Savitri Ika was a beloved wife, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, great-grandmother, and the heart and strength of the Ika family. She passed away unexpectedly, yet peacefully, on August 9, 2026, at the age of 87. She spent her final day enjoying life’s simple pleasures at home surrounded by the love and comfort of family.

She leaves behind a remarkable legacy through her four sons, Prasad, Srinivas, Ravi, and Krishna, and their wives’ Suguna, Roopa, and Amani. She also has five grandchildren and two great grandchildren, who will continue to carry forward the values, love, and spirit she embodied every day.

Born in Eluru, India, Savitri lived a life richer and fuller than she could ever have imagined. She was the center of every family gathering, every celebration, and every conversation. Her presence brought people together, and her warmth, wisdom, and joyful spirit made everyone feel at home. She was deeply loved by her children, daughter-in-laws, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and all who had the privilege of knowing her.

To many, Savitri was a motherly figure, a trusted confidante, and a source of endless kindness and comfort. She welcomed everyone with open arms and a generous heart. The love that surrounded her throughout her life was a reflection of the love she so freely gave to others.

Her family will remember her unwavering strength, boundless generosity, infectious laugh, and the deep devotion she showed to those she loved. While her passing leaves an immeasurable void, as she was the glue that held the family together, her legacy lives on in the countless lives she touched and in the family that was forever strengthened by her love.

Visiting hours for Savitri will be held on Thursday, August 13, 2026, from 10:00AM-12:00PM at the Morris-Johnston Funeral Home, 40 Main Street, Southborough, MA 01772. A funeral service will follow at 1:00PM at the Rural Cemetery and Crematory Chapel, 180 Grove Street, Worcester, MA 01605.

She will be profoundly missed, lovingly remembered, and forever cherished.

(Photo and Obituary via Morris-Johnston Funeral Home)

The post Obituary: Savitri Ika, 87 appeared first on My Southborough.

Early this summer, I posted a Save-the-Date for Southborough’s end-of-summer festival, Summer Nights.

I’ll be posting more details soon on the annual community event with fireworks, live music, food trucks, and free family-friendly fun. But first, I’m sharing the Town’s call for teen volunteers to help out.

Southborough Recreation is promoting:

Need volunteer hours? We’ve got you covered!

Spend an evening surrounded by food trucks, music, games, and thousands of guests at Southborough Summer Nights on August 22 (5–8 PM at Neary School).

We’re looking for a few middle school and high school volunteers to help keep the event running smoothly by assisting with trash collection throughout the night. It’s a great way to earn service hours while being part of Southborough’s biggest event of the summer!

Interested? Email CMcCarthy@SouthboroughMA.gov to claim your spot.

The post Teen volunteers needed for Summer Nights appeared first on My Southborough.

Above: Consultants researching the Town’s options for extending the life of Neary School presented some rough, preliminary options to a committee last week. (images cropped from video screenshots)

Last week, the Elementary School Building Committee (ESBC) met to hear a presentation from the consultants on potential renovations to Neary School.

The consultants and committee are charged with researching the best long term and shorter term (less expensive) options for addressing the school building issues and the district’s needs.

The August 6th presentation focused on long term solutions. Tappé Architect’s presented their “first pass” at preliminary design options for renovating and improving the school. Based on questions and feedback from the committee, they’ll fine tune those and bring additional options to the next meeting, on August 19th.

The meeting on the 19th will also include Tappé’s first pass at the “10 year maintenance plan”. Tappé CEO Chris Blessen described their intent to come up with a plan that has “some level of investment on the building to bring things up to code” every two years, but stacks it in a way that causes “the least amount of triggering that we can” to avoid having to renovate the whole building or pull in the entire scope at once.

The architects hope to be ready to update the School Committee next month. Tappé also wants to hold a closed “Executive Session” meeting with first responders in October. The intent is to understand the safety and security assumptions and strategies for the building and “lockdown procedures” and how the building is compartmentalized in designs.

The updated timeline presented (right) used a dashed purple line to indicate where the consultants were in the process as of last week.

Preliminary Design Options Presented for Renovations

ESBC Member Mark Davis expressed concern last week that, based on the timeline, Tappé didn’t plan to talk “about cost for a while”. He told Blessen that the committee might need to look at some rough numbers of components sooner as they go through the ideas.

All of the design options included eliminating the modular classrooms currently connected to the school and increasing the number of 4th and 5th grade classrooms from 14 to 16. Below are the rough options that were presented last week (along with some clarifying notes I added based on the discussion.)

The preliminary concepts for the building design included a version that kept some, but less, space for district administration offices. The other two fully eliminated the offices. Superintendent Gregory Martineau told Blessen that rather than splitting the district operations, the plan should be “all or nothing”.

At one point, Davis suggested redesigning Option 3 to allow all of the administrative offices to remain. He pointed out that currently, the school district is paid by Northborough for their share of the space rental. If the offices are relocated to a building that Southborough doesn’t control, the Town will lose that money and have to pay for its share of the new office space.

Martineau warned the committee that keeping the administration in the building would come with renovation costs for their offices:

if we’re considering remaining at Neary, it needs to be part of the renovation. The office spaces that we have are classrooms that are converted to offices that are less than ideal. So it’s very inefficient. So, if were to stay, if that’s the will of Southborough, then we’d also want to configure office space, so that it is truly office space for central office. We do have members of the leadership team who have satellite offices away from our core offices, which is very challenging already.

ESBC and Select Board member Andrew Pfaff indicated that the rent issue would pale in comparison to renovation costs for a municipal building. He opined that he’d rather see those dollars put to classroom/educational purposes than for administrative offices.

The design element in the options that sparked the most discussion was the school gym. The first two options featured a middle sized court without bleachers. (The room could include a motorized gym divider for breaking up half courts for two classes/uses.). That layout could only fit in one row of free standing chairs on the side of the room for parents.

Those designs didn’t include a room that would meet the district’s identified Education Plan need for a space that could hold a full school meeting. Martineau also described wanting a space that could hold a concert with parents, etc.

That need would be met by design “Option 3”. That design included filling in the school’s courtyard to build a gym with a high school sized full court and bleachers that could accommodate about 450 people.

Based on ideas discussed by members, Blessen said that he would look at how space could best be used in a potential 4th option. That would include a standalone gym outside of, but linked to, the main building.

Blessen described that all of the options included elements that could be selected to be incorporated into one of the other designs. (For example, only Option 3 included an addition for a new entryway. That could be added to Options 1 or 2.)

Environmental Testing/Research

In a prior meeting, member Mark Davis raised concerns that before renovating on the site, he believed more research was needed for safety reasons on the soil under the building. Last week, Tappé reported back on additional costs (outside of the original bid scope) that would be incurred for that testing and research.

The options ranged from spending $17,900 to $27,400. The first price would cover drilling and testing. The outer range includes adding research on the past removal of an oil tank and whether contaminated soil was cleaned up. If the a design option is pursued for building the gym beside the building, the costs would be increased to cover testing in that area. (Although, Davis noted that the district already drilled and tested in a spot to the right of the building.)

The ESBC’s next two meetings are set for the evenings of Wednesday, August 19th and Thursday, September 3rd.

The post Update on Neary School building project study appeared first on My Southborough.

Above: Growers leasing Chestnut Farm Hill fields are promoting a CSA at the farm and seeking workers. (images cropped from contributed logo and flyers, and Facebook post)

Earlier This summer, I shared news about a new CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) launched at Southborough’s Chestnut Hill Farm.

I checked in on the fledgling “Grafted Roots” enterprise run by local growers who are leasing the farm’s fields. They had updates to share on the CSA and shopping options.

As I previously posted, the growers are pitching the produce as grown using “organic practices” (no synthetic pesticides or fertilizers.)

Co-founders Freddy Pena and Erik Jewett promote that they partnered to revive farming at the conserved property:

with a focused selection of specialty vegetables, gourmet mushrooms, and hydroponic greens. . .

One farm stand. Two growers. A shared belief that local food should be extraordinary, not just available.

Most of the produce is grown at the farm. The exceptions are the mushrooms, microgreens, and hydroponic leafy greens grown by the sister farm Bright Oasis Farm in Bellingham. Honey (raw and unfiltered) is produced by Fat Daddy Apiary from hives across the MetroWest region.

CSA Member options

Customers can sign up for either a small “Seedling” or full “Harvest” share of the CSA. Options were marketed for the full growing seasons or mini-seasons and combos. Although the “Peak Summer” season is already underway, it lasts through September 15th and customers can still sign up for it. You can also sign up for the Fall season (Sep 22 – Nov 3). Choose from Thursday or Saturday pickup days.

Shopping for non-members

Because they haven’t been able to find enough help, they aren’t able to open a regular farm stand. However, non-CSA members can order and pre-pay online for Seasonal produce (including tomatoes, peppers, beans, eggplant, cabbages, broccoli, purple/yellow cauliflower, summer squashes, melon, and okra), Greens, Root Vegetables, Microgreens, a wide variety of Mushrooms, and more. 

Then pick up your purchases during their Thursday CSA pickup times (from 8:00 am to noon).

To learn more about Grafted Roots and sign up for the CSA, click here. (And Click here to follow them on Facebook.)

Now Hiring

I’m sharing again the info about job openings at Chestnut Hill Farm. You can learn more about that in this hiring flyer or on their website here.

The post Update on Grafted Roots CSA & Shop at Chestnut Hill Farm appeared first on My Southborough.

Above: Southborough Recreation is offering more pickleball lessons this fall. (photo by Beth Melo)

Recreation is promoting the next season of outdoor pickleball for adults. 

The weekly pickleball sessions are offered both as entry level classes and “Coached Play”. Two 5-week sessions will run from late this summer to mid-fall. both will be held on Mondays.

Session 1 will run from August 31st to October 5th (except for Labor Day). And Session 2 from October 19th to November 16th.

All of the lessons will be held at the Mooney Tennis Courts (at the Finn School campus, 60 Richards Road). The cost is $120 per session. Each class is capped at 8 players. Players are encouraged to provide their own paddles, since limited equipment is available.

The skill levels/activities are:

Beginner 1
(Session 1 choices are 9:30 – 10:30 am or 4:00 – 5:00 pm. Session 2 is 11:00 am  –12:00 pm)

Come join Southborough Recreation as we offer an instructional pickleball program for athletes new to the sport or just beginning. Led by an instructor, learn the game’s rules, techniques, and skills, and join your community on the courts! Our curriculum will begin with the basics and end with participants playing full games against each other.

Beginner 2
(Session 1 is 10:30 – 11:30 am. Session 2 is 10:00 –11:00 am)

Limited to students that have taken a Beginner 1 Clinic or are rated 2.5 (with knowledge of scoring and court positioning):

This is for players who want to gain more confidence on the court and improve their overall pickleball experience. The program focuses on proper technique and mechanics in developing more consistency with shots like dinks, drops, groundstrokes, volleys, serves, etc.

Coached Play “Up and Down the River”
(Session 1 choices are 8:30 – 9:30 am or 5:00 – 6:00 pm. Session 2 is 9:00 – 10:00 am)

Limited to students that have taken a Beginner 2 Clinic or are rated 2.75.

Play for 12 minutes; the winning team moves up a court and splits, and the losing team moves down a court and splits. During and between games, get professional coaching tips on technique and strategy. Also a great way to meet new players at your level!

Lessons are all led by Certified Pickleball Instructor Lisa Giusti. Rec promotes of the coach:

Lisa’s passion is pickleball and introducing newcomers to the sport. Her foundation of instruction is correct form, skills, and strategy. Nothing makes her happier than seeing her students get excited about the game and having fun!

For more details and to register, click here.

Check out more of Rec’s programs on their website here.

The post Sign up for <i>early and/or mid</i> Fall Pickleball appeared first on My Southborough.

Above: Attendees appeared to enjoy the outdoor concert in July. The 2nd concert, postponed by rain, is set to take place this week. (images cropped from Facebook)

Southborough Recreation has confirmed the details for the previously postponed outdoor concert rebooked to play tomorrow night with the band Carolyn Rae & the Rumors.

The performance will take place this Wednesday, August 12th, 6:00 – 8:00 pm at Neary School’s field, 53 Parkerville Road. Concert goers are encouraged to bring blankets or chairs. 

Thanks to the concert’s sponsorship by Friends of Southborough Recreation, attendees can again enjoy free ice cream scooped out from the Trombetta’s truck. (FOSR covered about 350 ice creams at the last concert!) 

Rec wasn’t able to get the original dinner food truck booked, but has lined up a replacement. Say Cheese will be onsite selling their gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches and more.

As for the main event, the band promotes of its music:

With songs from Elton John to Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter to Billy Idol, ABBA and more, Carolyn Rae & the Rumors brings a diverse set of songs that guarantees that EVERYONE has a good time!

You can watch the band in action at Hopkinton’s outdoor stage last summer:

The post Reminder: Summer Concert with Free Ice Cream this Wednesday appeared first on My Southborough.

If something you thought you read on the site earlier is missing, you aren’t losing your mind. (But I am!) 

I ran into some technical issues that required me to restore the site to a version that was backed up on Friday night. That means that I now have to re-post stories (and story updates) that were posted Saturday through earlier today.

(When they are reposted, it will be under the original post date, time, and url.)

The post Please, bear with me! appeared first on My Southborough.

The Southborough Library is inviting kids to celebrate the approaching “End of Summer Reading” with an Ice Cream Party next week.

The fun with ice cream and games is scheduled for a week from tomorrow — Tuesday, August 18th from 4:00 – 5:00 pm on the library’s lawn.

The drop-in event is open to all ages. The party is sponsored by the Friends of the Southborough Library.

The post Ice Cream Party for kids — August 18th appeared first on My Southborough.

Here are the posted open, public Southborough committee and board meetings for this week* along with my selected highlights from the agendas.

As always, be aware that changes to the meeting schedule (and agendas) are known to happen throughout the week. (Scroll down for details on any meetings that popped up after last Monday’s post.) For an updated list of meetings, visit the Town website.

These days, most (but not all) meetings, can be participated in, watched live, and replayed from home.)**

Monday, August 10, 2026

• Council on Aging Meeting, 10:00 am @ Senior Center (agenda) Agenda Highlights: Updates on programs, Kiosk intro, Tax work-off, patio status, Heritage Day, Tricentennial, and clubs; MCOA Conference
• Library Board of Trustees Meeting, 11:00 am @ zoom only (agenda, video) Agenda Highlights: Director’s Report; Expense Report; Fall/Winter 2026 Holiday Closures; CPC signage for past Library projects
• Taxation Aid Committee Meeting, 4:15 pm @ Town House Hearing Room (agenda) Agenda Highlights: Update on Trust Fund Support

Tuesday, August 11, 2026

• Board of Commissioners of Trust Funds Meeting, 8:00 am @ Town House Hearing Room (agenda) Agenda Highlights: New Applicant referred by Youth/Family
• Regional School Committee Meeting,
  9:00 am @ webinar only (agenda with packet) Agenda Highlights: Adopt Mass General Law Chapter 32B, Sections 21 through 23
• Board of Health Meeting, 9:30 am @ zoom only (agenda) Agenda Highlights: Variance Requests (8 Partridge Hill Rd & 14 Newton St); Bodyworks Establishment; Language Updates for Food and Housing Policies; Appointment of Part-Time Tobacco Control Inspector
• Select Board Meeting, 6:30 pm @ Town House Hearing Room and zoom (agenda with packet) Agenda Highlights: Town Clerk Resignation and replacement next steps; Appoint Probationary Police Officer; FY27 Transfer Station & Swap Shop Rules & Regs; Impact of Stormwater Enterprise Fund; FY28 budget process (with potential override); Open warrant for October 17 Special Town Meeting and refer 2-family zoning Article to Planning Board; Appoint special counsel for Hopkinton MWRA connection agreement; Appoint 2 members to Historical Commission; Assign OML Complaint to Town Counsel; Review Stewardship Committee charge; next steps for Town Clerk position; Consider accepting MGL Chapter 32B, Section 21-23; Approve $25K contract for Government Structure Study; Discuss Cannabis delivery opt-out provision
  • Advisory Committee Meeting, 6:30 pm @ Select Board Meeting (agenda) Agenda Highlights: Discuss prelim FY28 budget and operational override
  • Stewardship Committee Meeting, 6:30 pm @ Select Board Meeting (agenda) Agenda Highlights: Attend Select Board Meeting (Review of Stewardship Committee charge)

Wednesday, August 12, 2026

• Registrars of Voters Meeting, 5:30 pm @ Town House – 1st floor (agenda) Agenda Highlights: Annual delegation of authorities to Town Clerk; Authorize Advance Opening/Early Deposit/Central Tabulation Facility for State Election; Discuss extending In-Person Early Voting hours; Town Clerk resignation and process to seek a replacement
• Tricentennial Committee Meeting, 6:30 pm @ Public Safety Complex and zoom (agenda) Agenda Highlights: Reflections relating to Tricentennial celebratory events; Updates on status of events and fundraisers
• Zoning Board of Appeals Meeting, 7:00 pm @ Town House Hearing Room and zoom (agenda with packet) Agenda Highlights: Public Hearings on 40-42 Central Street/ Southborough Historical Society Appeal (of denial of a Certificate of Occupancy and Notice of Zoning Violation) and 0 Northboro Rd Special Permit (for 15 feet of frontage on a preexisting nonconforming lot); Elect officers; Two-Family Zoning Bylaw
  • • Planning Board Meeting, 7:00 pm @ ZBA Meeting (agenda) Agenda Highlights: Discuss Southborough Historical Society’s Appeal

Looking Back:

Below are meetings from last week that were posted to the Town website after I initially ran the list last Monday morning (including ones that I added in later updates):

Thursday, August 6, 2026

• Elementary School Building Committee Meeting, 7:00 pm @ zoom only (agenda, video) Agenda Highlights: Presentation from consultant on Options for Neary Building Project

Friday, August 7, 2026

• Personnel Board Meeting, 8:30 am @ Public Safety Complex and zoom (agenda, video) Agenda Highlights: Salary Study status report

*I don’t list meetings that are only closed Executive Sessions unless the agenda indicates the possibility of some action in an open public session at the opening or closing of the meeting.

**Details on watching meetings remotely:

• Town Committee/Board Meetings:
  • If in-person meetings don’t also advertise a zoom option, assume that it won’t be broadcast or captured on video.
  • To remotely participate in meetings that allow zoom, click here.
  • To live stream (or view later) remote or hybrid meetings (even those covered by Southborough Access Media) over the internet, use the Town’s YouTube Channel for Remote Meetings. (The meetings covered by SAM can also be streamed on their website here, and eventually on SAM’s YouTube Channel.)
  • Cable Access — Southborough Access Media broadcasts the regular evening meetings for the Select Board, Planning Board, and Zoning Board of Appeals that take place in the Town House Hearing Room. (Those meetings will still allow zoom participation.) View SAM’s live and replayed broadcasts via their Government cable access channel (Verizon-37 and Charter-194).
• School Committee Meetings:
  • Subcommittee meetings and some special meetings are only available to attend/view live (in person or by “webinar”), sometimes with no later rebroadcast, sometimes later posted to Southborough Access Media here and on Verizon-37 and Charter-192 and their YouTube channel.
  • Regular Southborough School Committee meetings are generally broadcast live by Southborough Access Media here and on Verizon-37 and Charter-192. (Video replays are also usually made available through their YouTube channel within a couple of days.)
  • Regular Regional School Committee meetings (or Combined meetings based at Algonquin) are live broadcast by Northborough Cable Access here and YouTube channel, and on Southborough’s Education Channel (Verizon-29 and Charter-194). The meetings are also eventually rebroadcast and available on demand through NCAT’s VideoOnDemand player and YouTube (though that can take several days).
• Other:
  • Southborough does participate in some regional collaboratives hosted in other towns. Those committees follow their own rules and may not offer a way to re-watch zoom meetings.

The post The week in government appeared first on My Southborough.

Above: Town Clerk Jim Hegarty gave notice that he will step down at the end of next month. (image cropped from Annual Town Meeting video)

On Tuesday night, the Select Board will discuss how to proceed now that Town Clerk Jim Hegarty has given his notice. Hegarty confirmed to me that his resignation will be effective September 30th.

Hegarty’s plan to retire isn’t out-of-the blue. In March, Town Clerk Jim Hegarty told the Select Board that he hoped his term as Town Clerk would be ending this summer. At that time, he pitched convincing voters to switch the position from an elected seat to an appointed one.

Hegarty’s original plan included a proposed Article for Annual Town Meeting, followed by a ballot question in the May 2026 Town Election. He would then offer to serve as a “bridge” until a replacement was hired.

Later that month, the plan was postponed after he learned that based on the election calendar/rules, the question wouldn’t make the Town ballot until May 2027. The Article wasn’t included in the Town Meeting Warrant.

It appears that Hegarty’s willingness/ability to serve as a bridge won’t extend through next summer. The agenda for this week’s Select Board meeting includes the item, “Resignation of Town Clerk Jim Hegarty”. 

The meeting packet doesn’t include a resignation letter or memo, but it does include the provision in state laws on how to handle appointing a “Temporary Clerk” to fill the vacancy. Based on the language printed in the packet, it sounds like upcoming Town Meetings will be more complicated:

If at a town meeting the office of town clerk is vacant, or if the town clerk is absent, the meeting shall elect by ballot a temporary clerk. The selectmen, or in their absence three persons chosen at the meeting in such manner as the voters present shall determine, shall receive and count the votes and declare the election of such clerk.

However for “other duties than those required of a town clerk at a town meeting”, the Select Board can appoint a temporary replacement. The replacement does not need to be a Southborough resident or voter.

Eliminating the residency restriction for the clerk position is one of the things Hegarty had hoped to achieve by pushing for a switch to an appointed position. In March, Hegarty told the board that since he was elected, the complexity of the job had increased dramatically: 

There are over 400 sections of the Massachusetts general laws that refer to actions of the courts. So, it’s a pretty steep learning curve to do this properly.

In 2015, voters elected Hegarty to fill the shoes of Paul Berry, who retired mid-term after more than 40 years in the role. The job was a second career for the retired agent of the FBI. He ran unopposed in the years since.

Hegarty’s resignation is the first item listed on the agenda for the Select Board’s meeting that opens at 6:30 pm on August 11th.

The post Town Clerk retiring on September 30th appeared first on My Southborough.