My name is Charlie Stewart and I am running for a three-year term as Selectman. I was first introduced to Andover when I started dating Bill Bardsley’s daughter, Christina, seven years ago.  I was living in Manchester and she was in Andover. I found that I loved this quiet community, and I was excited to find a beautiful house here, in a vibrant, well-knit community, with which I was already becoming very familiar.

After attending college in Boston, and after a couple of career moves, I landed a position in a law firm, managing their electronic discovery department. I’ve been there 13 years.

Most folks know me by my passion for the outdoors. I own a hike guiding company that runs hikes in the White Mountains, and also abroad in Europe. I’m also a member of the Pemi Valley Search and Rescue Team, which rescues hikers in the White Mountains.

As your Selectman, I look forward to meeting and serving you. I will always be appreciative of the feedback you share, and I’m eager to hear what is on your mind regarding town administration. I want what I think we all want from our town, which is to be fiscally responsible while providing the programs and services we all need and desire.  

My immediate concerns are for more transparency, accountability, and balance. To me, the more open and transparent town government is, the better we all feel about where our tax dollars are going and about the priorities of the town administration.  

There are a lot of great things we can do in our town, and if we are careful about balancing where we spend our tax dollars, we can accomplish many of them. We are all in this together. I am a consensus builder and facilitator, not a divider. 

I look forward to hearing what is important to you, and to working with my fellow Select Board members and our new Town Administrator. Thank you for considering me as one of your choices for Selectman.