ANDOVER — Selectman Justin Thacker is seeking reelection for a three-year term June 13, Town Clerk Melinda Averill advised selectmen Tuesday.
Thacker was elected in February to finish the term of Jeff Elkie, who resigned in November, Averill said.
Others seeking reelection are School Board members Timothy Akers and Karen Thurston for three-year terms. No one filed nomination papers for a two-year term, Averill said.
In another matter, Highway Department employee Matt Elliott said the rainstorm Sunday night into Monday caused severe damage to the Covered Bridge Road, which was closed because of a 50-foot long hollow.
“Then there is the Crossroads over there by the Covered Bridge,” he said. “It took 40 yards of fill and yesterday it had washed out, right down to the brook.”
He said water “came to the edge of the tar and it was like a big knife and cut it out square,” Elliot said. “It just washed all of the gravel and riprap down into the brook. It took 40 yards (of fill) to cover up the crater.”
Elliot said there was also major damage on South Arm Road.
Selectmen agreed to have five culverts installed on South Arm Road by Swasey Excavation, Selectman Brian Mills said, adding he hopes it will be completed within two weeks. The money will come from the carryover account used for roadwork.
“Last year (residents) voted to do paving work and pre-paving work on the South Arm Road,” he said, and the paving project will follow the culvert work.
Before Tuesday’s meeting, selectmen held a hearing changing a Planning Board ordinance to allow at least two members, not three, to constitute a quorum for a legal meeting, Planning Board Chairman Sidney Pew said.
Board members are Pew, Lynda Airhart and Peggy Madigan. Alternates are Toby Wells and Roger Sabin, the latter appointed Monday.
“We can’t even conduct any business. We can’t take any actions if there aren’t three board members for the meetings,” Pew said. People asking for building permits are the most affected by the three-person quorum rule, he said.
The issue will be on the Town Meeting warrant June 10.
Madigan told Mills she disagreed with the proposed change.
“If we just have two people to vote, if they both disagree, then we can’t pass what we’re voting on because if one says yes and one says no,” she said. By keeping a three-person quorum, the votes “would pass one way or the other.”
She also said now that the board has two alternates one of them should be at all of the meetings in case a member is absent.
The issue will be on the Town Meeting warrant June 10.
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