ANDOVER —  Selectman Jane Rich is urging residents to attend this month’s annual town meeting and elections because of money issues and officers to be decided.

The meeting is at 9 a.m. Saturday, March 17, at the Town Hall, with elections from noon to 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 20, also at the Town Hall. 

“This year it’s very important that Andover residents get out and vote,” Rich said.

“It’s a very important election for the town. We have over 600 registered voters here and typically only 200 would come out for this kind of election, maybe even around 150, so it’s really important for people who care about the direction of the town to turn out and vote.”

Officers to be chosen include the town clerk and tax collector, two selectmen, a road commissioner, a school director and a fire chief.

Volunteer firefighters Jim Adler and Leo Camire are vying for fire chief.

“We don’t know who’s going to be elected and we don’t know what their idea for the department is going to be at this point,” Rich said.

Among the articles on the warrant is one to sell a town firetruck for a minimum bid of $5,000.

“Last year, (residents) voted not to fix it, but they didn’t tell us what to do with it,” Rich said.

If residents vote to sell it, they would also vote whether to set up an account with the sale proceeds to go toward buying a new pumper/tanker truck.

Other articles include proposals to:

• Increase salaries for the road commissioner from $18 to $21 an hour and the highway employee from $15 to $16 an hour;

• Provide mostly 3 percent increases for town employees paid by the hour, such as deputy treasurer from $11.03 to $11.70, animal control employee from $13.89 to $14.31 and code enforcement officer from $20.60 to $21.22. The Town Hall custodian position hourly wage would represent an 11 percent increase, from $9 to $10;

• Boost wages for salaried employees, such as town clerk from $2,672.94 to $2,753.14, three selectmen from $3,179.00 to $3,274.38 each and fire chief from $1,639.09 to $1,688.26;

• Increase spending on Andover Fire Department operations to $52,466;

• Allocate $4,900 for Town Hall maintenance;

• Increase spending on highway operations, including $65,000 for winter road maintenance; and

• Spend $10,000 on road improvements, $5,000 on highway equipment and $5,000 for the bridge account.

Andover will hold its town meeting at 9 a.m. Saturday, March 17, at the Town Hall. Elections are scheduled for noon-8 p.m. Tuesday, March 20, at the Town Hall.