youve got okay thank you all right welcome everybody we are going to get started with our rescheduled Board of Selectmen regular meeting for April it's Thursday April 11th and we're going to start this meeting at 7:01 the first item on the agenda is 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 will start with Diane Grenier all right we'll Circle back to Diane because she's probably having issues Jeff Ballard can you hear me now we can okay I've been asked by the I don't know what I should be
saying because I'm on the agenda for we we'll bring it in on the agenda Jeff if you have anything you want to add that's outside of that that topic you can bring it forward or no you you're good then all right Dian and gr are you available no Linda fish all set all right Jody gross hey Jeff nice to see you good to see you again how are you wonderful I'd like to actually take a few minutes to voice some support for well first of all introductions I'm Jody gross I've been in Andover for about 19 years now and I'm before the board of selectman here to provide some public comment in support of the Joshua trust in town of Andover open space properties that's being discussed this evening talking about putting a looped Trail somewhere between Skinner Hill and willing and L Hill and Dogwood Drive I live on Dogwood Drive I really wanted to impress upon the board of Selectmen three very important reasons why I support the establishment of this Trail at this particular property the first is it's access to our town land you know having an actual entry
point established to access the land via a trail head really provides great opportunity for walking hiking for Town residents like me number two is that it's really for Walkers and hikers only I love my brethren that are bikers but candidly I'm tired of getting run over on the airline Trail or if I go over to centry to the state forest and run through bikers I mountain bike myself but having a small place like that to just walk and hike in a low impact Trail would be wonderful the third reason is really it promotes safety and and health for our town residents one of our town Selectmen recently posted a picture of someone walking on Long Hill Road that goodness they were bright bright bright a shirt on and thank you by the way Board of Selectmen who who got us some vests Long Hill is not a road for people to be walking on it really isn't there's no sidewalks there's no painted lines so this is the perfect opportunity for
Andover to to add another option for recreation and for for for walking in a in in a not dangerous area and quite frankly it's really coste effective so you know I guess as an avid Walker hiker typical representative of the 3,200 people that live in this town I asked this elected governing body to really support the idea of opening up access to a loop trail on the property thank you for allowing me this opportunity to support the project happy to answer any questions thank you Jody Jeff can I get can I speak as a member of the public during public speak to be the record sure go ahead Jeff I just got aware of these changes to this Trail and how it I mean I can see willing Road from my backyard And this parking area is going to be right inside of my house I'm going to have people walking through my like right on my property line it's all been changed to move up into the wetlands area and it's all on toown property now it has nothing really to do with Joshua's trust anymore and I just got this packet yesterday or the day
before and none of the property owners have been notified and you know I understand Jody that you support the trail but it's not in your backyard and like I bought this property I bought this property for privacy and to enjoy my backyard not have people walking through it and I'm like the other property owner on the other side I will not support this 100% I'm a vly against it because originally when we did this it was not going to be up towards the neighborhood and to my adjoining neighbors so going forward I am I'm against this I don't think it's a good idea it impacts all the Neighbors in my neighborhood thanks okay we're gonna we're gonna just keep going so give us a second Jody and you can come back I'll actually give you a second chance absolutely I'd appreciate rebuttal yeah no problem Sherry okay yes yeah go ahead I am supporting the changes because
it's the that I oppe I pose a parking lot because it's almost on my property line and I have serious personal concerns and Wheeling where it is if there's not a lot of people and I understand his his feelings but I think it's it's better for everybody because it's affecting well it's affecting the neighbor neighborhood and it it is more out of the way than it is over where you had originally put it next to people's houses that's I feel and it's more feasible for Sher just especially serious safety and protective concerns okay all right thank you Bill Penn I know you're a resident yes good evening thank you yeah I'm speaking actually about the Joshua's press property speaking first as a as a resident you know we we I I par a lot of what jod had to say about putting it putting in this Trail you know I I think it's a it's a valuable little little trail that that can be used by the people especially by the people in the neighborhood and I'm sure when John talks about the property in the along the agenda he'll he can give more
elaborate how how common how much use this type of Trail typically gets Etc but as a as an anival resident I strongly support this I live right next to the rail trail which get it's probably over 100 200 times more people parking by my house going by my house Etc and it's not really that big a deal so I support that I'm also speaking as a a Joshua trust person that you know we met with the people who had issues and and addressed them and this was one of the ways and again John is going to expect elaborate more on that during his discussion the other part I wanted to talk about was the ebike program that has been has been proposed or suggested and I'd like voice support for that ebike program especially with the possibility of the multi-use path along three along excuse me route 316 we think this is an opportunity to get more people on the trail to learn about ebikes and the safe use of ebikes so I also support that endeavor which is on tonight agenda thank you for your time everybody thanks Bill Kimberly pan nothing right now thank you okay Lisa CTS well thank you all right Joanne Ebert all set just listening thank you okay Sherry if you could mute yourself that would be great so that we could continue on Diane granier can you hear me we can there you go okay okay good I'm always having problems with this audio no I'm all set thank you very much okay and and Jody if you would if you could
keep it brief I'll give you another go I'm sorry I'll pass I know there's public speak of the end too correct sure there is okay all right did I miss anyone I don't think I did all right we're going to move on to item well there should have been well we can't do additions and agenda or additions and deletions my bad I before we move on I would like to thank everyone for moving the meeting from Monday it was a it was a great Monday I hope everyone got to enjoy the basketball game and watch Yukon win their second National Title in a row if I had my way we would sit there and have a Danny Hurley day in town and get them to come out to our town and maybe walk our Trails somewhere so let's move on item three boards and commission presentations of the library board of directors Diane are you representing the library I am representing the the library board go ahead Jeff we've been negotiating with d with Daniel Pino to get a 18th century tall clock
for loan and display it was this 18th century Daniel burnap you know from town who had a workshop in Po in the Attica Post Farm we've had it appraised by Art lient and he the only space the only wall space in the library that we have really available for that display of clock is to the right of the entrance as you're heading out it's a small wall Daniel Pino is concerned about the traffic pattern there and W wanted and through an email to us and to me wanted to know if there's an alternative space to display the clock he's concerned about the the traffic pattern there my my my answer to that would be would it be possible when the new community Senior Center is completed and little use is being made of the community room could we display that clock which is significant and over history in the on a wall in the in the old community room as an alternative to the library okay does any of the members of the board of Selectmen have any issue with potentially displaying that in the community room I don't know if I if I want to say yes or no now did we I don't think
we've ever talked about because it's a little early now the Community Center Senior Center isn't you know furnished and we haven't talked about what we're taking from the other community room so what's Jeff What's the timing on you know where's the clock right now is it at somebody's house no it's it's there's a Master Clock repair man whatever restorer his name is Mr Crump and we have the case in the basement of the library but the works have been sent to Mr Crump art lient who's very familiar with the burnap clocks suggested some repairs to be made and that's where it's at now this has been ongoing for probably better than a year I kind of the board and myself are insisting that we have a contract with him and I spoken to Eric about having Dennis O'Brien draw a contract before we even think about displaying the clock so everybody's on the same page page and it's a legal document and when the clock when the clock's done being repaired what's is there a time timeline on when that that'll be
done no the last email that I received is that Mr Crump is having some personal problems that it is ready but we at the library the feel that that we want a contract in place before before it's set up and display so that everybody's clear about our our responsibilities and his responsibilities okay could you take a picture of the clock the clock tower so that we understand what we're talking about and then if possible and if anybody on the board doesn't mind if we put this on our agenda for next month so that we could understand the size Jeff of this and the only other question I have is did you speak with Scott yman about displaying it at the Museum no I have not but I have concerned with with a $40,000 clock that's working and and and what understood understood so that's I got it that has to be stored inside Jeff excuse me that has to be stored inside probably right most most definitely yeah and its value is 40,000 right now I believe it's 30 8,000 it's one of a kind yes cin his Daniel burnap and the library is burnap Skinner Library as you probably all know so it's significant to to the library history to Handover history he had a clock shop in South Windsor or East Windsor but this clock has on the dial on the face and over which is unusual and rare and our art lient has
said that he will do a presentation on the history of the clock maker the the person that trained him that came over from England that avoided the Tea Party in Boston set up shop in norch there's a lot of history and centry has a Daniel burnap clock in their library with centry on from my understanding I haven't seen it there's also another burnap clock in the connectic Historical Society in Elizabeth Street in Hartford yeah I think picture would be would be helpful just so we can see the size of it and I we probably should talk as a board coming up soon but what we want to keep in that community room and you know what what we're going to use it for and then that'll help us decide on a bunch of a bunch of things so is there like a is there like a case Jeff that they put it in or some kind of protective something no no it just needs to get secured to a wall it has holes in the back of the case that you access from the inside and then it just has to be anchored to a wall so that the the community center walls aren't are they they're it's not
sheetrock right those are it is yes it is Sheetrock in there the new the new community center about the old one right you're talking the town hall community room yes yeah want to put it in there the town hall community room is a concrete block wall concrete wall yeah so we if it does does go there it has to it has to be secured and stay wherever it is for a long time because right you need certain sheet rock or sorry concrete screws to get into those walls yes okay I yeah I think I think if you can get us a picture Jee that would be helpful so that we can talk a little more next month and and and we also need to talk as a board what the function of that room's going to be for spacing and and other things too so that'll hopefully start that conversation too Diane granier pointed out that this may not you know that he is opposed to having it displayed in the library because of the traffic pattern and he's been advised by Mr Crump and art lient that it probably shouldn't go there because of the traffic that it might and and that's understood Jeff what we need to do is we need to evaluate it as a board and just you know we have to get Eric's opinion and understand where it can go we would love to take it I I understand from a historical perspective it would be great we just got to know where it's going what level of of traffic it's going going to get so that
it's viewed and give us a month I mean it doesn't sound like you're going to have it fixed ready up and I mean no let us sit there and see what we can do and we'll keep it on the agenda for next month and we'll get you an answer on that thank you all right did you have some more information that you needed to one second so you were going right into the Garden Club That's What I Call that's correct yeah so you can keep going yeah I'm asking permission to put up a fence around the garden I've already spoken with that King from the Eastern Highland and he has said that as long as I stay five feet away from the leion field with any of the posts in the fence he doesn't have a problem with it where I am within 5 feet he doesn't have a problem with me putting above ground posts without any hole sitting on the top of the ground I have already secured funding for all the materials through Andover Elementary School Grant so that we I wouldn't need a line item for the $2500 for the materials I just need permission to put it up
does anyone have any issues I mean there was information in our packet regarding the school and the grant they're discussing anybody have any problems with u what Jeff is asking to do I mean we talked about it last one no any issues you need a motion great idea yeah okay a motion to let Jeff and the Garden Club put up a fence around the garden and the fence going to be paid by the school by a grant from the school and that the fence fence be put in where it's specified that it can be put in a second okay any further discussion all those in favor I I I okay oh there were lights in here okay Jeff keep going rain collection 3B yes Grayson and Dave G ganian have donated a 550 gallon water collection tank is already in place behind the shed we we really need to put a gutter on that shed and it would be stupid to put gutters and water collection into that tank before putting a new roof on the shed then this goes back the last year's $1,000 that was cut
from our budget okay so you're now asking for the $2500 that was air marked for the fence to be air marked now for the shed roof and the gutters I'm only asking for $1,000 $1,000 okay and then and then the the rest of the budget request for for $1,375 of and the and that should be itemized in the material you got in the first packet okay but that's next year's budget you're asking for $1,000 do somewhere out of this budget as soon as I as soon as we can get it to that supply to the to the Garden understood Eric is there any area that we might be able to obtain ,000 for the Garden Club and the roof and the water collection now Jeff just so we understand this would this would avoid hoses from the new community center not necessarily we've already I've already gotten permission from the fire commissions to put gutters and water collection on their shed it depends on how much it rains whether we have both $500 1500 gallons of water vessels you know accumulated but we may have to fill fill the containers with a hose okay we could do that periodically but we could do that on the weekend so there's no interference in activities
that are being run at that at the new building that that is correct we were running a hose from the fire department and and running it out and picking it up every time we needed to water the gardens okay the the tank is the I'm going to be hard Plumbing that 550 gallon tank to the irrigation system next week and we have a submersible pump that goes in the tank that will supply the pressure and and distribute the water to the irrigation system at the beds I was I was a little when I was reading your documentation I thought you had a thousand gallons that you were going to have access to we are I've we supposedly have been given the Hartford Foundation Grant for the Thousand gallons of supply of of storage and and that would also that Grant would also cover the gutters and
collection system on the on the fire shed but that that grant money isn't that Grant due in May so you wouldn't get that money until that is correct I wouldn't get that until probably June and I wouldn't get my budget money until what July 1 or something okay so so just so I understand this is where I was a little confused so you want the money to do a 500 gallon tank the roof the roof and and to gut roof and gutters to fill the 500 gallon tank yes and then you applied for a a hardford for H foundation for giving grant to get a thousand gallon tank to take it off of the fire department roof correct okay so so you're talking about having a total of 1500 gallons of water available for the community garden for irrigation purposes yes that is our
that's our goal the issue right now is you're asking for ,000 out of the current Year's budget to put a new roof and gutters on the shed for the community guards yes okay Eric is there where could we potentially obtain $1,000 out of our current budget if we wanted to do this us I have another question in the meantime go ahead Jeff the shallow well pump that you're talking about in your in your write up yes is that a new well pump that you're looking to put in the that was part of the foundation Harford Foundation Grant yes shell well pump and extra all tank and that is included in the grant money but that goes in the tank it's not something that goes in the ground it goes in the tank corre or or it goes you know in the shed and then we we pump we pump from from from one tank to the next tank and then out to the Garden we'll be using a submersible like you know like a submersible pump one one horsepower pump in the 550 gallon tank to pump it out to the Garden understood so I don't want to put this out there but I have to ask this question if if you don't get the if you're not receiving the grant money will that stop you from finishing the project for the gutters and everything else if we I is my understanding and there's not any Clarity on it that I've been given that we've already got been been Ed for the grant but one person says it's for
$2,350 and another person in in in the advisory says that we're getting 2,935 which was the original estimate for the for the collection on on the fire Firehouse okay Eric are you with us I am with you okay Eric is there a potential to obtain or to re prioritize $1,000 that we could potentially provide to the community guard yes you can take it out of your line item for Board of Select salaries since you have made a decision that you do not want to draw a salary as a select person so there is $1,200 available from that fund that you could fund Community Gardens if you so choose perfect does anyone have a major problem with that since I am I am foregoing the $11,200 of of money thank you Jeff Maguire yeah yes okay no we got to vote for it so it's not it's not on me but it's available so well then I'll make a motion that we move $1,000 from the board of Selectmen salary line on them to the community garden to allow for the community garden to re-roof the shed and
put gutters on the shed to provide for water collection for irrigation I'll Che all right further discussion while in favor I all right thank you very much Jeff I think you're are you done anything I'm done and I wanted to thank everybody so very much this has been a been a a great project and I appreciate your generosity okay thank you Jeff and and Jeff just as a side thing make sure that you know it's very generous of AES also to provide some grant funding to assist please make sure that you work closely with them in a prioritize the safety of the children especially with the still construction area that's going on down there most definitely that's our first and utmost concern all right thank you thank you all right item four appointments Eric do we have any appointments that were need to be made aware of none that I know of and no resignations that
I know of all right item five resignations none item six town admin admin ministrator report Eric okay so what I want to do instead of giving you a traditional administrator report I just want to give you an update of what projects are going on right now and allow you to ask any specific questions about that I'm going to start with bridge and roadwork projects number one Bunker Hill Bridge replacement that road is scheduled to be closed and construction starts February 15 2025 so basically over next winter that project will begin lill Bridge replacement is just about at the 30% design phase we've been told to expect the 30% design phase meetings which is where the basically the major parameters for the design will be set in
place in the next couple of months I am still pushing for them to to consider the light at Hy as part of that project I suspect the answer will be no but I will continue to push it you know because frankly the the traffic the current traffic warrants for that don't don't meet the dot standards so I don't think they're going to do it but I will try Lake Road at B Sola we're going back and forth between myself the engineer and Franklin which is the company that originally surveyed that we're trying to reduce our costs a little bit by using the existing survey we have instead of going back out and you know regathering the data so it looks like that will be successful again the goal would be not to start construction this summer but to start construction the following summer on that so you want us to interrupt you as we you speak or would you like to us to write this stuff down if we have question why don't after each subject
you ask the questions before we move on to the next subject okay so if you have questions about bunker or lill now would be fine good okay so I'll go is is it are we talking Bunker Hill just the bridge or are we talking Bunker Hill the the Culvert issue so the cover issue has been pretty much resolved it took a lot of material but Public Works has basically completed the Culvert repair you know at Bunker Hill so so that issue has been resolved you know it was basically just a big scour pocket that they had to fill they filled it with really large Rock like 30 inch you know 30inch aggregate basically and then backfilled it with smaller Stone I have pictures I don't have them ready to show you right now but I can show you pictures of that repair and I know Jay went back to the wetlands agent today and showed them the the repair so we get make sure Wetlands you know is is aware of it I mean they were notified that we were doing it and the agent signed off
on it beforehand but you know now that it's completed he went back to the agent and you're satisfied with that repair for what we need to do moving forward yeah that looks like they did a good job okay that would be helpful if you also I know you have open projects that you're going to update us on in the the residents on but also update us on completed projects or things that you've gotten completed in the last month it would also help us sure okay okay so Lake Road at Bola I mean the the goal is to be in construction not this summer The Following summer so that the bills Bridge the next two fiscal years so we have enough money to
pay for the completed completed repairs or completed replacement so so what happened to the data the prior data somebody lost the data or what Happ you were talking about data so the data is not lost so we have Franklin surveyed it and we are using that data but what we have is we have all the PDF files and what Franklin has to share with the engineering firm is the actual engineering data that went into that you know so so that will take take place we're just working out getting those files transferred it's not a problem you know I had asked that they consider using that survey because when they originally gave us a project outline they had you know a full survey and I went back to nlj and said this really isn't appropriate we already have we paid for a survey use that data so that's kind of what we're going going with while they would prefer to use their own surveyors and their own survey data there's no reason they can't use the pre-existing data if that answers that question okay and we have we've already talked about what is on the
docket for this year for roadwork projects you know the other one that's going we're going to have to address sooner rather rather than later is there's a really big spring in Aspen Drive that this last year or two when it's been really wet you know we've had like an artisian well coming out the middle of one of our roads on on Aspen Drive so we're going to need to address that that will be one of the extra projects presuming that we do not do the full parking lot reclaim and repave for the school then at a minimum we're going to replace the Basin tops and do the the some of the basins need a little bit of patching so Jay is scheduling that also and then we' repave around the Basin so it's flatter if that does get reclaimed then obviously that would be part of that project and we wouldn't do it independent multi-use pathway for Route 316 that's still a in grant funding We are continuing to do the design work on designing that using the the money we already have for the Congressional or legislative set aside we know about that Eric I would think we'll have an answer in the next couple of months but I also think at this point you know I think it will get funded it's not a question of whether it will because the reality is for the first time ever they had less
applications to that program than they have funding available so short of anything you know drastic happening now that funding is is staggered so it doesn't mean we're going to be able to tap that money right away but so we might not actually get assigned this year we might not get assigned a 25 26 budget year to actually be able to spend that money but we will be you know allotted it so 90% more than 90% sure we'll have the money for that which is kind of a cool thing Community Center that's going relatively well I think there's no question we'll be in and up and running by July 1 I suspect it'll probably be a little earlier than that but but that's coming along fairly well next up the the HVAC updates to the town hall and fire department both of those are scheduled to begin somewhere around the last week of this month and expected to take between two and three weeks to complete both projects once they got started on it and then there's got to be some masonary repair done after that the trenching for the pipes for the gas and electrical Jay is anticipating starting on that Monday now that they've got the repair to the Culvert on on Bunker Hill done so I'm guessing that project will take at least a week maybe a little bit longer to complete the trenching but it should be basically in place and
the tanks they've said we basic we have to give them two weeks notice when we want to drop the tanks so the goal is get the piping in get that buried install the tanks and then they can just run the gas line through the existing conduit so we should be in reasonably good shape the other good thing is it will be late enough in the heating season that there's no way no reason we can't go heat pump only not the likelihood that we would need propane backup is pretty small during the transition so the timing for that works out pretty well so electrical upgrades to the town hall are the the scope of work of what we
authorized a couple months ago is largely complete we're transition we have the new backup you know automatic transfer switch in place although it's only you know manually operated at the moment because until we put the piping in we don't have the control runs so but it will function the old stab block panel is removed the whole place is cleaned up and we went through and we ripped out all the old wiring and they were also managed to finally track down the fold that was preventing the phone line in the elevator for working properly so all things considered I think that project came out really well the one thing we are going to have to deal with is they when the the addition was built on the Town Hall in what was that 2008 they really undersized the connectors to the elevator so there is going to have to be something done to address that they either have to downsize the breakers which I don't think that will work because I suspect the elevator will just trip in a fault or they're going to have to run new cable to the elevator so I'm trying to get get you know Lenco to to figure out what has to happen to make that right because that's that's super not code compliant everything else is in there is pretty good and we're basically prepped for you know for the HVAC install so I think that that's been very successful I've been really happy with that
Athletic Field upgrades those we're still waiting on the committee to come back with the final set of recommendations and if we pick a date for a town meeting in a couple weeks what have to get that committee to give their explanation for that because that is one of the items that we have to go to town meeting because it does require you know a town contribution the the town's on the hook for 20% of the total project so that's the athletic field steep Grant Public Works fuel delivery system upgrade that's on hold till the next budget cycle AES bleacher repair so there was a little bit of a a difference of opinion between the town and the school regarding the project for doing the flooring redoing the gymnasium flooring AES really wanted the flooring under the bleachers addressed also so to do that we basically removed the bleachers from the wall and examined the flooring behind and we've now sanded separately the flooring just under the bleachers and and that has been you know coated so Friday the bleachers will get moved back in place and when the rest of the floor gets done it will be uniform including what's under the bleachers so how did how did all of the the additional Coatings go came out really well that's far as I know it's okay I did not look at that project
today I looked at it yesterday it looked really good I know they were coming back into put two more coats on today Scott did you see it after yeah I I got a picture of it after Y and really good and it was dried already okay and so when they put the bleachers back they're going to level all the bleachers out and fix all of the mechanisms under those bleachers to make them operate prop L and level properly yeah it's it's going to re be reattached okay the bleachers are all done also okay the new seats are on the bleachers so that should be all set when school starts up Monday so that shouldn't be an interruption and then the next time when they come back in in the summer they won't have to move the bleachers I've also asked for an estimate from Lenco on what it's going to cost to you know to do the installation of the downdraft fans for that facility so hopefully I'll have
that relatively soon it's really just where the issue that's going to come in is where the initi where the fans are powered from now will have to change because the basically the control the control mechanisms for the fans you know have a maximum run from the controller to the the individual fans and they're designed to run pairs of fans so Rick is going back to the company and asking them basically for an engineering solution to how to run all six sets of the fans off of a single controller so hopefully we'll have more information on that in the next you know couple of weeks we have a switch available on the wall it's not being used right one dead switch there yeah one dead switch okay is it really a dead switch or are the lights that that goto burned out and have never been replaced I can't tell you that but I think that's what the janitor thinks he thinks it's just lights that have never been changed because it's too high for anybody to get to okay which we could address when Lenco comes in or whoever comes in you know with the lift it would be great if you could
have Lenco go look at those lights just to sit there and see if they're LED and then I would assume we'd have some eversource program that we should be able to participate if they're not LEDs and haven't been switched recently write that down here I all right we're good AES Plumbing design and repair I really have not made a lot of progress on that I still haven't really gotten more info from Rick Wilson so I'm still hoping to get that I had a brief conversation with an MEP that our town engineer recommended but that me said that was not really his area of focus and he referred me to another MEP at their same firm so I'm going to reach out to them I want to get at least one or two others has the Board of Education identified which projects they want done first as far as I know not they were going to discuss it at their next Board of Education meeting okay nor have they actually transferred the money that was excess in their budget to the town
okay so the senior Transportation new garage project you know I went back and forth with decd I finally filed some paperwork with them it's now awaiting the decd commissioner signature you know just one step in a long chain I still don't have a positive response from shipo I did poke them you know two or three weeks ago to review the documentation they were given on the old building they had not reviewed it at that point so I'm going to have to push them a little a little bit more on that and which what is the state agency which state agency related to that project the state agency that's basically identif this as a a rebuild oh that's different the decision that it's a rebuild that is the Department of okay and that's basically it for for the major projects we have going right now any questions from you all as a board kind of on on what we're doing and where we're going today from my standpoint what is your u based upon the situation with Public Works what are you looking at being able to accomplish in the spring and the summer or what you're what are you going to have to curtail so we're all aware of what's going to end up happening so we do have an executive session scheduled at the end of the meeting if we want to talk about specifics of what we're going to have available for Public
Works Personnel maybe we do it there I would say we're probably going to end up one person short on that department for a significant fraction of the spring into early summer and and that's fine we can do it then that's fine anybody else have any other questions for Eric related to any of the ongoing projects or completed projects and Eric please always remember to you've got to let us all know the completed projects you've got to let the public know what's getting accomplished because you know we talk about a lot of things but you you and public works and we have been getting things done I think it's appropriate in these meetings that you let everyone know that these are projects that have been completed in the last month so understood understood anybody else okay all right well we are going to move on to old business 7A the Joshua trust discussion so let's start there John we're going to let you go there was some information provided to us later we'll let you go and then we'll sit there and ask you questions and sit there and see what we can do thank you yeah yes this is the I think the fifth time I've been in front of the board in the last six months I'm getting to know you quite well by face anyway you'll remember that the last at the last meeting there was an AB butter Sher mashad who lives on Skinner Hill Road she spoke earlier this evening who voiced some concerns with regard to the parking lot location on Skinner Hill Road Bill pen and I met
with her following the board meeting as you asked us to we had a good conversation with her but what came out of us loud and clear and what you heard a little bit earlier is that she had serious safety concerns living so close to the parking lot that had been proposed on Skinner Hill Road she asked us and that and she stated she believed Wheeling Road would be a be a better option we had not specifically looked at that option partly because the the Joshua's trust property does not have any Frontage on wheeling Road that's that's that would be that's completely Town property that that has the frontage on wheeling road we told her we'd look at it and Bill and I went and looked at that location and I've got to say from our perspective it's better in every respect and let me let me run through that quickly and and in no particular order I'll just tick off the four major considerations first safety Skinner Hill is a busy road I think someone in Long Hills I think someone mentioned that earlier Wheeling road is it's I don't know what the traffic
numbers are but I wouldn't be surprised if it's a tenth of the traffic that Long Hill Skinner Hill Road sees the site lines on on Wheeling Road are excellent on Skinner Hill Road you're coming up over that rise and and down the hill they leaves a lot to be desired there and and the traffic speeds I think are probably fairly high too secondly constructibility many many of Joshua's trust properties have simple pull-offs rather than full parking lots and this Wheeling Road lends itself well to this if you look at the photos that I provided for the packet I don't have a very big car but you can see that I easily managed to get all four of my wheels off of the road that's that just would not be possible on Skinner Hill Road so that the the possibility of of simple pulloff parking on the side of the road is there and if there's concerns about the edge of the pavement so on that can be we've addressed that in other towns by bringing in as crushed asphalt something like that to bolster the side so it can be constructed if you still like the IDE aide of the the pulloff parking lot the full-size parking lot it's tailor made for it there is an existing paved parking lot that serviced a house that was in that area
originally honestly I think with a leaf blower and a shovel and about 45 minutes we could we could create a paved parking lot on that property for no cost at all and that is the third consideration is cost it would I don't believe it would be prudent for either the town or Joshua's trust to spend 8 to $6,000 on an engineered parking lot on Skinner Hill Road when an option that's this much better exists right around the corner on wheeling that also provides safety improvements finally the fourth one is probably the hardest impact on the neighbors Joshua's trust has Trails on approximately 40 properties and I would have to say on approximately 40 properties at some point on the property the trail goes within view of a house this is Connecticut you can't put a trail in without seeing a house at some point that's just the way it is this this
property has the advantage the the location that we are talking about here has the advantage that there are no immediately adjacent neighbors to the property to the parking area that we're discussing there is a in the packet I've shown a picture with my car in the front and the closest house in the distance in the back around the corner that's looking one way looking the other way you can't see any houses for a long long way and Jeff's correct Jeff Murray's correct through the woods you can see all the way through to the to the other side this time of year you can see you you can see from Wheeling Road over to is it Shad blow Lane I don't know all the names of the roads but you can see correct you John in the summer I can see the same thing I see the that's fair I mean it's not it's not a half mile or anything there's you know oh yeah it's this Trail you're proposing is 25 feet from the back of my property yes it is it's back the back of my shed I don't think that's correct jef but what we could do what I would suggest we do I mean we we just think this we think it's a better option in in every respect Jeff you mentioned earlier I just want to make sure the record's correct the part of this Trail is on Joshua's trust property part of it's on the town we have re we have realigned the trail to to bring it out
to Wheeling road that change made no difference in the amount of Trail that's on Joshua's trust property it's exactly what it was in the earlier version yeah but now John it brings it down through the wetlands that we all walked through when we did the walkthrough yeah well let me let me be clear on that the the section that was on Joshua's tou property is the same as it was before the change now is the trail needs to get from Wheeling road to connect to the loop that I walked with the Porta selectman so you can see that straight section we try to put it right down the middle to keep it as far away from the houses as possible this is the best if
we're gonna if the parking is going to be on wheeling Road this is the best we can do this is your property this is Town property it's your decision if you decide that that that this Trail is good for the residents of Andover vote for it if you decide this is not a good idea you don't want to see it vote against it we'll we'll go build Trails somewhere else but we we think we think this is a great thing for the residents so we are willing to help you with this if that's what you want to do the decision's yours I I expect we are probably if I guess what I'd like to do tonight if it's possible is either tell us you're interested in proceeding with looking at this or tell us you'd like to end it right now now if you're interested in proceeding
and looking at this what I'd like to do is meet with the board of Selectmen at Wheeling Road and show them what we're talking about here so that you can see it for yourselves we also I think it would be appropriate for us to talk to your Wetland Commission because as Jeff said this does cross a wet area we would have to put in I call it a bog Bridge it's a series of 4x4 Timbers with 2 by6 planks across them you probably walked on other trails that Ed an approach like that we crossed many many Wetlands on our properties in that manner and I I think the Wetland commission would be okay with it but we'd be happy to run it by them so let me just understand Joshua's trust is not interested in putting the parking lot in the entrance on Skinner Hill Road that's correct and so that that's off the table it's yes it's off the table and in an Ideal World we would we would have looked at all the options up front but we were really focused on Skinner Hill Road because of the frontage issue okay and looking at your map that you you where you picked your
parking spot out there's a there's an earlier entrance just just so I can understand an earlier point of access that would be available on wheeling you decided against that to keep it as far away from any houses that are on woodern I'm just asking a question we were sensitive to the house that's on wheeling actually when we located that lot we tried it we there are two things going two things going on there is probably probably right first thing right through my backyard this comes right I get I'm just asking a question I just want to know I look I look at the map and I I look at that house and I go it's not as close as the why don't you U please share your screen with the map if you could so we can all look at the map this is going to be closer to my house than it was closer to Sherry's because I went and walk this property after we had this discussion with Sherry and I went to go see for myself Jeff I I know what what I'm saying is this where it's proposed is closer to houses than it was before understood just just please I know conversation let the conversation play out so we all understand what we're talking about okay I think you're looking at it now yeah so so where that where if you move your P up to the corner up a little higher just go up higher right keep going keep going keep going right there why can't you entrance just move the trail over there and move it over to that side of that area if it's going to be on street parking a pull off parking wherever the town would like to
put it whatever makes sense is fine with us okay I know that Jeff Murray even before this was proposed was very adamant as to he wanted to buy in from everyone I'm not I'm not in favor of any anything we do in public government I mean you're never going to get 100% buying I mean I don't care where you go there's going to be someone that's going to not want to do something I mean listen we built a community center and not everyone wanted us to build the community center in the same spot so that's life and I don't I'm not a believer in you don't have to make everybody happy and and we'll never make everyone happy we're trying to make everybody happy and we're trying to do a good thing Joshua trust is trying to do a good thing and I greatly appreciate what they're doing so I would ask the other members of the board if they want to sit there and and entertain Wheeling if Skinner is off the table that's where I would have built this I would have just built it as it was originally proposed with four
parking lots understanding that I am not GNA make Sher happy and I apologize for that but that's what I would have done so I'm G to ask the and and I know Jeff Murray's answer so we're not I'm sorry I'm sorry but I just got this at the last minute Jeff and no no no no and Jeff Jee we're not even gonna ask you because we understand and just just to add for the record Jeff my neighbor Andre that lives to the north of me is also very opposed to this and then there's also a house if you look where the text is down there where it says GSA there was another home right there okay and and there three homes very close je I I do understand it and I appreciate it and and to be really honest we would know your opinion and your answer and where you would go so I'm asking the other three members what they want to do and then we can give Joshua's trust and answer so I'm gonna go through each one of them would you would it be any better Jee if you put it all the way to the
northeast of the Town property and started the trail in there well I think at that point we're going to impact the neighbor on the other side the north side yeah his his lot is pretty this house is pretty far away isn't it but the way this map is drawn it's it's it looks a lot bigger than it really is because I can see my that neighbor's house across the parcel I can see the neighbor's house from my backyard yeah that's how that's how tight that area is and I can see the cars going up and down wheeling and you can see my house from Wheeling Okay so you can distinct you can still see your neighbor's house to the Northeast that closest one right there and I have a shed right on the property line that's going to be within 25 feet of this Trail and people can just freely walk up to it and you know it's okay security concern so so let's let's sit there and I'm gonna I'm gonna try to do this quick quickly so we can all sit there and deal with it so I'll start with you Ann because you're at the top what would you like to
do an I like the idea of it coming off of Wheeling because I think it's going to be less even less people seeing the parking area and probably fewer people just jumping on the trail I think it'll cut down on the number of people in there it also has if you put it where that pee is it's already that little paved area where it had had a house I know myself I drive down Wheeling once in a while try to look through there I cannot see houses through from Wheeling Road except in the winter I might be able to spot one house and that's all it's very hard to see through there in the summer I can't see more than my neighbor immediate neighbor's house that the woods are so deep so
thick and you can see my house you can see my house barely in the summer barely all right so Ann is I am for the my the question is we used to the original Loop there was two Loops originally we're not two Loops anymore sorry yeah I'm not succeeding here hang on you want to answer for that one yeah I'd be interested so what we we eliminated that second loop again due to con it was where that Loop was located came up and almost over Sher mad's house so so she was concerned about people looking into her backyards it was a legit it was legitimate so we so we removed that second that second Loop so there's still a trail that does go up to Skinner or not there is and it's important that there be a trail let me tell you why that is you you may remember and I don't know if did we walk all the way out to Skinner Hill when we did the walk with you you remember where we walked 40 feet or something we walked right up against the stone wall so we were about a foot from Shere mad's property line when we did that walk that's the only way in there right now without getting yourself scraped up so the by bringing it out to Skinner Hill Road you're actually reducing the impact on the neighbor because people are going to find their way in there you know once there's once there's a known Trail in there people are going to find their way in there from Skinner Hill Road one way or another and we didn't want them to
be going up along the ston wall next to the property line okay so I'm going to ask the question that when Scott and I did it we walked right through all of the the yeah we walked through the brush we walked through the you know I don't think we got anywhere near sher's house did we Scott no no okay I I applaud we didn't we didn't walk with you but we yeah I I applaud your your fortitude but if you just walked over by the stone wall you would have you would have zipped right in without getting scraped up so why can't you just put the trail down through the pucker brush that's where it's GNA go yeah that's where the trail was going they entered in a different way than we did Scott we entered through the brush through the the garbage through walking that way and then around so okay there no way you can just put it away from Sherry's house and use that parking over there there there's got to be a way there's lot of lot of land there and I know that property really well really well okay I've been in there extensively me and Eric me and Jeff me and blah blah blah over the years it come it it does come down to the to the cost and the constructibility why spend eight to $6,000 on a parking lot when you've got s an option that's got so many advantages around the corner including cost including safety well I I to be clear that when this first came
up Jeff Murray was you know I'm all for the trail also but Jeff Murray was vehemently opposed to Any Trail coming in from Wheeling Hill Road just to put it on the record which Jeff Maguire also stated tonight he did and if we have a neighbor down at Skinner Hill that's against it too maybe it's just not the best place to put this because we we have two big Parcels we have one big parcel behind the transfer station where there's no adjoining houses to bother us and we have a giant parcel behind the school that we have existing trails that we even have trouble getting people to maintain as it is yeah but that's the point yeah know but if we have a community center in a in a in a focal area behind the school should we just work on maintaining that Network and having a good trail Network back there where we don't impact anybody instead of trying to shoehorn Something in where we're going to impact one person on one side or somebody else on the other that's the in a tough places because of a selectman it puts me in a tough spot well and you can recuse yourself Jeff honestly I mean and and that's the truth so and I haven't sat there and pressed that because listen the reason to to and
my from my view to sit there and and continue to discuss this and to continue to try to find a solution is because you have Joshua trust that has a property that's willing to do the maintenance work to to offset the town doesn't have to do it so if we find a way to do this without impacting significantly so this is where I look back at Skinner Hill and I go I understand Sherry being concerned but I also understood the other individual being cons concerned I was willing to go forward with it at Skinner Hill if if Joshua's trust is not willing to go forward with it at then we have a whole other set of issues that we have to address and the only way I could sit there and see it working at Wheeling if you you stuck to the northern side of that that trail and and and made it work in that manner because and and I don't know if the maps are correct but it doesn't look like that property is that close to that line that's the only way that I would sit there and see us potentially moving forward but Jeff I also understand what you're saying you also said it you were very clear in the beginning of this process that you did not want to sit there and see it come in from Wheeling Road from the wetlands perspective and also for issues related to the properties that the the homeowners that are close to you know it is much narrower area than what we're dealing with on the opposite side from my perspective because we have Joshua's
trust and yeah our property together so why it's much wider down at that end than it is up at this end I don't see why Jeff that we can't move the trail aways from Sherry's house so there's and put the brush between Sherry's house and and the trail and nobody's ever going to even know the trails there I don't understand why there's a issue with that house yeah so Paula I'm going to have I'm to you I'm I'm trying to look at this from from the resident standpoint the people that own the houses there I I love the idea I love I love having more Trails but I think if we I was I was in favor of having the the parking lot in the other location not not Wheeling so I'm looking at it as I love the idea but I think we're yeah I think we're trying to make it work and it's it's just going to aggravate a lot more people and I agree with you Jeff you're never going to appease everybody in the masses but when people buy a house in a certain area where they're thinking you know they have privacy and then you stir the pot with a trail it gets people upset so I'm trying to put myself in those people's shoes and I I don't know that I can
support it on wheeling and and I wasn't with with it you know I I'm always trying to put myself in everybody's shoes and look at it that way you know so nice just I I do I do look at Property Owners though and I even look I would tell Jeff Murray the same thing you bought a property that Abed you know things can happen but but Jeff to be clear it was state property at the time yeah and it was and now it was turned over to the town now we' have a change of plans the state could have built a highway right behind your house so there's there's a lot of things things that could happen and and we all understand that when we make we make decisions but I I I'm I'm trying to get to it so one last one
Scott no you already heard what I said I don't know if we in favor of this I'm in favor of Skinner I think they should move the trail I would vote Yes and it stays away from the neighbor's property exactly yeah I was always in favor of that okay all right quick question and I'm in favor of the BET trayal completely I I want to use that property nobody's used it for anything use it plan did not impact the neighbors but we're gonna go with Ann first Eric and then I'll come to you which side of the property and proposed Trail is Sherry's house is it to the east or to the West I don't know where her house is onner to the east cses to the East do you see where my cursor is oh wait hang you're killing a I'm killing myself hang on a
sec I can show you am I sharing that no you you were you were surf in the internet it shows right now that all so now it's locked me out and it won't let me share at all what are you trying to share can I guess I can't share from my side huh the map the same map that was up there Paula is it just set for the host to share Eric do you know yeah hang on a second no except for multiple participant sharing okay there you go got it is that the map we're looking for no no it's in the it's in the regular
package the regular package yeah okay get out of that one no you're in the secondary this is the secondary that's a secondary packet yeah no I guess not so it's it's not we're not to there yet keep scrolling up up y That's a new business it's an old business it's an old bus bus so keep going up there's a delay Sor now go to the top Paul yeah all the way to the top okay good okay so is the house that we're we're concerned with Sherry the resident's house underneath the corner of former proposed or the one that's on Skinner it's on that right edge of that box Jeff right edge of it just up from the cursor just up a little bit right near the P right there there that's the one right in there so and then another thing to think about with this is where that trail is now the Red Trail and sher's house there's a big hill there yeah to go up the hill but yeah you would have yeah to get up over the top to see her house you have to get to the top of the hill I mean there's 564 feet right next to it that was on the top of that Rock Ridge yep right okay so listen we we've kind of got our answer really the only thing that I I would ask Joshua trust and I would ask Jeff Murray is Jeff I would like at some point in time this month and and I do understand your issue but I would like to go and look at Wheeling road with you just to understand your concerns sure so we can sit there and do this
effectively because I I am coming back and telling you know the Joshua trust folks and John and and I I I still would be I would look at I would be on Skinner Road because that's what we initially looked at that's where we asked but I will go up and look at willing road I'll go up and look at it with Jeff Murray and the rest of the board of selectman we can all go up and and look at the different options up on wheeling to sit there and see if there's an opportunity for us to do this the problem in that area Jeff is there's it's all over Story the timber in there is all can and you can see from one house to the other yeah there's no brush in there it's pretty much there's no over there's no under story at all in N should should we should Scott should we should we be doing some logging so make the town some money it's it's an uneven age stand it it should have young stuff in there it doesn't have anything it's all over story The Bad The Bad Forest okay here's here's the other thing if we're changing direction should we be I'm I'm not saying we're moving forward with this idea but we should be are we talking to
residents different ones that haven't been notified in the past I mean we would have to think about that as well yeah because this is a change of use it's change of plan you only have you only have one that hasn't been communicated with before unless the other on woodfern haven't been communicating but Jeff that's you yeah the other I spoke to the other neighbor next to me on woodfern and he's against it as well okay so extremely against it so Andre r at next door in woodfern we're going to end up in a bad position but I I would like to sit there and look at the Wheeling Road access just to understand because This was I was not prepared for this level of of information to be provided and so go
ahead Eric you have your hand up so I just wanted to say one thing Jeff had indicated that he was concerned that they would be going right by his shed for the zoning rigs his shed can't be within 50 F feet of the property line anyway because that's his rear yard setback so there should should not be anybody unless they're trespassing on your property anywhere near your shed well it's closer than 50 feet Eric Eric and it it was there when I moved in so okay doesn't make it legal well and and and listen to me we are not here for that that we're not here for that let let's sit there and and try to understand I mean listen Joshua trust has been nothing but kind to they have y so we have to have a little bit of respect for them and try to give them an answer the Wheeling Road access is a new is a new component to this we should sit there and look at it we should sit there and make a decision
but I don't think we're prepared we're not going to give Joshua's truss a positive answer if we vote on this today without looking at Wheeling Road I think we should talk about a date and time tonight since we all here to see Paula did you see John henkins that he he needs to be let back into the meeting I let him back in oh there he is he should be on his way yeah I'm good okay so yeah so maybe we should look at a date that all of us or most of us can get together so that next month we we
can talk about this again with visuals well I I I think what we should do is is is guarantee we're giving an answer next month so let's all let's all understand we're g to give Joshua's trust an answer next month or before next month because I believe we're GNA end up having have a meeting related to the the charter revision if we all agree to to do that we have to do that within 30 days so could be in in advance of that and what I would ask is that we communicate outside of the meeting and set up a time where we can get up to Wheeling road to sit there and see what we're talking about where where these Maps begin and end on wheeling road so we understand what's up and then maybe we have a barbecue at that Jeff's shed and understand how close this is to everything so all right John I apologize for not being able to give you an answer but you you just have to understand we we play the long game yes that's okay that that land isn't going anywhere right John right okay I well Jeff one more thing I want to make clear is I mean before I said I would vote for this at all I said I want to make sure that all the property owners were were were okay with the trail is the board taking that position or is the board gonna make a decision if we make one property owner or two Property Owners upset well with the current Skinner Road Ro proposal there was one there were
there two property owners that came out negatively for that location one of them was appeased because John and and Bill got out there and walked it with them and understood they understood their concerns and they they worked with it they they met with the other property owner Sherry and they they discussed her concerns and and in my mind made modifications to the the direction of the trail so that people w not looking in her backyard that's not going to make Sherry totally comfortable I I I do understand that but this is a situation where sometimes you just have to you got to make a decision if Jeff Murray if you're not going to vote for it for any purpose when anyone's not happy then I understand and respect that that was not my original position I I'm looking at it going is it in the best interest of the community is it an opportunity for to make use of of of a a natural resource that we have in our town because we don't have a lot but if we can make use of a natural resource and make you know as jod gross said people have the ability to go out there and walk and exercise and feel good about their their community and their town I'm all for it I understand that might not be what Sher wants to hear but it's not that I'm I'm discounting what she's thinking I'm just going you're never going to make everybody happy so we've G and we may not make the other
land owner happy if we put the trail down by his house understood so we have that issue too so I mean go back and forth that's the problem and so Jeff just so you understand I might vote and not make you happy and that doesn't mean iine you I don't like you it doesn't mean anything it just means that hey this is this is what's right for the overall group not just one person or another person it's what's right for the other group that doesn't mean I'm going to vote for Wheeling Road I'm just telling you that that my logic in how I look at this now I'm
kind of upset that Wheeling Road was brought up here in that I thought we were going to vote on Skinner on the I mean that's what I had envisioned John is telling us that's not what Joshua trust wants so that puts something off the table for us really because Joshua trust is telling us they don't want to do Skinner so in my mind the project is in Jeopardy of not happening at all but I'm willing to look at wheeling and and come back with everybody and if we vote for it we vote for it if we don't we don't so yeah and I just want to bring up one more point I remember there was probably about two or three years ago when we had discussed with centry about building that through Trail yeah and the board decided at that
time that we were not interested in participating in that and if we make this end to end we're basically going against what we agreed to do back in I think it was 2010 so that's under consider that's under consideration too this this is going to connect Nathan hail with with this Trail and you're going to get mountain bikers on it if you open up from Wheeling you're going to get mountain bikers in there because the mountain bike trails come right up to Wheeling all right so so let's let's as a board I'm just recommending that we give them an answer next month we all sit there and look at the access points on wheeling Road and we come back prepared to provide an answer right so is everybody in agreement with that okay John and Bill thank you very much and and and listen we we we're trying not to make this more
difficult than it needs to be but when you have people that are buddy neighbors that have greater concerns than somebody that lives in a different part of town and I'm more willing to open it up then they're more concerned about their individual issues and so we're just trying to be considerate of those issues and and and do this in an appropriate way so we apologize to you for not being able to give you an answer sooner but long long game yep thanks for your consideration thank you see you John where are we at so we are still in the old business right a community construction update Eric okay so I'll give you a real brief you probably all saw the video so far the drywalling and the taping they're on the third coat and sanding today they will have some touchup to do on the drywall so we should be into painting U sometime next week the excavation contractors moved on to roughing out where the the new septic tank is going to be and then the connection and the the enlargement of the leach field and they're boxing out over that main carrying beam down the center of the basement so that can be drywalled or that's in the process of being drywalled now there was a little bit of a snafu
in the bathrooms they located some fans in the ceiling that we had decided we not going to be mounted in the ceiling we're going to be mounted in the w walls so they're going to have to correct that but Leading Edge is aware of that so generally speaking I think we're in pretty good shape with that project it's moving along well we've gotten some good feedback from the community regarding that so I think we're in decent shape overall okay all right thank you very much I appreciate that anybody have any questions for Eric related to it no okay we're going to move on to 7c the discussion of the blight and level of involvement any updates on that area Eric I really don't have any updates on that there's no nothing significant happened in the last month okay 7D review of the significant taxpayer list everybody got that in their package that's in your packet on page 21 okay obviously there's a very few one two three four five six seven businesses out of the top 20 the other 13 are residences are you going to share that Eric can I can if you'd like me to sure we'd love you to and so anyway those are Property Owners Eric what I would like you to get from the town assess is how do rents and and since there's only seven taxpayers that actually have okay are you seeing that now yes sir okay so the seven properties and and specifically you know not the Dollar General but the Kingsley Drive apartments the Self Storage the xtramart and Andover Plaza all collect rents how do those impact their property values if at all because I mean how many how many units does the
Washington Street U self storage unit have and how many units does Whispering Hills have to only be valued at that amount of money really doesn't necessarily sit well with me and I'd like an understanding of that from the assessor to you know look at how the rents that they're collecting impact their assessed value because xtramart charges rent to the other users of their property Dunkin' Donuts being specifically one of them so it's just an understand I mean me as a resident I'd like to understand that a little bit more so and how can MTM corporation that big building be only Val tax are only $478 which one the the machine shop down on Route 6 MTM I don't even see that no that you're you're missing that that that B
that building is not assessed at that that's that's that is what they're saying they have in equipment in their building oh right and the reason for that is Connecticut being a heavily Democratic state has an enormous manufacturing incentive and tax break so they pay very little taxes on any of their equipment in that building and that's that's a state law that's not a they should have they own an awful lot of personal property they just don't pay tax on yeah but that doesn't I don't I I'm disagreeing with you because that shop is full of machines right corre okay let's let's let's go back we let's talk about the top and then we'll go down to the bottom so the top the top is buildings everybody so we understand the top the property owners is the building on the land the bottom is equipment that is owned by those businesses and Scott you're right if MTM corporations is saying they only have $70,000 worth of equipment in the building forget the incen Eric because what you're doing is 70,000 time 003 doesn't come up to $478 there are credits that are being offset to let them pay $478 the issue that I would have as an accountant and that Scott is asking as a like there's equipment in that building it's only worth $70,000 are you kidding me yeah that's the issue not not the number they may have incentives and the state may allow them to bypass certain things but what is in the building now it could be that they bought the equipment 30 years ago and it's depreciated and as as those those reports go down that's fine
but you know just as you're doing Eric in our town equipment and you're basically sitting there saying to run an effective business you have to be able to age out your equipment and replace it doesn't seem like we're having an appropriate counting of those items on certain things so that's a question that's just a question I mean because you're looking at you know Ron ban he does a lot of work for the community he does a lot of good work for the community he's saying that he has $185,000 worth of equipment that's excavators everything else okay that might be right you look down at the bottom of the list you know has 7-Eleven never changed their coolers in the last 10 years they're only showing $999,000 of equipment it's that's and and this goes assessment too that's not the total value that's what is being assessed even on our houses we're not assessed 100% of the value and and that's correct too but it's it's different because the way those property taxes returns work it's each year you keep a piece of equipment on there it ages out and depreciates out so it gets lower and lower and lower it's a question of they replaced things and gotten new and and I would tell you most taxpayers what they'll do is they'll just leave everything they have on there and anything new they're not going to put on there and the only way that it's caught is if the assessor and the assessor's office is going in evaluating those property tax returns and and evaluating the information
that's provided in those property tax returns so that's a question that I'm just asking Eric to evaluate so that we as a group can understand what's up because it's a you know other than Connecticut Light and Power or a gunin gas and Scott electrics to to a certain extent those are the only significant those are the only over $10,000 property taxpayers property owners so personal property taxpayers in our town that's terrible yeah that's terrible Scott electric crafts has all nice new machines in there and MTM has old machines apparently apparently yeah but those are questions for the assessor and how we look at it but you can easily see what you're saying is you want the assessor I would like an understanding I would like him to sit there to come at
this meeting and because see I mean you're not you're asking questions I I certain I no no no no listen don't don't they 100% correct and and as you know as I've said to you it's a u it's very difficult for residents and and and even elected officials to understand exactly what occurs within the assessor's office and how it effectively operates and the assessor's office is our money-making arm there's no doubt about it the tax collector is just a bookkeeper and collects the taxes the assessor's office is the is the group that sits there and values the property and determines how much they should pay what I'm driving at is out of the top 20 property and I gotta I gotta phrase it correctly the top is land the bottom is equipment out of the land owners in town all the top 20 are in excess of
$155,000 on the equipment within our town and this goes for every business this I mean this is every business that runs out of our town every l landscaper everything else everything that goes on in our town those values are really low to me there's there's only there's only three of them that pay over $10,000 that's that's okay that's a that's a that's not a good that's not good for the overall you know homeowners in this town so we have to look at that that's just this is just information for us us I mean look at look at Benjamin Franklin now I I'm going to ask the question Eric and and even I don't know this one this has nothing to do with Motor Vehicles correct shouldn't correct there shouldn't be Motor Vehicles okay next month can you give us the top because there's there's people who own multiple motor vehicles within the town I would love to know that yeah and and the other question is you know how many visits has the assessor's office made to these business owners and I would like to know that because we really don't know and the assessor's office makes us the money do you all we all need to understand that the accessor office makes the community money to be able to pay for all the functions School roads everything and it would be helpful if we could understand a little a little bit more of what they do within that office so how can a shell Tower be worth
$100,000 how could it be how how could it possibly be worth less than a million dollar it's a question you know how much did it cost to build I mean the assessor's office or this goes in this goes into our our our you know these are all supposed to interact everything's supposed to interact I mean that cell tower was built and a building permit was given to it it was applied for and given to it we should know how much money that cost to build did they give us the right information is a different question did we care that they gave us the right information or didn't care that they give us the right information this this this exercise to me as an accountant and as a business owner is the most important exercise we can go through because it's the only way we understand how our community makes money now it might not be the right way to make money I'm I'm not going to debate that I but it's the only thing we're given right now so because every time somebody every time somebody hangs something from that Tower it's worth more money right it should be yeah yeah so how can it how can it be worth
$100,000 yeah so those are things that we need to I I mean really you ask me you know the assessor's office is a very challenging office to evaluate no one can sit there and say that because you don't sit there and evaluate the assessor's office as a group you you evaluate the assessor's office on your own residence or your own personal property tax return so we as a board need need to think about this a little bit differently and that's why I was glad that when Eric shared this originally or maybe I asked for it I might have asked for it I think Eris gave us some information and then I asked for a little bit more information I think it's probably pretty good for us in the future to understand this and it'll be it'll be positive for the community to understand this because of this is this is how we make money and you can just flat out tell all the money is made from personal residences because if there's six businesses here I'd like to know how many total businesses are on the property owner list I mean in total and yeah then and then I look at this personal property stuff and I'm like that's kind of low I mean that's kind of low so anyway I don't have enough information I I just that this is out there for people to understand and look at and and try to get a an understanding so T-Mobile Northeast like Scott says only pays $66,000 in personal property taxes AT&T Mobility $6,000 in personal property taxes and how much money are
they making transmitting those signals across the town of Andover so right yeah okay anybody have any other issues they wanted to address related to this today Eric what I would ask you for is next month if you can keep the same report and then put on top of it I'd like to know the taxpayers who pay the most motor vehicle taxes in town so i' like the other component because this is this is only two of the three components of taxes for the community the other is motor vehicles and then there's the supplemental motor vehicle but motor vehicle is the next one so and then we'll sit there and evaluate what we're doing and we're we're definitely going to have to have the assessor come and talk to us right I mean it sounds like you're going to want the assessor and you would need the it because it's not Vision appraisal that does the commercial appraisal for town you would need the the town's commercial appraiser probably to answer those questions I'm guessing you can ask that question I don't necessarily know there's a commercial appraiser I think what occurs
Eric is business owners are required to file a property tax return right property tax return gets submitted to the assessor's office and the assessor's office usually just takes the data that's provided the question that we would want to ask is how many of those returns are audited or evaluated and how many visits are made by the assessor to get out to these Property Owners to determine if they've even reported the appropriate information yes I'm talking about the property evaluation that is Town very definitely hires its own commercial appraiser to appraise those property or not appraiser but correct and and I'm not really I mean listen I'll question the residential property taxes don't get me wrong I'm on the list but that's not why I'm doing this my question to you earlier on the property owners and and and and the assessor can give us how it's done so we can understand it better
and maybe ask some pointed questions as to how we're doing it and not doing it and and are we doing it effectively or not my question was of the six businesses that are on the property owner list four of them or five of them collect rent and what I was after is how is the rent evaluated into the whole property value you know because I look at those apartments and go there there's probably 30 or 40 units over there correct Scott you would know better than I would there could be yeah so that's even if they're paying ,000 a month that's $40,000 in rent and they're not paying $1,000 a month they're paying $1,500 to $2,000 a month let's say $2,000 a month that's $80,000 a month in rent and I I realize there's expenses to
it I'm not going that way I'm just asking does the 80,000 ,000 in rent that is being generated impact the property and the assessment value for that property and that's it and and all I'm trying to do I'm not trying to fall any of these property taxpayers out or these taxpayers out I'm just trying to understand how it works because if we are doing our job which we haven't done I haven't done I'll take responsibility I haven't done this is where the money's made th this is how you run your business and you know this is the business of a small town and we have an
issue in that the balance of the the revenue generated is generated off of personal residences and that's fine but it would be nice to understand exactly how that department runs it and does it because that's the most that's where all the money is so let's try to get an understanding of How It's Made and then we can do a better job of doing the rest of it because if we'd like to do other things we might have to at some more money so if things are not being done correctly on here maybe it's maybe it's us as a board calling it out of from that department so that we get and generate additional money anybody else have anything related to this no okay I looked at this and saw
how much the New Dollar General brought in goes to show you how we need new businesses yeah it would be and maybe that's also something and that we sit there as a board and try to figure out ways to assist to generate more money because more businesses mean more money more money means taxes more taxes might be able to allow us to do different things or may be able to allow us to reduce the burden on the personal homeowners right right okay discussion of extensive tree trimming burnap Brook 7e Anything Eric you ready now you're gonna go Scott yeah go ahead so me and Jay went over there and went over the road and if anybody had been on that road before you can tell that know it's a very tight Road the trees are growing almost up to the
asphalt in many many locations it was a dirt road when I was a kid that they tarred it and the trees are still there growing so a lot of the Big Trees along the side on the towns right away need to be cut down and there it's it's it's very extensive there's a lot of trees that growing completely over the road from one side to the other there there's a lot of small trees that are grown that in the right away also that need to be trimmed out of there now there's a lot of dead trees the the the trees are so close to the side of the road in some areas that the plows could possibly in a big snowstorm if you lost your site or something you could easily hit the trees some of those huge trees that are down in there so it's going to be a big big change on that road so the public needs to know that it's going to be a big change but it it's for the good of the road actually and for you know safety so just so I understand this what Eric when is this potentially gonna start there's no there's no time schedule yet because it has to be has to be talked about a little bit it has to be they're trying to get every source to do you know a split with us again half and half they they do pay for half of it and we pay for half of it there's a lot of leg work to be done this and we're not marking any trees yet so it is it is pretty bad up
there that probably goes into next budget season okay so so it it's it's a problematic road we've got to try to fix it but we're not we're not there yet it's not like you're starting this within the next no couple months no the the reason Jay wanted the board of Selectmen to understand and be on board with this is because what he's proposing is trimming extensively enough that it will change the character of the road and you know that's what he thinks we should do but he also wants you all to understand that that's what he's proposing because ultimately you're the ones that are going to get the complaints from residents you know if we do this potentially okay so it's it's complaints from residents about trees or complaints from residents about the road so we're just making an evaluation both okay all right start the start the
subject start the Paula is it possible to put something on Facebook to sit there and see the push back and say Hey listen we're we're we're anticipating this significant level of tree trimming to be done on burnac Brook this is the reason why we're doing it because the the trees are too close to the road they're impacting the the the roads and this is a planed to happen over the next 18 to 24 months is there any real feedback that can come back to us so that I think the best way to do it is to set up a an email that people can because if you put a post out there people are GNA comment and then somebody has to take all those comments and bring it somewhere else so either we do it that way or you put in the post a link to like a Google form or
something and they can they can fill that out and it dumps into an email somewhere that Eric can read and compile okay it's not that important that we do that immediately let's think about an the easiest possible solution to make this as efficient as we can and but to get some feedback and and at least we're starting the ball rolling to say Hey listen this is coming down the road we're going to do this what level we do this at will be dependent upon certain factors but we want your input so yeah so we can I mean I don't know if you want in a survey fashion but we can put a survey out there where we can do like a form where they fill out their concerns and then we take that and and it dump somewhere where we can look at it I I don't I don't think you really should approach it that way I think that in the has you know we know I mean I can't believe there's that many residents on that road there there I think that all of them would probably be happy if those trees were gone myself I mean maybe maybe we do what we're doing for the the Joshua trust property is we evaluate the the ab
the budding residence on the road and we tell them what we're plan our plan is yeah why can't we send a letter and say if you have questions or concerns I I think that's the better route because if you if you put it out there on Facebook then people who it doesn't affect are going to comment and it's just gonna bog it's gonna muddy the message okay so then let's try to do it that way let's let's so Eric what we're going to do is try to get letters out to the people that are on Skinner Road initially and Skinner Road burnap Brook used to be called Skinner Road the old Skinner Road the old Skinner Road I apologize okay anything else related to that topic Scott do you really want to set the precedent that every time you're doing freeor on a
road you're going to do that because the next time you cut on Gilead you know people are going to come back to you and say well you pulled everybody here how come you didn't pull us well I don't necessarily know I want you to pull them I want you to tell them it's our plan to do road work that's what that would be a better message it's it's our plan to do message please let us know Eric's right about concerns if you it has to be done here's what's going to happen it's got to get done and and they'll probably not respond to to the letter but our plan is to do road work and extensive tree work on this road it will occur within the next you know 18 months we're just letting you know that you have any issues related to this let us know during it's in the towns RightWay right yeah so y again this is one of those issues that's just like what we talked about with Joshua's trust you will never make everybody happy but you got to make decisions so it's it's better give them a long why didn't you notify everyone when you did this Trail on skin and Road and Sherry Sherry I I appreciate but you can't you can't speak during meetings you have to wait till public speak I greatly I understand but please don't do that so it's the issue that we know you're going to end up getting stuff done so we're going to do it but we're trying to be considerate of
other people's feelings and other people's issues so okay so we're now moving on to f a ride for CCAP Eric anything on this you asked it to go back to the board because the whole board had not approved it I was presented with a an event permit I needed to sign Eric please explain explain this race so that I can get the board's approval to sign that it's a fundraiser they do every year they use Town streets they ride on it that I have the authority to sign for but they also requested to use The Old Firehouse to put a porta potty on and have essentially a restation for the ride so it did go to all the appropriate it did eventually get sign off by Fire Marshall Etc so that has occurred now it comes back to the board so the question ends up being to the board is and I'll make a motion that I'm I can sign this event permit but I needed to get it in front of the board so I'll make a motion that I I'm able to sign the ride for CCC CCAP event
permit I'll second time all right does anybody have any questions about the event or anything no we're just curious what does that mean dcap Connecticut Children's cycling advancement program okay thank you okay all those in favor I I okay five nothing all right let's go on to new business and we're we're going pretty slow set meeting date for the annual Town budget meeting the proposal is May 1st I'll make a motion that we set a meeting a town annual Town budget meeting for May 1 2024 someone got a second on that I'll second a yeah May 1 Sor okay that's correct let's just look at May 1 on the calendar so we know what we're doing knew I was against and is there any is there anything else going on that night Town wise do we check the calendar are you good with the calendar I can look at the calendar but you know it's IR irrelevant the town meeting trumps everything anyway we're not going to schedule a town meeting around other things other things schedule around the town I don't see anything on the C calendar so there's that okay thank you Paula all those in favor I I all right Jeff Murray are you good right Jeff Murray abstained so no I was a yes you're yes okay you were muted
all right 8B set a date for a town meeting to discuss a proposed excuse me to discuss the boundary line agreement for The King Family boundary line agreement with the HW family the acceptance of the Steep Grant with Town match for the playgrounds and pickle ball courts purchase and Lease of a roadside motor zoning violation fine ordinance failure to get a permit post a bond for work in the town wway fine ordinance and an ordin ordinance for commission on agent he potential dates proposed dates are Tuesday April 23rd or Monday April 29th I have to get an answer on that one I'm thinking that 23rd might be the best day for me but I guess that doesn't really matter can you see those dates again please they had April 23 May 29th April 23rd or April 29 and this is for another is this is for a town meeting as well or what is this for again sorry town meeting yeah this is a town meeting to vote on all of those items that I just read and that are on the agenda and this can't be combined with the May 1 one
no I wonder if you'll get a better turnout if you do it on the 29th I don't I don't know just thinking people are going to come out on the 23rd and then a week later I'm just thinking out loud here yeah I think that's better than the 29th you do yeah you think if they're closer two just two days apart Oh I thought it sorry thought it was May May 29th but my internet keeps so it's O April 23rd and April 29th hold on for one second I have to I have to mute myself and I mean from my perspective the 23rd is ideal because that gives the board of Finance because some of the decisions that are made will impact the budget and the budget meeting the board of Finance public budget meeting is on the 24th so that would make those decisions made before they actually have their public meeting I'm gonna make a recommendation is that let's this this is just me put the the so Eric you're concerned about the mower and the the Steep Grant related to the budget this current budget the mower is the only thing that has a major impact on the budget but remember every one of these meetings costs us money and that's why we've been pushing it off because you wanted
everything to go at once understood and I I'm going to recommend that we put the purchase of and the lease of the roadside moare on the town meeting but the budget meeting can we do that just that one item and put that in the front of this this whole thing I and then answer that question to be honest I I don't know the answer to that I don't know that we I don't know got a Dennis question because he's on he's on Dennis Dennis if we put a question can we put a question at the beginning of the budget meeting because it is a town meeting can we put a question at the beginning of the meeting you're muted you got to unmute yourself can anybody unmute him or he has to do it on his phone it's what's the what is it star I think it's star star eight he he knows he might maybe he's stepped away from his desk okay I I think the meeting on the 23rd or the 29th to do this to do all the other items is probably a little too tight Eric Dennis are you with us no okay so I'm going to suggest we push that but the only problem is we push it into May we're pushing it into issues related to if the budget doesn't pass what are we doing then and then we got referendums and everything else I'm not sure that that we'll be ready for that meeting in two weeks that would be my concern and my concern for for attorney O'Brien because there's a lot of issues here that he he's worked on but he has to
finalize before then so I would sit there and recommend that we push that off and we we do this that meeting the town meeting in June but we have to do the mower before the budget because it impacts the budget correct it does impact the budget I think that's a good way of looking at it yeah but I don't think that I don't think it can be done at the same time as the annual budget meeting but I'm not that's not my area of exper okay Dennis if you're listening to us can you text me if that's possible if you can't do it muted he's saying we cannot do that thanks that wasn't the answer that I wanted Dennis you were supposed to say yes you can and we sit there and try to be as efficient as we possibly can be yes you can't to what what you question or what I just I just wanted to we could
have so Eric is there any way that we can position that as part of the budget the roadside mower it is part of the budget but what are we asking what just so we're all clear because I think I have it in my head but I want to understand exactly what we're asking for we're asking for the ability to put a lease together for the current budget for the current budget cycle and pay the first lease payment right correct to basically we're asking to agree to lease this vehicle now and sign a contract now so we can get an existing one that's built that's cheaper than waiting you know for the build time and getting one eight months from now so a decision that this board should be able to make in two seconds we have to go to town meeting for to sit there and get it approved okay yes very poor that's the charter yeah okay that should be the only I mean that's going to be the only part only item on this to and and I'd like look why are we having a town meeting to do that let's just do it as part of the budget item
let's put it in the beginning let's have people vote on it we'll have the majority you don't want to buy it this year you want to buy it next year no no no no I want to buy this year I want to put the question on the budget meeting H actually this is how I want to do it I want to have two Town meetings back toback I want to have the first town meeting and I want to have it just be the mower and we vote on it before the the the budget meeting and then we have the budget meeting same day same time same group of people Dennis can that be happened can you pull that off text me that one you may be able to pull it off okay yes dude two time meetings is good
okay Eric we're doing two time meetings back to back first one is on the mower the second one is on the budget you're going to do it on May 1 okay so none of those other things you want to bring up we're going to have to schedule another town meeting because I I I we're gonna have to do that separately to sit there and push it after the budget cycle so sometime in June I would guess would be the best part the best thing to do related to that okay apologize for that but I think we're probably that will probably work I want I want I want I'm gonna ask if someone can mute individuals on the meeting are we all set Eric far as I know all right thank you okay so yes so Eric we're going to schedule that meeting we're going to get Dennis enough time to sit there and do it and we're going to do it after the budget is passed okay and we're g to get it done quickly Eric we're not going to make you wait too much longer okay anybody else have any issues related to the town meeting anybody have any issues pushing it back anybody have any issues of doing
two toown meeting meetings all at one time okay my my question with that is can they do they have to have the budget presentation ready depending on that vote isn't that going to change how they have the budget to present to the town's people I mean if they say no then the budget changes from what it would be yes is that a big difference it's one line right Eric I mean yeah it will have some impact on the budget I haven't really thought that through because I was not anticipating that being a line of where we were going with it so that's a board of Finance question the board of Finance was the one was pushing us to have the town meeting get those decisions made sooner rather than later but if we don't we don't but the question is if is there the possibility that the presentation can be changed or modified if there's a yes Vote or a no vote like that's my that that's probably a mark Brinker question not an Eric question because that's his you know his at that point all right Joanne Ebert has her hand up and so she's the representative from the board of Finance go ahead give us an answer Joan thank you just real quick it is gonna be disappointing because we had been waiting for a town meeting I understand you don't want to spend the money to have the two back to back we
had been hoping I know there was issues with I know the whole list that Eric had brought forward with some other things yeah so it's just overall disappointing because we keep waiting I'm not worried about disappointing Joan what I'm or not that's all we're asking well it it of so hearing that there's not even GNA be a meeting and it's and no one's remembering why we wanted to do this you know it was going to affect how we put the budget together we have two big weeks coming up so yeah we'll just have to go with it I mean I do go to all the meetings and I get the input from how you all feel but I am so disappointed and even but but that's not even that we can't do our jobs in the right way because this has been pushed off month after month after month but that's okay we're gonna we're gonna hang in there yes I'm sure it's
going to be difficult for Mark to put the budget document together because you're having a back-to-back meeting that night I'm I'm just frustrated and you asked the question so we'll do whatever you guys want us to do we always will but we wanted the town input on all these important items okay thank you how much okay how much is it to do another meeting let's just talk about the number real quick I just want to know do we know Eric it's probably 1,500 bucks it's not a lot more than that it's not a giant you know a giant expense what's our gamble as a group our gamble is that it gets rejected that's the gamble well do you know the town is going to back you on the Steep Grant because we have a committee spinning their heels working on this when we don't even know whether the town's going to accept it will they more than likely it's a great proposal it should be
accepted that's one you know I don't think I mean we're pushing it we're already pushing it pretty dramatically whether we get the mower or not because you know at some point somebody else is gonna buy the damn thing out from under us I mean the only thing that saves us is most other towns won't have the money until the new fiscal year either all right so let let's ask the questions then do you have the boundary line agreement with the King Family done is it ready to go that's a Dennis question he's had all the information all right I've got the documentation the Mets and Bounds and the mapping that's in your packet okay and the in the the so Dennis and he can't talk he can't get his computer to work or his phone to work it's two weeks it's two weeks it's two weeks for our town attorney to do all that work then we can't do it it's that simple all right but that doesn't mean but that doesn't mean we can't do the two things that you want to really get done which which would mean we just have to have a different town meeting so can we have a town meeting on the mower and on the Steep Grand sure yep all right he 23rd is the the only day that I can't make the other day so if we did
it we would do it the 23rd but if if you want me there if you don't want me there it's okay too because it's only two questions but if we're going to do that and have the meeting before the the budget meeting it's the 23rd would be the day I would ask everybody to consider let's do it all right so anybody have any problems with the 23rd just we'll just go no so I'm gonna make a motion no don't don't base it on me but I'm I'm a possibility that I might not be there that night so okay but majority rules so all right so we don't need the full board anyway right we don't but yeah
it's just a yeah so I'm G to make a motion that we set a town a town meeting for Tuesday April 23rd to discuss the purchase and Lease of a roadside Mower and the acceptance of the Steep Grant for the Town Recreation Area for the playground and the pickle ball courts a second right further discussion all those in favor I okay and then just to sit there and and the the other items we're going to have to sit there and and schedule that meeting when Dennis O'Brien gives us a date and a timeline that he can complete all of the other items so that we can we can do it all at one time all right HC the ebike laner program Eric sorry Dennis was calling me phone you can call you Dennis you're done sorry Eric e- looner ebike ebike yep so I submitted the grant but we obviously don't have to to accept it even if we get it what are your questions relative to that I gave you the basic outline of the details I asked kerma for an evaluation of that they will get back to me eventually probably not in the next month but I mean eventually we'll get something back from kma okay I don't have any issues I think it's great that you applied for the grant well let's see if we get it if we get it then we can sit there and make some decisions anybody else have any other issues okay there's a lot of issues that go along with it right but we're going to discuss them right once if the grants approved we're not just because the grants approved we're not going to move ahead
with this correct correct because there is a lot of liability issues and usage issues that we really need to iron out okay and who's going to run the program who's gonna maintain the bikes who's going to maintain the bikes brought back in all good all good things that we should have on the agenda agenda and hopefully if the budget passes and we have a person at the community center running those things they can be part of that program that's how I would look at it but we don't have to accept the grant if we get it we should accept the grant if we get it and we should figure out how to do it but those are all issues that we can work on that sounds like an excellent thing okay 8D Charter revision panel discussion actually I I asked Eric to put this on the agenda I want to sit there and Empower another Charter revision group all we need to do today is is agree to do it because what I would like to do is get everybody's opinions on what we need to revise in the charter because coming to a presidential election there'll be a tremendous turnout and if we're going to do Charter revision we should always do it on a presidential election vote and so that that is what I'm after so and with a certain timing I have some available free time and my goal is to sit there and work on that so all right so you need a motion for that Jeff yeah I just need a motion to and I'll make it Dennis Ryan oh my God technology got I finally got in with your cockamamy
system but but I'm I'm a little bit upset about this town meeting thing all the ordinances that I've done they're all done okay i' I've done like tons of them I sent them to Eric some of them are on the agenda some of them are not but those are all done and ready to go I could go with those tomorrow the only thing I haven't done is I haven't created the documents for the the king property I need Eric to help me with that but I can do that okay so stuff should okay that's fine but we're gonna have to do we're gonna Dennis we're gonna have to do another town meeting anyway all right all right I just don't want to wait forever on all these
ordinances I spent a lot of time going over all no we're gonna we're going to get them all done we're going to get them all not that we're not going to have a second meeting it's just that if we don't do a meeting the 20 so if you're telling me you don't have the king document done and you won't have that by the no no listen listen you don't have that done by 2 I will I will get it done I will I I will do whatever I need to do that's that's what I do okay but I need Eric I need to sit down with Eric to help me okay all right Eric yep that's fine okay good so so now Dennis so Dennis you sat there and said listen listen listen my friend I've got to c one second I got to go backwards if
you're if you're tell you send me a text you sent me a text saying that you could not do the 23rd it's too soon and and now speak speaking to us speaking to us and you're telling us you can do it can you do it yes I I was too I said I couldn't do it because I have a conflict that night but I will be there I sorry okay listen Dennis I'm gon to revise my motion for the town meeting if nobody on the board of Selectmen has a problem now that we can hear from the town attorney I'm gonna sit there and go I'm gonna gonna make a motion that we authorize or we we set a date a
meeting date for a town meeting of April 23rd to to bring to town meeting a boundary line agreement with the King family a boundary line agreement with the Haw family acceptance of the Steep Grant between the state and the town for the recreational field playground and pickle ball courts purchase and Lease of a roadside motor for the Department of Public Works a zoning violation ordinance a failure to get a permit and post a bond for work in the town RightWay and an ordinance for the commission on agent yeah that's good I have Dennis Dennis I'll second that je all right thank you Scott any further mute yourself any further any further discussion I'll never get back in all right all in favor I so we're moving forward with a town meeting to do all of the items that have been listed on the agenda and it's going to be scheduled for April 23rd 7 p.m. at the community room Eric or at the at the gym at the community room I think this is a that's not GNA be big enough we can do that in the community room all right community room okay all right Dennis thank you very much we do appreciate all your efforts you're welcome Jeff thank you Dennis thank you very much okay I'm glad I was able to get in
there you go all right on the charter revision yes sir you just need a motion to create a commission okay so that's that's all you need to do tonight but you're gonna have to somehow imp appoint the commission within 30 days okay so and that doesn't fall within your next meeting regular meeting is the 14th of May and that's outside of 30 days so you going to have to have a special meeting okay so we can work on that I'll make a motion that we impanel a charter revision commission committee I'll second that okay further discussion on a charter revision commission anybody you're going to be the chairman I will be the representative from the board of selectman if I'm a
panel at our next meeting yeah I think the chairman has to be voted on right the chairman has to be voted on yes no no no no no no no not not the chairman of I won't the the committee elects the chairman our board imp panels the the participants in the charter revision committee and that would happen at the next meeting I am telling you that I will sit there and do that and I would like to do that but you the members all need to vote on that right because there's rules within our Charter that only one elected official per five members two elected officials if we extend the panel to seven but what we need to do is if we vote on this and we agree to do it we got to advertise it and then we got to get people to sit there and come and put their names in and saying that they'll sit there and do it and then we have to have five members that will imp panel themselves at a minimum and then if we get more we can impanel seven but yes very good all we need to we do it go ahead Dennis I just want to say that if you
know you you're on if you want to get it on the ballot for November you have to have it into the Secretary of State's office by early September so you're going to be you don't have a lot of time so I recommend that you appoint a the smallest number of commission members that you can do and that's five and if you have five it's state law not our Charter that says only one can be a public a Current public official and if that happens to be our first selectman so be it but that's that's that's all I need to tell you now I could give you an hourong presentation right now absolutely not because I am all geared up I'm ready to talk no we're good all right I'll shut up okay so we we have we have the motion in front of us I just want to any other questions any other issues anything no I just my questions are simply Logistics so you want to advertise in the paper advertise on social media when do you want responses back from members at large or are you just going to pick members at large how do you want to April by by U April 21st because my thought is that we we have a a a special meeting on April 23rd if at all possible and and vote and in panel the members because if not we're going to have to
have a special meeting because what Dennis is saying is it's 30 days and today is the 11th and our next meeting's not till the 14th so we'd have to have some special some type of special meeting to sit there and do this now we can do this may 1 if everybody's willing to just you know get on a zoom call for two minutes to do this or we can try to do the 23rd what's everyone's opinion you could meet a half an hour before the town meeting and just knock out a special meeting with one single agenda item that's what I was thinking but I'm not sure that gives the community enough time to to put their names in the Hat to want to do this Prett tight first okay for May 1 yeah let's do it May 1 I mean we have up until the 10th of May we can do we can do we can do we want Eric Logistics we want everybody to who wants to participate to have a letter of of of U someone help me with that it's letter of intent letter of intent for May 1 and then let's have a meeting on May 8th very quickly to sit there in you know 15 minutes to imp panel the group so by May 1st you send all of the people who want to participate to to the board and then on May 8th we sit there and have a meeting it will fall within the 30 days and then we can get started and we can all come at the next meeting and everybody can sit there and and give their opinion from the board perspective as to what items within the charter need
to be revised so that we can have a cohesive analysis of the charter and try to sit there and and get something passed in November so we haven't voted so those are the logistics that I think would work the best if everybody can sit there and do it so all those in favor of un paneling a charter revision committee hi okay okay all right everybody needs to read the charter quick yeah so I think that that's everything from new business so item nine approval of minute meetings for March 11th 2024 I make a motion to accept the meeting minutes of March 11 2024 seconded all those in favor I all right treasur report Eric are there any items that you want to address within the treasurer's report or anything that you need to call out to us nope anybody have any questions related to the treasurer's report okay Tax Collector's report there's some refund requests is that accurate Eric yeah it looks like there's only one refund request for $ 6640 okay let's sit there and get to packet okay thank you I I'll make a motion that we approve a refund of excess payments for a resident for Lauren and Carrera for $664 a second all right further discussion all those in favor I right okay I'm assuming that was five to nothing I didn't sit there and see anything to the departmental reports does anybody have any questions on any of the
department Al reports that were provided item 12 on our agenda okay we'll move on to item 13 Eric is there any correspondence no okay and we're going to move on to item 14 public speak so Eric please make sure that people are un not unmuted from our end all right I'm G to start with Bill Penn Bill I'm I'm good thank you I appreciate all the work you guys do and all your discussions and everything thank you very much all right thank you Jody gross I'm I'm good as well I just I'll Echo what Bill said as a board you're appreciated from the town residents the level of rigor and inclusive approach you guys are taking is fantastic and then our town manager there just Eric wonderful I you know I remember our town out Town manager and it's stunk so having you sort of project manage lead all that stuff it it's it's appreciated by the residents and then lastly I'll you know I I'll just say I know that there'll never be 100% agreement on issues so you know as you think about something like the Skinner Hill I I guess I would encourage you to continue to drive for a solution you know that that'll have the least impact and think honestly about the most residents in town not just the the the few that might be might be loud but again you're all appreciated thanks right thank you very much Sherry I would like everybody to think about how this would be violating me as
a person and as the only safety I have right now and I am one person but if you don't look behind the story of the people and what's really going on is it really impacting other people more than me I don't think that you're looking at all the points that make it significant and it's the ignorance of the community and they're not trauma informed and it's sad so I'm not mad at you I just don't think you understand and I have extensive trauma history and you're not validating because I didn't tell you but you but you think that it's okay if I don't like it or not I don't even know my curtains right now and you haven't taken into consideration that you didn't notify anyone that they're going to be walking through the woods in our in our area next to my property and you think that it it it's making me feel safe because you don't think that it's that I'm significant to be informed that somebody's going to be walking around my property and that had a lot to do with how much more significant the the reaction was from me so I think that as a board and the town manager should think about not only where people live but where they're at and is it really impacting someone less or more than the others and I live alone and I'm a widow and I have no one's protect me and I don't feel the town is looking at that either thank you all right thank you Sher Diane grer yes good evening on on the issue
of the Joshua Tree the new entrance from Wheeling Road I'm surprised that Jeff Murray is not recusing himself from the discussion and the vote as he has a personal interest in this issue I mean I understand his his concern and whatever but as a member of the board of Selectmen a voting member I think it's in appropriate that that he should be in involved in the discussion and the voting on an issue where he has a personal interest okay that's it anything else Diane no that that's pretty much it thank you all for all you do it's it's always interesting to tuning in to these meetings thank you thank you very much Joanie Bert I just wanted to comment too on the discussion I can appreciate a good discussion on an issue and I think a good board should be made up of people that aren't afraid of you know having opposing opinions I'm always outspoken on the board that I'm a part of and I know that sometimes people get taken aback but I don't have a problem I would rather say an issue to someone's face or to bring up an issue rather than to do you know behind the scenes that's just the type of person I am I was kind of siding with Paula on this issue with
what she brought up you know it's wonderful that Joshua trust wants to be involved and do a lot for the town but you know with the changes and everything I think it is good that the Public's aware of that and if it becomes too much of an issue I see their part too you know they they're coming back and forth each month and they just wanted to decision because if Andover doesn't take it on then they're going to go somewhere else yeah that's what I want to say on that I look forward to seeing how that goes and and again it's it's really good to have debate if everybody agreed on everything then it wouldn't come to pass so that's why I appreciate everyone's opinions when I listen and why I really do want to hear from the town on a lot of issues where decisions are going to be made thank you so much all right thank you I think I covered everyone is that accurate I'm didn't miss anybody leave anybody out I believe so okay all right we're on to our last item on the agenda item 16 oh no I'm sorry we have an executive session well I'm going to thank the members of the public for for joining us Eric we need to sit there and I'm going to make a motion to move into executive session and remove all of the the members and I'm gonna recommend that we invite Eric Anderson Town Administrator and town attorney Dennis O'Brien anybody want to make a second that one and let's get this started and
seconded it all those in favor I okay thank you everyone for joining us Eric if you can make sure that everybody else is out a community voice Bill pen and then stop the recording we can