WOODSVILLE—The Haverhill Selectboard signed off on a deal last week to resolve existing litigation with the owner of the Wilder Dam over the value of flooding rights on the Connecticut River shoreline.
The agreement with Great River Hydro will also keep the two parties out of the courtroom for the next several years after they agreed on future payments in lieu of taxes. The town will receive $27,000 each year from 2021-2030 in lieu of levying property taxes on the hydroelectric’s company’s rights to flood shoreline. GRH does not actually own or maintain any physical property within the town.

NORTH HAVERHILL—At a hearing in Grafton County Superior Court on Oct. 6, former Warren Town Administrator Judith Tautenhan of Rumney pleaded guilty to four charges of theft from the town and one count of theft from Warren’s South Main Street Water District.
All charges are class A felonies.
Tautenhan was town administrator from May 2014 to May 2018 and later worked at the water district as well.

WELLS RIVER—The pandemic’s impact threaded nearly every topic covered by the Blue Mountain Union School board meeting on Oct. 6.
In a budget review of the academic year that ended June 30, business manager Linda Metcalf said unaudited financial statements revealed a hefty surplus despite decreased revenue.
Despite being short about $350,000 in revenue for the year, Metcalf said on Oct. 6 that expenses also were significantly down due to COVID-19. She noted a decrease in spending on services, supplies, and activities, all of which resulted in a bottom line of $800,000 less in budgeted expenses. The net result was a surplus of about $465,000 going into the current fiscal year, which began July 1.

NEWBURY—If there is support for the state’s proposed juvenile detention center in Newbury, there was little to be found inside the Newbury Elementary School gymnasium on Saturday.
Nearly 100 people turned out for the Newbury Development Review Board hearing on the Covered Bridge Treatment Center. As many as 56 people were on Zoom.
After more than five hours of presentations, questions, answers, comments, the hearing was continued to Oct. 21 at 6 p.m. The plan, DRB members said, is to hold the meeting at the same location or outside on the village common.

BRADFORD—A downtown Bradford artery will be temporarily blocked next week when the Route 5 bridge over the Waits River undergoes repairs.
The bridge is scheduled to be closed on Oct. 11. Shauna Clifford of the Vermont Agency of Transportation said they want to reopen the bridge sometime on Oct. 13.
It could reopen sooner and it’s possible it might not reopen until Oct. 14, although she was skeptical it would remain closed beyond that.