mr. Goncarovs will be at the Milford Toadstool at 2 p.m. on April 20.

Guntis Goncarovs is also the author of Havana’s Secret, a novel telling the storu of the USS Maine. He and his wife live in Southern New Hampshire.

The event is free and open to the public. Please call the store at 603-673-1734 for more details.