okay welcome everyone I'm going to call to order the town of Andover Board of Selectmen regular meeting for Monday March 10th it is 7 o'clock and we're going to start with the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all and we're going to move on to item two public speak we're going to start with Diane Grenier good I hope you can hear me we can perfect a few things that I wanted to say tonight one I'm delighted to see so many people zooming into tonight's meeting we don't always have this much company and some people that I haven't heard or seen from in a long time so that's good to see everybody one of the things I wanted to ask is that sometime in the near future doesn't have to be tonight can we get an update on the andover's finest that program it's been in place for a couple of years originally it was going to be every every H quarter or so I believe we've only done it once and it's been a long time so I'd like to hear an update on I hope that hasn't fallen through the cracks and we're not doing it anymore so if we can get update on that I'd appreciate it the other thing is we we had some windy weather this week and put our work public works department to the test I think they did a great job yippy
thank you guys I did notice before the storm that there's been a lot of well there's been a lot of tree cutting activity the last couple of years particularly I noticed on shotty Mill there's there's been a lot down by the dump transfer station excuse me there's also been a lot on burnap Brook Road significant tree cutting over there and I was wondering is there a a schedule where where are they going to be next so that people would know when they're coming to take down the trees in their neighborhood and if that could be posted someplace or so people would know that where where the guys are what they're doing and the fact that they are doing something so I would
like to see that and the other thing and I'm sorry that Eric's not on here toight before every meeting as Board of selectman I generally go to most of the meetings I check the the calendar they have the agenda and attached to that is the administrator's report and I'm always surprised at how much stuff the Town Administrator handles it's a wide variety of things I think he does an excellent job and I I applaud him and I just want to make a make it known publicly that what what he does is recognized and I don't think that most people in town know all the things that he does and again that that report the administrator's report is very informative as you probably all know that I'm pretty much homebound I don't get out a lot but I do find that's a great way of staying in touch with all the things that are happening in our community and like I say I find it very very helpful so I thank you for that and like I say those other items if at some point in town you can in time you can give us an update on those things I'd appreciate it thank you very much thank you Wally Barton nothing at this time Jeff thank you yeah Kimberly psan nothing right now thank
you Liz low catch thanks I'm all set for now okay Janine gagan all set thank you Chris I'm sorry Kathy and Mike pazi nothing nothing this evening thank you okay Chris I don't have a last name for that's fine it's Chris Bernard Chris Bernard and nothing right now thanks okay Rachel Bowman I'm all set for now thank you Stephen King at the moment currently speechless Louise Goodwin I'm all set thank you Jerry KET I'm all set thank you Valerie Bruno all set thank you Joanne Ebert all set right now thank you Kathleen no last name d roers all set thank you Bob hamburger nothing at this time thank you Tess gr I'm all set thank you Jeff lean Hutchinson nothing thank you okay I have phone number that ends in 6988 okay I have a phone number that is 2345 and I believe that's attorney Town attorney 5475 was Leanne Hutchinson and phone number that ends in 6 682 that's Adrian mandaville Adrian and I just have a couple questions I'd like to ask the board to address prior of the the meeting on Thursday regarding the
school solar project I've gone through the documents that were available on the school website unfortunately I I don't see anything further so one of my concerns is I was on the original School roof project and we put in for a 50-year warranty for that roof it was an actual additional 10% cost to the project in the sorry unfortunately I don't see any documents addressing how that's going to be taken care of because the minute you put the solar on the roof you're going to throw away a 50-year warranty and although the solar companies say that they're going to you know they'll take care of any damages you're talking
about a new company that's barely been around and they're going to be able to cover a $500,000 worth there should be some sort of bond or something put in place to address this that would be a longstanding for the for the life of the project I think my other concern is that by doing this project through the school instead of through the town if you look at the specification for the project it's going to generate about 1.5 times what they're actually trying to estimate based on the roof pitch and size of the system I know this because I've designed a bunch of these and where's that all that extra electricity
going to go it could be going to offset the public works department and the community center in the town hall but because this is being done through the school you won't have the option of doing that it's a town building it should have been a town project from day one which I brought up when I was on the school board this by doing it this way you're shortening the town the other concern I have is that there's no specifications for the installations on the roof most importantly you have a million dollar project and I don't see competitive bids anywhere which is part of the requirement for any Town project school or otherwise so just there seems to be some some missing things in there thank you did I miss anyone Roberta Dy nothing at this time thank you okay is there one second Elaine Bart public speak okay hi sorry I I lost track of time I apologize no I'm I'm just gonna be listening tonight thanks a lot okay is there anyone that I missed Bob hamburger did I miss you no I spoke already thank you nothing to add okay [Music] all right if I didn't miss anyone if I miss anyone please come off mute quickly and then you can speak or we're going to move on okay we're going to go to item three additions and changes to the agenda yeah Jeff I'd like to add under new business 14 G discussion on on solar I not solar it's rested on EV EV station at the Town Hall EV
charging station okay anything else it might be under old business but I'd like to try to discuss the blate and what's been what's been going on with BL I know Eric is not here so we may want to continue that to the next meeting so do we we have a blight section in the packet don't we do yeah yeah I'm just more concerned about that Long Hill property I mean we can discuss it and that's that's not a big deal so do that under thir it's actually there 13B right okay okay is there anything else anyone else all right I make a motion that we add 14e EV charging station discussion to the agenda seconded all those in favor I I okay okay so as everybody knows Eric is not he's on vacation had this planned so we're going to just move through this item four is board and commission presentations I did not see any in the packet when I received it anyone else have anything on there they want to talk about any of the other boards and commissions okay item five appointments and resignations I Was Made not made aware of any appointments or resignations that we need to consider at this meeting okay item six Town Administrator report in our packet under Pages three and four and
does anyone want me to share my screen on these things does it make any sense I mean some of the stuff I will but well let's just go through Eric's I'll go through it Town Hall operations cleaning of the building is in good shape Willie and Susan are doing a great job I greatly appreciate the effort that those two put in to keep the town hall and the buildings clean so again Eric on vacation he's returning the 19th he left a set of items to sit there and deal with while he's on vacation so I will be dealing with Chris in the finance office on a few items and make myself available for what needs to get out while Eric's away he has some items that all in the agenda he wants to receive authorization from the board to expend money for the bridge and Culvert fund and the Bunker
Hill Bridge fund to pay for initial project costs as we get reimbursed it's something we have to discuss related to federal and state reimbursements on that project he wants us to authorize a test grow from the senior center to submit a grant for a new senior trans Transportation vehicle it'll be a direct replacement of the van that we're having some issues with it does require a 20% Grant match for the town but something we should vote on I believe it's under it is under 11 I mean 14 old new business okay yeah all right the other part he put in our packet information regarding the grand list the state is changing the way that motor vehicles are valued doing a a Ste down depreciation from the initial retail value of a car that we purchase going down by 5% multiple years so there's two opportunities for the set of the grand list and how we deal with them so he's asking us to make a decision one is a larger step down and one is a smaller steps down so we just need to vote on that we also need to talk about
the ram budget which is also in our our packet we should vote on that to move that forward to the board of Finance and he's also requesting that we vote on and give approval for the $220,000 to authorize for the Fire Commission and the replacement of the the counters in the cabinets in the fire department other than that he's sitting there going through and and I'll just for the benefit of the community if they don't have access to the packet the kitchen in the community center is largely done he's got some things that he wants to fix when he gets back there there's some Congressional Appropriations that we were promised that it doesn't appear that we're going to be receiving because of the budget hold and where they're at federally in Washington so the vo phone has been installed at the community center for the benefit of the director the acoustic panels have all gone up in the community room and in the Community Center the town clerk he has nothing to report we have some items on the agenda to discuss related to that town assessor's office that he wants to talk about the gram list related to that finance office is in the middle of the audit is zbo has a the report in our packet Town engineer is zba application for a pavilion at vet at Veterans Park appending Scott and an can speak to that and if you have any information on that would you like to add to that part The Pavilion is within the 50 Foot sack back on from the Road Riverside Drive and there's no other place to put it this is
one time that there really has a some he that needs to go through so we're just going to go to zba and talk to them about it okay but there's only one place to put it it's only you know it's within five or six feet of where it's supposed to be and there's one place to put it on that high mountain there going to go to CBA and ask them for the or appr approval right okay Public Works there's a report in the packet at the back Bunker Hill Bridge closure expected April 1st that is something that we need to get with Eric and make sure that he gets that information communicated out to the people who are going to be impacted by that closure The Long Hill bridge design is is in process and has signed off on a 30% design phase close Jensen has been acquired by vbh so there's going to be some changes to the engineering side of that so nlj has done the borings on the Bola Ridge Bridge or the Bola Road Culvert on Lake Road so that is moving forward Safety Committee and ongoing meetings Capital Improvements and packet of three quotes for Cabinetry and the replacement of countertops okay oops I'm sorry Marcy apologize for not getting to you okay any questions or anything that you guys want address related to the town administrator's report or anything we need to address with him when he gets back no I just like to Echo Dian grenier's comments that Public Works
had a huge mess to clean up on Long Hill and be swamp and they were working on it all day today two large pine trees and you know they they knocked it out today and you can't even really tell except for the guard rail damage that there was a major incident there so kudos to them for for the hard work that they put in today yeah anyone lse okay item seven discussion and possible action on a petition filed February 19th for special election to fill a board of selectman vacancy that petition is in our packet those petitions they were filed I'm extremely U happy that our our community could file petitions because that was an issue related to one of the items in our Charter revision everybody was complaining about filing petitions but it didn't seem to matter petitions got done those petitions were and I'll sit there and I'll tell you what let's let's sit there and do
this one second don't want to do that ry to do this easily so let's see what we can do okay so just so everybody can see this these were the the types of petitions that were collected all the signatures were verified by the assistant Tom clerk not all of them were approved and just as a question is Carol Lee on the call okay okay so je Jeff I believe she is just give her a minute to answer yeah no problem I mean I don't have anything right now but I I did ask her to be on the call this afternoon when I spoke to her this morning so anyway this is the statute for everyone to sit there and see related to what the petitions were filed against so this statute 922 sits there and so let's explain to everybody what was going on when this was initially done and the vacancy became available August 19th so Paula resigned the process that everyone believed we were we were going to be following or we would follow and we had followed in the past was related to section 208 of the charter the charter sits there and gives each board their opportunity to sit there and appoint a candidate or a replacement to an individual that resigns at that point in time right around that same time we had three different resignations from the three major boards within the town we had a resignation from the Board of Education a resignation from the board of finance and a resignation from the board of Selectmen so there were three different positions available all of the other boards according to our Charter have 60 days to F to to fill a
position or the appointment of that position comes to the board of Selectmen to fill but basically with our Charter and the home rule that it relates to the board of Selectmen did not or the town did not put a timeline on the board of Selectmen so that is how it was progressed and went through the process so in the past the board of selectman has has come to a reasonable conclusion I mean the last time this happened was when when in 2019 Paula was appointed to the board that appointment was based upon the compromise from the the Democrats on the committee which were Eric Anderson Jeff Maguire and Scott pan to sit there and make Eric Anderson the Town Administrator and for doing that the compromise that was agreed upon was that we would appoint a Republican and to give the Republicans a majority on the board and the only request from R end from Scott and I was to make it point a female so that we had some female representation on the board so that's what happened in 2019 at that point in time Jeff Murray was on the board and so was Adrien mandaville and Paul PA was the third Republican that was put on our board and that was a great appointment so now we're in the situation where we have we have not been able to come to an
agreement and we now have a petition that's being filed under the statute 922 922 I will tell you Carol did not know that this this statute was available at the time of Paula's resignation the town attorney did not know that this statute was available at the time of Paul's resignation because everybody was under the impression we were going to deal with the charter and how the charter sits there and equates now we're into an extended period of time which I apologize related to not appointing but this is where we're at we're dealing with it but this statute according to my reading of this had many different things that were required to sit there and be done in a timely fashion to B basically be able to comply with this statute we did not do any of them and now we're in a point where we're we're sitting there and Pi cherry-picking different apps options related to this so I'm just saying to you that this is the statute that's been selected related to the petition I'm just telling you that I don't believe that this statute applies that's not to sit there and say that there's not a statute that applies for a given election just not the statute so that's my opinion and so I realize that my friends that have done this are are they're not going to agree with that so I'm laying it out there for the community and for everybody else to understand here's the statute it's not a long statute please read it please
understand what the statute says and you know we need to sit there and make some some decisions to make this process Fair so anybody got any questions about the statute or want to talk about the statute in any way well drop the statute I mean when we appointed Paula this statute would have came into play because if the town of Andover and the the citizens in town did not like our appointment the statute does apply so they could they could have petitioned for a special election but the whole point is we haven't appointed any so this whole statute the waying doesn't apply Jee if we haven't appointed anybody it says there's a vacancy in in the town competition and that's what we that's what I I signed the petition and other people have too so bar barring barring a judge and a
injunction this election is gonna is gonna stay and it's gonna it's going to progress okay so we I'll take that I got it so now let's talk about the fairness of this election all right so let's talk about the process that we are now in so this is the next section Section 8 discuss possible action on notice February 20th by the assistant town clerk scheduling special election scheduled for April 11th 2025 to fill the board of Selectmen vacancy so as you know and and and I did not send this to the town clerk so you know I I will I didn't send it back to the assistant town clerk I did not send it back to Carol when I received the notice I sent an email out to all the members stating that we just needed to understand the ground rules for this election and that I requested that no notices be put out into the public so that we could come to a resolution if we're going to have an election let's do it right and and sit there and be appropriate so you know I I emailed you Jeff Murray when the notice came out that we were having election I said what's the process and you told your response to me in the email was that you were not engaged in this and it was it was outside of of you right so legally you're not the responsible party I get it okay yeah yeah Jee I was actually in Florida for the week that this petition was circulated so well you signed I got back and signed it on the last day before it was filed okay when that that morning when I got back I
signed one of the petitions correct okay understood and and but I was more interested in when I get a special notice from the town assistant town clerk and and just so we're aware and let's all be clear the assistant town clerk is still taking all of her instruction and direction from Carol Lee and who has all the experience in dealing with the secretary of state and everything else so just to be clear this is where the direction is coming from and what's being done and and just understanding that this is this has nothing to do with the assistant town clerk so I want everybody Jeff Jeff that's not necessarily true because Carol Le was on in January 1 and she's been an advisory role to her but Britney now is the acting town clerk as the assistant so that is not true okay okay all right I
will I will keep that understanding so so I went in today to sit there and ask the town clerk's office what is the process for the election and I I spoke to Carol and there was on the board there was something on the wall related to the Tom Clerk and this is this is the this is the notice that's in the paper so interested in filling board vacancies any Andover elector interested in being coming a candidate on the April 11th special election ballot for the board of selectman vacan she should call the Secretary of State's office at 860 9100 voting will take place Friday April 11th from 6:00 a.m. 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the community room of the Town Hall so I called that number this morning because this was the first day that we were available to call I got the front desk of the Secretary of State's office I got a a voicemail for atfy wac sorry I'm gonna I gotta look that one up one second and I did not get a return phone call so I'm just letting you know that that is what was provided so I I
went in and I spoke to Carol about this and Taffy Wick yes I went in to speak to Carol about this and Carol then sit sat there and directed the assistant Tom Clerk or the acting Tom clerk however to make some changes to the notice that was going up on the board and in the meantime Carol provided us provided me some information and to be really to be candid I had the town attorney who should have been engaged in this from the beginning because in my mind this is an extremely complex matter should okay je let me interrupt for a second the discussions with the town attorney did you CC the rest of the board with these discussions because you should have no I I called him well did
you email them and include the rest of the for the discussion I didn't and all I did was call him Jeff and say can you please talk to Carol well did you ask for opinion on this statute I have not asked for an opinion okay I'm just I'm just asking when we when you engage a town attorney you should include the rest of the board of Selectmen on that discussion I will I will make that I will put that in my information bank but yes I called him and I was speaking to him directly so you know do I do I want to ask him for an opinion sure I would love to but let's talk just just to cover us for foi rules we should everything should be covered in writing and email and then should cover the rest of the board of Selectmen I'm sure all of the conversations are included in that so the aners the answer is all all my all my discussions with you have been over email and so if anybody wants to have a why any of our discussions they can certainly do that so when we had our phone all that was all in I mean we had a conversation over solar panels was that is that that's what we did we that's how it should work that's how this whole thing should work we should talk and communicate and make a decision anyway I just Jee I just want
to put this out there so the public understands the whole transaction and what's upod I'm just I'm just correcting on a few things that's all yeah okay I gotta so that's the notice that's in the paper that notice has now been changed to direct phone calls to a Taffy omac at the Secretary of State's office to allow us to fill a vacancy so the other information that Carol provided this morning was that there was an attorney Mr Mr Bernie Leo Leo and that attorney was at the Secretary of State's office and there was some information that you know he provided to to Carol in in dealing with the petition and how the petition should be dealt with so again Jeff I had the attwn attorney today contact Mr Lou to understand what the criteria was for this and I sat there and and and if you want you can you can have attorney O'Brien talk I I'll sit there and I'll gladly let him talk yeah I'm just I'm just concerned that there's some discussions going on that is not including the whole Board of Selectmen well as it it just it just kind of it just kind of smells like there's some kind of oh my goodness something smelling and you're GNA sit there and say the chief executive of the Town talking to the town attorney when none of this information was made public or allowed
to be public so that we could have a fair and free election because that's what we should all be working toward I mean I mean interrupt you but I mean this is the most fair and free Pro this is the most fair and free process that we could actually ever hope for okay you wantan everybody I mean if if and if you're if you're trying here here no no no I just want can I finish please sure I would just like to you know say that you know I can see Kimberly pan is on I know she was a petitioning candidate in the last election And discussing it with her the process was extremely easy it
was a minimal amount of signatures if anybody in this town wants to get on the ballot for the selectman they are more than welcome to go on okay this is not a closed election or is not some kind of conspiracy it's it's it's it's a free open election and it's going to be anybody can run and the town the public anybody that's a registered voter can decide who this person is gonna be okay I'm with you if that's the case that's the case I'm good there's no there's no issue whatsoever and if you want to talk to Kim Kim is on this meeting if you want to no I I want to I mean if we did this by our Charter and we had right timing no problem here's what we here's what was received today this was given provided by Carol to the town attorney and this is this is the agenda this is basically the opinion and the direction I'm understanding that we dealt with that this group dealt with this entire thing and if you look at this like I don't understand the dates and how they all come into play but basically this is this is what we're trying to deal with there's political party and party rules related to the Republican party because this is supposed to be a republican candidate you're supposed to do the endorsement and so so that's all
by March 6 the ballot the printing of absentee ballot happens on March 6th today's the 10th Jeff so you tell me how this is free and accurate that's that's Secretary of State's filing provided by Carol Lee to the town attorney today that's that's I'd rather see I'd ra can can we get can we get Carol Le or the the assistant Tom clerk on here to clarify this because I asked Carol to be on so and I believe she joined yep she is on Carol you're more than welcome to speak can you hear me yes okay because you couldn't hear me on my phone I was screaming yes sorry about that I'm sorry I don't know what was the matter with it so are you talking about the election calendar that Dennis asked me to fax over to him correct y unfortunately I do not have that sitting in front of me so I do not have any of the dates the only one that I specifically remember is that everyone anyone who would like to petition to be on the
ballot has until March 28th okay don't have absentee ballots ready at this point in time you can talk with Wally about that but the new tabulators are coming in so we are going to be doing paper ballots so anyone who is a write-in candidate someone would write they would have to get out there get their petitions in become a wrin candidate and then their name would be written in on those ballots a right in candidate correct so when you you so you're telling me that the ballots would be produced there would be one name on it the Republic Republican endorsed candidate Carol Lee that would
be the only name on the ballot and anyone else that wanted to run would have to go in as a right in ballot correct anybody here on this board think that's fair asking none of this was shared with us I a candidate they're a candidate if they're candidate they're candidate okay all right just because I'm not a lawyer I read these things I read stuff for work I understand enough of it you know and can I just add one thing sure there were petitioning candidates before Jeff and you know that very well the first time you were on the ballot as on the Democratic ticket her it was our Republican and the two petitioning candidates won for first Selectmen and board of Selectmen so yes petitioning candidates it can be very fair and we learned that from experience I I don't disagree Carol if it's done correctly and and what I'm trying to get at I'm trying to get at I'm just basically dealing with the the issues I may not believe that the way that we did this and according to statutes is accurate but I sit there and I'm going okay if we're going to do it what is the rules what is the process explain it Carol I walked into your office today and I asked you what the process was and you told me just to call the Secretary of State's office that's not free and fair that's not setting us up for competition so exactly what I told you was because I am a candidate on that ballot I am totally hands off with advising any candidate as to how many signatures they need or the process I said that the
correct way is to call the Secretary of State's office then it can never be said that I advise someone incorrectly I would never do that but I'm a candidate so I'm in a different position with the advice while you were standing there I dialed the Secretary of State's office I had no problem getting Heather who answered the phone to answer every single one of my questions because I said I have someone here who's been trying to get on as a right-in candidate and has been telling me that they can't get through to anybody at the Secretary of State office office or get any of their questions answered she answered every single one of the questions didn't she she sat there and said how many signatures we potentially needed because you were you were speaking to her and yes Carol you do have the relationships in with the Department my question to you and I'll just ask this really what's right in mean to the public like what does it mean because the way I I take WR in is I need to just write in the name you write the person's name just like if you're at the Democratic or the Republican caucus and they're passing paper ballots you write the name of your
candidate that you would like okay but person's name is not on the ballot correct but a list of wrin candidates is available okay all right what you know okay so this is what was provided what what I would like to do is I would just like to sit there and have attorney O'Brien speak to the differences between 922 and I believe it's 9164 so if we are going down this road we understand what it what should be done and shouldn't be done legally if anyone does anyone disapprove of that I I don't see what is wrong with this 9222 it seems to me that we have follow of that exactly and we are ready now to have the special election okay so so I'll ask and so in the second line of the of this it sits there and says when a vacancy incurs in the office of the first select Min or in the office of the elment it shall be filled within 30 days after the date of its occurrence by the remaining members of the board of Selectmen said members May appoint one of themselves to Villa vacancy blah blah blah right but well no no no let's not go blah blah blah because it says the office of first Elman correct or select so office of first selectman if they so desire and shall then fill the ensuing vacancy in the office of selectman as here and providing and such a vacency in the office it is not filled within 30 days it goes through process within 10 days after that the town clerk I mean Jeff if we had followed this right like listen if we had followed this statute
from the beginning then the elected Republican officials within this town because we didn't get to a filling we couldn't agree on this would have filled this vacancy that's what this says no it doesn't Jeff it doesn't it does it do not it does not okay so if I read this and vacancy in the office first SE office is not filled within 30 days after the day of its occurrence the town clerk shall within 10 days here thereafter Carol did you do that did you notify anyone yes I do with every single board in commission when there is a vacancy I notify both no no no Carol I understand I understand you notified us of vacancies I have the emails I I I put them all together I'm I'm 100% with you yes Jeff je and not to interrupt Jeff but we we we got the vacancy notice and we did endorse three candidates so I do send out letters to both Town committee chairs advising them of the vacancy along with a copy of the letter
of resignation and then a notice is sent in to the River East to notify the general public then notices are placed on the bulletin board and all doors of the Town Hall no I'm I'm I'm with you I agree 100% you do that that's not what I'm asking and that's not what I'm reading here I'm I'm saying that we failed to fill the seat within this is what this statute says we failed to fill the seat within 30 days the the town clerk's office within 10 days thereafter shall notify the elective Town officers enrolled in the same political party as the first selectman or selectman as the case may be who vacated the office or all elective Town officers you know if such first or selectman who vacated the office was not enrolled with a with a political party and it shall be filled by such elective Town officers within 60 days after its occurrence so what that's saying is if the town if the board of selectman doesn't fill this then it goes to all the elected officials within the town that's what this is saying to me pretty pretty simply and and I'm not going so now it goes through the process and it sits there and and the
Republicans because this would been a republican seat Jeff you guys would have all the elected officials so everybody in town that had gone through a campaign and got voted on by residents would sit there and would be you would have a caucus and you would sit there and say who should fill this seat that's what this statute says then it sits there and says if it gets filled and people don't like it I mean I mean Jeff this says the term Town officers is using the sex state representative Town officials who super about town Birds it says that right out come on Jeff what are you talking about right on the bottom well where did we miss it because I'm still reading so this is the term Town officers yeah I mean and it also sits there and says at the bottom that we have Town charters in the back section the next page a town Charter let's just let's just back up the truck minute for a the spirit of this like our town Charter covers every vacancy we know that there's a vacancy on the board of board of Finance or there's a board vacancy on the board of education if those aren't filled within a timely matter the board of Selectmen can can fill those seats there's a reason why that is the board of selectman vacancy is not in the in this town Charter because it is covered under the state statute oh my God please yes
it's it's true no one no one in our town has ever put a state statute in our Charter ever like that no because this is not in our Charter because the state statute covers yes select okay let's have the town attorney come on because I'd rather listen to him talk than I mean I mean Jeff Jeff Jeff at this point yeah anything anything other than a judge and an injunction is going to stop this election as a board of selectman we can't stop this election the town attorney can't stop this election it's gonna happen if you want no no Jeff if if you want to stop this election yeah you want to hire an an attorney to go to a municipal court and file an injunction against this election then let's do that but so you're telling me that what
you're doing here is fair yes it's very not this is terribly this is ter it's completely fair fair it's fair and open you are not allowing any Resident that would like to run of course opportunity to do it because because all you're doing all you see you're minimizing the fact that let's look at an election what Carol said before about Jay and Bob which is where we're going to right Jay and Bob so so what what they were sitting there sorry I got to let some people in so what you're dealing with is you're dealing with a right end that that means that person's name is not getting on the ballot so what opportunity they have when Jay and Bob did it they did it within our Charter they did it within the T Secretary of State's time so their names got printed on the ballot so so Jeff let me just ask a question yeah let's just say that RTC nominated another candidate Carol Lee was a WR in yeah do you think Carol Lee would get elected it doesn't matter I don't know who I don't know who maybe a qualified candidate will be out there to sit there for a second I just want to ask that question because in the paper you've been quoted to say if carolly ran for this seat she would get overwhelmingly elected if carolly was a right-in candidate would she get elected I don't think she would get elected if somebody else's name was on the ballot and people showed up because her name wouldn't be on the ballot so you have to get listen you're you're you're talking about a situation where it's either fair or not fair and
that's where I'm coming from with Rel related to because no no oneir this Jee anybody can vote for whoever they want whoever they want it's completely fair and transparent it's what I'm hearing is it I think what she Carol been saying is that you're going to have a list right there when you go in to vote you'll have a list of all the possible people that have put their names in so people will see every single person that has petitioned whether it be one or 20 and then they can write down the person they want to get in but they will see all the names and they can choose from those names and that is fair that's not fair this not this is not even close to being fair so okay attorney o'ri to quickly quickly if you can Dennis Dennis what phone number are you 2456 wow a lot more people are showing up
okay let me find that out attorney O'Brien if you can sit there and hear me you know you can sit there and come on but anyway I don't want to really hold up everybody here and at some point in time Dennis will come on let's let's see and Jeff let's make one thing clear the attorney's opinion is an opinion and it doesn't overrule the process and what I said before if anybody would like to stop this election including you yeah you can you can you can hire an attorney and petition the court to issue an injunction if we have followed this if I and anybody else in this town has done something that's inappropriate and a judge rule judge a rule that's that's our I understand Jeff what you mean by when you say we I do get that so understood I'm I'm with you I mean I signed the petition I'm I know we I got it so here was also just so everybody can be aware and you know there's a lot of so we're GNA we're going to move on to this and I'm sure that the town attorney will figure out his computer
issues later so I just wanted to also go over the timing of everything just so everybody has this in front of them so all the members of the public please understand that you know how this process has been run you can look at the timing of the resignation the timing of the RTC appointments you can sit there and look at all of the the misstep s that that happened in here related to us trying to get someone appointed and all of the issues that are out there related to timing because you know there's been a lot of of communication that that I I have all these everything I so I spent the time and the energy to sit there and document everything I have all the emails everything that's there so everybody can sit there and go through
the timing as to what you want and you can notice that the the first RTC endorsement was done six days after the resignation so there was really no effort to sit there and publicize the position and get it out there so that a wide range of people could apply and we did get a lot of good people that applied a lot of good people and a lot of people I voted for a lot of Republicans as I've said before so letting everybody know related to the town clerk's resignation so the town clerk item nine the town clerk did submit a a notice to the Secretary of State's office signed by the assistant Tom clerk it was filed on the 18th of February a day before the the petitions were filed so just to let everybody know all the communication that was going back and forth how it is so just so I'm just so we're all clear as to what we're doing and where we're at [Music] and I still just don't agree with the I still don't agree with the process
there's no process related to this no rules this is not following what our Charter would this is not following a standard election it's just not there we have to deal with item 10 which is a discussion reporting potential employment of Carol Lee in the town clerk's office as an advisor I'm thinking this is something that we should wave until we sit there and get our new member appointed or elected because this is going to be an issue related to the entire town back when I first got engaged within the town in 2015 we had multiple members in the board of Selectmen that were getting paid it didn't work out really well for the town at that point in time if we're going to sit there and put forth an employment contract for Carol there's got to be limitations in it and there's got to be a timeline so I'm just letting everybody know that I don't expect us to do a contract with her today Eric had initially wanted to do the contract and I told him it was not his responsibility
to sit there and do that contract so we need to sit there and deal with that so again I skipped this one I skipped the resignation so [Music] I skipped this one this is but this is for everybody there if they want any of the documentation any of the emails I'd be sure to provide them this Jeff I'm not meaning to interrupt here but what's your point what's your point here oh I just want to make sure everybody in town understands this Jeff because there's certain information that's being presented out there that Scott and I are unwilling to compromise or unwilling to vote for qualified candidates it's just the problem Jeff is that we just have not voted for the Republican Town committee endorsed candidates that's that's understood and the board of selectman has not in six months decided on a candidate yeah have not I wanted everybody to understand because I can you please let me finish please please let me finish please don't interrupt me I mean we spent six months
trying to find a candidate I mean the town and the and the residents in this town have took it upon themselves to get this petition together and they want to select the next debate they want to select the vacancy they want to select that person and they have the right to do that and I want to give them that right and I just don't see where this is going and what's your point on this whole that's okay conversation good so I wanted to sit there and let everybody know that these are the various votes that we took and the various nominations were there you can sit there and see who nominated who who voted yes I should have really put up the the Jeff Murray Republican I should have put Republican Democrat Democrat Democrat so in in all of these cases you know Jeff would vote Yes Ann would vote Yes Scott and I would vote no and then the next one would come around Joe
Godwin was a qualified candidate Jeff voted no and voted no I voted yes SC voted yes so on down the line so we postponed the meeting because we didn't want the November vote because we didn't want to know that Alicia Lee was on the on the ballot or the Republican endorsed candidate before the election so that occurred then we got to the December we voted Alicia went up and this is the one that really bothers me you know Alicia you know we were we were working through Jeff Murray and Jeff Murray did didn't want to revote on anyone that was there so he endorsed he nominated Alicia Lee the vote went yes yes no no and then he nominated Bea gamsky another Republican he voted no and voted no Scott and I voted yes to try to get it so in all of these cases in the way that this all worked out I have voted for as many Republicans as Jeff Murray has voted for so just let me interrupt just let me interrupt again what what is the point of all this it's just letting the public know Jeff the je this information the information this is a public forum and this is what we're doing I know but this has been out there for everybody's been attending these meetings they know what's happening why are we reing this because because even when we sit there and look at the River East it doesn't have it correct because the issue in the River East is that Scott and I are just stonewalling this which the answer is not we're not stonewalling anything we
voted yes for people we voted yes for rep and and that's your point but now we're going to have an election and it's going to be decided so let's just move on we'll move F so so we also have still in the process we have a vacant position and we had a candidate that wanted to sit there and fill the position and I believe that it's appropriate that we sit there and give that individual an opportunity and if Kathy D roers is available Kathy if you would like to sit there and speak you can if you choose not to I totally understand interrupt again Jeff do we
advertise for this yes we've advertised remember Jee we've been advertising for six months well we have an election now and this even if we appointed anybody tonight it's going to be over it's gonna be overruled on April 11th with the news okay let's do it hi my name I'm I'm not gonna vote I'm gonna be a no vote because I'm gonna wait for the election if understand Jeff I expect if Kathleen D roers wants if Kathleen D roers wants to run for that spot she can petition on thank you Jeff yeah appreciate that so just threw my head in for this position since three times this board has denied three different or many candidates but three different meetings where people were not voted in so I decided you know I have the experience I have been on the board of Selectmen for eight years served on the board of Finance between clerking and chairing the board and being a member for 20 years I understand the process I can figure out the mill rate done a lot of I am a registered Republican lived in town 40 years and just thought I would you know be a candidate that maybe these all four of you could somehow agree on I can see that will
never be the point that you're at at this meeting tonight it's it's a sad a sad Point but it is where you are So currently I serve as the chairperson for the board of library and also on beautification again I was just threw my hat in the ring here to help this is a two-year I believe that's left on this position and just trying to make a smooth transition before this got out of control the way it has mushroomed into you know a political nightmare for the town and the taxpayer so but with that I I do understand where everybody's coming from I do wish you the best if you know you you need anything any consideration any anything done on the board I would be more than happy to help out I also when I was on the board of Selectmen we went through the whole practice and I know Dennis is I
can see Dennis is on this now of getting the Town Administrator which was a big deal and it you can see now that we were able to move the town from Board of Selectmen to having a Town Administrator work with the board of Selectmen how valuable that Miss was and is I mean you know the work that the Town Administrator does is amazing and the money he brings in 13.8 million we have bridges that when I was on the board of Selectmen you know weren't looked at Public Works was not a priority the roads were not a priority the equipment was allowed to you know we we had equipment they were repairing fixing more than it was even being used at the time so this board was a really good healthy board but now with the the divide that you have it has really you know you've created a big a big problem in town so that's unfortunate but again I sent this in for
a two-year time period that Paula you know when she left there was two years left that's why I did this I was hoping to be able to bridge this rather than create the issues that have been created so thank you for your time and you know I do wish you all the best thank you anyone have any questions for Kathy Kathy I have one for you Kathy did you ever go to the RTC and ask to be endorsed I did and the r RTC will not endorse me I was I have been told that I am considered a spender which was very very insulting and hurtful because I voted for on April 23rd 2025 we had a town meeting regarding a tractor that was ahead of I think it was a a year ahead of the timeline that Public Works brought before the town at Mo and anyways there were 76 people in attendance at that meeting and 42 people voted yes for that tractor it's not Kathy der roa's tractor but it's 42 people out of 76 that agreed after listening to the public works presentation that this tractor was necessary plus because we bought it a year early it saved the town $30,000 I don't consider that a spender I consider that a good decision else all right I'm GNA nominate Kathy D roas for the position of a selectman on our board this is to fill the role till April 11th correct depending upon where we're at so oh that's that's according to the state statute Okay then if that's the state statute and that's what happens well let's fill the position I'll second
okay any further discussion all those in favor I I all those opposed okay I'm waiting for the election if she wants to petition on she can definitely she's welcome to petition I love it all right so that is what we're trying to deal with for the public so that you can all understand what we're dealing with all right je Jeff can you please explain to that because I'm waiting for the election I'm going to let the public decide who our next selectman is and I really don't appreciate your comments Jeff that's why we differ I sitting there I know but Jeff we can disagree but you I don't not like the snide comments it's it's not appropriate please so that's side comment that this is what we deal with is a snide comment I think it's actually the truth I'm sitting there expressing to the community the truth of what I've had to deal with for this period of time and what the rest of you all have had to deal with in our different ways we have differing opinions in where we're at so je no no no Jee not interrupting but so do you have a problem with letting the public the residents of this town decide who our next select person is you know I
don't Jeff and and to be really honest I had told Scott that we should all go and we should all have an election elect the entire Board of Selectmen let's reelect the entire Board of Selectmen right now let's do it right let's do it in accordance with our Charter I will submit to that Jeff Jeff the way that I look at it Scott was the highest vote getter on our board I was second Paula was third you were fourth Ann was fifth I'll take my chances the public voted for Scott and I you know we're not sitting here trying to be you know a problem I would sit there and I will flat out tell you we want to sit there and come to a resolution and a process that that gets us all on a on a ballot and we all have an election have at it because I don't Jeff Jeff I don't represent I don't I I represent everybody but I'm not really considering the people at the the far left and the far right that deal with us I'm dealing
with the 1800 people in the middle and the positive things we've done for this community yes you really want to talk about Fair that's fair 1500 people want to they want an election and they want to vote I'm okay I'll put do it let's put us all on it and and I just don't understand I'm going to say this right now I just don't understand what this Witch Hunt against Carol Lee you have going on wit hunt this not a witch Jeff je you're going around you have had a plan related to this person since it became available within six days you put someone forth there an Creet has a plan she has she her whole situation is is dealt with with related to the board of education and the chair people of the the DTC I mean Jeff I'm just telling you I sit there and I have a conversation with an cre and within five minutes a
text goes back to Scott person telling Scott Pon not to not to vote for a potential candidate for for the the the the Republican B Bata gamsky that's the email came back and and you know what that person said in the text that person said hey Scott you shouldn't vote for because she's she's got kids in the school that she's a PTA Mom that she won't she will cause problems with the community because of the budget for the school board that is unacceptable to me and if anybody would like to see the text I will gladly show you because that's the stuff that bothers me this whole thing is is not is a is a plan from the get-go it is not a this is Washington DC and that's what it is Jeffrey Washington DC why this is wide open it's wide open and transparent Jeff oh it is lack transparency since the get-go you never even came and spoke to me one time every person I brought you Jeff Murray every person I brought you
you sat there and said they're too close to you what does that mean too close to me it is because you know why this is why I'm supporting Carol and you want to know why I'm supporting Carol why Carol has the support of Democrats she has the support of indep unaffiliated Voters and she has the support of Republicans if you talk to anybody about Carol Carol is very neutral Carrie listen Carol listens to people and Carol is very understanding and she will make good decisions for this town she's been in this town for a long time and what you have done to her and the way you have tried to basically Target her is just it's it's almost like bullying Jeff it's oh my God you talk about bully talking about bullying you talking about bullying okay so if I haven't bullied anybody I've been pulling I've been pulling for a fair transparent election ever since we hit a stalemate after the third time okay that's my position that's your position okay and I understand Jeff that I sit there and I look at it in a in a a very simple way you knew that Mr King would have trouble getting on the board you were mad at me
for not voting for Mr King and Jeff je I'm GNA relitigate all of them Jeff let me stop I was even at the RTC when they endorsed Stephen K please you keep saying like that how many people are on the Republican Town committee it it wasn't my vote I was how many people are on the Republican Town committee when this all started we have a lot of new members so I don't know we added new members he added new members okay did you add Kathleen to roer no we did not and that was it was it was a vote because she was not people didn't want her on the board do you know that kathen D roers in the 2015 election was the highest vote
getter that's fine and she can petition on in this election if she would like okay the the RT the RTC it was I'm just and just and Jeff just like you said earlier I am just one vote of many understood and she was by by majority she was not voted on well you know I I sit there guire I would like to say something about the RTC I'm in the chairman no listen listen Carol when you would like to speak at the end of the meeting Carol just je Jeff if you're going to attack the RTC she should speak she's a chairman I I asked you one question how many people are on the RTC I didn't attack the RTC I asked you how many let Carol answer that then please I'm asking you Jeff I this is not an open public discussion Carol Le is the chairman Carol Le knows who the exact car is not the chairman of the RTC part of the RT part of the RTC yeah sorry I misspoke she can she can talk she can talk in public that's how it works so well then let's move on so let's move on let's move on let's move on then please okay all right old business item a community center scientist discussion has been too many things going on I haven't gotten to it I apologize 13B discussion of blight and level of involvement let me sit there and get to that information on the packet here we go level of involvement and blight anyone have any questions Jeff you wanted to talk about the Long Hill property yeah it just seems we kind of
hit a stalemate with that it seems like it's the whoever purchased it gutted the property it's just a stone shell right now there's brush there's a trailer there's they basically left a mess and it doesn't seem like anything's been going on for the last six to eight months so we really need to get after that o that property owner and get that property cleaned up it's just a complete eyesore which one is it one or one 248 243 243 all right when Eric returns we will sit there and make that a request sit there and have him try to move that along with the zoning and blight enforcement officer thank you yeah item 13 c a solar at AES that is on our agenda for the town meeting there is one thing related to the solar at AES I believe that I believe that the contract was signed by the Board of Education already which it shouldn't have been so there has to be some amendment to that contract so if nobody in the nobody on the board of Minds I will sit there and and request that something be drafted related to the town attorney so that can get done again and then we really need to take into account the issues that Adrien addressed and is Adrien still on the phone I just simply because he was involved in that issue we need the warranty
and I don't know if Eric's ever provided the warranty to the solar contractor anybody on this call know that Adrian you still on the call he may not have the that we'll get him later Scott but does anyone any of the board members know if Eric provided the warranty no not that I'm aware of I would have seen it okay I didn't see and and I that comment that Adrian had about an RFP I mean it's not it didn't go out to a bid or anything like that because it was a grant and it's not costing the school or the town anything so that's why there was no RFP they didn't hire anybody so that was the correction I wanted to make correction okay what what is the purchasing policy is does this follow the purchasing policy that's all i' ask well nothing's being purchased well there is a there is a capital liability on this so we need to put a dollar number on it and figure out where it falls above the water line or below the waterline as a capital purchase because the if I mean the the the penalties for the if we default on and the penalties if we cancel this contract are quite high so that's one that's one concern I have I mean what Adrian brought what what Adrian brought up to me the one thing that I sat there and I besides the
warranty issuing paying 10% extra so an extra 40,000 to get a 50-year warranty which is one part but the other part that he sat there and said and and Jeff you you and and Dennis had a meeting with so with the gentleman is this project going to produce more more power that we should be dispersing across the town I mean at least across the the the the parking lot to the community center into the town hall and a half times per per the meeting no but Adrian says it's one and a half times so we probably need to get that nailed down before Thursday's meeting okay that in the roof in the roof warranty we need to figure that out I would hate to Avid that warranty right I mean I I just heard about this just now so this is this is all news to
me new to me I mean so but Adrian was on the you know I believe at that point in time you and Adrian were on the board of finance and he was engaged as you know he was almost the clerk of the works on that project so he was he was heavily engaged in it so we'll get with him later and actually try to find that warranty so we can understand what's up okay there still isn't anything about how that's going to be attached to the roof if it's ballasted or you know how it's going to be attached yet on contract no we'll we'll have to sit there there's there's there's a tremendous amount of issues that we need to deal with related to that and if that's if that's not even on there how could they come up with a contract price well my whole thing is I know they need the warranty I know that I have asked Eric to provide that to the chairperson of the the board of education so that she could provide it
back to the contractor because that's a big issue related to them but we we're going to have to get that warranty in the next couple days so all right the kitchen in our packet there's there's information on page I sorry too many computers what page is that those quotes So Eric basically is asking us to approve the $20,000 for the kitchen for the quotes that were provided and there's one quote from the Kelly for de Kelly Kelly for debt so there is a Kelly for Deb quote that you know with some additions is going to end up being about 18,000 and these are the cabinets but so this would go into the fire department so plus labor
18774 so Jeff you had asked for three quotes when this came up first time do you have any problem with any of the quotes that were provided and what we should sit there and authorize Eric to sit there and spend related to this I'm taking I'm taking a look right now I know you had your screen shared before but I'm trying to scroll through now and catch up here where we're page 33 okay thank you yeah so 33 it starts at page 31 it looks like everything was pretty much competitive bid for for like items yeah I'm just wondering why we're going with Kelly fet since they're the highest they're the highest of the three
I think Kelly foret actually revised back down here to okay I'm just looking at the top I'm looking at no no problem I I I'm with you because I didn't see the $8,000 that he referenced but on page 33 it adds the labor and a reduction in the cabinets and the granite why is there tax in it there should be no tax Municipal right that'll come off no that's a different total so 1,823 59 plus 6200 for labor is 18, 2359 so the math didn't even work yeah I'm just wondering if these other ones include tax or not I meaning that's still significantly higher than Dean cabry or B Wards well the one question I have and I'm assuming that this is internal labor I don't know who's doing the labor is Kelly fet doing the install I would assume so they probably have some Carpenters they probably have some Carpenters on contract they probably do it for them up at the top it says labor prices include removal and installation from economy Home Improvements maybe that's who's doing the installation I don't know who that is economy Home Improvements well do we have a problem with the giving them a range that you want them to hit yeah I mean because I know the Fire Commission has come to us multiple times on this and we said the last time they
were asking for a base number and then on the last time we sat there and said get three quotes so they've gotten three quotes on the cost of the hardware but for some reason they're I just Willard they have the smooth style door where they have the shaker style those are like cabinets and I'm just wondering why Dean wasn't selected because Dean has a much lower labor charge and why why is it on the one sheet says 6200 for labor and the other one it's all 4, 364,000 yeah that's where I'm confused either quotes the install and no removal or what they do okay so it's March so we still have another month to deal with this if we choose to if we have more questions than we ask we may as well have Eric do that when he gets back and sit there and deal with this later yeah I mean the only reason I wouldn't I would say we wouldn't go with Dean is because they did have a fire in their facility right then they may not be able to that may be something there can answer they may not be able to honor the timeline that we're looking for and that's why he's going with Kelly fet because I would go I would go between those two because those two are like they're they're pricing like items yeah right okay so we'll push that that
was one of the four that Eric wants we'll put that on U an agenda and if we need to move forward faster we can sit there and do something by email because it is in the range that they spoke about when they first came to us it's just a question if if everybody's happy with the especially the labor dollars that's the one question for me so okay let's move on to item 14 which is new business Trinity solar vendor application that is on page 39 does anybody have a problem with that I know that we've had it's not really a concern with the Solar Company but we had some emails from residents related to I believe Frontier but does anybody have a problem with the application and approving the application for Trinity solar they've had one in town before we've approved this probably six months ago right yeah yeah all their people have been very good okay I make a motion that we approve the Trinity solar LLC vendor application for second that vendor license and K has seconded all those
further discussion all those in favor I right item 14b Bill 7067 change to the motor vehicle assessment this is a slightly complicated but starting on page 41 we have an ability to approve a lower valuation rate right on okay so this is the page that relates to this bill so what Eric did is they shoved this in a really interesting Bill if you read the whole thing health care but basically what the state's doing is they're basically saying we could use an 85% rate for year one and that would be the assessed value of a car or we can come down and we can use 90% of the rate and so what Eric's expressing to it and he expressed in his report is there's a
shift of about1 Point some odd million dollars in total valuation I mean just from a simple standpoint in my head I sit there and think we go because what's going to happen is it decreases 5% every year over a 20y year cycle it gets down to I believe the end of this is sorry it's a not less than $500 so so years 15 to 19 it's 20% and anything beyond year 20 is $500 or in that not less than $500 I would sit there and say we go with a higher valuation and simply because the math is going to tell us that if you have a motor vehicle and we have higher value on the motor vehicle that means the home values within Town are going to get we're going to end up having home values potentially get taxed at a higher rate because the state is going to limit the the taxable rate that we can the mill rate that we can have so I mean after reading this my recommendation is that we just go with the higher 90 start at the 90% threshold rather than the 85% threshold anybody read this anybody have any issues Rel yeah and then our GR list is going to go back up again it's going
to be slightly higher y anybody any issues related to this that's one of the ones you have to sign I'm not necessarily sure it's the one I have to sign I think what we need to do is we need to pick one of these and so you can we can pick the 85% start or we can pick the 90% start we pick the 90% start that's what the town will follow moving forward the assessor's office will have that into its equation and when my family receives its tax bill for its Vehicles it'll be in accordance with this percentage rates so kay if nobody's gonna sit there I'm gonna sit there and say go ahead I thought there was something with the that we were limited now at what the mill rate could be for cars or something like that correct so this helps to offset that a little bit if we take the 90 it'll be closer to what it had been is that what it would be the final taxes or not nope it just means that you know we would potentially have a higher tax base to be taxed at the standard rate that the state is limiting for Motor Vehicles yeah taking it from one place and giving it to its back mother yeah I get it and our problem with our town is that our tax base is highly residential and homeowners are going to Bear more of the burden rather than people that are dealing with more with cars because of of these changes and lowering the assessed value and taxing it at a lower
rate because in this case this I think this is the first year and somebody can correct me if I'm wrong but I think this is the first year that our mill rate would potentially be over the threshold for the state we've actually done a pretty good job of keeping the mill rate lower than the maximum Motor Vehicle Tax Rate I do think this year because of the changes related to this and because of the changes related to the veteran tax exemptions and other items that we're going to cars or will be taxed at a different mill rate than our homes correct do we know what do we know what the average age of the automobiles are in town what the breakdown is I don't know Jee and and and I don't know that the town assessor has ever provided that to us because I don't see everybody driving around in brand new 2025 Vehicles so you know I just wonder if we fall in you know the the last you know the year 10 to year 20 with most Vehicles so when you get down in that in the weeds it's it's not it's not much of a difference no none of it none of it is a difference it's just when you have the the difference offset of 5% it's an offset of 5% across the board 5% yeah that's all okay I I just I would be curious how this changes each one changes what we're
paying now versus what we're paying what how this would change as far as revenue for the residents that have homes and cars you would want you would want more tax generation off of the vehicles because there's so to offset that's the homeowner taxes you need more vehicle taxes look you're GNA pay it no matter what yeah no matter what I mean I I realize my family's paying a lot and we're going to keep paying a lot regardless of this it's just in my head you may as well take the higher threshold and move on because well the only person that's gonna penalize is renters it's gonna just people who just have cars or renters yeah I mean yeah okay so I'm going to make a motion that we go with the motor vehicle assessment that has a starting threshold of 90% second okay any discussion related to this anymore okay all those in favor I I all those opposed all those that abstained I'm GNA abstain because I'd like to get some more information about this before I vote on it okay so an did you vote Yes and did you vote Yes yes so the vote was 301 okay item 14 C the am the ahm budget first thing that we need to do is appoint and Ann you're you're you're okay being appointed to the the ahm representative yes okay I'll make a motion that we appoint an CR as the Andover Board of Selectmen ahm representative got a second second Jeff Murray seconded further discussion all those in favor I I
so that's and did you vote Yes on that yes so four nothing I'm I I can't see everybody because I'm sharing my screen so I apologize I gotta hear you so okay I'm sorry that's all right and Jeff was the only one that was in my ribbon on the top so so an has been appointed that's the Andover Board of selectman ahm representative for moving forward and that vote was for nothing in our packet there was the ahm budget these Pages this page specifically gives the increase for the town if I remember correctly from looking at what we were doing so andover's increas is$ 6,953 and if I if I understood what I you know I believe and an correct me if I'm wrong ahm provides services not only to the community but also to the school and those are Incorporated within those dollars I believe also the school actually pays them additional funding if I read it correctly I read it somewhere yeah so ahm covers some of our social our social requirements and state requirements that the is right has to be has to deal with so obviously it's an additional 4400 or $4,000 but the total for the town this year will be$ 106 953 anybody have any discussion related to and the services provided okay then I make a motion that we approve the ahm budget for the 2025 2026 fiscal year at a $16,995 is subject to the board of Finance approval seconded seconded by Jeff Murray fa further discussion all those in favor I I I right for nothing that vote passes okay item 14d approve expenditures for Bunker Hill Bridge Project and Culvert fund what Eric is asking us is
because we had looked at potentially getting a line of credit from one of the banks and we couldn't sit there and do that effectively we had to sit there and bond for it and it was going to cost us a significant amount of money we have approximately a million dollars in those two funds and what Eric is asking is for permission to use those dollars to pay for services for the contractors as they get done and then as we're reimbursed from the state and the Federal government related to this bridge project that he reimburses those funds and sits there and utilizes our current resources to manage the Bridge Project so that's the story on what he's asking us for does anyone have any concerns I will tell you my biggest concern is just the funding from the federal government and the expectation really is that we will get that everything will get funded at least the state would
understand it I know the contractor would understand it and everybody's got to be sitting there feeling a slight bit of pressure related to how this is moving about but if we want to move forward with that Bridge Project this is probably our easiest solution to funding to funding it anybody have any issues no okay then I will make a motion to to authorize the Town Administrator to utilize The Bunker Hill Bridge Project fund and the Culvert fund to utilize as seed funding for the Bunker Hill Bridge Project I'll second that Jeff okay further discussion me because this is actually a pretty this is a pretty big deal just big deal I mean I don't want anyone to be under the impression that this is not you know we're doing this to avoid spending additional dollars in interest and in bonding but if the federal funding and the state funding don't come timely what's going to happen and and as I told Eric there will be a pause in the bridge bridge construction until funding resumes or
funding is is received so we will not continue to move dollars out if we don't receive funding so I've tried to express that to Eric that that's the way that I believe that we would proceed that's not a good choice and it's not really it's it's creating a lot of uncertainty from my end but we need to get that bridge done any further discussion okay all those in favor I I hi Jeff bye okay or nothing okay item 14e senior Transportation Grant application approval whatever that's so on 52 52 there you go my bad I forgot I had it here so so this is what Eric is asking us to approve so in the past this Grant application process has been performed by Kath plazy and we have been successful on numerous Grant applications this Grant application and most grants that they're going now it's required 20% funding so if we are successful in getting the grant we would have to go to town meeting to get it approved But Eric is just asking us for asking the board for permission to apply anybody have any just I just have one question when when Kathy was applying for these was Cathy signing them or was it Eric I believe it was Eric in the end I believe in the beginning Kathy was signing them herself okay and then I believe it transitioned when Eric became Town Administrator and eventually transitioned to Eric signing them okay I mean I my personal opinion is I would like to see our Town Administrator as the this this is
nothing against us but I'd like to see our Town Administrator signing in and and overseeing all our grants I think what happens I mean this is just me is the Grant application process he's he's basically saying can she apply for it and then she would go back with the paperwork and give it to the appropriate person in most of these cases it's it's either the chief executive of the town and some some require the first selectman to sign which I I sign when Eric requires and Eric can sign on some of them but I think he's just saying no no that's not right Jeff I I signed it only only as the person doing the grant creating the grant for the town then Eric before Eric it was Bob Burbank and
then I mean after him oh no wait a minute was Joe Higgins they were the ones that signed it that official signature correct okay just just as Eric as The Office you know the the the manager of the town I would I would prefer he be the point of contact for all grants going forward yeah that'd be good Eric we've had a lot of success with Kathy pazi being the point person in that program just let everybody know point of order who trying to speak that's Tess gr yeah Jeff Maguire I have I have no problem with Eric overseeing that again I am new to grant writing and so this would be my first grant writing and so absolutely I think that Eric should oversee that and every step of the way I think that that would be a good guideline okay thank you Tess absolutely should' be signed by the Town Administrator yeah approved by the board of Selectmen okay so we're ready to approve this anybody have a problem with it yeah we just replaced test with Eric Anderson Town Administrator so I do I do have a question in that if if I may chairman go ahead being though that I'm filling out all the paperwork Eric would be signing it so that would be he would be overseeing everything so correct me if I'm wrong I'm preparing
all the documents he's overseeing it signing it and then we're going forward correct to say that we're all under the same agreement okay yep he's reviewing and signing very good okay so I'm I'm not sure if I'm missing something I thought as of a few weeks ago we were repairing the van or is it now I mean how long would it be taking to get a replacement are we doing this because we figure in a few years we need the replacement or right that's that's when we'll be receiving this if we get approved by for this grant that's when we will be receiving it again the last one took the last one took I think three years we should be applying for every OPP every Grant opportunity that's out there especially related to senior transportation and any senior issue because our population is aging so sure this is not related to the repair or the work that we sat there and discussed on the current van and the current vehicle this is a grant that's available that the town should be applying for to to take advantage of every dollar that we
possibly can get that doesn't from the local taxpayers okay so this is not because we had problems with the last one just last month this just was a grant that happened to be coming along at this time so we're going for that is that right correct correct can can I can I clarify that sure any any vehicle that is at a certain date that is outdated so to speak by the state we can apply for a grant to replace that vehicle and that's what we would like to do regardless of if it has current problems or not that is a benefit to us actually but yes this is to replace that outdated vehicle which is the van which is in need of desperate repair okay thank you yep and if we do repair it and it stays in service for a while then we keep using it till it you know we hit in the Life absolutely okay so I make a motion that we authorize the Grant application for the senior Transportation traditional Capital Grant to be prepared by the senior center coordinator and overseen
and signed by the Town Administrator a second that further discussion all those in favor can can I just interrupt so sorry sure you said senior coordinator that would be the senior director senior director clarification so our minute writers please change it from coordinator to director thank you sir sorry about that okay we have an event we have two multiple event permits in for the property down on Route 6 131 otk 6 the I forgot the name of the Tavern Scott what was the name of that Tavern originally whites yeah wh Tavern wh Tavern right whites Tavern right across the street from the Andover class yeah okay so there's two different dates does anybody have an issue with authorizing the permit it's it's stated for you know somewhere between 80 and 100 people for both events parking on Hutchinson Road April 12th and May 17 anybody nope they were in on time so and everybody's approved them right the trooper and or is where where the first the first approvals for the first hurdle so they're on time they're on time it doesn't seem anything unreasonable okay so I'll make a motion that we approve the two permits for the Siri Lanka New Year's Eve New Year celebration and the the whac festival to be held April 12th and May 17th subject okay I found this on the new year cele to ail sorry my phone decided it wanted to give me some AI information on that sorry about that so again I'll make a motion to approve the the two events scheduled for 131 Connecticut Route 6 in Andover on May 17th and April 12th subject to approval by all other relevant Public
Safety officials second it further discussion all those in favor I Scott Jeff I can't see it I I voted yes okay so four Z okay so we had an additional item into the agenda 14e a discussion regarding EV charging stations at the Town Hall so this this kind of came about with a discussion with Eric the other day in his office about the EV charging station he stated we're paying $500 a year for the billing service for that EV charger and we're getting zero Revenue out of it and even when it was free we were getting limited use so I would
like to propose that we cancel that contract and save the town $500 a year and just if anybody wants to charge they can be and and even if people go in and charge it may end up costing us $50 to $100 a year but it's still going to be a savings over what we're doing now I also saw something from a resident trying to set up an account and and the way it's set up now is that apparently you have to get Town approval to charge there they tried setting up an account one day to to get their car charged and it was it was an issue for them so I really don't see a high use on that charger it
might be somebody stopping in there once in a while or for a meeting that might plug in or a fire department member like I said it's it's really inexpensive to charge because the current the current levels that we're that that chargers at is relatively low so I'd like to suggest that we just take it back to a free charger and and and just cancel that contract going forward and if the if the use goes up then we we make it a revenue based charger again but I don't see it nobody's using it let's make a motion and get that done because that's something that's been brought up before and we should do it okay I'd like to make the motion to cancel the the contract with the EV service for the fee based charging and and take it back to a to a free service I'll second second and seconded that okay discussion all those in favor I I I so four nothing on that one okay let's move on to item 15 approval of the minute meetings the special meet minute meetings for 2 three I you know I know we tape all these but I was so let's do this one first
because I don't think there's any issues related to this I really got to ask a question on minute meetings do we even need minute meetings because we have these all taped and they're all out there but I believe it's statuto that we need to do it so anyway I'll make a motion that we approve the 23 2025 special minute meetings pecial meeting Minutes special meeting special meeting blah blah blah sorry special meeting minutes I'll second that all right all those in favor I I Jeff I'm assuming that was a yes that was a yes okay on this next one I do have a couple of changes because I read these and so well maybe it's not this one is we have a third one here ally the February 10th meeting yeah sorry that's on that starts on page 62 yeah there was an extra set of minutes there for some reason why was that we got to look now so we had a special meeting February 10th and we had a special meeting the thir but those are not on here so we had the third and we have the 10th and so we don't even have on the agenda the other one okay that's a problem that's why I was having a a breakdown I was remembering different MO and different items carried so let's just look at that one that was related to that yeah saw a correction needed on page two under 7c no see you're dealing with you're dealing with the minutes the regular
minutes regular meeting minutes that you've got up there now I know we don't have that I have a problem with that one as well well so so now I'm just telling you I think we should approve these but we have to add us we have this is we did a budget meeting before that meeting right so on starting on page 60 there's a set of minutes and those minutes were related to those minutes were related to what we were passing forth to the board of Finance so I'll make a motion that we approve the special meeting budget Workshop minutes for Monday February 10th okay and then and I'm going to recommend that we bring this February 10th regular minutes because they're not on the agenda and we didn't make any changes to them that we bring this to the next meeting and I agree with you there are certain votes which is mentally a problem for me like how the votes were done incorrect by the person writing this and I asked Eric that when I had I first got the packet and I went to him because if you can you know you got a
6B the information there 6B right yeah there's a vote and that vote was incorrect and then the vote on seven is incorrect and yeah you know I know we do these things on on video and everything is here for posterity because it's recorded but I just tell you the votes were wrong and I I had a problem with that when I was reading them but we're going to bring this one to our next meeting okay because it's not on here okay so then we go on through some reports so we have our treasurer's report does anybody have any questions or want to bring any concerns related to what's going on in the treasurer's office forward Okay saw a letter that she had submitted in there that this is on the tax collector so we have so so we didn't get
everything that we had from the the treasurer's office but I know they're they're dealing with other issues they provided us the tax regist the check register so this is the tax collector's report that was provided so in the in the month of February we collected $255,000 and and Kate sat there and told us that this was not updated in her in the information that she provided because she didn't get all the way through the end of the cycle before she went away on U paid time off so right so this is her letter related to that right okay and then she did sent us a letter that we should all read related to The Hop River Homes tax abatement I don't believe we we want to sit there and make any decisions on this tonight but we want to know that this is out there and that we should address it anybody have any problems with that I can remember one time being at a town meeting where we had to vote to do with this abatement tax abatement so would we have to do a town meeting again to change that we probably should we have to evaluate it an honestly I mean she brings up some some points that we're not utilizing field it would be better to utilize the field and she's also bringing up some points that weren't addressed previously that right you know
the tax abatement isn't going to have any impact on the residence it's only going to have an impact on the company that runs the facility so it's something we need to address I know there's people in the community that are very engaged with that Senior Center and and not Senior Center but senior housing and well listen we should evaluate it and make what a decision that's appropriate for the town so right but that's not for today's meeting so move this through so we do have on page 84 a set of tax refunds that total $1,614 20116 so does anybody have any issues related to those nope okay I'll make a motion that we approve the tax tax refunds for the month in a total of $1,614 2016 second that and cre seconded further discussion all those in favor I hi hi departmental reports
the assessor's office provided us the grand list it dropped 16 $6 million $6 million and 315 something along that lines so house valuations are the same reasonably the same actually no sorry down down 400,000 the car taxes are down $6 million and the personal property taxes are up slightly so total net Grand list and really what we should do is request that the assessor provides us changes on those line items so that everybody can understand them easily without me having to try to do math but a $6 million decrease which means that our mill rate will have to increase to cover the loss and tax
dollars yeah I wish I would have seen that before I abstained from the few Motor Vehicle Tax that's what I was looking I got it but we should sit there and ask when he does this in the future is to give us the change so it's easily to understand and the members of the board can see it and that the the residents can all see it so they understand what we're dealing with and what the board of Finance has to deal with when they sit there and deal with the budget and try to come up with a mill rate so this was the assessor's office activity report conveyance fees process so on and so forth It's all available these are adjustments that are made within the system so ups and downs and by location in the month of February we had a total building permits for
[Music] $2,892 so a very light permit month and permit dollars so hopefully that will increase and we'll have some business that moves forward Public Works does anybody have any comments or concerns on the Public Works report okay register voters is in the packet processed 23 voters annual can of Voters connected secret State attended to col talin County ROV or roak meeting in Willington there you go and that was the last page of our packet so anybody have any questions or concern concerns related to Department reports or lack of Department reports or anybody have anything they want to bring up okay item 19 correspondence we didn't have any one second I have to stop sharing there we go okay I get to stop sharing so there was no correspondence now we're going to move on to item 20 and public speak so we're going to start in the Top Line Kimberly psan nothing right now thank you Liz latch I'm all I'm all set thank you okay Kathy and Mike pazi nothing thank you all right Chris Bernard nothing really other than to just be clear I think that the ability to get on the ballot from a writing perspective is quite easy I've done it myself I just decided not to run I've been asked multiple times around for Board of Selectmen and I have refused every time because of this thank you very much Rachel Goodwin hi I just wanted to mention when you were talking about the M budget I'm the representative for the board of finance and I already voted and
submitted my vote after we had a board of Finance review on it and everyone voted in the board of Finance you had mentioned that you'd have to send the your vote over to the board of Finance for consideration did I miss if you've already voted on it it's done because it's passed us because you control the money Eric asked us to vote on it so that we would move it to you okay because we were I was informed that both the board of finance and board of Selectmen has a vote for that so I think it's done at this point okay thanks okay I'm gonna go back to Liz latch because she's Bor of fin I just got her hand up oh yeah I I was just gonna say yeah I I I believe that we were entitled to two votes and Louise did our one and then you guys were it okay so I would think that you guys would still have a vote but so then we're good to go so we have the second vote and we approved it and the board of Finance has approved it so I think so yeah not as good with ahm all right thank you thank you Ste Stephen King I'd just like to note that I think
it's somewhat unfair that you allow certain people to speak and you shut down Carol Barton I think that speaks to just a hint of your Prejudice and really again disappointed in what happened tonight Jerry KET no I have nothing to add thank you Kathleen der roer all set thank you Bob hamburger yeah give me a second I made some notes here this is something that's really more to the Board of Ed but since it was brought up here I just want to enter into the record in context Adrien mentioned during the first public speak the idea that the school administration and the Board of Ed shouldn't be running the solar energy project that the school building is a town asset and should be dealt with as such by Town officials and I I just want to concur with that notion and speak to that concern perhaps within the larger context of other recent years Capital issues like the problems with the school's bathrooms the parking lot and of course the the disputes over the property lines related to the construction of the community center ju from my perspective that last one was a complete train wreck and accomplish nothing except spending something like 30 grand of town funds on needless and ultimately useless legal challenges now I always try to maintain a high level of decorum in public meetings like this but I don't think there's any diplomatic way to put this on the one hand we have Town officials and board members with specific and Det detailed experience in construction engineering and project management while the school does not I mean Eric Anderson worked for several years directly in the solar energy
industry Jeff Murray is an electrical engineer somebody who I've worked with and can attest to his competence school officials and the Board of Ed have demonstrated pretty conclusively that they're not able to effectively manage these Capital issues and they really just need to concede these inabilities in these matters and relinquish the authority to those folks in Town who know how to get these things done just for context I make these comments from my own perspective as an advanced degreed electrical engineer with 43 years professional experience so I didn't just fall off the turnup truck don't misunderstand me it's not that the Board of Ed or the school officials are somehow bad people or nefarious have nefarious intentions it's simply that they don't have the professional expertise or the specific domain knowledge to get these Capital Improvement projects done promptly or efficiently that's all I had to say for now thanks T gr I have nothing to add thank you Jeff Lane Bart sorry had a hard time unmuting myself I I just back when you were talking about petition candidates being on the ballot is Ryden and I know I I also was at that board of that part of that board of Selectmen group that went ahead and petitioned to have our names on the ballot and we were on the ballot we weren't writings there was a line that said petition candidates there was the Republican the Democrat Working Families petition candidates so our names were there so I I I have to admit I do think it's kind of odd that you know one one candidate on the ballot and then any of the other people on a writing list so that's all just my opinion on that
also I I do hope that at the next meeting we discuss how we go about getting a new town clerk because I know we haven't had spent the time yet to discuss that about whether we have to have a special election for a town clerk or whether we wait till November to have it part of the November elections or if it's something that gets appointed until there's an election by the board of selectman so hopefully that discussion happens next month thanks Roberta Dy hi I just want to be sure that the board of lman received my email of letter of interest to the open position of the town clerk I also wanted to let you know that I have submitted that letter with the town clerk today so if somebody didn't get that the town clerk has a Leanne Hutchinson no thank you okay Marcy Miner I'm good thanks Carol Lee I believe all set thank you phone number ending in 4766 Democrats I I signed in with the wrong account this is Scott so yet and I really have nothing to add right now
thank you Allison Kane thank you Lauren iPhone Lee okay did I miss anyone because there's a lot of people on this meeting okay okay if I did not miss anyone that concludes public speak I will sit there and make a motion to adjourn seconded all those in favor I I right thank where is the of that