ANDOVER – Selectmen continued work Tuesday afternoon on the March 20 town meeting warrant. It is expected to be sent to a printer Thursday, Feb. 5.

By meeting’s end Tuesday, Selectwomen Trudy Akers, Joan Carney and Laura Hutchins had 66 articles. But what they had yet to determine was the proposed municipal budget amount.

Caught up in a bicentennial year, selectmen earmarked one article to raise or appropriate $1,500 for painting and repairs to the town common gazebo.

Other bicentennial events-related articles seek $1,200 for work on the town common and $8,000 for the celebration itself.

The bicentennial birthday bash takes place June 18 to 20.

“This will be the first time in the history of Andover that we’ll have fireworks,” Carney said.

Other bicentennial-themed events include a Winter Carnival Celebration on Friday, Feb. 27, and Saturday, Feb. 28, complete with a classic Nordic ski race, and snowman-building contest; and Olde Home Days on July 30 through Aug. 1.

Boards air paving, town hall needs

Voters attending town meeting at 9 a.m. Saturday, March 20, in the town hall are to face a warrant that asks them to either raise or appropriate:

• $17,000 to reclaim and flex pave Maple, Pleasant and Oak streets, Stillman and Nevel roads, and a section of South Arm Road.

• $25,000 to reclaim and hot-top the same side streets as above.

• $1,000 for recreational field fencing on Grimaldi field.

• $6,200 for the continued repair and replacement of 100 linear feet of town cemetery fence.

• $5,000 to repair two drive-through gates and the Mollyockett Walk-In Gate at the town cemetery.

• $1,000 to repair the town hall furnace.

• $3,500 to replace the 1972 furnace at the town office with a new furnace.

• An additional $10,000 to replace or restore town hall windows.

And to help defray taxes, an article seeks to use $50,000 from the town’s surplus of more than $150,000.

Selectmen continue to press for a revaluation, despite last year’s rejection by voters.

Hutchins told selectmen at Tuesday afternoon’s board meeting that a revaluation must be done. The longer that voters disapprove of doing it, the more costly the process becomes, she said. Carney said Andover last did a revaluation in 1991.

Another item on the warrant, that was still incomplete as of Tuesday, seeks to fill a three-year term on the Board of Selectmen and a three-year term on the SAD 44 board.

A seat on the Board of Selectmen is the only contested race. Incumbent Hutchins, a selectwoman for eight years, is seeking re-election. Gerry Savitz is running against her.

Incumbent SAD 44 Director Kelli Scotti is running unopposed for her three-year seat.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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