Condensed from approved minutes:

Text:  Meeting convened at 6:00 p.m.

Present: Marj Roy, Town Administrator; Vicky Mishcon, Select Board Chair; Jim Delaney and Dave Blinn, Select Board; Bill Leber and John Hanscom, Lion’s Club; Bill Keyser and Pat Cutter, Cemetery Committee; Roger and Kitty Kidder, Highland Lake Protective Association; Susan Chase and Janet Moore, Library Board; Tom Frantz, Recreation Committee Chair; and Sergeant Mahoney and Chief Glenn Laramie, Police Department.

Lion’s Club and the Food Pantry:

At the request of Virginia Edwards, Lion’s Club President, Leber and Hanscom attended the Board meeting tonight to discuss the future of Andover’s food pantry. Mishcon wanted Leber to know that the food pantry was not thrown out of the Town Hall building as has been rumored.

The food pantry was started years ago by Don Gross along with the Lion’s Club. The food pantry is independently run entirely by volunteers and by donations and does not need to follow State reporting requirements. When the food pantry started, at that time, Charlie Darling agreed to monitor the food pantry because the Beacon’s former office was adjacent to the pantry on the bottom level of Town Hall. Since the Beacon moved out of the Andover Town Hall building this summer, issues have arisen with the pantry. One day the pantry was full of items and within 24 hours the shelves were completely cleared away.  The Beacon is temporarily back in the Town Hall building. However, the staff are currently only in their office a very short time during the week.

The Lion’s Club indicated they were a service club and would like to continue to help the poor in Andover to survive the present issues. Leber indicated that by Statute, the Town has to look after the poor. Leber asked who the designated person was in town so he could gather a list of poor in town to help serve those folks.  Roy is the overseer of the poor. The Board and Roy explained by law, that information is confidential and it cannot be disclosed.  

The Club asked for a key in order to operate. However, Mishcon said no one will need a key because the pantry must operate when Town Hall is opened. The Board discussed their expected guidelines for the pantry if it is in the Town Hall building.  The Town Hall staff cannot be responsible for monitoring the pantry. The pantry must only be opened during specific hours during the times that the Town Hall is opened. There must be an independent person designated by the Club to monitor the pantry when it is opened.  

Town Hall hours currently are as follows:

                Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday           9:00  to 2 PM                                          Tuesday                                                        9:00 to 6:30 PM                                              Friday                                                           CLOSED                                                             Last Saturday of the month                       9 to 11 AM

Suggested ways to improve and monitor the pantry were to build doors with locks on the open shelves currently being used to store food. The Club is working on finding a special 100th year Celebration project and will consider doing this as the project.

Mishcon is the Andover-Proctor liaison. At their semi-annual meeting today, Proctor indicated that they would like to continue to help with the food pantry. All agreed this is a good idea.

The Club will speak with the American Legion to hopefully have a few of their folk volunteer to monitor the pantry. The Club wants to have their own members or a similar service club such as the American Legion monitor the pantry at a designated time.  

The Club meeting was scheduled for Monday, October 30th and the Club will discuss the situation at the meeting to Club members and afterwards get back to the Town.

Highland Lake Drawdown:

After the Board met with the Highland Lake Protective Association(HLPA), Roger Kidder did some on-line research on the Department of Environmental Services(DES) website. Kidder believes someone from the State gave the Town wrong information on the lake draw down. The Kidder’s requested the Town go forward with the draw down this year. The HLPA is concerned about the amount of erosion taking place.

The Board and HLPA agreed during last week’s meeting, the drawdown would not occur this year due to the notification deadlines. However, Kidder provided new information from DES with conflicting information from what the Board received from Department of Environmental Services (DES) Dam Bureau. Roy will contact the State in the morning and inform them that some concerned citizens approached the Board with a conflicting opinion on the drawdown and will request a waiver or exemption on the notification deadlines.

Bill Keyser would like notices of meetings posted at the East Andover Post Office. Keyser feels there are people in East Andover who would like to be included in this issue and other meetings that he feelsthat the meetings are not being posted in the East Andover Post Office.

Keyser also does not believe that a yearly dra down is necessary or that the erosion issue is as big as people suggested.  

Library Budget:

Susan Chase and Janet Moore presented their budget. Please see attached.

Cemetery Budget:

The committee is in the process of hiring a new sexton. Cutter interviewed a potential sexton recently. The new sexton will be paid $13.00 hourly instead of the flat yearly fee. Among the duties of the sexton will be to speak to people who wish to purchase a lot, show the purchaser the lot at the cemetery, prepare the paperwork for Town records, record the deed, and to make sure the corner markers are taken care of as required

The Committee questioned using the $1200.00 from this year’s budget and carrying it over to next years for repairing stones. The Board explained that if those funds are not used in 2017, they can only be encumbered by a contract or an invoice. Otherwise, the unused funds go into the General Fund. With a contract or an invoice, the Board will sign off to carry those funds over on the last Board meeting for 2017.

After discussion, the Board agreed that since the Town highway crew started the work in 2017 and will be completing the work, a work order or work schedule can be used in place of a contract or an invoice. That should accomplish allocating those funds from the 2017 budget and carrying the leftover funds over into 2018’s budget.

Recreation Committee Budget:

Frantz explained the budget is approximately $22, 000.00 which is an increase of a couple of thousand dollars due to two items. One is the ski program. The fee for Ragged Mountain has increased from $79.00 to $99.00 per student during the winter course program. The transportation cost remained the same. The other item that caused the increase is that the ice rink liner may need to be replaced before the season is over.

Although the Committee did not vote, the consensus is that they are thinking of putting up their own equipment storage shed. They are in the process of checking with Proctor and locating the boundaries.

Howard George offered to aerate the baseball field. The Board agreed that the town does not have the proper equipment to aerate the field. The Board agreed that Howard can aerate the field. Additionally, Gary George will take care of shutting off the water.

Police Department Budget:

Sergeant Mahoney presented the budget. The Board reviewed and discussed the budget. Mahoney explained that because the police department is in transition at this point, there are several unknowns in the budget. Crimestar was moved from the Office Supply line to the Dues/Subscription/Use fees line. There was a discussion regarding whether the 4th of July police detail should be in the police budget or the 4th of July committee’s budget.

Correspondence and Signatures:

•         Department of Natural and Cultural Resources letter received indicating that they have re-districted the forest rangers. However, Andover’s Doug Miner, will remain our forest ranger.
•         Service Club letter received indicating their executive board meets at the end of October and that in November they will have a full board meeting. Afterwards, they would like to meet with the Board on November 20, 2017 to discuss the fee they owe to the 4th of July Committee.
•         Andover Snowmobile Club letter requesting they be allowed to cross through the Transfer Station as in the past. Mishcon made a motion that the Town continue to allow the Andover Snowmobile Club to continue to cross through the Transfer Station. Delaney seconded the motion. All in favor. Motion passed. All three Board members signed the request.
•         Town Clerk/Tax Clerk bulleted list received for credit card usage in her office. The Board reviewed the terms for Visa and American Express usage. Along with the Board’s request previously of the Procedures and Policy, the Board requested that a daily print out of the credit card transactions will be required to verify and confirm proper activity for the file and a copy sent to the bookkeeper.
•         An Intent to cut for Theodore signed by all three Board members
•         A Timber Tax Bill for Rita Havens signed by all three Board members

Work Session:

The next work session to discuss salaries and wages will be on Wednesday, October 18, 2017, 2 to 4 PM.

OPEN HOUSE DISCUSSION

On Monday, October 23, 2017 at 6:15 p.m. an Open House took place as a Question and Answer discussion for residents to gather information on next year’s budget before Town Meeting 2018. Topics suggested for discussion include:

        Fund Balance and General Fund                                                                         Budgets in general including the year to date                                                                    Police Department Transition Period                                                                          

Town Budget v. School Budget (Town Budget remained fairly consistent several years)                   Salaries and Pay Scales across the board: Comparison of Andover with other Towns

Other Business:

Delaney would like to have the 4th of July Committee present a budget and report to the Board now that they are a Town Department. The Board agreed.

Adjournment:

Delaney made the motion to adjourn the meeting. Mishcon seconded the motion. All in favor. Meeting adjourned at 8:15 PM.

Minutes prepared by Patricia Moyer, Select Board Secretary