Gov. Maura Healey traveled to Ayer Town Hall Tuesday morning to attend a meeting of the group tasked by her administration with rebuilding the emergency services and regional health care system disrupted by Steward Health Care.

Passage of Ballot Question 2 would end the current requirement that a student must pass the 10th-grade Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) to graduate from high school. If Question 2 is defeated, the requirement will stay in place.

Question 5 on the Massachusetts state ballot asks voters to decide if the minimum wage for tipped employees should be raised from $6.75 per hour to the state’s minimum hourly wage over a five-year period.

For the past five years, the town has had two sessions of Town Meeting—one in the spring and one in the fall. At the Oct. 15 Select Board meeting, Town Administrator Dan Nason proposed returning to a spring session only, with a Special Town Meeting in the fall if needed.

Department of Public Works Director Tim Kilhart is leaving Harvard Nov. 1, but he had two final capital requests for fiscal 2026 and some good news to share with the Capital Planning and Investment Committee at its Oct. 17 meeting.

The stakeholder committee convened five years ago to study options for the future governance of Devens has received a $300,000 grant from the state to support its work, thanks to an application filed on behalf of the committee in June by the town of Ayer.

Harvard’s forests are home to an abundance of wildlife, and its sprawling nature trails welcome avid hikers. But as the cool autumn weather draws out animals in search of food before winter, the season also brings out the town’s hunters.

Sitework has begun for the construction of 12 duplexes on Old Mill Road, which when complete will consist of 24 two- and three-bedroom units. Building will start soon, according to the developer of the 11-acre parcel.

The algae bloom that began in late August is officially over, according to the results of the Board of Health’s water samples collected Sept. 26 and Oct. 1. Swimming is once again safe in Bare Hill Pond.

With inflation gradually declining, the Personnel Board voted unanimously last week to recommend a cost-of-living increase of 3.19% for the town’s nonunion employees in fiscal 2026. 

The Healey-Driscoll administration has opened a $15 million grant program for communities that are certified as compliant with the MBTA Communities Act, and Harvard is eligible.

Some Harvard residents may cringe at the thought of crowds and lines, so the office of the town clerk is inviting those folks (along with other early birds) to cast their votes for the 2024 general election, in person and early.

The Select Board voted unanimously at its Oct. 15 meeting to approve using most of the town’s remaining American Rescue Plan Act funds to buy a pickup truck for the Department of Public Works director and to pay for final design work on the Ayer Road project.

The Water Commission is struggling to find the cheapest way to provide a state-required restroom in the small pump station that will be built as part of the Devens water connection project.

What happens when only listeners attend a listening session? Such was the case Oct. 7 at the Board of Health’s first community listening session, intended to gather residents’ feedback on the use of the town’s opioid settlement funds.

It’s capital request season in Harvard, and first up at the Capital Planning and Investment Committee meeting Oct. 3 was Police Chief James Babu.

The Harvard Lions Club announced Monday it is joining with the Harvard schools, churches, and local businesses to gather much-needed supplies and truck them first to a Massachusetts collection site and then to Asheville, North Carolina, an area devastated by Hurricane Helene.

The first step to connect the town’s public water system to the Devens public water supply was completed Oct. 8. Contractors connected the first section of the new water main that will eventually run the full length of Depot Road to the existing water main that runs along Ayer Road.

MassDevelopment’s chief financial officer Simon Gerlin reported last week that while Devens will continue to operate at a loss in fiscal 2025, the finances of the 33-year old redevelopment project are healthy.

The Healey-Driscoll administration announced the membership of the Nashoba Valley working group Tuesday, but aside from Harvard’s state senator and state representative, the town has no official representation.