is timely I wasn't getting ready to go but Eric yes I'm letting them in as soon as they show up in the waiting room okay thank you all right keep getting those so I am going to call to order the town of Andover Board of Selectmen regular meeting for Monday October 7th 2024 the time is 7:02 and our first order of business is the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag the United States of America Amer and to the Republic which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all thank you item two is public speak I'm going to start with Diane Grenier heard okay while you work on that I'm gonna go to Elaine Booker hi I'm signing on tonight to go ahead and make sure that we get a full EDC operational tonight that's on the it's on the agenda so that's great thanks okay I'll move to Rachel Bowman Still Still appr and we'll set for now Jeff thank you all right Katherine Hutchinson e working oh all these different Diane you're good now when I started somebody said they could hear me and now they can't I don't know what that means Diane we can hear you now you can hear me yes so you're up
okay okay high tech stuff I'm sorry just hello everybody I just want okay let me deep breath here thank you there's been some chatter out on the Facebook page this weekend and I just wanted to I'm not sure everybody was part of that or heard about it and I just wanted to to comment on it and it has to do with and I don't know where it this is originating but it has to do with moving the board of Selectmen meetings from Zoom to inperson it seems that there's some person or people out there who feel that these Zoom meetings do not allow proper resident participation I know we have public speak at the beginning public speak at the bottom at the end of the meeting I never seem to have a problem getting in there and having to say what I have to say many of you know I have
been attending Board of selectman meetings for almost 40 years I'm a regular participant and I I rarely miss a meeting I was doing these meetings back when they were held at 3:00 in the afternoon at the basement of the town office building at that time people complained that it was unfair to those that work people couldn't get to the meetings because only six to 10 people would attend those meetings so they moved it to 7 o'clock at night and guess what 7 to 10 people would appear at those meetings the same people would appear at 3:00 or 7 o' people would complain that Tuesday wasn't a good day Monday wasn't a good day it's dark I don't drive at night it's family time it's they they had a plethora of reasons why they couldn't go at 7 o'clock at night we moved to during the pandemic they moved to the zoom meetings and here we've got the same people are attending you you rarely get more than 10 people attending these Zoom meetings tonight we have a lot of people and that's because because there's obviously a Hot Topic if there is a Hot Topic no matter if it's in person or if it's Zoom people seem to manage to get to the to the meetings like say there was a lot of discussion back and forth some people have suggested a a hybrid where you have both inperson and the zoom meeting I think that's a great idea either
way I go to the meeting so it's not like I have a real problem with either way of these but I think I I don't know why this is an issue I guess that's that's my point because people don't go to these meetings for whatever reason again unless there's a hot point and tonight it looks like there's a hot point and I suspect that tonight's topic is probably the election of a for the replacement of Paula King on the board of selectman and I'm just a comment on that what you got like four or five people I'm surprised and somewhat disappointed that since I go to all these meetings I have never seen any of these people attend a border of selectman's meeting it seems that they would I would have thought that they would have more interest that that that bothers me I would hope that there there'd be more interest and again this is your decision we don't get to vote I think there's probably a lot of people here somebody has done get the vote out and is looking for support I'm not supporting any of the candidates like I say I don't know any of them the only person I know is or seen is Steve King that I know that he's running for both State Senate and the board of selectman in Andover which I find disturbing it's which one do you want if you win as a senator does that mean you're not going to be bard of Selectmen so that's a problem to me I didn't like it when liberman did the same sort of thing like pick what you want to do but I don't know Steve I don't know any of the the people
I'm say I don't get the vote but I did want to just give you my comments about board selectman meetings being moved to in person being people you really need to find a way to get people to come to them and I think a hybrid is probably the best way so I don't know if that's be on the agenda or if that's just jibber jabber out in the gutters of Andover you know so thank you for your ear thank you Diane Dave YT just to Diane I'm not on Facebook but I am in favor of a hybrid meeting I like the iners I like the conversations you can have with people before and after meetings I think it would be beneficial for the town to move to in person as an option Bob hamburger this here is a spectator thanks you gotta fix that there you go yeah nothing to say just just here as a spectator tonight thanks okay Katherine Hutchinson I'll come to you again okay Carol nothing right now thank you Wayne Kasich nothing right now okay Steve Willard hey Jeff thank you yeah I just want to throw my endorsement again as I did last month's meeting
behind Joe Godwin I just want you guys it's up to you guys obviously like Diane says we don't get we don't get our say so I'm gonna have my save my two minutes I feel that Joe is much more community-minded if anybody liked if if we were all big fans of the way Paula king sat on the board I think Joe Godwin is going to be the closest thing to that I don't I don't like what I'm seeing with Mr King again I'll I'll Echo Diane and say that I'm not sure I understand which direction we're going whether it's senate or or selectman but I really think that you guys you guys have a a little bit of tough decision to make tonight but I I'm going to throw my hat in the ring for
Joe Godwin and I think that's going he's going to be the best for the town thank you all right thank you Mike and Kathy plazy well I'd like to thank I'd like to thank you Jeff for calling me so many times to talk about the new building and I appreciate that and the fact that we did move moov to the new building to have our lunch on Friday we had a great time we really did and thank you very much for coming so early to set up the tables and Carol Le which she's always great she helps us 100% And we we really do have a wonderful staff that we've put together mostly Carol has put that together that I've just approved it they're all great and they're they're really hard workers they do a great job for us be certified service from a Chili's there's no other word for them they're just fantastic group of three ladies that come and serve us and we can sit there and enjoy ourselves it was so beautiful it was a great day it was sunny it was a
an excellent day outside as well as inside representative Steve weird was there he was our speaker for the day as well as I asked Jeff to please speak he did people the seniors did have questions he promptly answered them I was pleased with that and of course Eric was there to support us as always and I just want to say we love the building we found it was a little tight but when I say that it was a little tight we had 42 people we don't normally have more than like 35 36 something like that when it's a special occasion like Diane just said today or tonight it's a special occasion that we're looking for a new select person so good luck with that with your decision and that's all I have to say but thank you very much Jeff thank you Kathy Jeff Ballard unmute can you hear me fine yes sir I'm want to speak on behalf of the burnap clock and cre and I and Dan F have met last week and found a suitable wall in the new Senior Center I
understand the concerns about not having it in an old community room and I totally agree with that I think that this has been going on for a long time and it may be at risk of Daniel Pino pulling the clock and the works and setting it up in his daughter's house and we have found well Ann will attest to this that we found a suitable wall where the bookcas is in the middle room with the couches and that is the place that it should be and I would hope that the Border slotman would select that as a place to have it set up Daniel Pino is a contractor and will take care of a fixing it into the wall which is not a problem and not an issue and I would like to see the the board of
Selectmen make a decision as to the display of that clock on that wall in the senior center where the seniors who seem to have an appreciation for history and the Antiques will be able to see it it the room itself can be closed off so it's not a disturbance for any meetings or any any other concerns is just a bell that goes ding ding ding on the on the hour and half hour and if you have read the 17 Page packet that Arthur lient prepared on the history of that clock I think that that that that should stand on its own as being something worthwhile and a very rare item that represents the history and culture of of the 18th century and over Connecticut all right thank you very much Bill Penn no there he hello first of all say I I don't know enough don't know really know any of the candidates so I can't recommend who I think is the strongest candidate I don't know their skills don't know their qualifications or how these persons have served a town or even taken an interest in the town during their time as a resident I look forward to hearing the candidate interviews and I trust a board of Selectmen will evaluate the candidate skills and select the one that best supplements your current skill sets that are make up our current four members and again border of slman thank you for all your time you do for the town good day thank you Bob and Kim Wallace okay I'm sorry I was having trouble unmuting can you hear me yeah okay Bob and I are both here publicly publicly to support Stephen King for board Selectmen as the only candidate endorsed by the
Andover RTC I guess we're a little confused as to why there is a discussion about why the one second one second I'm I'm sorry I'm sorry Scott Hayden can you please mute yourself thank you I'm sorry Kim go ahead yeah I'm sorry I'm not quite sure what you didn't did or didn't hear but I was just saying that Bob and I are both here to publicly support Stephen King for Board of Selectmen as we understand he's the only candidate endorsed by Andover RTC we're a little confused as to why there there would be someone else up for the Republican spot who has not been Republican and is not endorsed by the Andover RTC thank you very much okay thank you Scott Hayden okay we'll move on Leanne Hutchinson hello hello hi this is lean did you call on me I am right now yes ma'am okay thanks I was in the process of unmuting myself I wanted to follow up on what Diane the portion of Diane remarks about the discussion about the board of selectman meeting in person again or not I
strongly support the idea of a hybrid meeting and my main point is that the Acoustics in the community room just have to be addressed they're very for I've been in there for meetings and I've been unable to hear people in the same room and when you try to listen to it I'm YouTube It's if the bard of Selman goes back to using the community room or any other board for that matter it's very difficult to hear it's really a disservice to anybody trying to listen to a meeting and participate in its entirety so I strongly support any hybrid meetings you know sometimes it's just a personal preference to stay home unfortunately covid is not literally over some people are imuno compromised but the Acoustics in the community room are are really poor and need to be addressed I've not been in the new community center I'll be in there later this week I was told that one of the rooms is in about the same shape I don't know that personally but if if it's any room that's to be used as a meeting space I would hope that it would receive the same improvements in the Acoustics if that is an issue
thank you thank you very much Kimberly person nothing right now thank you Joan Eber sorry took a minute to unmute I just have a couple quick comments I am more in favor of keeping the zoom meetings I guess I would be in favor of hybrid 2 I understand points it's just those of us that do hold down busy full-time jobs plus try to serve our community on a board like this and want to be involved and go to a lot of meetings it just it does help out when they can be Zoom because you are able to get home and you know be involved that way and going to like a
two or threeh hour meeting after a long day without even trying to get a dinner in there that that does make it kind of difficult Dian but I understand the camaraderie and it's fun to see people too moving on I tend to stay out of political discussions a lot because I try to just vote on issues as I see them but I have to be heavily in favor of having a balanced board I think it makes it very important on all the issues that come forward amongst you know the our leaders in our town so I would be more in favor in and backing up I think it was the Wallace that spoke about you know if if one of the people that especially on a board that already has three on one side to really be in favor of getting a Republican voted in this time I just like to see balance I'm not political okay moving on to that and I hope whoever does get elected I attend a lot of meetings so I get to see names or you know people faces that come to meeting so I think it is important to have had an interest in the town been involved when I brought this up at the board of Finance meeting though I had to understand that a lot of people are busy like all that are here tonight and they can watch it on the the network you know on the the television station that broadcasts it too so just because we
don't see their faces they can see it that way so I I can see that so hopefully these candidates I'm looking forward to hearing all of them as well you know I like to hear people on you know what they're going to say what they're going to present why they want to be a part of it and good luck tonight thank you I'd like to move on to two cell phones and I'm just going to repeat the last four numbers 6037 okay did I miss anyone that would like like to add to public speak actually I did and I apologize hello yes sorry I'm the 6037 I forgot how to unmute Dave Tibido and my name probably doesn't show up but I'm here for a different reason but I like to comment on what I've heard so far I think that Dave one second are you running for the position yeah I have my name in okay so then why don't we hold off until your your time okay okay all right no worries and then the other phone number 2180 and I'm gonna go over to Doris Doris I know your name is on the agenda but if I understood your email correctly you are a registered Democrat is that accurate actually I'm registered as Working Families and but that doesn't take into effect I was told until next month okay so so you are registered
Democrat now you're a member you're trying to switch your to working well I I already did in the summer but it doesn't take effect until a few months after okay all right we we'll let you go and participate in this and then we'll just we'll just be fair about it and there's five people I think I I think we have all five don't we we have Stephen King we have Joe Godwin we have Doris we have Joe Tibido oh there was one other member one second well what I'm going to do is I had received a message from from a couple of residents the board of Selectmen had received email correspondence and I'm G to read the emails so that everybody can participate if that's okay I'm gonna start and and Jeff Murray please correct me if I'm missing anybody because I tried to keep all these up but if I miss somebody let me know this is from correct I think we only had three emails coming in so we had three emails okay so let's make let's make sure I read them all so this one is from Liz loet she's new member of the board of Finance hello Board of Selectmen I am I am un unable to attend Monday's Board of selectman meeting when you'll be deciding on the replacement for Paula king so I'm writing to let you know my opinion as a resident and taxpayer as to Paula's replacement Stephen King is a legit Republican a member of the minority party as required for Paula's replacement not only he is he an official registered Republican and a member of the Andover Republican Town committee he is the Andover Republican Town committee endorsed candidate Stephen has the qualifications the heart
and the commitment to serve in this position Mr Godwin a registered independent claimed in his letter to the board that he had been registered as a republican prior to moving to Andover what evidence does he provide to support his claim he then conveniently changed his affiliation to ensure he would qualify for admission to the board this seems like a tactic for a possible left leaning candidate to take over a republican seat which could completely upend the balance and Power in favor of the Democrats as a citizen and taxpayer who voted for Paula King I feel that selecting a candidate other than the Andover Republican Town committee endorsed candidate Stephen King goes against the will of the vote and I strongly urge the board of Selectmen to consider the negative Optics of voting against the endorsed candidate in closing speaking as a resident and taxpayer I am asking the board of Selectmen to make the only correct choice to vote Stephen King to fill the vacant Republican seat on the board of selecton respectfully Liz lat and Jeff who was the other one I thought I had another one we just got one at six o'clock oh I did
I'll read that one off my phone give me a second I kept that one up and then I'm going to look for the other one yeah I thought there was another one we received an email from Steve McCarthy and his is short I like this one better I would like to express my support for Stephen King I believe he would be a good fit for this position and for some reason my email is not going back far enough to find it so I'm trying to get back to our meeting because I think that email was sent right
after I thought I sent well that could be true I copied all of the emails and tried to get them out in front of this know that's David Tibido okay so if I missed something I apologize I don't really think I I missed anything that I see a excuse me I see an email back on September 30th from a stepen love lace okay let me find it yep that's it I believe what day was that September 30th thank you so much yeah but there it is scanlin Yankee can someone read that because I can't find it I can yeah oh I got I got it I apologize Stephen love I was looking for the email it was under a different bagger dude at AOL.com I am voicing my support for Stephen King I also think this meeting should be held in person at the Town Hall Regards Steve LEL 308 Boston Hill Road and over Connecticut all right I I will also tell you that
not in the packet I received and I'm G to read this because it's it's a I received an email from the Republican Town committee no I I W I won't read it because she addressed it to Jeff to to to me and Eric it's fine and Jeff what I'll do is I'll send this to you and if you want me to read it I will but let's let's get moving on based on this matter we should probably read all this into the correspondence Okay then if these if people didn't if they couldn't come tonight and they they took the time to Carol Carol is Carol is not here so it's Carol Barton and she so okay okay that's that's she's not here so I might as well read it Jeff and Eric this mail email is to remind you that the Andover Republican Tom committee endorsed Stephen King to fill the vacance vacant vacancy position that Republican Paula King created on the board of selectman when she resigned Stephen King is a true Republican not one who only changed his party to hopefully get an existing Republican position you two are of the Democrat Party and should not be soliciting to fill position that we the Republican Party found a person to fill the Republican position and have endorsed that said person also it would be a smart idea to stop having Zoom meeting Co is no longer causing large issues and we now have two Community rooms that we that need to be used for community meeting all members of all boards and
commissions to return to normal meeting resident should be advised that this will be happening and hopefully happening very soon thank you Carol Barton and over Republican Town chair and over esident okay hey Jeff I've got one more that came in on 106 I think that we forgot okay it says it came from Lorraine Fox cos costano okay I would like to nominate Stephen King of Andover Connecticut for seat on the Andover Board of Selectmen I believe that he will bring a particularly strong set of skills to this role and that the board will be fortunate to have him as a member he is a dedicated and hardworking extremely organized and focused on learning and developing best practices to manage any activities he may F face working on the board I've known Stephen King for many years and I've worked with him in the same it department at the University of Connecticut I hope you will consider giving Stephen an opportunity to be part of your organization and serve the town of Andover sincer ely all right is there anything else that needs to be read into the record for public okay let us move on to item three so I'm just letting everybody in the public know that please mute yourself this part of the meeting we're going to move on to is for the Selectmen select people and apologize and we will we will be bringing in the candidates to speak that are available so we're going to move on so we're going to go to item three additions changes and changes to the agenda anybody on the board have anything they want to add or delete are we going to have an executive session to discuss the candidates we can have an executive session that
will require that all of the members of the public will be needed to be put into the waiting room we can add that I don't have a problem with it so I'll second that okay all right so we're gonna add and we're gonna add Don dley would like to contribute to the conversation well I I Mr Denley is my best friend and as you know I was hopeful that he would show up on time to participate in public speak which is now well I've been I've been online for 30 minutes waiting for my turn I heard you give my number 2810 and I was unable to get through so I got you were Don you were unable to mute unmute yourself maybe I don't know what it was don don don here you go go ahead I'm I'm reverting back to public speak to allow Don dley to talk you're welcome thank you Don dley Lakeside Drive Andover I would like to first of all address the meetings obviously being a u a senior I much preferred in-house personal meetings because you got to Interchange ideas with people in the audience and with and with our elected officials but a hybrid meeting would certainly be a a reasonable compromise as far as the candidates go I would like to personally endorse Stephen King I think is a he's a Republican nominated replacement for Paula King who did a great job I'll miss Paul King very much he was a a great Town Town person who contributed to our in many many different ways but Stephen King is
is the choice of the Republican Party he's taking a republican seat the fact that he's running for another office is is really not that relevant I mean he will certainly abide by all the meetings and be a conscientious participant and I think he'd be a fine choice and I think that's the choice you guys should make I know that it's a primarily Democratic majority right now but I think that well I feel that Stephen King would be the right person for the job thank you all right thank you Miss Jeff thank you Jeff for letting me speak you're welcome Don you know it anybody else that I miss anybody anybody all right everybody mute themselves so we have have a a motion on the floor for an executive session to be placed [Music] we're gonna call [Music] Don we're gonna call [Music] it we're gonna call it s 72 71 executive session and what we're going to try to do is determine if we need to speak about the candidates after the interviews are over is that acceptable to everybody okay anything else we need to add or delete I want to have a I know Eric send me some information but should we have some discussion over the proceeds for the auction of the Public Works equipment and where that where those
funds are going to be deposited sure Jeff new business 10e it's fine with me okay proceeds from can't we do it under 9g bid resol for roadside mower oh thank you it's just not the roadside mower though we have other pieces of equipment that we're selling so we need to we could do it at the same time okay I'm fine with that we just am amend that line item to say roadside Mower and other equipment and trck how about we how about we call it nine H and we just say proceeds from equipment sales it's fine with me I'll suck at that yeah anything else okay so we have two items that we're going to vote on one is an executive session a 7-1 and 9h U discussion regarding proceeds from equipment sales all those in favor I I okay all those oppose none all those abstain none for nothing okay we're going to move on to item four a board and commission presentations I'm assuming do we have any board or presentations that I would hope we could push till next
meeting Elaine are you doing anything related to EDC I don't want to short you but nope nope okay you just want to know that we can deal with the get get the appointments in yeah okay all right so we're gonna move on from item four we're going to move on to item five 5A Liz loket was appointed to the Board of finance and that's just for informational purposes only item 5B the EDC requests appointments so D Elaine if you could just tell us what you're what you're asking for I saw sure yeah because because we're a five-person board and we're we're down to two people we don't have a quorum so we can't by rights vote in new members we have to turn to the board of selectman to do so and we have two people who now want to join the EDC Patrick dhy who was on the EDC before and a great member but then he got a new job and had to work second shift and third shift so that's why he left the
board but now he's back to first shift and pretty steadily and so he's rejoined planning and zoning and now he wants to rejoin EDC and we certainly need him because he would be he was before and would be our liaz on to everything going on in Planning and Zoning so we need Patrick dhy appointed and then Bata gamsky is also I believe on the new field Improvement board working on the new playground in pickle ball and she's quite involved she's quite an involved resident really in in other things involving the town so she's a real as I am so you know we we basically know about this the sales and marketing and all of that so that's a really good position to have information to have so we would like it let me let me
just make a motion on those two because I think it's great that they're willing to volunteer for for the town so I'm going to make a motion we point Patrick dor dhy and Bea gamsky to the EDC to and and I'm going to step one back Elaine what's the term is the term just a normal four years so they have three years remaining it's twoyear terms two so it's gonna expire in in 2025 all right so I'll rephrase this I'm G to make a motion to appoint Patrick dhy and beta gamsky to the EDC for the term that expires in 2025 I'll second all right further discussion on the appointments all those in favor I right you for nothing thank you thank you all right resignations Eric do we have any additional resignations we do not okay we're gonna move on to item seven with the this is elections for the board of selectman position that is currently vacant as I said said to I sent out an email to all the candidates on Friday I told them that we would give them an opportunity to speak I'm hopeful to keep it at three minutes I'm gonna time it I'll wave to everybody if we're getting to it and then we're going to give the members of the board of Selectmen an opportunity to answer or to ask any questions of any of the the potential candidates no I'm just going to we're just going to move on so in the list it was done alphabetically and I know that we have Mr Godwin here we have Mr King I know we have Doris I saw her and we have David Fido Jose Rivera sent an email earlier today and when we get to him I will
read the email so Mr God when you're first on the list I will ask that you you you provide us some information and what I'll do is we'll see how it goes and if I have to wave at you I wave at you is that acceptable yes sir that works and you can mute me if you need to as well so oh I try never to do that I don't want to do that all right any of the other members of the board of selectman have any other issues as to how we go about this anybody want to say anything before we get going all right Mr Godwin the floor is yours right thank you everybody and thank you for the opportunity to talk I do apologize my presentation skills our little Zapped have been working down in Southwest Virginia getting folks power on so heading back home tonight and tomorrow so looking forward to be back you know just going a little bit about me you know when I when I first saw this position open up I saw actually multiple vacancies as as we all did you know and it's not something I had considered ahead of time but saw an opportunity to serve serve the the town so figured i' put my hat in in in the ring and hopefully be useful for the town and be helpful for for our residents you know kind of clear the air you know I was never a
registered independent and no offense Jeff or an but I've never been I never been accused of being a Democrat so it's a little Twilight Zone to me to to hear that but I guess that's what I'm asking for putting my hat in the ring and be in politics as what they are I am a conservative so I'm hoping just kind of give a quick overview of who I am so I'm originally from the gr New London area I moved away to California in Louisiana moved around a little bit with the military and then back to Connecticut in 2019 so could have landed anywhere in Connecticut you know wanted to kind of have a close mix between home and family and work and driving around we we settled at Andover so we really love this small town feel you know we we we appreciate that we had three children at the time going all going to AES and we found Ram the school district very appealing and decided to to settle here we've had a fourth child in the town again he's going to AES so they're all huddled there along with my wife who's a teacher that and you know we have a heart for our kids and you know I think our our level of involvement is probably been not as much as we would like just because there's bedtime at six seven o'clock but we're we're getting intoing a new phase of of life and having a little bit more time in the evening so looking to to to serve in a capacity that'll be helpful to the town outside of work I'm an elder at Hein Church of Hope right down the road most of you are
aware of it you probably drive by it all the time with Big Red Barn a Little White Church in the center of Hein so you can find me there on Sundays and that's what I do outside of work but as far as professional experience goes I'm an emergency manager I oversee the Emergency Management program for the state of Connecticut's ever for eversource state of Connecticut and previously I was doing Emergency Management in the oil gas industry and my introduction to that profession was through the United States Coast Guard so I went through Kate May New Jersey Yorktown Virginia and you know through that experience and Consulting doing oil and gas and government I've worked with every single level of government so from your small towns in the middle of nowhere to you know all the way up to the white house doing reports and and working with with different leaders you know I've got a proven track record of solving
complex problems and I use project management program management and change management techniques to do that and you know I have served the town before in a different Capac it you know you kind of see a need fill a need we had a traffic issue around the lake that you know unbeknownst to me was an issue for a long time you know speeding around the lake so served as the traffic safety committee chairman did that we saw some some efforts around the lake to to do some traffic calming measures so I worked with Eric and and the team and and yourself to to do that so why me well I you you know I'm not a politician guys I'm not going to pretend to be one I just want to give back to the community you know I served in the the volunteer fire department for a little bit covid hit my son has bad asthma so kind of had to bow out of doing volunteer firefighting but you know I enjoyed that group of guys and I can't speak enough about them worked with Steve you know we've had emergencies at our house and Steve is one of the guys that showed up in his pajama pants so you know you look at this Comm community and you know the people that are in it and it's very tight in it and we're not planning on going anywhere so I just want to give back my time and energy and then you know again leader proven track record I've vested interest in the town for not only myself but my children you know I'm a conservative I value people and I I value individual freedom and again I you know just looking at that I
do have a good balance of being a Visionary and a pragmatist so you you know I I like to hear everybody's viewpoints Vantage points everybody's perspectives I think they're valuable and should be considered things like you know the hybrid Zoom inperson Board of Selectmen meetings I think I think there a valuable opinion that that has some some consideration to be had and then I think my current skills would complement the board of Selectmen as they are now you know I I did switch to a republican but you know that that's what I was was back in Louisiana Southwest or Southeast Louisiana and I was unaffiliated for a while while I was up here and it I guess it wasn't relevant in the time again I'm not politically motivated in in that fashion so but I am a conservative and and so being a republican is is something that that I do embody so that's that's all I really have to say I appreciate everyone's time thank you Joe thank you any members of the board have any questions for Joe Mr Godwin Joe you do you have you sure that you have time for the board selectman position yeah absolutely you know the trip that I'm on right now doesn't happen but every three years or so when we start looking at catastrophic storms and moving out of the area and then with my kids they're all gotten to the age now where I do have time in the evenings so yep I will be able to I I can't jump on an ambulance at at at a
whim but I definitely can make time to to engage in the town thank you thank you what happens next week when you have another category five come through Florida well won't be me it'll be somebody else thankfully so yeah okay anyone else yeah Jee I'd like to ask me a few questions sure go ahead Joe you mentioned you were a cons strong conservative and you mentioned that two or three times during your discussion and if that conviction was so strong then why didn't you not register as Republican join the RTC partake election as Republican and question number two you said you were on the Safety Committee you did address some speeding I'd like to know a little bit more about your experience with the fire department and you you mentioned it so I want to know what was your involvement with the fire department and are you still a member yeah no great great questions you know yeah so I am a conservative I'm a Conservative Christian I'm conservative fiscal conservative as well and you know registered down in in Louisiana I registered as a republican as soon as I could vote voted Republican moving up to Connecticut you know there was questions of the
the political field I didn't know what was what to be honest with you living down South for as long as I did there was differing views of what to expect moving back up north so I went unaffiliated which means I I didn't pick a party you know and that gave me some time to really digest the the political field and you know how I was going to vote you know I typically vote you know Republican you know there's not I don't think there's a situation in which I wouldn't you know but I am considered bipartisan I don't you know I don't do you know I don't I don't devalue other people's views if that makes sense but yeah so you know I didn't see the the need to to go Republican because I was Voting Republican again I'm not a politically motivated person but I do vote and you know the RTC did reach out once I saw the the newspaper ad about the vacancies and by that time they had already endorsed in a candidate so there wasn't even time to engage from that format and to be honest I hadn't heard of the RTC in town I don't think there's been any Outreach that I've seen so wasn't sure you know really what to expect with that and again my my level of time to to commit to Pure politics you know is
is I feel better served with my family instead of pure politics so anyway yeah and then the fire department you know I come from a family of firefighters you know so I wanted to kind of do some of that as well so I joined and participated rode the the ambulance with with Kim and Karen quite a bit and Scott doing lift assists I didn't go to the academy I'm not a you know a certified firefighter but you know did did help out jumping on those ambulances and and helping some of our residents around the area that needed it and then Co hit and things got a little bit different so I did I did bow out and and I'm not I'm not a member anymore of the fire department but again still still have those relationship ship so okay like my concerns are as being a conservative I mean when I moved to Andover the first thing I did was look up the RTC and I joined that was the first thing I did so I'm a little concerned as a Republican and the only
person that's on this board why he chose to re register as a republican on the last day before this was going to close it's just an issue that I have why you weren't a republican from day one and it's just it bothers me a little bit and I'm I kind of question it so yeah that's a fair point that yeah there's no deviant intentions but I I understand I would like to make a comment that I I spoke with three of the leaders at the fire department today they all they all said about the same thing in different way ways but they said that Joe was a very very nice guy for one
thing you know M morally good a hard worker intelligent smart these are the three leaders down at the fire department they told me had nothing but good to say about Joe Godwin the only reason he got out of the fire department because he had too many things going on at home Scott and that brings to my concern as a board of selectman member we all know how hard this job is and how sometimes we need to do things at the drop of a half and it does pull a lot on us and it does pull a lot on our family and so we need somebody that's needs to step up when they need to step up so and he and he and he just said that he would yeah well okay unless anybody has any direct questions for the candidate I'd like to move on anybody else and okay all right Mr King you are next
I obviously Mr King I have some flexibility in the time so we're going to give you what you need so you go to it I'll try to hold to the three minutes I know that this could run late tonight first and foremost my last name is King and I am not any relationship to PA king but I would like to thank the border selecton for considering me as a replacement for my fellow Republican PA King a couple of things I want to start with first you've probably seen some signs with my name on it running
for state senate I don't expect to win in in launching a political campaign or aspirations it takes a couple Cycles to gain traction before you can even begin to muster up the type of votes needed especially in The District 4 which is predominantly blue so I don't expect to win this election cycle I'm nearing retirement and I've also freed up a a great deal of my time recently retiring from the state military so I have a lot of extra time on my hands and I'm looking to especially after becoming a grandfather this past or last spring last year trying to promote some change maybe I can make a difference and and do some things and if I I I don't want to get to a situation where I haven't at least triy so that that is the reason why you see my name on the signs it certainly will not impact my ability to serve as a member of the board of Selectmen in any way sh form so my name is Stephen K and I've been an Andover resident for some 14 years now live on burnap Brook Road with my wife Julie who was born and raised here in Andover her mom still lives here on Pine Ridge in the home that she was raised in we are here to stay and I hold only the best interest of our
community the residents and my neighbors at heart and seeking disappointment since my resum resume was not included in the package provided I'll give you a little background to or a little brief on my background I have a Bachelor of Science and management information systems postgraduate certification in healthcare information technology and I have over 40 years of experience in design implementation and support of critical technology initiatives I'm employed at Yukon Health going on 12 years now a little over 12 years where I manage high performance Computing data storage and virtualization Technologies provided to the Yukon campuses including support for approximately $350 million in Grant funded research I'm chairman of the board and chief range safety officer for the Andover Sportsman's Club here in Andover Connecticut certified n instructor Chief range safety officer and a chief instructor for the Department of energy and Environmental Protection I donate my time to teach conservation education and firearms safety Statewide I am a federally licensed Firearms dealer and the owner of Hot River Trading LLC a a successful small business that I started many years ago which I manage estate liquidations high-end collections appraisals and sales I'm also the president of the E Connecticut gunild which by Statute holds a seat on the state pistol permit review board couple things I want to say about the proceedings and what's happened to date I'd like to point out to the board those present and
the voters of Andover that I am the only Republican party endorsed candidate seeking appointment our Charter recognizes State statutes which identify a maximum majority of three from a party of a board of Selectmen when there are five total seats the remaining seats must allow for minority representation I also must point out that the state statutes are clear in identifying that if an elected member of a minority party resigns during their term which Paula did they must be replaced by a representative of the very same minority party therefore the currently vacant seat the currently vacant seat must be filled by a republican now the Optics of changing one party changing one's party at zero hour for the mere purpose of qual qualifying for this seat and minority represent ation do not reflect well and should raise suspicion not only by this board but by all the residents of Andover I am the only properly vetted and as I stated endorse candidates seeking this position I trust that you will find my qualification satisfactory along with my skills to fill the void left by Paulo who supported a lot of the technology
used by the town I'm happy to donate my time now that I have some free time and look forward to a strong and successful bipartisan working relationship if you allow me the opportunity to serve thank you all right thank you very much anyone have any questions for Mr King well I I have one Mr King you said you're you're running for the current state senate seat but you don't expect to win but you went you went on to sit there and state that you were trying to build up name recognition for future endeavors and what would those future endeavors be your your goal is to become a state senator or hold higher office when I retire in it's looking looking to be three to four years if the opportunity presents myself to run as a state senator I will do so I would like to do so kay no no other [Music] questions I'll ask Steve a question like what what else what else do you do in town besides the Anover Sportsman Club and what does the Anover Sportsman's Club contribute to town and how are you involved in that I had that question asked of me today we do a lot of events that raise money and we raise money and food for the food pantry do you know how much you donate every year to the to the food pantry do you have a
general it's probably in the neighborhood of well there a lot of food so anywhere from $800 to $1,200 worth of goods a year through the through the charitable events we do okay anyone else have any questions an most of my questions he's answered already here okay Scott good Jeff all right Mr King thank you thank you Doris Maldonado I know you were on the call am all right some time you I think there's an a delay but good evening every everyone and I appreciate your time I definitely am not reg I did not know actually the public notice that specified only that interest interested residents should apply as long as they weren't Democratic so all were invited to apply which is why I applied the reason why I haven't been haven't applied or participated on this board has been because I've participated on the board of education with with funding opportunities I just moved here with my children two years ago in August and as soon as I moved in I started to to connect with Town's people and and the board of education so I was the a little bit about me I was appointed by the governor as a chair of the development disabilities Council which is federally funded and
I've served as chair Statewide and nationally on several boards and regarding disabilities I was born with a disability so I take that very close and it's near and dear to me and which is why I've afforded some opportunities and connections for Andover as soon as I moved in with the administration the federal Administration with for community living for and so that Andover can receive or apply for some funding to make us more accessible in the at the community center and other locations if possible through the board of education and other opportunities I've worked as a I've worked and advocated and trained communities from the life on the lifespan from birth to aging as to their legislative rights and when I say birth to lifespan I mean their parents and their communities so I would love to be a resource if I am not eligible for this and I'm sorry if I'm I'm taking up your time but I wanted to formally introduce myself and wanting to help when I can and offer opportunities we're a small town and I I'm I'm making my my I'm rooting myself here with my children we did come from West Harford and then Berlin before that Connecticut and so I'm very invested in every community that I live in because I'm trying to leave a better place for my children and my my fellow community members I've spoken with many of our leaders in Town and trying to connect and I have I have volunteered
and reached out to to community members so thank you for I am also a substitute teacher and I I am a certified teacher so whenever I have the opportunity I do help out thank you for your time and I wish you well in this my bad I did it dley I apologize Doris thank you very much for for for participating you know I would tell all the members of the community to volunteer as much as they possibly can so thank you very much any of the other members have any questions for Doris yeah just quick question did joris did you just change your party affiliation from Democrat to Working Families correct yes in the sum I did yeah so you have the three-month rule so that makes you I think it's she's eligible to run for this position the reason why I applied as I mentioned before was because the Public Notices said that anyone other than Democrats could apply and at the time when I saw
the notice I was other than a Democrat so it wasn't clear for me but thank you understood all right anyone lse okay we're now going to move on to Mr thibo I know you are on the call I miss there you go okay sir thank you for no I appreciate the opportunity I know I was late coming into this application process I think that from what I've heard so far you're not going to go wrong by whoever you choose I feel like I need to endorse even King but I'm kidding but congratulations Stephen I'm becoming your grandfather and to Joe for someone that thinks he doesn't have good presentation skills they are pretty good but you know I'm not going to pretend to be a politician I'm not the reason that I have applied for this position was merely because I believe that there needs to be a paradigm shift in government that it no longer needs to be treated the way it has been in the past and it needs to be more treated like a business because it's just too large government needs to seek other Revenue besides taxes and being an engineer I've worked many years overseeing multi-million dollar programs in Aerospace industry and realizing that in both Military and Commercial military obviously is easy pickings but the commercial industry is not and budgets are very important and knowing how to manage a budget and being able to manage contractors and reducing costs are very important and since I left Aerospace I've been working in manufacturing for the last 10 11 years and reducing cost in their business reducing cost over 50% in just their
overall expenditures on what they spend on you know electrical and and things like that so I being an engineer I think differently than than most people and I think some members of your board can understand that that I am a problem solver and I have been for many years and I've been trained to problem solve and to look outside the box and figure out solutions that are not clear to most people that maybe there's another alternative of Revenue sources and things like that to bring money into the community that is not merely taxes as everyone knows we're taxed so much in every way and it seems like government today looks at well what are different ways I can tax can I tax on the air that they breathe can I tax on the water that they drink you know it it it's becoming a little bit ridiculous that I think that government and I'm not talking about our local government I'm not talking about this committee I'm talking in general that there is just no looking differently at how to be how to create Revenue other than taxes and I know there are Revenue sources other than taxes I don't know the resources that are involved in getting them but I feel like the Paradigm Shift needs to happen not only in local government but in all government that you can't just rely on taxes to run your community or your or your country Mr I think that we're seeing
that can we can we I I I I'm sure everyone appreciates that but on a local level do you have anything else you want to express to us regarding this position well I mean I My Views are are expressed at the local level as well okay I mean I think that even at the local level you can create revenues other than taxes and you know I'm thinking as someone that's not a politician it may not be a popular opinion but that's just how I feel and maybe I'm not you know I don't think the way that you do but I think that there's other ways of thinking outside the box okay does any of the any of the members of the board of selectman have any questions from Mr Tibido all right Mr tiido thank you very much for participating we appreciate it thanks Mr Rivera Jose Rivera he sent an email he didn't copy emails on this but I will read this Mr Tibido please mute yourself this is from Jose Rivera or David Rivera so he's like I appreciate your consideration for the vacancy I unfortunately will be working on Monday 2 Shift 3: to 11: p.m. and will not be
able to attend I have been a nurse since 2015 prior to that I was I was licensed in the insurance industry I have been a registered Republican since I was 18 years old I am now 49 my motivation to apply to apply for the position of selectman is the desire to make a difference in the lives of my community in a positive way I have never served in such a position in my position as a nurse I have come across thousands of individuals in their time of need offering guidance care and empathy for points of view that may not have been my at the time in the end the goal was always to serve so with that I feel I'm
ready to serve my community for the for the better being a part of the process is what compelled me to apply my only reluctance is that I'm still working so if being readily available is a requirement then I see an obstacle in me serving due to my working schedule if any consideration can be made for the scheduling of meetings and voting on issues I would appreciate that I look forward to hearing from you and thank you for your consideration Jose David Rivera that being said we have now completed the candidate interviews I'm assuming that the board would like to go into executive session is that accurate or not yes okay someone needs to make a motion to to that extent make a motion we go on Executive session second that and K second to that okay all those in favor I I so members of the public we're GNA have to put you in the waiting room and Eric you're gonna stop recording on this and once and and we're not going to invite anyone