Andover resident Eileen Pew stans to speak Saturday at the annual town meeting in favor of changing to a town manager form of government. The article was voted down 82-42. Pew says the Select Board “can’t do the job. They all work and have to do the job of the town. It’s too much for three people to do that way.” Bruce Farrin/Rumford Falls Times

ANDOVER — Voters decided Saturday not to switch to a town manager form of government in 2027, with 42 ballots in favor and 82 opposed.

Select Board Chairperson Brian Mills and board member Justin Thacker had advocated for the new position for over a year.

“The whole reason we are looking at this is because on the Board of Selectmen side of things, we are consumed,” Mills told the Andover Town Manager Search Committee at a March 11 meeting.

At an informational meeting in January, Mills explained that the town would maintain the Select Board to work directly with the town manager. However, positions such as town clerk, treasurer, tax collector, secretary, registrar of voters and road commissioner would be eliminated and those duties shared by the town manager and assistant town manager.

Mills said the projected cost would be $70,000.

Resident Dick Merrill said, “Last year, my taxes increased $600. That’s a pretty big jump. We spent quite a bit last year. I think the difference between two forms of government is not that much. You’re still going to have your selectmen that run the business of the town. The town manager has to go to the selectmen to get it approved. The only changing would be the amount of people in the office.”

“We’ve got to think about what’s going to happen next because none of us are getting any younger,” resident Eileen Pew said. “And it’s not getting any easier to run this town. There’s a lot of work. There’s a lot to do and this is a structural change. This would be someone to oversee, to coordinate, to help figure out how to put all of it together … It’s how we want to see our town in the future. Yes, it’s going to cost the town more money, but everything is more.”

She said the Select Board “can’t do the job. They all work and have to do the job of the town. It’s too much for three people to do that way.”

It was suggested that the town go to a five-person board and pay them more money.

Thacker said it’s been a struggle just to keep three members. “I’m concerned that we’re not going to have officers who want to serve,” he said. “I feel we have to do something. We’ve had some problems with the current system.”

Mills said being a Select Board member requires a tremendous amount of work, “even for a town this size. Road planning, capital improvement planning — raise your hand if you think we have that in place right now? Thank you, we do not. We come here every year with a plan and we vote it up or down. Policy and procedures on everything from what goes on at the transfer station to the town garage, to the town office. There’s a lot of stuff that does not get addressed because we, as a board, do not have the time because we are spending time on stuff that is probably more vital to the town and it’s consuming us to the point that we sometimes can’t get to those other things.”

According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the town population was 752.

Voters also rejected an article to provide retirement benefits for town employees. Many spoke favorably of the proposal but would not consider it until costs were made available.

Voters approved using $149,000 in the Business Equipment Tax Exemption reimbursement from Verizon toward putting top coats of pavement on town roads that have a base coat. Mills recommended a section on the East Andover Road be a priority because of its length.

The 8 a.m. start at the Town Hall was delayed because the estimated 125 people exceeded the fire code limit of 90, so they convened to the larger room on the second floor.