Budget passes, noise ordinance defeated
The 2016 Andover Town Meeting on March 8 began with Town Moderator Dan Coolidge introducing the Board of Selectmen and the Budget Committee. Next he read the moderator’s rules for the meeting and concluded by saying, “My job is not to take sides. It is to keep the meeting moving smoothly.” Article 1 The election […]
Condensed from approved minutes Moderator Betsy Paine introduced the Andover School Board members present: Michelle Dudek, Mark Heller, Misty Sava, Dean Barker, and Annie MacKenzie, and the Andover Budget Committee members present: Arch Weathers, Ed Hiller, Nancy Teach, and Mary Anne Levesque. Assistant Superintendent Christine Barry, SAU 46 Business Administrator Robin Heins, SAU 46 Human […]
Democracy at work in a small town
Herbie Barton (standing, right) addresses Town Meeting on March 8, 2016. Photo: Larry Chase I hope that the “high energy and emotions” we experienced at our recent Town Meeting was cathartic in the sense that we can all see that if people speak out on an issue, they have the power to make a difference. […]
Special Ed up, offset by other cuts
Voters in Andover unanimously passed a new two-year teachers’ contract and operating budget at their annual school district meeting Tuesday night. The budget, $4.86 million, was up $122,000 from last year, or about 2.5 percent. Nearly all of the increase is from projected special education needs, including one-on-one student support and the transportation of some […]
Grateful for the community's support
On Tuesday, March 1, residents of Andover gathered for our annual Andover School District Meeting to listen to, deliberate, and vote on the 2016-2017 school budget and other Andover Elementary/Middle School related warrant articles by the school board. On behalf of the board, we thank everyone who was present for this important yearly event for […]
David Blinn joins the Board
David Blinn, our newest selectman, wins the only contested race
Would replace old, unenforceable ordinance
The following Noise Ordinance will appear on the Town Meeting warrant and will be discussed and voted on at Town Meeting on Tuesday, March 8, in the AE/MS gym. The Andover Police Department and the Andover Board of Selectmen agree on the need for a clearer noise ordinance than the “Unnecessary Noise Ordinance” that is […]
A few changes … some planned, some not
Every year we try to make some improvements to the Town Report – better information, clearer presentation, more efficient work process, more useful layout – whatever we can do to make it work better for everyone who contributes to it and everyone who uses it. This year we wound up dealing with more changes than […]
Defective shingles lead to warrant article
While fixing a leak on the roof where the town office and library buildings join together, it was discovered that the roof shingles were cracked in many places. The shingles are 15 years old and were put on both parts of the building when the town office addition was added. Unfortunately, IKO,the manufacturer, produced a […]