Reporter’s Notebook: Resident tires of Reunion soundtrack; police watch over big red box

Even before an arsonist set a Boston ballot collection box on fire, Lydia Bogar was worried about the safety of the new big red ballot box at the entrance of the Municipal Center.

Bogar appeared before Select Board recently to express her concerns, suggesting that it be re-located to the front of the police department so it could be monitored.

Police ARE keeping watch on the box 24-7, but the red box for residents to drop off their mail-in ballots remains in place at the Municipal Center. Police dispatchers are now training a camera on it at all times to protect Grafton’s votes until Election Day, November 3.

Don’t forget: Early voting is available at the Municipal Center until Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

And, in other election news, Temporary Town Administrator Carter Terenzini told the Select Board the town is still waiting on the audit of the June town election, when 202 uncounted ballots were discovered in the town clerk’s vault.

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Mark Ricard and Brittany Stevens were appointed as part-time police dispatchers. Both have worked with the Grafton Police on their own time in the hope of becoming a dispatcher and have obtained all requisite qualifications.

Both are hired, effective immediately.

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Back in September, Grafton Police forwarded a report of repeated noise violations at Reunion Tap & Table, which moved its eat-in business to a tented area in it parking lot — complete with live music — due to COVID-19 restrictions. At the time, Select Board member Ed Prisby questioned why the board needed to be involved.

Tuesday night brought another noise complaint in the board’s correspondence:

“I’m searching for someone to have a conversation with about the reunion restaurant. I live nearby and have been forced to listen to their live music in my home through closed windows for months now, even over air conditioners so as you can imagine much louder without. I’ve contacted the owners personally several times and they have NO regard for neighbors whatsoever. There needs to be some type of compromise made. They are not a music venue, they are a restaurant. As a resident of this town I think I deserve some amount of peace and quiet. Whether it be less days of music, less hours, or my most preferred a REASONABLE volume of music for the neighborhood, something needs to change. This is not fair. This is not what I imagined when I bought this home.”

Prisby again noted that noise isn’t really in the Select Board’s jurisdiction, unless residents demanded a bylaw controlling noise at certain hours.

Given the toll Covid has taken on local business, he added that both residents and businesses have to balance their needs.

“We’re sort of relying, at least generally, on people being respectful,” he said.