FAIRLEE—A raise in pay for town employees in Fairlee was the major topic of discussion during a budget hearing on Jan. 11.
Fairlee Selectboard member Cathy McGrath told the two dozen or so people who had checked into the Zoom meeting that the board had decided not to bestow cost-of-living raises in 2021. Most of the audience was employed by the town or represented a municipal department.
“We’re not doing cost-of-living raises because it [last year] was an incredibly unusual year,” McGrath explained. “Many taxpayers have been furloughed or had hardship, and this is a reflection on what’s available in the pocketbooks of the taxpayers. Many people, including myself, have been impacted by loss of work.”

NEWBURY—Even six months after a terrible car crash, there are still plenty of signs and posters proclaiming “Sierra Strong” across the landscape.
As well as an encouragement to Sierra Longmoore and her family, they are a reminder of the determination and will to live and the combined prayers of those who support her.
Everyone wants to know about her journey and how she is doing.
The recovery of Sierra Longmoore has been nothing short of miraculous.

NORTH HAVERHILL—“The vaccine is the thing that will end this,” Grafton County Nursing Home Administrator Craig Labore said in a recent interview with the Journal Opinion.
The first COVID-19 vaccination clinic for GCNH staff and residents came earlier than expected, bookended by positive COVID-19 test results in nearly a dozen staff members.
On Dec. 14, a total of five staff members tested positive for Covid through GCNH’s standing testing practices.
The individuals were all asymptomatic, and Labore said he could not speak to the origin of the transmissions. Upon learning of the results, Labore said they notified the nurse they work with at the NH Department of Health and Human Services and arranged for facility-wide testing for staff and residents. These tests all came back negative. The initial five staff members were able to isolate and return to work once the period of concern was over.

BRADFORD—School officials held an informational meeting on Monday night ahead of the fourth vote on an Oxbow Unified Union School District 2020-2021 budget next week.
Monday night’s meeting—held via Zoom—was sparsely attended.
The budget of $16,780,183 is identical to the one defeated by 15 votes on Nov. 24. Board members unanimously opted to resubmit the same figure for another vote, citing significant cuts to the district’s schools—Bradford Elementary, Newbury Elementary, Oxbow, and River Bend.

TOPSHAM—The committee tasked with the new town garage site evaluation has been dissolved after the selectboard did not support the group’s request to hire professional help.
Selectboard chair Larry Hart has assumed the responsibility and is continuing the committee’s efforts to bring options to the town for a vote.
“We needed people with more expertise but couldn’t get board approval,” said Jim Clark, former chair o