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Michelle Cilley honored with dedication of Community Gardens
By Evan Walsh Managing Editor
northborough | 8
MARLBOROUGH – Every year, Meredith Harris parks at Kelleher Field and walks along the Assabet River Rail Trail with her family en route to Marlborough’s Labor Day festivities on Main Street. For the last decade, part of that journey included a treacherous trek down a rocky hill to connect to Lincoln Street. But in the past few years, Harris hasn’t been worried about slipping and falling – quite the opposite, actually. The once-hazardous slope has been reshaped by the Alta French Hill development, something that Harris, as the executive director of the Marlborough Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), helped conceptualize and welcome into the city.
Father-son duo works at Southborough Police Department
southborough | 20 Westborough PD chief recognized for commitment to community engagement
WESTBOROUGH | 26
MEDC | 5
By Evan Walsh Managing Editor SHREWSBURY – Shrewsbury turns 300 in 2027. To celebrate, the town may be getting more trees. Diane Jones, an environmentally conscious Shrewsbury resident, appeared before the Community Preservation Committee in September to ask for funding for an ambitious project to plant dozens of trees to celebrate the town’s “treecentennial.”
Marlborough considering regionalizing dispatch services, leaving current employees concerned
MARLBOROUGH — Marlborough officials are considering joining the Holbrook Regional Emergency Communications Center, and municipal dispatchers are raising concerns about what the move could mean for their jobs. At its meeting on September 14, the City Council voted to send the proposed partnership to the Finance Committee. The Finance Committee subsequently met on September 21 and voted 4-1 to authorize Mayor J. Christian Dumais to enter into an agreement
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with the Town of Holbrook for fire and police dispatch services. In a memo to the City Council, Dumais explained the reasoning behind the proposal, writing that the consideration is based on “providing a stable, fully staffed, advanced, technologically sustainable, and cost-effective dispatch operation.” Dumais described “significant challenges” associated with keeping the city’s dispatch operations running. Over the past 10 years, the city hired 29 dispatchers, Dumais wrote, but only seven remain in those positions. The average length of employment is two years or less, and overtime costs have
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