Okay, so I started the recording. I'm going to call to order the Town of Andover Board of Selectman regular meeting for Monday, April 13th. It is 7:01. The first item of business is the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God under God
indivisible with liberty justice for all.
Okay. item two is public speak. So we'll go around Kathy Plazy.
hi Jeff.
Hi. I just wanted to say thank you to Scott Persan for returning and retrie retrieving and returning our plaque for the sustainable committee. We want to put that up and I'm not sure if you gave permission that we could put it up in the town in the lobby or in the community room of the town hall. and we'd like to put that up if it's okay with you.
I'm sure it's okay with the board and the community room would be fine. So, we'll sit there and get that up unless anybody has any other issues. Okay. we're going to keep going. Yep. We're going to keep going through. Eric, we're going to hold off on you. Victoria Kavanagh,
good evening. sorry. my name is Victoria Kavanagh. I live in town. I'm here tonight because I have not received any acknowledgement or response to a serious concern I raised with the board via email regarding a disability related exclusion from a town sponsored program. that program would be Andover Summer Camp. They clearly state on their registration form that they are operating using town resources and is sponsored by the Andover Rec Commission. On October 1st, I sent a detailed email formally requesting reconsideration. the camp director, the cool board, the interim town administrator, and this board of selectmen were on that email. I explained that my son, who has documented disabilities, was denied access to the Andover summer camp for the second year in a row without an any individual assessment or any discussion of reasonable accommodations. Since sending that email, I've received no reply from anyone included. no follow-up questions, no requests for clarification, not even an acknowledgement that my message was received. it's my understanding that you guys aren't going to respond during the public speak and I'm not asking for that
tonight. I'm just trying to make it clear and have it on the record that a resident raised a legitimate concern about potential disability discrimination in the town sponsored program and was met with complete silence. my goal is to resolve this collaboratively and constructively. But when a town sponsored program excludes a child with disabilities and the governing body decides to I'm sorry declines to even acknowledge the issue, I have to consider what my other avenues are. I hope moving forward the town will engage with us in a good faith effort and ensure that all residents, especially those with disabilities, are treated with respect and responsiveness. and that an all Andover families are afforded the same opportunities for their children. Thanks for your time.
Okay, thank you. We will get back to you this week. to Toriana Williams,
I'm all good, thank you. Okay, Leanne Hutchinson.
I'm I'm all set. Thanks.
Stephen King,
nothing at this time.
Oh, that's Lisa Jablonsky. We'll skip you. Joanne Heert.
Hi, everyone. No, I'm here to listen. Thank you.
Maria Tolman. You're on mute, Maria, if you're talking to us. Okay, Maria, I'll come back to you. phone number ending in 7282. That's me, Leanne.
Oh, okay. Leanne. All right. phone number 7282. Okay. Kimberly Persan.
All set. Thank you.
All right. Have I missed anyone here? Eric, do you want to say anything?
Nope. I'm good at this time.
All right, Lisa, do you need to say anything?
Nope, I'm good.
Okay. All right. we're going to move on to item three, additions, changes to the agenda. anyone else have any issues that they'd like to put on the agenda for today?
I'd just like to add that the discussion about the zoning agent and him posting an opening for the wetlands and water course agent.
All right. anybody else?
can we add the status of the King property property line adjustment and, surveyor payment?
Okay. let's add that one to 8H. And if possible, can we do a quick executive session at the end of this we would call it 15A to discuss and act upon issues related to the zoning agent and discuss compensation issues. Anybody have a problem with that? Okay. So, I'll make a motion. I'll just word it and I'll make a motion that we add 8H discussion and action upon the King property lot line adjustment and 15A executive session discussion and possible action on compensation issues and employee openings we'll call it.
Seconded.
All right. Further discussion? All those in favor? I'll go around because I got to do it that way. Ann,
hi.
Carol,
I
Jeff Murray,
I
Scott Person,
Jeff Magguire, I. So, five nothing. So, we'll add those items to the agenda. All right, we're going to move on to item four, board and commission presentations. I don't know that we have any of those for today. we're going to move on to item five, appointments. On page four of our packet, we have the conservation commission is looking to reappoint regular members. I'll read them. Maryann Guile, Evan Aguire, Kathy Shea, James Cole, Hank Gruner, and alternates Gary Guile, and Stephen King look to be reappointed to the Conservation Commission. I'll make a motion that we reappoint all the said members to the conservation committee for another another term. Second,
I'll give it that to Carol Lee. Right. Further discussion. Ann, how do you vote?
I.
Carol,
I.
Jeff Murray,
I.
Scott Person.
Jeff Magcguire. 5 nothing. All right. item six, resignations. We received a resignation from Kathy Palazi. I'll read it for everyone. It is with great sadness I am writing to inform you I must resign from the Commission on Aging Committee effective on Monday, April 6, 2026. I have copied members on this email, including Robera and Lauren, who will have a copy for their records. It has been my privilege to have reinstated the Commission on Aging 26 years ago when it had fallen in in the cracks as some of the important business committees do in small towns. Elaine Bukart, it was very fortunate we were able to have you take over leadership when Judy Knox had to step down. You have been a terrific leader and I wish you and all the members of the committee success in years ahead. Thank you for allowing me to serve on this committee for so many wonderful years helping our seniors. Blessings to all. Kathy Palazi. there's nothing we need to do with this other than thank Kathy for her years of service to the community and appreciate everything that she and Mike have done for the town over the many years that they've volunteered for the town. So
you Kathy.
Yeah.
Anyone else? No. Okay.
Well, thank you for all your work.
All right. item seven, town administrators report. I want to introduce the public to our new town administrator, Matt Strereer. He's the the guy, good-looking guy in the tie. so we'll let everybody know that. today was Matt's first day. He got introduced by to all of the employees at the town hall, public works. We went down and visited the field and you know we will sit there and hit the ground running. I don't expect Matt to give town administrator's report, but Matt, if there's anything you'd like to say, the floor is yours.
Okay. Thank you. again, Matt Streer. welcome has been received. I've been greeted warmly by the town staff and the members of the public that have come to see me already. I'm just getting acclimated to my surroundings. so I do not have a town submitter ready for report, but I will have one for the next meeting and I appreciate your confidence in me and I look forward to working for a while with the town of Andover.
Anybody from the board?
Anybody from the board want to sit there and
pleasure to meet you, Matt.
Afternoon. Okay.
Thank you, Scott.
All right. So, we're going to go through the old business. It's going to be similar to our administrator's report and we'll move through this so that we can we've got to get Matt up to speed on some of these issues. Some of these issues been discussed with them. Some of them are going to be we're going to have to give them some additional help to get through it. But we'll go through item A 8A, old business. review the status of the veteran field improvement project. Scott, why don't you give us an update on that so that we all know where we're at?
Supposed to be moving their equipment in possibly this this week, maybe towards the end of the week, and start working on the playground first. that's in the something that still has to go through the treasurer's office. I think you're working on that though.
So, that issue is related to the playground equipment.
yeah,
we received a bill from the playground equipment company. We should have received a bill from the builder. So that that will get taken care of. So anyway, additional updates on that. We received approval on our legislative grant related to that. this is a steep grant. So, as everything in this town, as I told Matt today, our budget is our maintenance of of what has to happen within the town and everything that has been done over the last 8 to 10 years has been related to grant funding or federal funding related to the ARPA funds. So, community center was ARPA funds. The bridges are federal and state grants. the the well, we'll talk about that. That's next on the list. The senior center transportation garage is a grant. The steep the field and the the pickleball courts are grants. So hopefully in a time timeline the pickle ball courts and the playgrounds will be done sometime in the early summer. So that is the goal to have that completed as quickly as possible and definitely before the fall. So that's the status of the veteran field improvement package. Item 8B, review the senior transportation garage status. now that Matt is in place, what we're going to attempt to do is get the new committee that we established at our prior meeting, the building in the building and the construction committee that was formed. We have to get them engaged on that project to get that project moving
along. That is also a grant-f funed project. lots money for that one and we're gonna sit there and try to get that one started as quickly as we possibly can as well. but that one has some design issues that we have to deal with and some additional changes to the overall structure of that project. 8C and and listen, anybody have any questions on that? Let's just go backwards.
No. Where where did you and Jeff Murray end up with that with the new trust system?
and Millennium,
we ended up talking to Millennium about what we should potentially do, but there's a change in the overall cost of that program related to that. So what we had wanted to do is wanted to get the this committee that we've established to help us get the best results out of all of our projects and how we spend our money. So I want to get them engaged with it because they have more experience in those areas than I do. And the goal would be to get the right design and the right understanding of whether the bid coming from the IQCS program is right. So right though it's more it's more it has to do additional work on that project because the original building's not going to work as it was designed. the secondary building will work but will potentially cost you know 30 to $50,000 more and we have to sit there and make sure that that's the right thing to do. So
reinvent the whole building or are we going to follow through what was already proposed? we're going to try to follow through on what has been proposed with a second floor and drive storage on the second floor and getting the roof off of the the
Yeah, it's a grade. Thank you. So, I mean, the roof the roof line on the back of that property was right on the grade of the driveway that was there. It's not going to work. It's going to cause us other problems. So, we have to raise it up. We have to put a second floor on that. It allows us to have dry storage. So, the rec commission, the seniors, and the various organizations because we really don't have any dry storage within town other than at the public works building. And it's not the best use of public use, public works storage. And honestly, public works is a garage. It's it's you know, we need dry storage that's that's clean for everything that somebody might want to put there. You know, there's equipment clean and then there's clean clean, right? I mean, Eric, I'm not saying anything bad. I was just walking around there today. So, there's clean clean and there's there's there's, you know, equipment clean. So, we need more storage. It would be positive use of our money, but we're probably going to end up having to go back to town meeting to be really honest, Scott, on that project. so we got to get it finished now that Matt's here. We will sit there and move forward with that and
get that done.
When's this going to start?
When is what going to start? When is
the project end up the review committee? When's that going to start? This has been going on for like three years now.
Scott, we just got the committee together last month and I've been exceptionally busy at the moment. so
I can't give you a date.
Yeah, I'm going to try to get it done as soon as possible.
All right. 8C and status of the Longill Bridge project. last week we had a an opening meeting for the project. Scott Persan and Eric Johansson attended the meeting with me. the meeting had all the engineers, the contractor, the state and the various related parties that are all engaged in this project. This project is going to start May 1st. which means that the road long road is going to be closed. coming toward Route Six. I don't know the directional nature of which way that's going, north or south, but it's one of those ways. East or west?
East or west. Yeah,
east or west. And it's going to be closed and it's going to get started. The contractor trade winds or trade I think it's trade winds. they have a a $3.9 million contract to replace that bridge. that bridge is expected to be completed before November 1st of 2026. So it's going to be a pretty quick turnaround. they're anticipating getting everything done quickly. the telephone poles or the the line poles have been put in. The trees have been cut down. and the project is $3.9 million completely funded by grants federally and state. U just to understand that's a $900,000 increase to our previous bridge that was only done one year ago. So costs seem to be increasing out there not going down. So
you know so hopefully that bridge gets done on time and we don't have any problems with that. one thing that I would do and Matt I'm going to put this over on you. We got to reach out to we got to reach out to the church and Carol, it might be something you can help us with that they do their food pantry on Wednesday. We might want to ask them to have the parking across Route 6 and utilize the the crosswalk across Route 6. you know, they're going to find out pretty quickly how much traffic is down there and and how much interference there is with the construction project, but that is something that I was thinking about because they're fairly busy down there on Wednesday and it's not something that we should tell them how to do it, but we should tell them it could be a concern and it could be a problem because I believe they've been using public works parking lot if that's correct, Eric. And public works parking lot might be fairly full at that point in time. Right.
I have one quick question.
So yeah, Matt here on the has anybody contacted the emergency services for say trying to think of the next time up commentary. if we know there's those that those apartments that are just on the other side there and it seems like it'd be a real securitous route for our first emergency first responders and I was wondering how they how we anticipate if we need any extra coverage from them or if we need to contact our neighboring town.
I think that I I I talked to the fire department people and they said that they've already discussed this with Coventry in case they need do need that map.
Okay. that
okay
that they might not be able to get there and they're going to put some equipment down at the senior housing so that they have the so because it's going to take a little longer to get there. They're going to have some there in case people are on the north side of the river they can get down there quick and there be equipment there for them to utilize.
Okay. Yeah. When we took a walk over there I saw that and I didn't think of the question until after the select board members have left. So, I just wanted to quickly just ask if that was something that needed to be done or not. It sounds like it's in under control.
Yeah, thanks for bringing that up though, Matt.
Well,
what about the, stop light up on Hendee? Is that going to be installed? The temporary light?
Yes, that's part of the project that's being undertaken by the contractor.
Okay. So, about the time that the road is the bridge is closed, they'll be putting that light in then or should we anticipate that? I would expect that they're going to try to put it in beforehand. They were talking about the type of light. It's not going to be a temporary. They're going to actually put in poles is what I understood.
right.
So, I would anticipate they wouldn't start the project until they had that light qualified by DOT.
Good. Matt, one thing I had spoken to the chief for the fire department today because they were doing the hose testing today. And he had told me that he was going to attempt to get with you tomorrow. I don't know if he got with you today. He said he would try today, but that's something that we should talk to him about and and make sure that the emergency services are are situated correctly with Coventry and what they got going over there.
Okay. Yeah, he stopped by today. He's guess he's going to Maine for the the end of the week and he'll be back next week. So, we talked about getting together next week, but we didn't talk about that project, but we did have a good introduction. So,
that's all right. And then when Wally Barton gets in there, he can also assist you to get to the the fire commission and the people that you would need to talk to over there as well.
Sounds great. Thank
y anybody else have anything related to the Long Hill Bridge project? I I mean, I'm just letting everybody know I signed the contract as of last week as well, and that contract's in the town administrator's office as it is. 8D, the status of the Percy Cook Trail Preliminary Plan. that is something that we're going to have to sit there and and get with the engineering firm. I don't have any update on you other than the last update from the last meeting. So, we'll have to sit there and see what we've got going with the engineering firm and decide what we want to do with that moving forward.
looks like the surveyors have been out there the last couple days.
Okay. It looks like they keep working then, Scott.
Yeah. Yeah. Sending bills.
You want to talk sending bills? Let's talk about the next one. So, anybody have anything on 8D, the status of the Percy Cook Trail? Okay. 8E, the status of the animal control services. So, NECOG is our our animal control contracted services group. I spoke with Jim Rivers today who's the I guess you would call the CEO of that organization. We have a an animal control issue with a resident. it was a hoarding issue, then a then a safety issue, then a sanitation issue. And this issue has been going on since January. and we have running legal bills with Sage and Howerin on this project. I was signing checks and I sat there and had a problem with this. I called Sage and Howerin. I spoke to the attorney and the biggest issue is attempting to try to get control to of the expenses related to this case. It's a civil case. There's a criminal case against one of the individuals. There's a civil case related to the animals and how the animals are handled. And I spoke to Dennis O'Brien about this today and he called attorney Brance and this comes down to we have about 17 to $18,000 of legal bills related to this case which we have to pay
and I have requested a meeting between our Sage and Howerin attorneys Niko and the residents attorneys because we have attempt to find a resolution to this case because as I said there's we it's an uncontrollable expense on our end and we can't continue to have it. So that's the reason why Sageent Howerin hadn't been paid because I'm sitting there trying to find a way for us to stop spending money on this project on this case because it like I said there's we're not in control. The town is not in control of this. We're not in control of the case. We're not in control of of any of the filings. We're not in control of the negotiations. And so, we have to gain some level of control over this or we'll just continue to spend money because it's required by state statute to go through this process. And so, this is a problem. I spoke to Lisa the treasurer today about this. We're going to put this in the legal bill line
related to what we do in internally with the town. It's going to send it significantly over budget. It's going to end up having to come out of somewhere. but this is a problem and trying to get a resolution to it. So it is not a good situation, but it's something that we've been put in the situation. Niko has the animals. The resident has to sit there and they have to come to a settlement. Just letting everybody know. Any questions? No. Okay.
Thanks, Jeff, for doing that.
Just it's just one of those things. Yes. So, 8F, a discussion and update on the AES RFP for bathroom renovations. and Jeff Murray, since you're on the committee, you want to give us an update on that? Yep. All the bids came in. I think they're considering the two lowest biders. one came in at 207 and the next lowest is 232. And that is Richard's Corp, which actually gave us originally a bid for $400,000. So, there's some questions there of why we went down to $170,000. So, the meeting is to there's a special meeting tomorrow at 4 o'clock that I'm going to attend and discussion. There's going to be discussion and probably a recommendation or decision from the board of who they want to go with.
Okay. Who's going to attend that meeting?
I'm going to attend. I think Bill de Rogers is attending which he's also on the committee and board and school board members. I will not be attending that, Scott. So, if you want to go, feel free. I have I'm being I'll be traveling tomorrow.
Well, so just just to summarize, the the low bidding contractor is very qualified. I ran him through I ran the bids through many of the construction committee members and they were pretty unanimous on the the capabilities of the lowest bidder.
Okay. and that they would they would that they would perform well with this project because it's it's it's they do similar work in other schools and municipalities. So
quite a bit of difference in the price there too, Jeff.
Yeah. Another thing is a lot of the other contractors, the second highest, the Richards, most of the change order costs are almost three times what this low bidder is. So if we get change orders, it could it could be substantially add to the cost of the project.
Yeah. The obvious choice is the one that you chose, it seems like.
Yeah. Well, we start out $25,000 ahead. So, if we get change orders, we think we could, you know, effectively eat up $25,000 in change orders before we'd even get to the next bidder.
Plus, those guys offered 400 initially.
Yeah, I still have questions on that. I didn't I didn't the answer that I heard from Fussen O'Neal I was not you know, very confident in. So,
well, listen, it what it did is it just proved the fact that if you do and run a reasonably professional RFP, you're going to save money,
right?
so let's try.
So, can I say something? I was at the last board of ed meeting and as well as at the opening of the bids and they said that with the economy the way it is now all of these companies are sharpening their pencil so to speak and they're really coming down on their prices and the original order from Fuss and O'Neal they also included in that cost their supervising of the whole project which is not included in all these bids that have been coming in now. So, two reasons why they're so low compared to what the original one was.
Yeah. One thing that concerns me, Ann, is that, you know, my history in the last 6 months to even a year is contractor prices have gone up substantially. and most of the contracts I've been trying to get work out of have been pretty much booked for the rest of the year. And, you know, prices are going up. If anything, that's why I was concerned about that answer because I mean, you look at benefits, everything else is going up. I mean, the school boards wants an 11% increase. Everybody else is seeing pain. So, I mean, any if anything else, everything else is going up, not going down.
Yeah. So,
unfort.
Oh, yeah. Definitely. And I have high confidence in that contractor, the the low bidding contractor, that we would get we would do well with them. I I I believe we would do very well with them. So they gave us a detailed schedule, references, completed projects, and like with with the second highest bidder with Richards, we didn't even get a we didn't even get a project schedule.
We didn't even give references. And some of the other biders, we didn't even get references either or a schedule. I mean, when we when a contractor gives us a schedule, we can meet with them every week and make sure that they're on par with, you know, make sure that they're meeting their schedule.
So I really liked what they put together. It was a good package. Okay, so the the end all be all out of this is the town is potentially going to save somewhere around $193,000. Well, that's not true. Well, no, it is true because you have to figure out how the Fuss and O'Neal contract was paid and what we're going to sit there and have to pay out related to the rest of the Fuss and O'Neal engineering contract. So, there's a little bit extra cost, but in the long run, there's a $193,000 savings by doing the RFP correctly.
one other thing to note is that when the school did the laughter roof project,
the they they used a liaison, like a project leaison to come in in the morning and in the afternoon, take pictures, look at job progress, and report back. I would suggest doing something like that here. And so if we were to hire somebody, it would probably be anywhere from $6 to $8,000 for the duration of the project. So that would be the biggest adder that we would have.
Okay. And what was the schedule like timeline? Is it all during the summer so it doesn't impact school?
Yeah, I believe it this the the start date is 6:15. I mean, they've got a detailed schedule down to dumpster arrival, demolition, electricians, Tylers, all the stages of the the project are broken down into tasks.
Great. and they were and they were going to they were supposed to be completed and start cleanup in the first or second week of August.
Okay, so that sounds great. Any other questions related to this?
Jeff, just keep us informed as to what happens with it so we can figure out what we need to sit there and do related to the project since in the long run it is our building town building. So let's sit there and deal with it correctly.
I just want to just want to get a PO out and get this done.
Got it. So,
all right. 8G discussion and possible action on the Hop River Homes contract. I spoke with Maria Tolman, who was actually on this meeting. I spoke with her earlier today. What I'd like to do is schedule a meeting at the town hall with Matthew and the board members at some point in time, maybe next week, just to discuss the committee, the the management committee or the the board that sits there and manages the the Hop River Homes. I'd like to have a a a face-to-face discussion with them so that we can sit there and get an understanding of what u changes to that contract are going to do. Is that acceptable to all the members? So, we'll sit there and try to get that scheduled anybody problem with that. All right. So, then Maria will sit there and get that done. Right. 8H discussion and possible action on the King property lot line agreement. I know that today attorney O'Brien I spoke to Mr. King's attorney. there's two things going on related to this. Wana is and Scott Person said that he lost internet so he'll be back on
so today Dennis received the five documents for review. and we need to sit there and get those things done, but that's going to take a little bit of time. This thing won't get these won't get adjusted until addressed until the next meeting. But, we also did receive a I believe it's a $1,500 bill related to survey work that we had voted previously to sit there and, split with Mr. King. So, and I believe that 1,500 is half the cost. Is that correct, Jeff?
Yes, I believe so. Steve is online. He could he could probably confirm that.
All right, Steve, can you confirm that for us?
The total bill was $5,000 split between us is $2,500 a piece.
Is that the bill that's in the town hall right now? I didn't think it was that high. your half, the town's half is $2,500, which I have already paid.
You have already paid. So,
I paid that back in December in order to continue to do business with the surveyor. He was not going to do business with me anymore. So, I had no choice.
Okay. I will verify that that bill is in with the treasurer and we will sit there and get that paid.
I appreciate it. Yeah. And then I'm assuming since you continue to do business with you, you can sit there and have them apply that to some of your one of your other projects. Okay. Anybody have a problem with that getting done? No. Okay.
Well, the check will be made out to Stephen King, correct? Or is it going to be
Well, it'll be made out to the surveyor. Is that too
That needs to be made out to me. I've already paid the bill. I've shelled out $5,000 for the pins. 2500 was the town's half and I've already paid that and I've provided Jeff all the documentation.
Okay, Jeff, then let's get with Lisa and we'll sit there and get that done.
Okay.
All right. and the and you said the pins all the pins have been installed.
All the pins are installed. All the paperwork has been provided to Dennis and we're just waiting for everybody to sign, seal, and deliver so we can convey this property to the town and get this business done.
Okay, that sounds great. All right, anybody have any other questions?
Okay. item nine new business discuss and act upon the following the 2026 2027 budget. the budget has been moved through the town meeting. It's going to go to referendum on May 5th and it's a significant increase. Any other Anybody want to talk about it? No. Okay. item 9B event permit pending fire marshall and EHD approval. So in our packet on page 8 there is a permit for Sri Lankan New Year's calibration at the Connecticut Meditation Center which is on Route 6 or Hutchinson Road. So they will not be they will be using the Hutchinson road entrance not be using the six entrance and this is in our packet because of the date that is related to it. So the date is the 18th which is coming up this weekend. the only thing that we would do is we would approve this pending approval by the two other organizations. So the fire marshall and the eastern health high eastern health highlands health district.
So we don't need to approve it because it came in late. We we can approve it to sit there and say it's it's pending related to approval by the fire marshall and the EHD. We can do nothing. What would the group like to do related to this?
They have been historically late with these applications
yearly.
If we approve this, if I approve this, we do it one more time and say, "Look, you guys come in again late, you're not going to get approved next year. Well, just to let you know, the house the property is for sale. Oh, this might be the last one we approve.
Okay. So, I'll make a motion that we approve the event permit for the Sarah Sarah Lankan New Year's new year calibration for the Connecticut Meditation Center contingent on approval of the fire marshall and the Eastern Highlands Health District.
A second.
Further discussion? Okay. Ann, how do you vote? I
Carol
abstain.
Abstain Jeff Murray.
Yes. I
Scott Person. Oh, he's not on. Jeff McGuire, I'll vote I. So it'll be three zero and we'll call it one two. So 302 will be the vote on that. So since we've lost Scott, I don't think he'll have too much of a problem with this. from pages 10 through 23 we have a set of minutes. So I'll make a motion I'll do it one at a time. I'll make a motion that we approve the regular meeting minutes for January 12th, 2026.
and is seconding. further discussion and how do you vote?
I
Carol
I
Jeff Murray
Jeff Maguire I 401. I'll make a motion that we approve the February 9th, 2026 regular minute, regular meeting minutes. And one second,
there you go. All right. So, Scott, I made a motion to approve you. You've abstained from the last two votes. You abstained from an event permit, and you've abstained Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot something. I'm going to have to go backwards. you abstained from the January 12th minute meetings that already got approved. So now we're on to approving the February 9th, 2026 regular minute meetings meeting minutes and an seconded. So Ann, how do you vote?
I Carol Lee
I.
Jeff Murray
I.
Scott Person Scott voted yes. Jeff McGuire voted yes. 5. Okay. I'm going to finish this 10. So, 10 C. I'm going to make a motion to approve the March 9th, 2026 regular meeting minutes.
Second.
Carol Lee. Seconded. Further discussion? Nothing. Ann, how do you vote? I
Carol Lee.
Jeff Murray. Hi. Scott Person Scott voted yes. Jeff Magcguire votes yes. I need to move back to 9C discussion and action on the appointment of the town administrator. we appointed it's on the it's on our new business thing but we've already appointed Matthew Streeter. he started today and the coffee cake and and the coffee from the staff and the card. I told him it was probably going to be his best day. So, we're we're keeping we're going to keep moving. So, all right. and I apologize for this. In the future, Lisa, we will definitely move this up. item 11, treasurer's report. everything from page 24 through 2034 are all the treasurers reports. still a work in progress for c certain items
that are on there but anybody have any questions related to any of the items? All right. one of the things that we'll end up doing with the treasure and I spoke with Matt about today is we're going to start having quarterly meetings with all of the department heads and the board chairs starting next month. They're all going to receive their monthly reports. They're are going to receive all of their this first goround. They're going to receive their standard reports similar to what you're seeing here, which is the current expenditures, the budgeted amount, the over under budget amount, and the percentage of budget expended to date. And they will also have the ability they they need to participate more in how all of the expenses are coded as they go into the treasur's department. So, we're working through the process that we need to get in place to have that done. But all of those reports are set up and ready to go. And we started with Eric and Tess, they both have their reports and they will also be going to all the board and commissions because there are certain accounts that are board and commission related. So in the next 30 days we will have we will schedule meetings and then try to get this done on a quarterly basis so that we have additional understanding by the department heads as to how their budgets are being managed and where their money the money that they have been spent is going in the financial statements. So hopefully we can get that done. is something that I I told Matt would be very beneficial for him to sit there and have access. So, we got him in access in today into necessary
information so he can have oversight over the spending and understand which accounts that he needs to apply bills to and what we do. So, I think the process will get a lot better and we'll get that done. So
the other thing
Jeff, if I could just add
sure
was the process. I want a cleaner process. and I want to review that with people because I going through the couple hundred invoices that I input in the last couple of days. we definitely need to have a more efficient process. So I am trying to work towards that also.
Yeah. a lot of that goes to getting the right bills to the right departments. And so we've talked a lot about stamps and how things get pushed back to the department heads and having separate we'd call them boxes, but boxes for each of the departments that say, "Here are your bills for this current week. You come pick them up. You approve them. You put them in the appropriate account where you want them to go to. they come back to the the treasur's office, they get input into the system and then they get paid accordingly. So what Lisa is saying is is they, you know, right to this point in time, we haven't really had a lot of buy in or a lot of information coming from the department heads that needs to and the department heads that are doing a good job. Let's say like Eric, he might not be getting all of his items put into the right accounts, which is something that, you know, he and I have discussed and what we're going to try to do to get get completed and do a better job of. So, I can only I was just about to say I can only thank Lisa for the effort that she's put forth to sit there and and get through this budget, which has not been an easy budget to get through. and let's hope we can sit there and get
get the next budget done a little bit quicker and a little bit easier. So, all right. Anybody else have any other questions for the treasur? Okay, we're going to move on to page 35, which is the tax collector's reports. So, we're going into a new quarter. The tax collector's office has started to get busier. She'll start receiving all of her payments. This will be a significant collection month. last month was $230,000, but one thing, Matt, we do collections four times a year, not two times a year. So it's a little bit of additional work but flow of money comes in at different times. So and our next month will be a heavy collection month. So we have a a note on page 38 from Kate the tax collector talking about back tax collections and what we're going to do. went from page 39 through page 56 are the largest delinquent taxpayers. Pay special attention, I think, to page 47, 47, 48, something like that. It's a good page. I always like that one. I'll find it. Oh, no. It's a 46. Lot of money. Yeah. And if I was king, I would be collecting it all, but I'm not. just a democratically elected first elect. So, let's move on to item 57. Going to make a motion that we authorize tax refunds totaling $546.66. all coming from certificates of correction. Somebody want to second that?
Second it. Yeah.
Scott seconded that. further discussion on the tax refunds hearing none. Ann, how do you vote?
I,
Carol,
I,
Jeff Murray,
I,
Scott Person,
Jeff Magcguire, 5 nothing. Okay, let's move on to departmental reports from page 59, you know, down to all the way through the end, page 97 or all the departmental reports. Has anybody sat there and reviewed any of this? I I will take note that the state police have been have given us a new report. Very interesting if you looked at it. extremely interesting in that the historical calls received per per year u have been decreasing over the last three years. Last year there was a little bit of a bump up but 2024 there were less than a thousand calls received by the state troopers office from Andover and currently through the first four months of the year only 128 calls have been received. So, extremely interesting information in the packet. if anybody wants to take the time to look at it.
I I did I talked to the trooper also and he did say that Ando is a very quiet town.
Oh my god, Scott, you didn't just say Yando, did you?
Yeah, I did.
Oh my god. Please. All right. anybody have any questions related to the the building department report? a little bit slow. We still need to really take some time to dig into that. That's something, Scott, Matt, that you can sit there and look at as far as how we're sitting there generating money related to our permits. It's a vol
thing I did notice there, Jeff, was they they're putting an evaluation of that monopole that they're putting up at the Earth Farm. $522,000 that it's the value at.
Okay. The one up on Bunker Hills does is not have that high of a valuation, I don't think.
Okay.
I'm going to talk to John about that.
Okay. It would be great if we could sit there and get our
elate to that value.
Yeah.
All right. And our property taxes related to that value.
Okay. from pages 82, 83, 84, and 85, it's the work being done by the blight official. any questions related to that? Not, we'll just keep moving through them. page 86, 87 and 88. Well, 89, 90, 91. Let's see when you end. There you go. Okay. So page 86 through 91 is the Department of Public Works and we have Eric with us. So Eric, would you like to sit there and give a little summary of your report so we can all hear it directly from you?
No problem.
Sure.
have any of you guys reviewed this and have any questions right off the bat before I really get into it? I'm glad that you did it though, Eric.
I'm sorry it took as long as it did. by the time I got here, we got into a real bad winter and I really couldn't evaluate, excuse me, evaluate the roads that needed work because again, as you guys saw, the frost was all over the place. the snow was right to the curb. So, it was very difficult for me to figure out what needed to be done. some of this is left over from when Jay was here. so I'm just kind of piggybacking off that. I do want to let you guys know too that these are all estimated costs as you guys know. You've driven by a diesel pump. diesel's six bucks a gallon now. Asphalt and everything we have, bless you, is made out of is
made from petroleum product. So, this cost, the ending cost may be a little higher, just to let you guys know that. I plan on reclaiming and paving, Ridge Road. it is basically totally shot. there's we possibly could do double chip, but we're not going to get a very long life out of it. There's, structures up there right now for catch basin repair. We're going to do that first. and then we're going to have it reclaimed and paved and then we're in curbed. We're going to come back as public works and back fill it and fix any of the driveway aprons that need to be done. there's this newer newer chip seal called rubber
chip. I actually talked to Matt briefly about this today. he said where he came from, that's all they do now. They don't do any more of the chip seal. It is a much better product. It holds up a lot better. it is more expensive unfortunately, but you get a longer shelf life out of it. It actually hugs the road better. And there's no mess like with a standard chip seal. that those roads I have Wales Road, Townsen Road, and Oak Farms Road. I do have some standard chip seal roads. the contractors that I did talk to said that typically on deadend roads, the rubber chip doesn't work because you do a lot of turning on the ends. So, for the standard chip seal, I have Bailey Road, Hickory Hill, East Street, which is, by the Heurn line, Webster Lane, a small piece there. I'm going to do Shotty Mill from Wales Road all the way to the town line and Aspenol Road. I had to add I wanted to do the rubber chip for shotty mill, but the problem was in order to get a a lower rate, it was cheaper to do shotty mill and chips chip stone. crack sealing. As you guys see that I'm going to crack seal all the roads stated above
outside of Ridge of course. asphalt for the contractor putting it down. asphalt itself because we what we do is we buy the asphalt because we can get it at a cheaper price than the contractor can. So we buy the asphalt and the contractor puts it down for us. that's multiple shimming and paving strips on all the basically the roads stated above. There's a couple other little places in town I'm going to see if we have extra money we can do. one of them I think is on and I don't know if it's Dogwood or Shadlow. there's a section at really heaved there this winter right by Long Hill and I want to cut that out and replace
that. we have catch basin cleaning. We're definitely going to need that this year. because of all the sand salt I had to put out as you guys know. drainage products. So that's catch basins, pipe, mortar block, etc. there's a next year looking ahead like I like to do Birch Road which is a dead end that's just as shot as a ridge. So more than likely I'm going to reclaim that next year. We're going to have to put all new pro all new catch basins in there. And I want to add a couple more to relieve some of the drainage problems there. road materials, processed stone, clear stone, cold patch. I have pavement markings, that's painting the roads. line marking the roads, the stop bars. I did get a call from Kathy D. Roger. she said that we do have to do some line striping at the Andover Library. I guess OSHA went in there and we're supposed to have a clear path going into the bottom door and the OSHA guy actually tripped over one of the stop curbs that we have there going into the bottom door, unfortunately. So, I talked to her. What we came up with is maybe we could take a a handicap spot out from up top and
put one in down below next to that door. So people have a handic instead of trying to walk downstairs, they can walk right I mean excuse come down the hill and go in into there, they can just they can have a handicap spot right next to that. total road request that I have is 933,000. there's a hold over from last year because again we didn't we didn't do a lot of road improvement because Jay left as you guys know. So we have a balance of 688,000. the board of finance put allocated 385,000 for us. so that leaves a that leave I want a little cushion of money in there in case something comes up especially with the prices going through the roof. that way again if pavement all of a sudden goes to 120 a ton or 150 a ton, we have that cushion and not have to come back to you guys or the board of finance and say, "Hey, wait a minute. We just dug up this road. Now all of a sudden the price went through the roof." so that's basically where I stand with my summer road projects. in the packet too, there should be a map as well. You'll see on the map the different colors. I don't know if it came through with you D guys with the
different colors. It did. Okay. It just shows where I'm doing in town for different stuff. the tree budget, the tree warden actually sat down and did this is did this as well. basically we have a good working relationship with Eversource. so Eversource will come in and clear their lines around their stuff and then we pay an additional money and we can actually trim back right to our our rightways and get a lot of overhanging stuff that as you guys see driving around that Eversource does not won't touch or they cut those big seas out of the trees and stuff like that. so Jay started that which I think is a
really good project. since I've been here, I've only had to come in for two trees down, and that's since November that went all through the winter, and that went into the spring. We had this last windstorm, and I think we had maybe, correct me if I'm wrong, Jeff Maguire, we only had maybe a couple hundred people out, so we did we did really well with that. And I I credit that to all the tree trimming that's been done in town. there's 23 grand left in that account, I believe. the bo the board of finances allocated well approved for but for approval 50 grand. it's almost it's a little over two grand a day to get a tree crew in here now. we just had a tree crew come in on Long Hill cuz it there was a very dangerous tree. Half of it fell in the homeowner's yard, which happens to be the new assessor, and the other half was hanging over and it was totally rotted in there. So, we had them take it down and trim a few more hanging leaders over the road. And again, that was a little over
two grand a day. so, again, some of this some of that the tree work is plus and minus only because sometimes we may say, "Hey, you know, you're right down the road. Can you hit this?" And it's beyond our aotted time. So, that's basically it for that. Do you guys have any questions, comments, anything you can think of you would like to see different?
You think you'll be able to get all that road work done this summer?
I am going to try I am going to do my darnest to do it. We're out we're out sweeping right now. we swept around the lake first only because we put sand salt down and I wanted to make sure the lake got swept so a lot of that sand didn't get contaminated. We're actually sweeping the roads now, starting to sweep the roads now that need that need to be done. we have a little bit of ditching to do here and there, but worst case scenario, we can do that afterwards. again, with your guys approval, I'm going to start calling a contractor. We have a bunch of shimming to do on Towns. We have some shimming to do on Townsen, a little bit on Wales. Shotti needs some decent shimming there. so that's our our real big push, but I'm going to and I talked I I believe I talked to you about this, Scott, and once we get twothirds of the town swept, we're going to finish sweeping the long hill. We do it by plow route. We're going to sweep a long hill section. and then I'm going to go out with the crew and we're going to get those catch basins in ridge so we can get that project up and going. I'm actually going to
I'm going to actually start getting again once sweeping, I hate to say it, is kind of boring. There's not a lot I can do out there, but once we get going in our season, I'm going to be out there doing work with these guys a lot. So, and you know, we we're going to need a guy to stay on roadside mowing, as you guys know. That's a probably next month till November job. once the catch basin cleaning guys come in, we lose another guy. So, we're going to need, you're going to need me out there regardless. And I have no problem jumping in the catch basins and mortaring around them and all that stuff. I'm no stranger to that. cuz again we got to we have to get I want that once they once we get the catch basins done in ridge then they can come in and reclaim it. Once they reclaim it it's going to be a quick process. I'm going to be on them because that's all hills and one good rainstorm will end up out in Bernap Brook if we're not careful. what's nice is
Oh sorry go ahead.
Go ahead. I thought you were done. what's nice is again with that we we were able to cut the cost down a lot on that ridge road because we can do a lot of that work oursel. I'm I'm going to post a guy there when we when they pave because that saves $7 a ton for traffic, which is crazy. and then a lot of the driveway aprons and cutting of the road itself is like just to cut the road, it's $7 a foot. so again, we can save we save money all over the place, but some towns just don't do it. They just hand over 200 grand and say, "Okay, give us a new road." I that's not what I do cuz we can a lot of these driveway aprons now the contractors cut will charge almost $1,600 an apron when we can go out and get pavement for half that and have our guys do it and and a better product. So, okay. I I love your report. Can you for let's say next month the first two pages that you're giving us the the roads yes
can you give us the dates that you're anticipating starting. So like you're starting this one here and the next one it might push back but at least we can have an understanding of of what your your your team is doing and when you're going to get started and then also any resident who wants to listen and participate in our meetings can sit there and see when their road might be getting worked on. Definitely. again, I apologize for not too much detail this winter, but again, as you guys know, we got pounded with snow and in between we were just fixing the building up and putting out, as I call them, little spot fires. So, it's once I get into this road, you guys will be you you guys will know what's going on. I also talked when we are at that meeting, Jeff, I do have the the preliminary start dates for the u milling and paving of Route Six.
they're going to start this. They they work at night. They don't do it during the day. tenative date was April 19th to May tw May 12th for the milling and the tenative date for paving was May 17th to June 29th.
Okay. and I'll just let all the board members know I I was speaking to Eric about the millings and I requested to get as much of the millings as he possibly could because you said that you have another process of utilizing those millings. Could you just explain that to the board?
Yes, I do. So, when I was in Coventry, you guys are all familiar with the around the lake there, a lot of the roads were dirt. over the years they instead of pave you know full-on paving them which is very costly as you guys know what they did was they had gotten millings and saved them up and then they screened them and they put it down. They basically would reheat them and then put them out through a pavement box type deal and then they would do a double chip over them. And what that did was because they weren't a highly traveled road the roads held up beautiful. I was thinking of doing that to down in Lake View area only because that's our last dirt road. and I I think it would add much value. One, we wouldn't have to go in and grade it anymore. You wouldn't have wash outs. It'd be easier to plow. It's just all around a better product. And because we don't it's not a a highly traveled road like Lake Road is, it will last it'll last a while. We did we did a couple roads like that in Coventry again that were dirt and the only thing that messed them up and it was more the road edge was the garbage trucks going in there because they ride along the edge of the road and there's no really nothing you can do about it. So but outside of that the roads are still in in good shape today.
All right. So anything we can do to minimize cost that would be great and if we can get as much of those millings as possible that would be appreci. Anybody else have any other questions for Eric?
Great job, Eric. Very happy.
Thank you.
Great report.
Thank you. I just want to add one thing if you don't mind, Jeff Murray. the wood bin up at the transfer station is almost full with all the wood that we took off the road so far.
Okay. The word's out. So,
okay.
You know, it's we'll see how we'll see how they we'll see how it goes.
Actually, Eric, I do have something related to that. I got I got a text from Dominic related to that. He would like a sign up there.
Okay.
That wood cutting ends at 2:00 or 2:30.
Okay.
Know that he that the people are leaving early. So, give me one second. I got to look at his text message to me.
Okay.
I've heard people are taking it.
Yeah.
I just don't know how much
yeah, maybe it was a voicemail that he sent me.
okay.
But he would like I would like you to get out there with him.
okay.
To make sure because I think what he was after was a way to get them to clean up so that when his his shift is over, they're out. rather than him hanging around waiting for them to clean up and get through.
No, I understand. Where would I'll get with him to see where he wants to put that sign, whether it be down below in the area we made or up top by the by his shack there.
Yeah, probably both because he'll point to one by the shack and then there'll be one down there. So he when if he has to go down there, he can point to that one, too. Okay, I'll talk to him.
All right. Anybody else for Eric? No. Okay, Eric, thank you very much. Appreciate it.
No problem. All right. 92 on our packet that's related to the Andover Public Library report for the month. page 93 is for our register of voters. So we processed 47 new voters and then we have p 14 correspondents. so this is talking about inland wetlands and he wants to hire inland wetlands agent. So Scott wants to talk about that. We're going to talk about that in executive session. Okay. anybody have anything else that they'd like to discuss before we move to public speak? No. Okay, let's go through Stephen King.
Welcome back.
Sorry about that.
I just like to make one correction there. the comm the conservation commission members Maryanne Giles is the chair, Hank Gruner member, Kathy Sheay member, James Cole member, I am a member and Gary Gu is an alternate Evan Magcguire resigned about six months ago. Okay. Yeah, I just wanted to say congratulations and welcome to our new town administrator, Matt Strereer. It's so nice to see him sitting there in that spot. happy to see an experienced and qualified individual take over the position and I wish him much much success. So, welcome to Andover,
All set. Thanks.
Okay. And then I have a phone number ending in 7282. Okay, I'll come back if you can get unmuted and then Eric, do you have anything you want to add to public speak? You're good.
I do. I'd like to thank the board for allowing me to come on and discuss my summer road projects and I look forward to working with Matt.
Okay. Lisa Jablonski, do you have
No, I I think I'm good. Thank you.
All right. Okay. So, now I would like to sit there and go to 15A. I'd like to go to executive session and invite in Matt Streer to join us. and I thank everybody for attending the meeting. And if you'd like to stay in, you can stay in till we get out, but I'm going to put you into the waiting room if you want to go there. So, all right. I'm going to pause the recording to start with. So, okay. So, we're coming out of executive session at 8:38 and I would like to make a motion authorizing the town administrator to utilize $10,000 from the treasurer's line items to compensate the current treasurer for work done on the the budget and the internal processes. is for the the treasur's office. those payments are to be made over the remaining payroll periods for the fiscal year 2025 2026.
Second that, Jeff.
All right, Scott seconded. further discussion. All right, Ann, how do you vote?
Hi.
Carol,
hi.
Jeff Murray,
hi. Scott Persan, Jeff Maguire. Right. did we have to make an Oh, we're going to Scott, we're going to make a motion to authorize the town administrator and the zoning official to, establish, to, post for an inland wetlands agent and a committee to review applications received.
Moved.
Okay, Scott seconded. Ann, how do you vote?
Hi,
Carol.
Hi,
Jeff Murray.
Hi,
Scott Person.
Hi,
Jeff Magcguire. I 5 nothing. Okay,
Matt, you're going to work with Wayne to do that.
Yeah, I I I think I still have to meet Wayne. I don't think I've met yet.
I don't I think Wayne was on vacation. I think he's in Virginia.
Yeah.
So, when he gets back, we'll sit there and get that situated, Matt. So again, Matt, you know,
just one quick question. I think to Scott, I think, did I I think I saw something somewhere that there was a job description already ready.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
I'll wait till it gets back to just make sure this
I just want know if it was ready to go.
Yeah. Involve Wayne. He's a good guy.
Awesome.
Smart.
Okay. All right. do we have anything else? I'll make a motion to adjurnn.
Second. and seconded. Ann, how do you vote?
I
Carol
I
Jeff Murray
I
got person
Jeff Magguire I 5 nothing. All right everyone, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Yep. Have a good night everybody.
Thanks Matt. Yep.