Keyser: Saga of Town Hall Trees Continues in Wenham

Well, at least it's rain and not snow is about all one can say. I had hopes that we might get in a bit more summer weather, but I guess that’s not the case.

In things going on in Hamilton and Wenham, the on the lawn at continues. Whether the trees will be saved or taken down was again a subject of further discussion with town officials this week. The tree warden is still staying with his plan to dig up a large section of the lawn around the two trees and to change the dirt around the roots to allow the roots some more air and see if it would help stop the trees that are slowly dying.

Town administrator Jeff Chelgren took issue with this plan and more or less put a hold on doing anything to the trees until some more discussion is held about whether the trees are able to be saved or whether the trees are at the point where they'll slowly die in a few years.

I , that in talking to folks in the tree business, the standard comment from all of them is that once a tree borer gets inside a tree it is just a matter of time before the tree will end up dead.

So, maybe it is time for town officials to think about one of the comments made about the tree situation - take out the trees and place on the front lawn of the town hall.

In other happenings in the towns, Larry Swartz was elected to from the town of Wenham. This position will be until the town elections in the spring, at which time the new member can run for a full term on the school board. 

In discussion on voting for a new member of this board, several comments were made regarding the fact that Mr. Swartz would have a conflict of interest since his wife is a teacher in the school system. It was pointed out that he wouldn’t vote on any issues regarding contracts with teachers and any issues that might have connection with personnel in the system.

The one question that comes up here is that since the newest member of the board has a so-called restriction on what he can vote on, that sorts of limits him to be a full time board member as quite a few items on the school agenda have to do with finances and personnel issues.

In last week’s column I put in a request for folks that have yard sales to please take down the signs from the trees and poles when the sale is over. As of today, most of the signs are still hanging on trees. Maybe the town needs a new policy of fines for leaving up old signs.

That’s it for this week. And I intend to live forever…so far, so good. Bye, bye.