Reporter’s Notebook: Of Covid, and Carter, and the lost ballots
COVID-19 cases are continuing to climb in Grafton. The weekend brought in a total of 13 new confirmed positives, bringing Grafton’s total to 243 since March.
The breakdown: five reported Monday, three reported Sunday, five reported Saturday, according to the Board of Health, which recently started posting the daily numbers. Last week brought in a total of 27 new cases.
Health officials continue to warn about extended family gatherings on Thursday, Thanksgiving, to avoid continued spread. Crowds of Christmas shoppers on Black Friday and beyond, as well as college students returning home, may also play a part.
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Apologies. Last week’s Reporter’s Notebook was stuck in drafts after a late night computer update.
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Some good news: the audit of the June Town Election “did not find there was anything systemic” that led to a box of 202 uncounted ballots never making it to the polls.
Lauren Goldberg of KP law concluded her audit recently, concluding that the misplaced ballots — found inside the Town Clerk’s safe just a week after the election — were a simple error, similar to ballot mishaps in other towns, Temporary Town Administrator Carter Terenzini told the Select Board last week.
She also believed the community could benefit “from a more robust checklist,” similar to what Town Clerk Kandy Lavallee put in place for the fall election cycle.
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Speaking of Terenzini, we’re going to be keeping him around for a little while longer.
The Select Board voted to extend Terenzini’s temporary TA contract for another 90 days, to allow for the Town Administrator Selection Committee time to winnow through applicants and for Terenzini to make headway in the planning process for the Fiscal Year 2022 budget.
This isn’t an unusual move. The Town Charter only allows for 90 day appointments of a temporary TA, and the town renewed former Town Administrator Tim McInerney’s contract back when he was filling in after the departure of Natalie Lashmit.
