A Look Back at 5 Top Local Stories Last Week

Each Sunday, Hamilton-Wenham Patch takes a look back at the week in local news. Here’s a look at some of the top stories on the two towns in the past week.

1. 

Years of discussion and debate came to an end this week when the Historic District Commission and Town Hall and Police Station Building Committee reached agreement on the look and size of a new sign.

Right now, the large white sign with black writing simply says “Wenham Town Hall.” The new sign will be smaller and include the town seal at the top and say “erected 1855” at the bottom. It will be 18 inches narrower than the existing sign.

2. 

The Hamilton-Wenham Regional School Committee this week set a Sept. 30 deadline for several major follow-up reports on the .

Specifically, School Committee Chairman Alexa McCloughan said an examination of the student-to-teacher ratio at will be completed by Sept. 30 – it was among several action plans to School Committee said it was undertaking in response to the operational audit.

The Operational Audit Committee had written to the School Committee last month, asking for some specifics about the ongoing response to the operational audit, which made 122 recommendations.

3. 

Wenham Selectmen proposed this week that they meet with Hamilton Selectmen to talk about issues they both have in common.

In addition to a combined school system, both towns have a combined library, recreation center and emergency dispatch plus a .

But Wenham selectmen said those combined functions and more than could be discussed on a regular basis with Hamilton Selectmen. It’s an idea that the chairman of the Hamilton Selectmen said made sense.

4. 

Vehicle night is one of the highlights of the summer for local kids and smiles abounded Wednesday night in the parking lot a. As always, the fire trucks and police cars from local department were the biggest attraction, in addition to equipment from Departments of Public Works.

5. 

A new real estate office opened earlier this summer in downtown Hamilton. opened on Bay Road, between and , another new business.

The space had been left vacant when moved to the Shoppes at Hamilton Crossing.

Country Crossroads’ owners, Janet and George Hilton, live in Hamilton and ran a real estate office in Rowley for 12 years.