WOODSVILLE—One week after precinct residents in Haverhill Corner opted to join the new town fire department, their peers in Woodsville unanimously rejected that proposition.
With close to 50 people attending the annual meeting at the Bagonzi Community Building on March 24, the question, as read aloud by moderator Jay Holden, of whether the precinct should relinquish its fire department and its firefighting assets to the town, was met by an extended silence.

CHELSEA—A suspended Vermont State Police detective from Bradford has pleaded not guilty in Orange County Superior Court in Chelsea to a charge of domestic abuse for attacking his fiancée over five months, according to court records.
Nicholas J. Cianci, 25, of Fairground Road denied the misdemeanor count last week that he recklessly caused bodily injury to the woman identified by Vermont State Police in court papers by her initials and that he was engaged to marry.

HAVERHIL CORNER—At their annual meeting held on March 17, Haverhill Corner Precinct voters decided to relinquish their fire department and join the Haverhill Fire Department.
The decision came one year after the precinct’s residents initially voted 45-6 against joining the new municipal department. At the time, according to meeting minutes, many residents said they were not opposed to a town department but that many questions remained unsettled.
In an interview, Haverhill Corner Fire Chief Richard Morris said precinct residents were concerned that they would lose their fire station and name. Now it looks like that will not be the case, although Morris said there are still a lot of details to nail down.

BRADFORD—As part of its ongoing effort to involve the community, the Oxbow Unified Union School District will form a committee or committees tasked with that purpose. The road there has had a few bumps.
OUUSD officially formed on July 1, 2019, merging three former districts with oversight of three distinct school campuses. But the merger under 46 was contested by some, who argued, among other things, that community involvement in the schools would diminish.
Over the months since, several community members have lobbied the board to form school-level committees.

NORTH HAVERHILL—After Haverhill residents rejected provisional election procedures on Saturday, town officials said they will not ask for a special meeting and instead rely on the 2020 operating budget for the remainder of the year.
Australian ballot voting took place on March 13 for the annual town meeting. And while municipal elections conducted under article 1 will be valid, article 2 was voted down 409-264. That article asked voters to approve the pandemic-inducted meeting procedures for 2021. As a result, all of the subsequent articles on the warrant were automatically defeated, according to town officials.