After nine years on the Board of Selectmen (now called the “Select Board”), with two rounds serving as chairman, Eli Boling is stepping away this month from local civic life.  

When Manchester took up the business of six articles at a Special Town Meeting at the ME Regional High School last fall, 228 residents checked in, and everything seemed normal.  Then, after the meeting was over and the vote was tallied, a significant deviation emerged that is driving changes in how things will be run at April 25th's Annual Town Meeting.

There seem to be certain “themes” that are cycling into 2022.  One of them is “trees.”  It began last year, when, on the municipal front, Manchester adopted a comprehensive “tree policy” offering a first pass of formal regulation of public trees (defined as those on town property or abutting public Rights Of Way) and historic trees (called “heritage trees”) with a base or trunk circumference of 32 inches or greater are be protected regardless of where they live, whether on public or private land.