UPDATE: No School Tuesday, Elections On and Halloween Postponed

Whether the snow had hit Marlborough or not, the were not going to have school on Tuesday. They planned to be closed to students in order to host a professional development day for teachers, and allow the schools to operate as polling centers in many of the city's wards. 

"We didn’t have school scheduled for tomorrow," said Beth Wagner, a spokesperson for the district. "It was a professional development day for staff only. We’ve had to cancel the professional development day, however, because we still have four buildings without power."

The also notified parents Monday afternoon that Tuesday classes had been canceled.   had also canceled Tuesday classes by late afternoon. 

In addition, and the city's emergency management team have asked resident to postpone their trick-or-treat activities until Thursday. 

"The Emergency management team met this morning and due to public safety concerns has decided to postpone trick-or-treating until Thursday, Nov. 3," said a statement. "Areas of the City remain without power, and the presence of downed wires and tree limbs pose a danger to children and their families. Thank you for your cooperation."

A shelter was established Sunday evening at the . 

"Due to the snowstorm, The Whitcomb School is open as an emergency shelter," said a representative of the mayor's office. "There is limited food, heat and bathrooms. Please bring your own bedding material if you plan to sleep in the shelter."

There are, however, no showers available at the shelter. 

The city's local  as planned, however, with the polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Several polling centers were without power as of Monday afternoon, but will be equipped with generators throughout the voting period, said officials. 

While there has been no official update on a time frame for 100 percent restored service, the company's outage map is reporting an estimated completion date of Thursday, Oct. 3 for some residents. This is due widespread damage to infrastructure suffered during the storm. 

"As soon as we have estimated times of restoration we will let our customers know," said Debby Drew, spokesperson for the company. "We have a lot of limbs tangled up with wires, and we want to remind customers not to touch any wires at all as it is possible they are still live."

As National Grid brings in upwards of 2,000 ground crews from around New England, and much of the country, many residents are expressing extreme displeasure with the provider. 

Readers on Facebook and on various Patch articles have complained that service has not been interrupted for this amount of time in many years, save the recent loss of power after Hurricane Irene. 

"National Grid needs to be held accountable," wrote . "I'm sure they could throw more money at the problem and restore service faster, but are more concerned about watching their bottom line."

Also referenced was the fact that neighboring Hudson is dealing with far fewer issues related to the Halloween weekend nor'easter, and their municipal (nonprofit) power company is being given much of the credit by readers. ()

Marlborough residents have also been reporting issues with the cable television service since the storm. 

"At this time it appears the vast majority of problems are related to commercial power outages," said Marc Goodman, a Comcast Cable spokesperson. "For most people, service should be restored as power comes back on in their homes. As service comes on, however, we are seeing cases where more extensive damage (to lines and electrical hardware) is causing continued problems. We are going to work until service restored to all customers, and we are working closely with state and local personnel, as well as the power companies."

The city's trash collecting service and schedule remain unchanged. 

Governor Deval Patrick spoke with reporters Monday morning, saying that he has declared a State of Emergency and would be asking President Obama to declare a Federal emergency situation later in the day. 

He said there have been three deaths that have come about as a result of the storm and just under 500,000 residents were still without power as of Monday afternoon. 

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date on the latest Marlborough news, or simply hit the "like" button at the top of this page.