Government

Five Year Capital Plan Includes Middle School Project, Other Projects Pushed Back

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Rebuilding Watertown Middle School is the largest addition to Watertown’s five-year capital plan, and funding the $84 million project will require moving other projects to future years. The plan also includes projects that occur year after year, such as street and sidewalk repairs. City Manager George Proakis presented the Proposed Fiscal Year 2026-30 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) to the City Council on Jan. 28. The plan includes a grand total of $273 million, about $57 million more than the FY2025-29 CIP mostly due to the addition of the Middle School project.

Government

City Manager’s Update on Winter Parking Ban; Demolition Delay Review Request & Watertown’s Federal Grants

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Watertown City Hall

Following the multi-hour meeting about Watertown’s Winter Parking ban, City Manager George Proakis updated the City Council about next steps and urged residents to sign up for the City’s alert system. Also, Council President Mark Sideris requested a review of Watertown’s Demolition Delay Ordinance, and Proakis provided information on Federal grants received by the City. During the Jan. 28, City Council meeting, Proakis tried to summarize his presentation at the Jan. 21 special Council meeting on the request to remove the Winter Parking Ban.

Schools

Familiar Architecture Firm Picked to Design Watertown Middle School, Committee Concerned with Budget & Getting “A Team”

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Watertown Middle School

A familiar firm has been selected to design the new Watertown Middle School, but members of the School Building Committee had concerns about getting the firm’s “A Team,” and whether the City can afford to build the kind of school they want for the students of Watertown. Wednesday night, the School Building Committee selected Ai3 Architects to do the feasibility study for the new middle school. The firm that designed Watertown’s three elementary schools and the new high school. Ai3 was one of four finalists, and narrowly got the top ranking by the nine members of the committee. Each firm presented ideas for how they would approach building the school.

Police/Fire

Watertown Firefighters Douse Two-Alarm House Fire

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Watertown Firefighters battled a two-alarm fire on Westminster Avenue on Tuesday. (Courtesy of Watertown Fire Department)

Flames were coming out of a house on Westminster Avenue when Watertown Firefighters arrived Tuesday afternoon. The Fire Department extinguished the fire, which went to two alarms.

At about 3:45 p.m., calls came in for a fire on Westminster, said Watertown Fire Chief Ryan Nicholson. The resident noticed the fire and got out of the home before the Fire Department arrived, Nicholson said. “Members of (WFD) Group 4, under Deputy Chief (Dan) Tardiff, put a quick stop to the fire,” Nicholson said.

Around Town

Four Honored at Charles River Chamber’s First Watertown Business Awards

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Charles River Regional Chamber President & CEO Greg Reibman (left) and the recpients of the Watertown Business Awards: Archy LaSalle (accepted by Liz Helfer, second from left), Max Ritcey of Ritcey East, Tia Tilson of the Watertown Community Foundation, and O’Some Cafe’s Ricci Cheng. (Courtesy of the Charles River Chamber)

People packed the backroom at Donohue’s Bar & Grill to honor a pair of local businesses, a non-profit and a longtime arts advocate during the first annual Watertown Business Awards. Tickets sales f0r the sold-out Watertown Night raised money for the Watertown Boys & Girls Club. The Chamber presented awards for Customer Service, Business Excellence, Community Leadership, and the Nonprofit Impact Award after receiving nominations from the public. The Customer Service Award went to Max Ritcey.

Around Town

Small Earthquake of New England Coast Rattles Watertown

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A map of where Monday’s earthquake could be felt. The map came from the U.S. Geological Survey website. A 3.8 magnitude earthquake off the coast of southern Maine could be felt in Watertown on Monday morning. The epicenter was 10 km (about 6.2 miles) southeast of York Harbor, Maine, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake occurred at 10:22 a.m.

Town residents on social media said they could feel the trembler. Those who felt (or didn’t feel) the earthquake can submit a report on the USGS website by clicking here.