you got it thank you all right I am going to call to order the town of Andover Board of Selectmen regular meeting for Monday February 10th 2025 we are getting started at 7:04 our first order of business is the Pledge of Allegiance pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay first item up is public speak so I am going to start with Don Denley because he was the one that wanted to speak during the budget portion of this okay so so car I be you heard now I'm I'm online now yes you could be heard okay so just like to make a few comments about the budget which is looking like it's a dangerous place this year with the 8% in the Board of Ed two full-time positions and a couple of upgrades and spending in the thanks thanks for the eye roll I appreciate that yeah talking to me the spending the spending down down spending and I loss in the grand list which I didn't hear the explanation on but I'm sure I will at our town meeting which I'm happy we still have Town meetings my my concern in general has been the spending in public works where for many years we had three people in public works some older equipment that apparently was wellmaintained it lasted longer than we thought it would and now we have five people one very wellp paid supervisor and we have the same mileage same roads I hear this comments about cue saacs but I'm not a culdesac expert but I think there are some ways
in this budget needs to come down because otherwise it's gonna is going to be a huge hardship on on everybody you guys all know that just speaking to the choir here probably so I'll certainly be more involved in the the budget process and try to give input reasonable for Education always have been been in town for a long time and I've seen a lot of balanced budgets and hopefully we can bring it down a little bit so it's palatable for everybody thank you okay I'll move over Shannon Lowden and Jerry K are sitting together so you guys have at it good I'll go first I want to ask the board of Selman to support Carol Lee for the open position she's not only Republican party endorsed but the town Republican party endorsed her but the other people come before you have done that too Carol Le is different she's worked for you she worked for the town people like her she's Fair she's honest she's everything I think that would be good for your board of selectman I they she'd make an excellent member I'm also here to support Carol's candidacy I don't believe you could find a a better member who has more experience and knowledge about the town of Andover and cares about the town of Andover 26 years as our town clerk doing everything beyond what a clerk should be doing and tremendous involvement in lots of different activities and committees in this town I just think she would be a a tremendous asset to the board of Selectmen thanks
for your consideration Kathy and Mike pazi the only comment I have is representing the Republican Town committee and mentioning that I did forward a letter to the board of Selectmen endorsing Carol Lee that they had supported her 100% thank you Joan Ebert I'm all set right now thank you all right Liz latch hi I'd also like to just endorse Carol Lee as well she obviously has the experience knows the town inside and out and is fair well known by everybody and well liked by everybody I think you can't go wrong with her and I I guess I'll just leave it there you can't go wrong with her she's she's my
girl Danny Hol claw no comment I just I submitted mine and writing to to the members of the board of selectman prior to this meeting so thank you all right Scott so yet are you basically echoing what others have said Carol has been such a great asset to this town she would be fantastic on Miss San I have one other totally unrelated comment I happen to notice that the link to the Charter on the town website is still out of date it's still a 2022 version so I don't know whose responsibility is to put that the new version up there but I know it's out so at some point somebody could take that on okay Carol Le I would like to thank you Jeff and our town attorney for all of the nice comments that you made about J thank you Marcy Miner right I don't have anything new to say other than I just agree with what every I agree with everybody's saying about Carol Le I think she'd be a wonderful asset to the town she knows just about everything there is to know
about the town she's Fair she's reasonable like said I just can't go wrong with her U she's very popular so I think it would be unpopular to go against her so anyway that's it thank you guys for everything you do and U appreciate it okay elain bukar hi I'm just playing catchup I was out of the country most of the month of January and I'm shocked that Carol Lee is resigned so but definitely I I put in my hat for Carol she makes the most sent the board of selectman and even though she's not our town clerk anymore I know she's going to stay involved in everything in the town that she has been involved in thanks Diane graner okay Diane you're having trouble I'll come back to you Dave ganian hi Jeff the chief and I are here to address the question of the tax payment to fire department if you need if you have any questions Jeff you were muted sorry my dogs barking in the background Dave we'll come back to you at that point in time okay Kimberly p hi I sent an email in earlier today just supporting Carol Le and that's all I have to say for now thank you Valerie d nothing at this time I'm here for when you guys address the solar Stephen King I'm here in support of the artc candidate car and I think it would be a shame if she receives any less than 100% unanimous support from the current board thank you absolutely Ryan lerys hello I'm here solar okay understood Grace 's okay Diane grer do you have your your your
you there yet or no not yet but NOP I think we gotta re redo it Diane sorry okay I have a phone number that ends in two three four five is that attorney O'Brien not this one yeah that's attorney O'Brien okay you're good I'll skip nothing at this time Kaitlyn Macintosh I'm all at thank you Alicia I'm all thank you okay did I get to everyone besides Diane grer all right Diane grer I one more last shot is this one yeah we'll give it a go you sound like you have two two microphones on but go ahead no I don't oh I don't know what that is I don't have anything important to say we all missed Diane's birthday last month so that was sad and just saying not sad but happy birthday Diane all right we're g to move on to unless I missed anybody and somebody wants to say something we're going to move on to item three addition changes to the agenda does anybody have anything I would like to request that we move item 10 a to 6B its action related to the resignation of the town clerk Carol Lee I'd like to move it up
to underneath e the resignation of Walter we think it's it's appropriate that we talk about that before the appointment to the board I just want to clarify a couple items somebody second that for me I second that okay I just want to verify you know Jeff Murray you and I just this discussion on this you and I have spoken about Carol Lee and having Carol Lee work for the town as in a position I just want to clarify what our intentions are and make sure that the resignation has been processed so that's why I'd like to move it for those purposes so all those in favor I okay anything else that we need to add okay Don Denley yourself M most of the time oh forget it there you go unmute now now now you're muted thank you okay let's go to item four board and commission presentations do we have anything tonight Eric we do not do not okay item five appointments we don't have anything correct okay item six resignation we received in our packet a resignation from Walter Weir Walter has served on the board of of zoning board of appeals for as long as I've lived in this town and I know Walter ran into some hard times and had some illness and sad that we will have to be replacing
him on the boarding board of zoning appeals so if it was not for Walter I would not have my house as it is currently done and I know that is a happy days for the people that live across the lake and have to look at my mcmansion so I appreciate alter a lot okay item 6B action related to the resignation of the town clerk Carol Lee Carol if you could I just I just want to verify that you know I've had discussions with you over the last month related to this and I just want to hear it because what two things on my end one have you submitted your resignation to the Secretary of State's office I have was supposed to be submitted I was going to have the assist sign but it's all F so it's filled out and
not submitted but okay but so so we're all aware just want it to be stated you are resigning as the town clerk of the town of ad I am retiring because no I listen you and I both are aware I'm I'm very aware of you would rather not resign the town clerk's position I I and I respect that and I've even told you I didn't want you to resign as the town clerk I am asking I have to ask this very specific question are you resigning as the town cour okay thank you because because if not it had impact on the board of Select issue okay so now for the rest of us on the board listen none of us none of us on this board can question Carol's commitment to the town and what she's done for this town for the 26 years she served so let's all get out of our heads that there's something going on Carol is an unbelievable asset's community and hopefully will continue to be an AET Community Jeff are we going to employ Carol Lee as an as as an admin or in some function so that she can assist the town clerk's office in Handover moving forward well that is not my decision that is a board decision no I know I'm asking are we going to propose that that's what I'm asking I'm trying to get through so everybody is clear as to what
we're trying to do here because in my head you and I had a conversation with Carol Lee when she told us we both agreed without the other votes of the other members which I would assume they would vote with us that Carol is going to have a paid position in the town hall as some type of administrator to to fulfill she has a 19-hour requirement and we're going to pay her for her services to the community to assist in moving forward with the town cler's office I'm for it I'm telling you I'm in favor of that I just want to know that there would be agreement among the Other Board of selectman members to do that I'm just one of four so it's up to the other two members and you to to vote I mean I just say we we make a motion we discuss it and we vote on it okay I'm do everything else no no no I know I'm not this is this is this is a global like us just listen we have not talked anything about what's going on I'm just trying to
understand what we're asking to have happen I will make a motion that we sit there and authorize the Town Administrator to hire Carol Lee in an administrative position for up to 19 hours at a salary to be addressed with the other budgeted line items within in that area somebody gonna second that I did Scott seconded okay somebody rais their hands but I'm oh Eric raised your hint sure so I have a couple things to say and the the first is that You probably ought to discuss that in executive session because there are some implications since the majority of the workforce here is Union it would make it difficult in some ways for her to work in most of the offices as a nonunion employee okay I'm I'm going to respectfully I'm going to respectfully tell you we will discuss things in executive session but this is being done in public and I intend to do this in public so my solution which is what I propos to Carol but I don't think
she's going to go for is that there is no reason why she has to resign as town clerk yes there is town could simply make an agreement with Carol that she works no more than 15 hours a week and retains the title of town clerk as long as she wants which is what I suggested originally now but that also takes her wanting that and she apparently doesn't so but I want to and Eric Eric I I I understand I I've I've had that conversation with Carol I have address tried to address that with Carol that was my recommendation to
Carol we're in a different spot right now so I'm trying to get through the rest of this meeting to understand what we have to do and where we want to go I want the public now listen I'm going to be really honest with the public tonight so I'm going to tell the public as much as I possibly can related to every type of decision that's going to be made I I I really want the board of Selectmen on the record that we're going to hire Carol in some capacity whether she's a consultant whether it's a paid employee we are all committed to sit there and and hire Carol Lee to assist and go forward right how we do it Eric is a different thing you might tell us we have to do it this way the town attorney might tell us we have to do it one way we're going to figure it out but I'm trying to get to the point that Carol Lee listen we went and tried to do the charter revision issue to address this issue it just came up really fast Carol would never have given up her position as town clerk she loves it please everybody out here got to understand Carol loves that position is killing her that she has to retire and do what's right for her family but this is a situation where in so I'm just trying to go through this
so that we're all moving forward all the issues you are addressing are are detailed issues that we all have to resolve but on a global level this board has to sit there and all come together not Jeff Murray and Jeff Maguire and say that we're going to hire Carol Lee so the other two members have to weigh in on it and then we have to sit there and execute the process of what we're doing I mean Jeff I think we need to clarify this that this is going to be a consultant role only there's going to be she's not going to be doing any
direct work as town clerk this is just offering guidance and it would and her employment would terminate once we had a permanent Town Clerk and an assistant town clerk okay understood because that way that would that would that would that would help with the transition okay and you know I feel I I perod I I would really have loved to see that Charter revision pass because this wouldn't have been a non-issue we could have posted this position and and been out and hired somebody from another town a really good assistant town clerk possibly but we've got the cards dealt that we've gotten so we we have to do what we have to do to keep the town running understood and and I'm with you 100% And you know we both know that Carol Lee in her role as town clerk did a great job for the community great job for all the people and and it's just it's a Carol Carol was extremely sad when she announced that she had to do this so let's just put it that way let's all understand where we're at what we're doing so I just want to call it for a vote that we're going to move forward in that direction with everything Jeff Murray said with every all the details will be will be put out there but we're all in agreement that we're going
to offer some level of employment or Consulting contract to Carol Lee to assist in the transition of the town clerk's office right so all in favor I I just I just want to make sure she's got her name in for the position on the board of Selectmen I just want to make sure this doesn't interfere with that no no no what she said before was one issue I had to address I had to address that she effectively resigned and this this is not this will have implications to that because but it will not imp it doesn't sit there and say discount her from being one of the the candidates no okay all right so you're voting yes okay four nothing okay all right so just so I
I'm going to reiterate Carol effectively stated on our meeting we have because we don't have a piece of paper this was always my issue that and and Dennis I'll come back to you in one second this was always my issue with what Carol wrote to us as a board that she was announcing her retirement and her retirement and her resignation from the position of the town clerk to me were two different things to to other members of the board to the town attorney they were the same thing I sat there and looked at it very I looked at it as she is announcing her retirement and as an elected official she didn't need to resign her position as town clerk and I'm going to go through with everybody here what I wanted to do which was similar to what Eric wanted to do I wanted Carol to retain the position of the town clerk because it's an elected position she could have kept the title as town clerk we could have worked through even gotten to the next election if we needed to and it would have eliminated some of the the issues related to the problem interactions between the Town Clerk and that Town Administrator so I'm just sitting there expressing that that's what I wanted done I wanted to avoid some some level of drama that's what I had hoped would happen I understand from Carol's perspective and it was Carol's choice and I always told Carol it was her choice but I had to get an understanding if she effectively resigned because if she didn't resign the two positions of
towned Board of Select member and town clerk are incompatible now attorney O'Brien I know wants to speak toward that so I'll let him go ahead and do that well I I you know I'm I'm still I'm still a little fuzzy on what you're doing I I I don't Carol has just said that she hasn't filed a resignation letter yet I wanted to know if an assist the assistant town clerk is an assistant town clerk working in the town clerk's office now yes has that assistant Town Court been appointed yes by you Carol yes so have you have you notified the Secretary of the state's office [Music] yes okay so that's all set cor do you have an assistant town clerk in in in the town clerk's office
yes and she's official yeah I I assume it's a she I think I've heard that okay so I'm not I'm still unclear on what your what her position Jeff is going to be with the town is it exclusively in the town Court's office we're going to work out the details okay you know I I I I'm I'm troubled a bit because there some of you may know this but there is a state statute on incompatible Town positions and one the first one that's mentioned in the statute is Town Clerk and board of selectman and I'm not sure it applies to an assistant I'm not sure it applies to this the position that Carol will have if it's not just as a consultant but it really leaves me up in the there as Town attorney in determining whether that statute applies to Carol's situation given that she is a candidate for the board of selectman I'm concerned about it okay understand I don't know the answer be I don't know the answer because I don't know what you're doing with the position and I'm I'm I'm you know I'm a little bit we have a lot on this because attorney O'Brien we have a lot of issues we have a lot of issues related to this this is not a simple thing this has not been a simple thing we're we're trying to work through all the issues but right now we have we have a resignation that Carol is verbally delivered to us I realize it's not an effective res resignation because she hasn't submitted it to the Secretary of State which is
problematic but understood I'm going to I'm going to we're going to move forward with the rest of this we as a board understand Carol Carol is Carol is listen Carol is the town clerk's office has been the town's clerk's office and and and right now still is the town clerk's office she's working to train someone it's okay we're all we're we're going to try to do the best that we possibly can related to that situation right now the fact then is that all the paperwork hasn't been filed and the fact that we haven't moved forward as quickly as we would have liked that's an issue there's no doubt anybody you can sit there and say whatever you want there's issues but we're going to overlook those issues to move forward and try to get to the next step of this so does anybody on the board have any issues related to what we just did okay so now I want to move on to item seven appointment of new board of selectman candidates and I I would like to go through and do the interviews I
had called each one of the candidates over the weekend I expressed to them that they each have three to five minutes to speak and then the board of Select members could ask questions and then we would move to Executive session and and come back and vote on this so I'm going to start with Carol Le because you're 7A Carol if you'd like to make a statement to to the board and to the residents and attendants you're on the clock thank you and as you said I served over 26 years in the clerk's office I sered five terms five terms for and Charter rision commissions please mute sorry and sorry Carol Carol one thing are you and Don in the same area he's I had yes okay so he's got to turn off he's got a mute on his machine as best he can right or if you're on this you're not on the same machine so you got two different machines somewhere but go ahead Carol and I apologize I'm currently on the recreation and the memorial I've volunteered in several areas of town senior lunch program Friends library and the veterans Monument forck dedicated to our town and I will be committed searching and recs of our residents I believe that my background public service [Music] are oh you're Carol thank you are are at complete your all set I was not watching the clock but I think I'm within the five minutes oh my God Carol you are within the you are within the timeline I don't even think you went far enough to sit there and say everything that you've done for the community so
please understand that I mean I'll be honest there's only there's Carol Lee and there's Kathy bloy there's only two people that donate that much time and energy to this community without a doubt but Carol I want to ask you a couple questions okay Carol have you registered as a republican I have not so I'm un Affiliated you're una affiliate okay and then Carol what's your your professional relationship with the Town Administrator Eric Anderson I worked with Eric many years he's here I I'm sorry you echoed I didn't hear that part what are you asking I'm asking you about your personal relationship with Eric Anderson do you have a good personal working relationship or do you have a bad personal bad relationship what is this status I as far as I'm concerned I have an okay working relationship and I do not have a problem with him okay now that that's kind of hard for me
to to sit there and and deal with because from my standpoint you know a lot of what I have to do as for selectman is to sit there and run interference between the town administrator's office and the town clerk's office back when you were the town clerk so it's hard for me to sit there and and believe that you have a good working relationship with the Town Administrator because and I can give you some some really easy examples I mean order point of order this is this is nothing to do with her discussion of election to the seat it doesn't point of order yes it does yeah I agree it does for me I mean I'm trying to sit there je if you're playing politics let's just get on with yes are if I'm playing politics no relationships with employees or anybody it has no bearing on us like no bearing whatsoever and all your questions should be stricken from the record if you would like to make that recommendation you go ahead Mr Murray I would like to strike Jeff McGuire's questions about carolene the Town Administrator be stricken from this meeting and this record anyone G to second that I'll second that all right all those in favor all those opposed okay any other questions for Carol so just to answer that I've always kept everything professional with and the only other thing that I would like to request is that you discuss my candidacy in public session please not executive understood that's acceptable to me is it acceptable to every every
other member here okay all right let's move on to don Denley Don you can please unmute now okay Carol if you could turn off your microphone for a second how do we do that Carol be able to speak you should be able to speak y we can hear you not okay I'm not I'm not a Electronics specialist that's for sure I'm Donald dley let's be clear Carol Lee is the heart and soul of this town I'm here to offer to serve my town if needed I'm an Handover resident since 1990 served on the Inland Wetland committee two Charter revision committees and eight years on the board
of Finance I'm an army veteran self-employed businessman have a bachelor's degree in business administration with an accounting major I'm here hoping that the vacant selecting position gets filled tonight I'm more than willing but I've seen two qualified endorsed candidates Lua Lee and Stephen King passed over for this Republican seat I would hardly endorse and prefer that you select Carol Lee to be our next select thank we could move to 7B but I'm assuming we're not going to move to Executive session so we're going to have this discussion in public everybody good with that okay do we want to talk to Danny Hills CL and see who's on the agenda
Danny is on the agenda but Danny sent us a letter withdrawing his name from consideration and endorsing Carol Le okay as long as that's read in the record why don't we want to have an ex an executive session je because Carol asked that we do this in public I mean if you guys want to go to Executive session for a second we can go to Executive session but we should really have this conversation in public because here's my thing Scott and I am I am I am I've tried to not everything I've ever done in the six years that I've been the first selectman has try not to have any drama I've tried not to have any drama even with this and the goal is to sit there and put a member on this board but we you know you you you you're going to get push back saying that you know it's a Democrat and a power play I Was happier with three Republicans and two Democrats on this board we were more productive we were more collegial we got things accomplished we never had a problem so and I need everybody in the public to understand that the prior board was three Republicans and two Democrats and we never had a problem never ever had a problem never never well and actually let's not lie let's not we had problems but you know what we did we handled them in
private and we had conversations in private and we dealt with so it's very it's it's very much understanding that this is not Democrat like there's people on this board that are trying to this this is this is not how it went and I'm going to explain I'm going to you know we need to talk about the people but I'm going to explain the last time we had this candidate position was when in 200 177 2018 2018 at that election no 2019 I apologize 2019 myself Jeff Murray Scott Bron Eric Anderson and Adrien mandaville all won positions on this board and when Our Town Administrator at that time resigned to take another position position we wanted to appoint Eric Anderson and the four members the five members of the board or the four members of the board sat there and came to an agreement that
okay we would sit there and do that and at that point in time Eric was a Democrat we sat there and said okay to facilitate this we want to sit there and put a republican on the board and we compromised we put a republican on the board and we asked that it be a female member because we were five males and we didn't feel that that was appropriate and to be really honest Paula King came on and she was the recommendation but you know what I've looked at this Paula King did not get endorsed by the Republican Town committee she was brought to us by the other two members the Republican members of our board and we voted on Paula to put her on our board it didn't get endorsed by the Republican Town committee so this whole endorsement thing is is new to me right but Paula was the best I miss Paula I would take Paula back in a heartbeat to get all of this stuff over with and as you you may or may not hear from Scott I I don't like the drama and I don't like the biering but there are reasons why everything has has happened and I'll sit there and I'll go through I'll go through each one just so everybody understands the first time we voted Mr King he was going to be he was going to be a difficult person to put on this
board because we would have had another member of the board resign and we would have been difficult position so I chose not to vote for Mr King I would have voted for Joe Godwin and I did vote for Joe Godwin he was a reasonable member he of the community he sat there and put in a letter I could understand Jeff Murray not voting for Mr wasn't endorsed by the Republican Town committee that's fine I can understand an K not voting for that person because she's a Democrat you know the Democrats on this board are responsible for not putting somebody on on this board we
should have all been able to agree and put someone on this board that was acceptable to all three members and it's not an issue at least for my end of anything other than balance on this board because I believe everybody that is trying to put somebody on this board has an agenda related to what they're trying to do that's my personal opinion that's how I've looked at this and I'm going to move forward and continue to do that because I'm not here you know to be really honest I know Jeff Murray is RTC through and through and through the DTC kicked me
out of the DTC I'm no longer a DTC member I couldn't attend the meetings so I'm not a member I've been ostracized from the DTC they didn't help me through any of the issues related to The Campaign nothing they helped an cre get elected they did they did a good job with that and it's causing us our own problems internally they didn't help me at all either yeah so so I look at myself I have a big a on my head it's Andover and it's only about Andover so me too we we can keep moving on so now we have to talk about Carol Lee and I know where Jeff and Ann are kind of come from and I'm going to tell you Carol Lee where I am I I Carol Lee knows that I'm extremely honest with Carol and I I tell her the truth and I tell her what I believe to be the truth and there's nobody better for this town than Carol Le but that doesn't mean that she's the best person for this board of Selectmen and and the reason why I would tell you that is because as chairman of the board is what I consider myself I'm not the chief executive officer I'm the chairman of the board I try to manage what goes on within the town I try to tell the Town Administrator where he should focus his time and energy and to be really honest we don't have a lot of money money so it's not as if you know me having a Democrat on my my line
means that I'm a tax and spend Democrat I think Don dley sat there and said in my first campaign if you want hire you vote Maguire well I really I really haven't been able to sit there and increase taxes because we don't have a tax base so you know what comes out of it is it comes out of the taxpayers like the people that own homes in this community and we have to pay for everything so so we've been trying to manage our money my issue with Carol Lee is very simple she has terrible relationship with Eric Anderson the Town Administrator and and I'll say that very publicly and very honestly I deal with more problems between the town clerk's office and the town administrator's office it was the same situation as to the last candidacy of Alicia and I expressed that to the other members of this board when I voted no on that candid candidacy as well because we as a community have to ask ourselves or me as the board of directors and my position I have to ask myself is it worth putting on somebody that's going to sit there and deal with someone that has such a slanted view to the Chief Executive Officer of our community that's what I'm dealing with has nothing to do with Carol Lee and how well and what she tries to do for the community because she does do a great job it has to do with how the of the board is situated and what we have to do to move forward I will get a response from the other members of the board of Selectmen that you can't house the the
Town Administrator without four votes that's true but you can make the job of the chief executive office of this community a living nightmare that's what I've been trying to avoid that's where I've been at for each one of these people Scout person and I communicate we do I have had zero communication with Jeff Murray or or an KET related to any of these people that have been there I've had some conversations with an KET and and in the beginning but I realized that that's it didn't it wasn't working because I couldn't convince her to vote for a reasonable candidate like beata again gamsky who was recommended by Paula King Paula King recommended Bata for the position couldn't get Miss KET to vote for her so we're in this position we're currently in with Carol Lee I am not this not personal on Carol Lee has nothing to do with her personally she is a valued member of this community does more for this community than I can ever imagine and I can't do doesn't mean that I want her to sit on my board the board of Selectmen as it currently exists your board huh your board right it is my board not your board a board of five people Jeff correct you get V I'm only one vote I'm only one vote y I'm only one vote I'm trying to express to the community and I haven't gone into all of the details that I would like to because we still need to get a member on this board well do you know what do you know what the details are gonna happen Jee and this is what I'm gonna tell you what gonna happen
right now go ahead these people all these people on this meeting right now want Carol to be seated we're going to make sure that's going to happen and if we have to petition for a special election to make that happen it's going to happen okay you and Scott are going to look like a couple fools because she she's going to get overwhelmingly elected let me finish she's going to get overwhelmingly elected we are going to waste thousands of dollars that we don't have in a special election because you two want to play politics enough is enough politics politics is a tricky word Jeff because when you say just because you're protecting you are just let's get it out there Jeff you are protecting the position of Eric Anderson I am yes you are in I know what I'm doing he done a lot of things in this past and I'm going to wait you want to air it out now let's air it out because done a lot of things that are questionable in the past and we want to make him accountable and you keep covering for him enough is enough okay so so so let me ask you Jeff when we moved so in October we voted on Stephen King and Joe Godwin and we skipped the November session because you you Carol sent us a note stating that and we're talking politics right Carol sent AE not out stating that hey
we don't have we didn't post this in the paper so let's post this in the paper and sit there miss it but when yeah let's give everybody a chance to apply for it we give it 30 days that's what we usually give 30 days for okay but that but that's not what my point is my point is Republican town the Republican Town committee had their their meeting on the 28th of that month or the 27th of November we decided that we would post that and move it on the 29th you already knew who your candidate was so to my point to my point you want play politics I I took it as hey maybe that Carol and Jeff Murray didn't want anyone to know that Alicia Lee was going to potentially be the candidate for the board right before the election and it might impact the outcome of the town clerk vote on the on the charter I don't think it would have ever ever voted it but you want to talk about sweeping it
under the covers that's what you did so I'm just giving everybody a fair chance to apply for the position whether you already knew who you were picked that was an endorsed candidate but you can still you can like what you said earlier Jeff you can you can vote for a non- indorsed candidate which Paula King was Paula King was in you in your own words I that's right I W you won't as a member Vice chair of the RTC I have to honor the RTC for who they who they endorse yeah Point Blank I agree with you I know I know I know listen Jeff you you told me you didn't even go to the RTC meeting where Mr King was endorsed because you knew the situation that we were I was not in the state when that happened yeah I wasn't I didn't even know they were gonna endorse anybody to be honest with you I had no clue whatsoever what was okay listen we've had good candidates that we've had
the opportunity to deal with I'm telling you where it's going to go if you two continue down this path this is where it's going to go and we're gonna waste a lot I would love I would love and well and and listen listen let's even go because we're doing this all in public Jeff it's really hard for me as as a member of this board to sit there and give you a potential candidate and you to tell me that that person is too close to me and you couldn't work with them you couldn't endorse them that's unacceptable to me of course it is Jeff because you can influence anybody you want and between you and Scott you two can control their board with that third person and I I was not going to let that happen voted let's get it out there let's get it out there that was I was I am I am fighting to not let that happen when when when I have a comment too but one last thing and and I'll let you go Jeff Murray when what has been the biggest vote that you and I have taken that we haven't agreed on I'll give you just only one I know is the bike this one right here this one right here this one's the worst but this
this this one's because you never talked to us you never sat there and said could we do this you you you Jee you don't want to listen Jee you want to ram through whatever you want anybody else and that is your agenda that's my agenda it is to your agenda you just admitted and to everybody in public that is your agenda my agenda is to have balance on the board let's have I I'm I'm on for a public vote let's just have a let's just have a vote and let's let the public it's not what's in the charter we can petition for a special election we can petition and go ahead a couple of things one is that I don't wouldn't say that we would necessarily have bicker ing I think we would have a difference of opinions I think it's a lot better to have difference of opinions that we can e civil discuss instead of having sheep that follow along which is the I feeling I get if you have all five people always agreeing on something so I think a difference of opinion is healthy and we should allow somebody else in and I'm thinking that as far as Carol is concerned I think it'd be better for the relationships to have Carol on the board of Selectmen than to have her in the town clerk's office in the town clerk's office she was always just down the hall from Eric and there's a lot of chance to have the interactions with her on the board of selectman you're going to have
less problems than you've had that's my opinion thank no it's up to the two of you do you want to have a special election or not that's where it's going to go because after tonight that's where it's gone because we've gone three times with this and that's what I'm G to push for because I've had enough I've had enough of you guys playing politics it's time to move on Jeff you make me chuckle you are the most politically active member of this board out of any of us it's the truth look Jee you're the one that came out tonight attacking Carol I did not attack did youing said she canot get along with Eric I am expressing to the community my biggest concern about this situation well I'm telling you where I'm at and let's let's go we'll just vote and then we'll move on because we're done talking about this apparently so you guys made your bed let's you guys can sleep in it we'll just move ahead oing we gonna have a vote I'd like to nominate Don Denley for border of selectman that doesn't need a second no one does not need a second it does not need a second right okay so I just all those in favor all those opposed Bond dley yes okay I'd like to nominate Carol leaf for the office of
selectman okay all those in favor all those opposed thanks for wasting the town's money guys I really appreciate it okay we've had great candidates that we could have put in just letting you all know Bata gamsky would have been a great person Joe Godwin would have been a good person we could have ended this in October so don't put this on Scott and I that we didn't sit there and have opportunity of course you guys have voted down three nominees in a row so it is on you too so if there's anybody to blame for the special election it's the two of you it's on you guys there you go and then and then when and then when we have issues that creep up which they were going to creep up then we'll sit there and all have to deal with the ramifications of all of that okay so we are now moving on to item eight the Town Administrator report okay I did not put a written report in the packet my focus right now is primarily on the budget I did want to say a couple of things we had the preconstruction meeting for the Bunker Hill bridge that is on schedule with an expected closure date for Bunker Hill Road At the Hop River approximately April 1st so things are going relatively well there we did
get all the sound deadening material installed in the community center so the main room in the community center is much more user friendly now work is ongoing on the kitchen we should have a fairly functional kitchen minus the stove in about a week we still have to figure out what we're going to do for the main vent in the kitchen so that's basically all I have in terms of Town Administrator stuff unless you as a board have questions for me anybody have any questions for Eric okay item 9A a community center signage to discussion that one's still on me I have to sit there and deal with Elaine now that she's back in the country and and deal with the gentleman that did the signage on Route Six so we'll put that off till next meeting as well 9B discussion of blight and level of involvement we have the list there does anyone have any questions related to any of those items on the no and just one item real quick on that echnically I believe at this board of Selectmen meeting they will be appointing the new zoning enforcement officer who will then become the blight officer so we should as of next month have a new blight enforcement officer also you mean the next plan and Zoning meeting correct sorry what did I say where to select oh I said that by the next Board of selectman meeting we'll have a new blight enforcement officer Zeo okay nine c solar at AES we all received a significant information from the board chair the bo the B the Boe board chair for as anyone want to sit there and say anything about solar project here I
know I'm waiting for the Board of Education meeting on Wednesday but anybody have any issues they want to bring in public about the documents that we received believe I think they should be reviewed the the whole contract should be reviewed oh 100% but does anybody have any I just wanted to tell you Ryan lerys that's logged on here Ryan lerys is the person since 2022 that has been working with AES our boards from 2022 until now and so I asked him to come on because I know that there were some questions and concerns and this way you guys had a chance he's graciously come on to our Board of Education multiple times so I figured this way you guys would be able to I know he and Eric have already spoken so that's Ryan hi Ryan how are you oh good evening
good I I'm not sure that we were prepared to ask you any specific questions on the contract since we just received it last week but I'm sure as we move forward we will probably have some questions so apologize that you had to sit through our first hour of our meeting but we will sit there and move forward and and try to get you some questions maybe we'll sit there and get them written out so maybe you can answer them by email which might be more efficient okay yep that sounds good I'm available anytime all right any of the other members have any other anything specific they'd like to ask Ryan since he's sitting anybody okay Ryan thank you very much thank you yep 9d the fire department requests for self-contained breathing apparatuses this SC CBA those were approved by CIP and are included in the budget they are included in the capital budget that I gave you corre with a breakdown of what how that would relate to the capital budget and I think you have the fire chief on the call if you have any specific questions regarding SCBA because he can answer those far better than I can you said the chief was on the phone yeah I think he and Dave ganian are both on the same line so Dave or M I mean either one of you guys just give us a little outline just so the public understands what the request is for and why so if you would Fire Commission put in a request for 20 self-contained breathing apparatus units
the current ones we have now I can't even tell you I'd have to say they're well over 20 years old that I know and the problem with them that we have now is every time one of those air packs goes out for any kind of repair it's almost a$ thousand bill for a repair so we're at that point now where we're spending you know on a yearly basis we're probably spending as much to repair packs as it would to buy a new one each year the problem with buying them at separate times is the fact that the technology changes over the
years just like everything else the last time we bought the 16 packs we have now was done through a Federal Grant and they were all bought at one time so all the technology on them was all the same so at two o'clock in the morning when we're trying to put on a pack in the dark you know it you know like the back of your hand because they're you know they're all the same versus having pack from two years ago versus a pack that was made today and the request is for 40 of them isn't that accurate or 20 of them I I believe and I don't have the Fire Commission stuff in front of me I believe they put in for
20 it was 42 bottles but I I'm not sure if they because you you have two bottles to a pack the NFPA requires one one B one spare bottle per pack but I I'm not sure if that went through CIP or if just the packs did because I know that the bottles that we have right now the the bottles have a shelf life of 10 years on static testing and right now we are like 30 of our 45 bottles that we have now are pretty good for probably close to another 10 years you know between eight to 10 years time so we can take those bottles and use them with the new packs and what we've been doing is replacing four or five bottles a year year to keep current with what we have I believe the request was just for the air packs okay yeah the official request was
for 20 SCBA tanks and then 40 harnesses was what they requested okay all right I know that's been approved by CIP and I knew it was in the budget that we we saw so 9e fire department request and CIP approval for the cabinet and countertop replacement in the fire department I believe that that is being taken out of the current year budget in the $20,000 range Eric yeah that's correct pending three bids from the board of fire Commissioners or the fire chief that will presumably be taken out of the building maintenance fund money currently in the building maintenance fund okay and we have not approved that because we did not vote on that at the prior meeting correct we said we would do it but we wanted the quotes and we wanted to understand the final dollars correct and I left that on because I don't have that for you yet okay 9f a fire department request for the tax abatement we we have the request there is a document in this package the town attorney also sent us an updated
document that we should share with the the Fire Commission so that they're aware of of the wording changes no structural changes but then we should sit there and review that and because we're not going to really vote on the town meeting for this issue we actually have a little bit of time on this we may have to come back on the town meeting after the board of of Education meeting so I'm just letting you know so on this one unless we want to review it unless somebody wants to review the tax batement document that's in here or the tax batement document that the attorney the attorney if you want me to explain what I've done with it I will I can do that
really briefly well sure go ahead well I won't go over it line by line but I mean I think they did a wonderful job with it but I just changed I I made some cosmetic changes that I thought were some were I thought necessary especially near the beginning the title whatnot but some of it I I just put it in language that I thought was more appropriate for an ordinance and cosmetically appropriate and and I didn't change very much of it I thought the essence of it the details the substantive requirements and I researched this in the statute was all absolutely correct and it's just it's just a minor cosmetic review and change of it and that's that's all I can say Okay for the community's understanding the the tax abatement
level went from a th000 to potentially 2,000 the $2,000 tax abatement is based upon number of years that fire department built up to that and it's a retention issue to try to get people to be engaged in the volunteer fire department all right any anything else related to the 9f okay let's move on to 10B senior Transportation repairs to the Dodge Caravan sure so I put some information in the packet but basically currently there's two issues wrong with the Dodge Caravan so that everybody knows the Dodge Caravan is a handicapped accessible eight passenger vehicle that is used for senior Transportation so there's two things there's been some some damage to the side skirts to the vehicle which have had two causes the first is rust and the second is impact that need to be replaced and the second thing is the transmission itself is failing we did manage to get the vehicle to public works but it's not drivable as it is without a rebuilding the transmission So currently those two items would consider considerably overexp the senior Transportation maintenance line item so I'm bringing it back to the board for suggestions as to what we're going to do with that vehicle my suggestion is given the cost of a replacement that we're probably going to have to go ahead
with this because we can't afford right now to be short one vehicle if we're still going to provide transportation service to the school and be able to handle the other calls that we have so do you have any questions for me on that what year is it Eric it's a 2014 so it's 11 years old at this point there any grants out there for us to be able to replace that anytime soon they just opened the next funding round for the Fed Federal Transportation grants the town will apply for a new vehicle and we'll also so we will apply for the traditional and the non-traditional funding through that program with the state however best case scenario if we apply now and the application is due in April we wouldn't have another vehicle for another calendar year so it's going to be best case scenario even if we get the Grant on the first time around it's going to be another year before that vehicle gets replaced how much is the transmission 9,000 so we got three we ended up getting three bids the initial bid was $9,000 we finally got a signed bid from Terry transmission for about 4,800 and another one from Mike Smith's Transmission in Danielson that was 4500 you know both for full rebuilds so you going to take the money so my suggestion at this point is that we take the money from contingency because we haven't tapped contingency for anything and we don't there's certainly no where else within the senior Transportation budget that we can take though that level of expenditure so
it's going to have to come from outside the senior Transportation budget okay so do you need us to vote on this so that you can do it is that what you're asking us to do yes I'm voting I I would ask that you vote to authorize both of those expenditures the replacement of the Sid skirt body panels and the replacement of the transmission now you talked about getting three transmission quotes did you get multiple body quotes we attempted to we brought it to multiple body shops but because the Sid skirt panels are part of the mobility package that they build in with the ramps we tried the local olers and we tried one other place and neither of them will quote that because they can't get the Mobility Works as the only company that can get the actual body piece to go in there so that looks like that's our only shot if we're going to replace that where's that shop I think Mobility Works is in East Hartford so who are you going to send it so you're asking for almost a total of $10,000 to put into that vehicle
correct basically 4600 and you know 3300 so not quite that much not worth it not worth it it's not worth repairing because I guarantee there's more rust if the rocker panels are rot rotten there's going to be a lot more damage under there that's going to be due to be replaced it's just a matter of time you're going to put $10,000 in this thing in a year from now it's going to have more rot the question is what do we do with the vehicle and what do we do with the the residents that need the use of that vehicle I mean and Jeff can we lease can we leas with you can we lease can we least a handicapped accessible van I don't know the answer to that question I have not pursued that can we see if we can lease for a gap because I can guarantee you we're going to spend less than $10,000 the lease and we're going to get a reliable newer vehicle we are planning on going to town meeting yes we are you have to sit there and and and what I suggest in the future is we look at the Toyota minivans because they're all the new the new siennas are all hybrids yeah and they're very very reliable can I speak to that Jeff sure go ahead and the reliability of the hybrid we just took that into Lynch Toyota because of the battery itself I believe that there was many hybrids during the last cold spell that brought Lynch Toyota an overwhelming amount of vehicles at that time I
would recommend not getting a Hybrid next time only because of the cold of New England and the impact that it has on the battery so we were without our brand new Rav 4 that and we were out without that for several days that impacted the our medical transportation and what was the problem exactly it was too cold and it malfunctioned and they had to restart the battery did you pre-warm the battery in the hybrid before what drove it we do pre-warm our batteries we do pre-warm and we do have an inspection procedure that the drivers do do and that lasts anywhere from 15 minutes to a half hour well the hybrid is under warranty so if there's any issues it should be repaired that's correct I have I have no charge and what happened was we were still without the vehicle for at least three days and and and to be honest to be candid test that could happen with
any vehicle that we purchase it could right and and and I have a I have a Tesla EV and I've driven it in 10 degree and zero degree weather and I have not had an issues so that's I I'm just telling you Jeff that I know and I I'm just telling you it's a couple days and so I wouldn't I wouldn't I would not let that keep me from driving from purchasing another hybrid yeah because if we just buy another Dodge is just going to rot out as quickly as this one and I agree with you there but at the same time we have medical clients that are expecting to get to their appointments and I would rather not take the three days and try to rearrange that so if you have a solution I am more than happy to hear it Jeff but otherwise well all right so next time that happens again with the dealer I would have requested a loner y that would have been easy they have looners there they would have easily giving you laer if you would have explain the situation they knew the situation Jeff I was very capable to explain the situation maybe that's why we need that garage to get built soon because I we didn't have any problem with our hybrid Sienna because we hadn't the garage overnight we could drive it in the cold weather just fine well I can tell you by experience that Lynch Toyota was overwhelmed with the amount of hybrid vehicles that were in their PL in their office or in their shop at that time and they were then this is a 2024 yeah that's what I have too all good information to sit there and deal
with absolutely Valerie Bruno has her hand raised so I I'm assuming she's gonna add to this conversation I just wanted to say since that vehicle is also like a vehicle that is that the school does work with the town you know we we rent it from you guys once this board of Selectmen makes a decision could you potentially have a conversation with us because since it's utilized the town could benefit from putting it through as our excess cost because it's utilized a portion of it for special education and so you know with excess costs the town does after it hits four and a half times the amount of per pupil spending they can apply for a little bit of a rebate with that so whatever you guys decide in the end if you could have a conversation with us maybe perhaps whatever it is you guys are doing with that vehicle since we are a part of utilizing it and it gets put on our materials for in kind perhaps
because we do use it for special education purposes there might be some benefit to the town understood all right thank you so why I I really don't want to spend that money Jeff on that vehicle I do think we probably need to sit there and look at doing it so [Music] Eric how quickly can you sit there and see about a potent I mean I sit there and I look at that that's a Specialty Vehicle it has a specialty lift you're not going to get a cheap lease on that really but you've got to give it a go to so we minimize our expenditures so can you find out if there are any possible leases for a Specialty Vehicle like that and then we as a board probably need to get together sooner than later on that to make a decision as to what we're going to do on that vehicle emails that's fine okay I'll try to get you the lease information okay I'll talk to Mobility Works tomorrow yeah see what they say I mean I'm assuming Mobility Works would be the one that would give you the lease or at least know where to go I do know excuse me Jeff yeah I do
know that when I did call Mobility Works that a used van to replace the one we have is upwards of $55,000 a new one and those are rare to find he said excuse me $45,000 a new one would cost $65,000 around around around 65 for a new one okay and then Eric just as a question when the company gave us the body well it wants to met Mobility Works did they identify any other structural yeah structural issues on that van that might be a test question I didn't deal with Mobility Works correctly Tess yeah I'm happy to answer that we took it to duboy Auto which is in town and then they referred us to olers olers referred us to another place what happened was there is a significant amount of rust one of those panels the runners it's called with fall fell off during route to a medical appointment and so the bear with me here when we took it to dub boy before they sent it out for transmission this is the second time we brought it in the second time they did say that there was a heating assembly hose that was leaking and forgive me I I think that was the diagnosis and that would have been $55 to repair okay but did they tell you you had any other significant structural damage to the vehicle no just the rust okay Eric see what you can do as far as a potential lease vehicle hopefully you can have some success there if when you get that information please just email it to the to the board and we will sit there and make a decision as to what to do as far
as repairing the vehicle right so Eric has Mobility seen the van yet and check the rust on under it or they just give you a quote on the skirts test again that's a test question pretty sure the vehicle went into Mobility Works because Mobility Works is the one that took off the other side skirt so they have seen the the vehicle it's correct okay we we probably need to get that taken in there and see if the like the frame or if it it was something that was holding up the skirts that rusted out and the skirt came off if the frame is still good we probably need to get a number for see how to replace all those attaching pieces we need to find out more information I'm say I'm what information you want SC well was just a side skirt that rusted out and it fell off and why did it fall off you know what what happened that it fell off tell you that because we don't wash our vehicles and they sit there rust on them for weeks on end right as aside from that Jee we need well that's I mean that's the reason we have this damage and we have this vehicle rotted out right and that's why last month I just said we need to get a contract for car washing these vehicles in the winter because they are just rotting out in front of us we can't with the price of
these vehicles we not keep just leaving them sit there and with salt on them all day it's not it's not right it's not a good thing to do for the taxpayers to just let their tax money sit there and rot away in the parking lot we got to get we got to do a better job of keeping these vehicles clean yeah that that's a solution that we know we need to move forward with she is what are we doing with this current I know Jeff but in my defense I've been advocating this for for six years now Eric already came up with a plan for that already he did but I want to know what's is there attaching points for the side skirts what rust it out actually is it the frame or what what needs to be repaired actually all we've heard about was the S skirt that's it they haven't heard what actually needs to be fixed Sid skirts didn't rushed off they fell off on the highway zones no no I I can they they fell off because it was rusted and they couldn't hold on there was nothing to attach to that's why they fell off okay so to Jeff Murray's issue please find out if there's more damage underneath that we're GNA come back in
another year and ask for more money yeah because once I mean to be honestly once it gets to this point you can't weld to rust it's it's you're gonna have to cut it back so far it's going to be irreparable yeah I I I Jeff Murray I do agree with you there I do agree that this vehicle is a 2014 it's probably seen better days obviously it is not in the prime of its life anymore but it does serve a purpose for our for the citizens of Andover being here four months we utilize that vehicle daily and it is a huge benefit to the town of andova residents or seniors and so yeah we're just sort of stock stock where do we pay the8 $8,000 to repair it so that we can take our seniors to their appointments or do we go without and so going without also means medical appointments but it also means different things that we use that vehicle for as well we got to find a solution for it I just I just I can't see putting money in this vehicle anymore if it's that rotten and and I said there's going to be more things that you can't see once that once those rockers rot there's going to be more damage underneath that it's going to come to light so how about this for starters it's sitting at public works now I'll have Zach take a look at it and give me his best evaluation about what's wrong
with the vehicle currently structurally and what he thinks is reasonable you know for repair and start what needs to be repaired exactly that's what what I would like to done now we know I mean I know because I own an identical vehicle to that same year same same model that those Vehicles all have transmission problems so if you told me that it needs a new transmission I would say yeah kind of most of them do by that point I've been waiting for a year or two for mine although it's gotten a lot clunkier it hasn't really it still runs so I've ignored it on my own vehicle but you know that I'm not surprised at the the rust thing that's a valid point M please do that Eric and get us an answer on that and then also try to find out if if mob Mobility Works or someone else has some type of lease program that we can sit there and replace that vehicle with quickly and if we can't get one quickly can we please get some price I know Tessa's got some pricing but let's get some pricing on a Toyota and a Dodge or and just evaluate the price because if we have to go that route and go public meeting sounds like it's enough of a important vehicle that we should probably move ahead and try to replace it excellent thank you Jeff okay item 10 C set a meeting date for
these of five items I'm still waiting for feedback from the AES Board of Education so at this point in time I don't think we're ready to set a meeting date related to these items we did receive the fire department tax batement the fire department engine financing so that's in our packet can you explain that to us Eric sure so as you know the town agreed two years ago now to purchase a new Fire Department Squad vehicle for the fire department and it will replace it replaces two vehicles it replaced the old heavy rescue vehicle and it also replaced one of the engine tankers the newer thing that departments are going to is basically multitasking so this one vehicle takes the place of two previous vehicles so it takes a long time to get them built we've been waiting for it for almost two years it's looking like sometime in the May June time frame it will be built and now it's time we do have to go to public meeting because even though we've approved the purchase we've never approved Finance details for that vehicle so that's what this represents one of the the financing options have we been saving for this yep okay so that's good how much money is in it so that's I'll tell you in two seconds it but remember that also takes into account if we approve the replacement of
the SCBA gear that would be $221,000 do of that the loan payment on the squad a 10-year loan payment is about $125,000 Which is less than what is that we're funding annually into the fire department Capital Equipment line so it doesn't actually take a spending increase but what that does mean is that with the payments on that squad over the next 10 years at that level of funding you know we only have about 3 $220,000 in capital funding available to the fire department okay so for everybody out there we've F been funding at 137,000 or $125,000 a year if we took a 10-year lease option we're talking $125,000 a year that would be we would have to keep funding that level funding for 10 years and there would be no
increase in the fire department fund correct okay so that's something for the Fire Commission to sit there and make sure that we're all in agreement with what we're we're currently working toward so we should sit there and and get with them and make sure that they're they understand what this is going to do to move forward so you're going to take 225 let's say 220 out for the scuba tanks that gets you down to 200,000 and then 125 so you'd really only have $200,000 left in that Fund in 10 years correct okay correct all right so that would have to go onto our eventual town meeting that we have right the bank line of credit just so everybody understands solar projects related to the Board of Education the bank line of credit is related to funding that I mean we don't have a line of credit within the town but it would help fund The Bunker Hill Bridge Project was 100% paid for but it would not allow it would not require us to take it out of our Reserve or our operational count we could use that if needed if we have got into a position where we had to use it fire department tax abatement everybody got the document that the town attorney sent we should share that with the Fire Commission the fire department engine financing is in here there's a seven-year 10 year and a 15year option we have to look at that and vote on that
option that we want to put in front of the town meeting and then there's an ordinance circling out there that the town attorney wrote relating to prohibiting dogs on athletic fields and recreational Fields within the town so that would also be voted at at town meeting anybody have any other issues relating to the potential town meeting so we're not going to schedule at this point no and you're going to try to do a special meeting to schedule or what is your we might do it at a special meeting we we we we what was the reason why we have to have a special meeting anyway we were talking about it before what were we talking about before that we had to deal with I mean we're going to have to deal with the the the repairs on the Dodge Caravan which was the other thing so if we have to have a special meeting that Dodge Caravan we'll sit there and also put that there but I want the I want the Handover Board of Education to weigh in on this before we do what we need to do okay fair enough okay item 11 the approval of a minute meetings for January 13 2025 anybody want to make a motion anybody have any adjustments I make a motion to approve the minutes of January 13th 2025 I'll second all those in favor I I all those vote I'm sorry I had audio issues what was the we were voting on the minutes yep I approved in favor in favor excellent item 12 Treasures report that starts on page 25 and continues down continues down till page 20 38 anybody have any questions or issues
related to the finance report okay let's keep moving I did not see was there a town Aid Road in there sumary Eric I missed that one I didn't see that one I don't think that made it I don't think that made it there were notion transfer there was an overe expenditure report we don't have and the summary of the audit status nothing Tax Collector's report actually what is there was a request I'm sorry I thought I saw something 12E overe expenditure report there's something filed in here so you were you were so I I filed that initially assuming that we were going to repair the vehicle so that request because I don't have the ability to authorize anything over $1,500 on a line item for a budget however since you've decided that you're don't want to approve the the repairs and that we're going to consider leasing
options you could hold off on approval of that now okay all right so we're going to bypass that we're going to go to item 13 The Tax Collector's report the dashboard starts on page 41 so we've collected we have a total tax base according to the dashboard 10,138 550 we've collected 7,727 74 still have $2.4 million left to collect in the final quarter of the year so we actually have two payments related to this we have is that accurate Eric just one payment left we have one payment left in March yeah one payment left got it okay this last month we collected $1.5 million and we have $2.7 million left to collect with taxes going back to right Tax Collectors update tax sale update attorney Cohen has agreed to assist of the tax sale we have to sign the engagement letter is the engagement letter included
in this yep starts on page 47 okay does anyone have any issues related with starting the tax sale process with attorney Cohen cumley anybody no who's whose signature is required Eric yours or mine I think it could be either if the board authorizes me to sign it I can sign it but you would have to motion to that effect or the board would have to authorize you as the first La been to sign it I'll make a motion that we authorize the Town Administrator to sign the Pullman and Colley a tax sale engagement letter second the process seconded by Scott
Persona anybody have any issues related to that all those in favor I I okay move forward with at and and just for the record all of the fees for the attorney are related to collection of fees from the tax sales cor right okay all right Department reports so the office of the cessor gave us a 2024 Grand lists which gives us a 2% decrease over the 2023 Grand list correct so that is driven by two factors one is it's driven by the fact that the State Legislature offered relief to disabled veterans so a fair bit of the real property although we did have a slight increase absent that in real property when you add that in that was a slight decrease in real property and the second and bigger contributing factor is that motor vehicle no longer get assessed based on na NADA values they get assessed by taking the MSRP of the V the vehicle as it was purchased and you know basically
devaluing that by the age of the vehicle so and there's a set formula for that so those changes both negative impacted the grand list in the town of Andover that's kind of a universal almost all towns Grand lists are decreasing this year because of the state regulatory okay all right we have all the department reports in item 14 the assessor's $4,000 generated from the building department Public Works report and anybody have any questions feel free to ask as I move through them okay and that's it for the departmental reports anybody have any questions okay item 15 correspondence Eric and no correspondence the only bit of Correspondence I got I got today which was somebody that sent me a letter stating that he does not feel it's appropriate for the town to put fluoride in any drinking water in the town of Andover which as most of you know we don't have any Municipal Water Supply so I don't think there's anything actionable I did also get a complaint
from somebody regarding the commuter parking lot on Route 6 and I informed them that that was state property and that they would have to address that with the state of Connecticut so that's basically it for correspondence okay Jeff could could I make a motion to add the executive session that was 7B to the end of our meeting you can you know you I'm assuming Dennis that that should have been done in the additions and deletions Dennis 7B it was we didn't we didn't talk about it tennis in 7B so oh the executive session on the m well you can do it you have to vote to do it you that's ever eason there I I would like to change it to the end of the meeting here right right now the 15a please State the purpose of the executive session please yeah you gotta you got State at purpose think about I'd like to make a motion to talk about changes in down V I have no problem discussing that in public we got something to say let's say in front of everybody Jeff Jeff please so listen we're going to go through public speak and Scott if I understand what you want you would like the four Board of selectman members to sit there and and have an executive session to discuss the current relationships or how we're how the Dynamics related to the board exactly okay no let's discuss it in public and I will vote no for executive session okay then then we don't need to do it because that wasn't the point it so if that's what Jeff and what what's your vote I don't see the reason for an
executive session right now no I've I've made my point extremely clear to to the board so I have no reason to go into executive session anything you want to say we can say it in public we don't need to hide behind executive session we need to talk in public and let people know what we're talking about okay so we're going to move on to item 16 which is public speak and I'm going to start with Don Denley am I am I on now you are okay all right well obviously you heard I want to thank Jeff Murray for standing up and saying the saying Point Blank what's going on in this town we've been stonewalled Again by the first selectman to put a great person in this position and we knew this was coming we we knew when you started your conversation giving all the accolades to Carol Le we knew you were going with this I've known you for a long time and
I know your personality you're you're a power hungry fellow okay you just are you've chosen your own self-interest and the support of Our Town Administrator who appears to be flawed at this point ahead of our town okay you've ignored the will of the people and and I love it when you give me the eyeball you know when you roll the eyeballs at me it's one of my favorite things it's right there when you catch me at the opening of the senior center and assaulted me verbally privately of course Scott personone the fact that you wanted to go an
executive session to say this is is says something about your character as well you're a bit of a coward and U very disappointed in you was as well this we have a very difficult budget season coming up and we should have a fifth selectman on board we can't always have the handpicked person from our first selectman even though that's what he would like I'd like to also acknowledge and thank all the people who spoke in favor of Carol Lee at this at this meeting tonight that shows courage and it shows where what the will of the people what we what we wanted and that was not taken care of so again I guess we're going to be sent to a special election which will be maybe the first time at endover but that's probably what's going to take place and we will put do everything we can to put Carol Lee in the selecting position and let's let's not forget that and those of us that have lived in this town for many years as our first selectman has is that Carol Lee worked
successfully with four administrations Ed turn Charlene Barnett Bob Bob burck all of whom I worked with as well and then our new our first Town Administrator the young fellow who didn't work out that well she worked well with all these people so the fact that that Eric Anderson is having a having a problem apparently working with Carol is is is troubling to me and I think that I think that's all I got for now but this we'll we'll revisit this again this this item will not go away again very disappointed at the the power struggle and the power we're seeing taking place by our first selectman and it will we'll Turn the Page and move forward but this is not this this battle is not over thank you Brandon Laden no comment thank you Jerry no that no comment thank you Joanne Ebert no comment right now thank you just listening to all of this Liz low catch I'm sorry did you say my name I did okay my dog was barking I'm I'm fine thank you all right Danny holtzclaw no comment thank you Scott say
yet listen I'm embarrassed this is very embarrassing to watch that's it carolly just want to say that I get along with Eric he has a problem with me and Jeff every time you came in to talk with me not once did you say Carol what's going on you came in and said Carol you have to get along with Eric you know what I've worked with him I've helped him and I've accepted everything that has been placed in my office doesn't even well it's not my office anymore but into the town clerk's office that didn't belong there and I've done it to help our town and I'm sorry but you should have asked me what was going on not just take the five or six phone calls from Eric saying that I'm doing something terrible to graner I'll come back to you Diane Kimberly pan nothing at this time thank you valer Bruno nothing at this time thank you wel come back to that Stephen King thank you for letting me address as you put it your board Jeff Jeff Maguire Scott psan the two of you should be ashamed of yourselves really to continue to kick this can down the road after being presented with candidate after candidate that's completely qualified and you reject them because of P partisan politics I'm appalled I really am okay my hats off to Jeff for
standing up and also an creme because she Echoes Integrity she's echoed Integrity through this entire process and I have the utmost respect for her especially as a Democrat okay now it's going to hit the town in in in our pocketbooks because this is going to go to a special election okay I'm going to make it my mission to knock on everybody's door in this town and in support of Carol Lee and get her elected on this board so it's going to end up with carolly on the board anyway okay that's all I have to gr hi thank you I just do want to raise a concern in regards to the last Board of selectman meeting that happened there was a executive session and I don't believe that that was done properly I'm asking that you review what the procedures are for Robert's rules in regards to me being invited at the last minute and not giving 24 hours notice of that executive session And discussing my specific role and responsibilities I would also like to just for the record state that the probationary period well I guess I would ask the question first of where does it State a probationary period and how long that is if somebody could answer me that that would be great I wasn't able to find it in the Town Charter I wasn't able to find that in the handbook for employees and I wasn't able to find that in my contract so if somebody could find out that information for me that would be great Caitlyn Macintosh I'll come back to you Katherine mcal Lewis hi yes I have quite a lot to say actually I like other people here are
stunned at at the unprofessionalism from the first selectman Jeff and from selectman Scott it was sophomoric and to actually air personal grievances at a meeting such as this was just uncalled for it was just bizarre and leaders real leaders don't place blame especially publicly on another member of their committee and for you Jeff to say I miss Paul would take her back in a heartbeat what how rude why don't you just come right out and say I don't like an it's basically what you were saying and you don't because an won't fall in line and I'm very very happy that she won't because she does have integrity and regarding your tiate on the DTC and being kicked out of the DTC I was chair then and and actually this is on tape on Zoom so you can go
back and look at the meeting and the statement don't even reflect what actually happened at all it's the first words out of my mouth were when you came on to that meeting with Scot to help you was we are not here to beat up on Jeff we're here to find out how to go forward from this issue and the issue was that as first Selectmen you publicly said that the person who the the woman who had sued Jay for sexual harassment had received too much money and there was a mother in Andover whose daughter was harassed was very upset by that and wrote to me personally and wrote to the DTC so we had to take action and that action was still to talk to you and ask you if you would please apologize and try to understand how that woman felt everybody was beyond nice to you no one attacked you no one was rude no one was mean I chaired that and I know it and I have it on tape to know it and you refuse to apologize all you did was sayi stick to my my opinion I stick to my opinion go ahead stick to it that's fine but it was your personal opinion and any good lawyer should tell you as I taught in management skills that if an
agreement is reached or a settlement is reached outside you say nothing nothing and his first select to publicly say something was awful you put us on a very difficult position so that's what happened with the DTC and as far as carolly is concerned erned this is just absolutely crazy I will reiterate what Don Denley said she has worked for multiple Town managers multiple first Selectmen has gotten along with every single one of them she also gets along just fine with all of her co-workers so the issue that tells me is with Eric not with Carol but you won't look at that will you or you won't refuse to see that and as a leader again as managers you should be able to separate your feelings personal feelings versus professional feelings and act professional so I don't understand Jeff how you come on and sing Carol's praises and say she's one of the best people in Andover and how much she's done in Andover and then vote against her it's bizarre and it's and it's tragic and that's that's all I have to say because I could I could just go on but I'm just
too upset Alicia hamburger yeah I I I think hell has frozen over again considering that Don Denley and I seem to be agreeing on something most of what I'm going to say is is addressed to you Jeff Maguire first I appreciate the openness and cander expressing your reservations about having Carol on the board of selectors and for the record I think it goes without saying you know how much I respect your commitment to the town and your intellect in general but I believe that your reasoning has some basic and fundamental flaws on this subject so you expressed the problems you've witnessed you believe you've witnessed between
Carol and Eric that they may have had working together but I believe that these issues were fundamental specific to them fulfilling their roles as Town Clerk and Town Administrator respectively and having Carol working on the on the you know on the board as a you know having Carol working in the role as a member of the board of selectors is fundamentally different if for no other reason then there's no requirement there's no need for a select person to directly interface with the Town Administrator in fact I would contend that Jeff in your role as first selectman I would expect you to be the primary if not the single and sole point of contact between the other select persons on the one hand and the world beyond the board on the other and that outside world that I'm talking about
includes Eric also the kind of dynamic that I'm talking about here is pretty much the same as any manager in any business the way that they isolate the workers inside their Department from everybody else the manager Act as a funnel as a lightning rod they distill down the inputs and the feedback and they filter and shield their Department from what's going on outside so I don't see the kind of monumental breakdowns and cooperation that you alluded to by having Carol on the board but rather something that might boil down admittedly to a potential headache for you Jeff possibly having to run
occasional interference but I weigh that against the benefits to the town of having Carol on the board which you everybody else have agreed would likely be overwhelmingly positive with all that in mind I'd like for you to reconsider your position before the town is compelled to take alternative actions which may be even more contentious than what we've seen here or at the very least like what Jeff Murray alluded very expensive that's all I had okay Matt Young okay I want to go back to Diane grer if you can come off of mute okay did I miss anyone in this meeting that would like to have speak hi sorry I couldn't get myself off a mute earlier either just wanted to
say on behalf of the Board of Education we will be talking about solar and I have final contracts to sign for our me meeting on Wednesday night so any of you on the board of Selectmen you those have all been shared with you guys if you have any questions if you could please get them over to me via email that would be great just so we can get everything addressed before so that we're prepared on Wednesday thank you okay anyone else that I missed jef can I say one more thing you already spoke Don so it's a no go ahead Don I always like to hear from you well I just wanted to thank the board and yourself for running an open Forum this evening as was said by a couple other people least it was honest and it was informative and you guys didn't sneak in the back room so I we appreciate that I also would like to thank an cre for her for her
integrity and for her open-mindedness on on all these subjects that's it thank you you're here okay else that's fny all right I'm going to make a motion to adjourn second that okay all those in favor I all right thank you very much you can stop the recording Eric okay