Five days after the Board of Selectmen voted 3-1 to appoint Selectman John A. Hurd to complete the last year of her term,Town Clerk Corinne M. Rainville has decided not to retire until April 2011,

Hurd was chosen Feb. 26 over five candidates, including Assistant Town Clerk Stephanie Lucarelli -- a vote that set off a firestorm of charges, including cronyism, as well as criticism of Town Counsel Juliana Rice.

Then, unexpectedly, Rainville, who had not said Jan. 21 why she was retiring a year early, sent the following letter to the selectmen on Tuesday, March 2:

Selectman John A. Hurd has defended his appointment as interim town clerk by providing for publication his letter of application for the position. Meanwhile, one of the selectmen who voted in the case, Annie LaCourt, has provided responses to questions, and Clarissa Rowe says she plans to respond. Diane Mahon, who voted against the appointment, offered comments to the Arlington e-mail list.

The day after Hurd was chosen among five candidates in a 3-to-1 vote Thursday, Feb. 25, YourArlington asked all involved a series of questions. Here are the questions, who responded so far and the responses:

2 selectmen respond to Globe

The Board of Selectmen, in a 3-1 vote, named one of its own as interim town clerk following five half-hour interviews Thursday, Feb. 25. Jack Hurd, a selectman since 1997, expects to step down from the board before Town Clerk Corinne Rainville leaves in April the position she has held since 1994.

The selectmen's office confirmed that board member Diane Mahon voted against naming Hurd and favored appointing the assistant town clerk, Stephanie Lucarelli. Selectmen decided to appoint an interim clerk rather than hold a special election, at a cost estimated at $32,000.

Former governor and 1998 presidential nominee Michael S. Dukakis on Saturday, Nov. 21, helped Arlington honor the late Margaret H. “Peg” Spengler, a major force in the shaping of the town over the last half of the 20th century.

As a professor at Northeastern, Dukakis said, "You gotta have passion" as a teacher. Spengler, he said, "had a passion for public service."

About 70 people, including many family members, heard a 2 p.m. program in Robbins Memorial Town Hall, which was followed by the uncovering of a bronze plaque in the lobby of the Town Hall.

At 1:30 p.m., preceding the Town Hall activities, a street sign at the entrance to Robbins Library was unveiled. The sign changed from Library Way to Peg Spengler Way, reflecting her contributions to Robbins Library began as a trustee in the 1950s and culminating as fund-raising chair for the library addition that opened in 1994.

Dukakis cited efforts involving him and his wife, Kitty, in Africa and in Cuba, where Yoani Sánchez, a blogger is "driving her government crazy." He made the Arlington connection: "I think of local democracy and what it takes to get involved and how important it is to local democracy for the Peg Spenglers of the world."

The national shortage of the vaccine for ordinary flu, which is affecting other Massachusetts towns, has caught up to Arlington. The town's Health Department vaccinated nearly 1,000 people against flu and pneumonia at the family clinic on Thursday, Oct. 8, but ran out of injectable doses in just 60 minutes.

Because of the shortage, the clinic set for Oct. 15 has been postponed until the Board of Health receives enough vaccine. The date is not yet known.