Back row (left to right): Tyler Fruneaux, Thomas Barnes, Brendan Loftus, Ibrahim Ayub; Front row: Nicole Perreault and Jacqueline Cole. Not pictured: Kevin Strickland. (Contributed photo)

Last week Southborough awarded its annual town scholarships to seven outstanding members of the class of 2010 in a ceremony at the Community House. Here’s a list of award winners.

Southborough Town Scholarships ($1,000)

• Ibrahim Ayb (University of Pennsylvania)
• Thomas Barnes (University of Massachusetts – Amherst)
• Jacqueline Cole (University of Massachusetts – Amherst)
• Tyler Fruneaux (Lafayette College)
• Kevin Strickland (University of Notre Dame)

Carroll M. Harris Memorial Scholarship ($1,000)

• Nicole Perreault (Boston College)

William J. Bertonazzi Memorial Scholarship ($1,500)

• Brendan Loftus (Dartmouth College)

The last piece of trim has been painted. The last nail hammered in place. And now the home at 209 Parkerville Road is ready for a new family to move in.

For the past year, students from Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School have been working with the town to completely gut and renovate the 1,200-square-foot Cape across from Finn School. The home was purchased by the town in 2008 with the aim of fixing it up and offering it as an affordable home.

Applications are now being accepted for the lottery. To qualify, applicants need to be first-time home buyers with a household income of no more than $66,150 (for a family of four) and assets totaling no more than $75K. The sale price of the home is capped at $189K. Preference will be given to families who already live in town, or who work in or for the town.

You can find a lottery application on the town website. There will also be a public information session on Thursday, June 17 at 7:00 pm in the Town House Hearing Room. The application deadline in July 9.

Related stories:
Affordable house on Parkerville nears completion
Assabet students renovate affordable home in Southborough

If you own a dog in Southborough and it’s more than six months old, you need to get a license for it each year. A license costs $12 for dogs that are not spayed or neutered, and $8 for dogs that are. If your dog is new to Southborough, you’ll need to provide a copy of the vet certificate showing that your dog has been spayed or neutered. Payment is by cash or check only.

To get a license, stop by the Town Clerk’s office at the Town House. You can also apply by mail. Either way you’ll need to provide a record of your dog’s most-recent rabies vaccination.

After June 1, a $10 late fee — plus penalties — will be charged for each not not licensed.

For more information, visit the Town Clerk’s website.

(Photo posted on flickr by Astig!!)

The main hall at the Senior Center is slated for a remodel later this summer. At their meeting last week, selectmen unanimously approved $56K in bids to install new folding wall panels, a new drop ceiling, and three air conditioning units in the large room at Cordaville Hall.

The money is part of $133K allocated at town meeting this year for capital improvements to Cordaville Hall and the Town House. The money was originally set aside at town meeting in 2006, but wasn’t spent.

The main hall at Cordaville Hall — a building that once served as a church — is a large room with a cathedral ceiling. The plan to reconfigure it includes installing folding wall panels so the space can be split into as many as three smaller spaces. A drop ceiling will cover the existing cathedral ceiling to help dampen noise.

“I assume we’ve addressed the aesthetic issue?” Selectman John Rooney asked when the board was discussing the bid for the drop ceiling.

“It’s a space issue,” Senior Center Director Pamela LeFrancois told selectmen. “We’re trying to make more activity space. With that big room, can only do one activity at a time because of the sound. I wish we didn’t have to ruin the ceiling, but it was the only way to do it.”

Facilities Manager Phil Rinehart said lowering the ceiling would also cut down on heating and cooling costs in the room.

Rinehart told the Metrowest Daily News work on the Senior Center will begin sometime after July.

In other business, selectmen unanimously approved $11K to upgrade the boiler controls at the Town House.

Cabinets being hung at 209 Parkerville Road

Cardboard covers the floor of the modest Cape at 209 Parkerville Road. Tools line the walls. Sawhorses are scattered throughout the room. The buzz of a table saw competes with the sound of hammering.

It’s a scene Town Planner Vera Kolias surveys with obvious pride.

Kolias, whose last day as town planner is today, was one of the driving forces behind 209 Parkerville Road — a house purchased by the town and completely renovated by students from Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School. The house will soon be put on the market as an affordable home.

“I love brick and mortar projects,” Kolias said. “Plans are great, but here you’re actually building something.”

Kolias said work on the house should wrap up by the end of April. When she toured me through the house earlier this month, kitchen cabinets were being installed, tile was getting grout, and trim was being touched up. Left on the to-do list was painting the interior and exterior and installing carpet and vinyl flooring.

A unique partnership
The house, which was purchased by the town’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund in the summer of 2008, was stripped down to its studs by the Assabet students. “They essentially built a new house,” Kolias said.

The town bought the house for $180K in the summer of 2008 using funds collected through the Community Preservation Act. Kolias said $69K of CPA money has been spent on the renovation so far, with a bit more anticipated for finishing touches like carpet. All of the labor performed by Assabet students was free.

Kolias said the project has been a success in large part due to the partnership with Assabet. “We’ve been able to do so much more work than we would have otherwise,” Kolias said. “Technical schools are a resource many towns don’t think of using, but they’re a resource that can make a project like this happen.”

Filling an affordable niche
Maureen O’Hagan of MCO Housing Services, a private company that handles lottery services for affordable homes, said she expects the home will be priced around $190K.

Kolias said the home will fill a niche in Southborough. “There are no homes on the market for that price, even in this recession,” she said.

O’Hagan said the final sale price and specific home-buyer criteria have to be approved by the state as part of their affordable housing program. Once the state gives its approval, the house will go on the market for 60 days. O’Hagan hopes that will happen this summer.

To qualify for the lottery, applicants need to be first-time home buyers with a household income of no more than $66,150 and assets totaling no more than $75K. O’Hagan said she also hopes the state will approve a local preference criteria to give priority to families who already live in town, or who work in or for the town.

“It feels good to fix up a house that a family will actually live in,” Kolias said. “It’s just a really cool project.”

Here are some photos from my visit to the site earlier this month. Click on any of the thumbnails below to enlarge and view as a slideshow. You can see photos of what the house looked like back in the fall here.

 

Southborough Youth and Family Services, which provides counseling, youth activities, education, and preventive and community programs to the residents of Southborough, faces steep budget cuts this year. To help support SYFS, the Friends of the Southborough Youth Commission will hold and night out fundraiser later this month. They’re looking for local businesses to help sponsor the event.

Here are some more details:

On April 28, 2010 the Friends of The Southborough Youth Commission are organizing a night out consisting of Wine Tasting, compliments of Tomasso Trattoria, a raffle and a night of fabulous shopping at The Southborough Community House from 7:00-9:00pm. Friends of The Southborough Youth Commission will be donating 100% of the proceeds to Southborough Youth and Family Services, which is a free community service designed to offer guidance to families in need and/or in crisis.

We are reaching out to local businesses for raffle item donations, and vendors for the actual fundraiser.  We would greatly appreciate your help to make this event a huge success.

If you are able to help out by donating a raffle item or would like to be a vendor at this event, please contact Jill Pappas at jillpappas@aol.com or Karin Weinberg at karinw@charter.net. Please note that we are charging a flat rate of $30 to each vendor this year.

Your contribution is essential for Southborough Youth and Family Services to continue helping children and families in need in our community. As you probably know SY&FS has been facing budget cuts that are already impacting the services that they are able to deliver.  Your involvement and generosity are crucial and very much appreciated.

Board of Health member Dr. Richard Seder is moving out of town and will give up his position on the Board of Health. That means there’s a vacancy to fill.

Positions on the Board of Health are elected ones. The Selectmen and remaining Board of Health members will meet in early February to appoint a temporary replacement. If they chose to, the appointed person would then need to run for the position during the town elections next spring.

The Board of Health is the group that has coordinated the town’s seasonal and H1N1 flu response. They also permit residential and non-residential septic systems, as well as issue licenses and conduct inspections of the various eateries and other businesses in town, among other responsibilities.

If you’re interested, send a resume and cover letter to the Selectmen’s office (Southborough Town Hall, 17 Common Street) by January 22. Learn more about the Board of Health on their website.

The Southborough Board of Health will hold a flu clinic next Wednesday to administer both the seasonal and H1N1 vaccine. It’s by appointment only, and supplies are limited.

Barbara Luther with the BOH told me the town ordered 1,000 doses of the H1N1 vaccine, but so far has received only 200. The doses have been “dribbling in,” she said.

Because supplies have been so limited, the BOH has had to prioritize recipients. So far, school nurses, high-risk teens, and EMS workers have been vaccinated. The BOH also gave about 70 doses to the Southboro Medical Group to administer to high-risk children.

That leaves about 100 doses of H1N1 and 80 doses of the seasonal flu vaccine left for next week’s clinic. Luther said the BOH has been using criteria from the Centers for Disease Control to triage recipients.

At the top of the list for the upcoming clinic are daycare workers. Other high-risk candidates include pregnant women and parents of infants younger than six months. The BOH will only administer the vaccine to those over the age of 12.

Luther said the best thing for residents who want to get vaccinated to do is to call the BOH and get on the list. They’ll prioritize candidates and schedule appointments as available. Luther said they hope to receive more doses later this month. If they do, they’ll schedule additional clinics.

Wednesday’s clinic runs from 2:00 to 4:00 pm by appointment only. To get on the list, call the BOH at 508-481-3013.

Southborough Youth and Family Services is teaming up with photographer Karen McCall to offer family portraits at Heritage Day on October 12. Sittings are available at a special discounted rate of $10. Proceeds go to support SYFS programs.

Stop by the SYFS booth on Heritage Day to set up an appointment. Portraits will be available on Karen’s website for viewing and purchasing after Heritage Day.
For more tips visit: www.karenmccall.com

Want to know what’s going on at the Southborough Senior Center? Check out their new website, www.southboroughseniors.com. It has a calendar of events, photo gallery, contact details, and information on services provided by the Senior Center. All in a clean, easy-to-read format. Nice.