Brian Mills, chairman of the Andover Board of Selectmen, addresses voters Saturday at the annual Town Meeting. Selectmen Mark Thurston, left, and Joe Luce, listen as moderator Bob Duplessie, right, checks paperwork. Bruce Farrin/Rumford Falls Times
ANDOVER — Residents at the annual Town Meeting on Saturday voted 50-34 to purchase a tanker truck for the Fire Department for $368,533.
“Thank you for the firetruck,” Fire Chief Jim Adler told voters. “It’s been an uphill battle.
“I understand the cost is going to scare you,” he said. “I’ve checked in for the cheapest truck I could get my hands on. I didn’t want anything elaborate. It is a big-ticket item, but it’s unavoidable. You can’t have a department perform properly without a tanker.”
The new tanker will replace Engine 2, which is 47 years old. “The truck has become extremely unreliable,” the chief said.
The new one can hold 2,000 gallons of water. Another department tanker hold 1,500 gallons. Engine 2 holds 1,800 gallons.
Adler said there are four firetrucks in the department, and the tanker is the most important one.
“This tanker may only go out three or four times a year, but if you don’t have it, things can get really bad, really fast,” he said. “You need to understand, if you’re outside the hydrant district and we can’t get water to you, we can’t do a lot. And if you’re in a hydrant district, not every hydrant carries the same flow of water, and there are hydrants that we tap into that will not keep up with us. So those tanker shuttles are very, very important.”
During the discussion before the vote, resident Kevin Scott said he would vote no because he wanted the town to put away $50,000 annually in a capital account rather than make one large expenditure and have debt.
Treasurer Amber Cooper countered that with the 10-year bond at a 2.78% interest the annual payment would be less than $50,000.
Resident Dick Merrill said he’s attended annual town meetings for a number of years and “I never voted for a new firetruck. I’m going to today. We need one to keep our department where it needs to be.”
Adler said the next step is to order the truck, which he hopes to have by winter.
In other action on the warrant, voters:
• Accepted the $1 million Northern Border Regional Commission grant to be awarded on Aug. 31 for work on South Arm, East B Hill/Upton, Wyman Hill and East Andover roads. They also voted to use up to $200,000 from COMSAT funds as the match for the grant. It would be paid back within five years in estimated annual sums of $46,000.
• Rejected, by a vote of 30-33, using COMSAT funds to replace culverts on those roads.
• Rejected a request by Town Clerk/Tax Collector Melinda Averill to appropriate money for a 27- by 30-foot addition to the Town Office/Town Hall renovation. She said she received an estimate of $155,000 for the addition and one for $77,000 for a 27- by 15-foot addition. “We definitely need more space,” she said. “There’s no space there for storage. There’s no space there for a customer. There’s four of us that work in there. There’s no privacy for the customer, for us.”
• Rejected creating a designated account for a Town Office/Town Hall renovation.
• Approved $11,400 to make the fire station bathrooms handicap-accessible and available to the public during the day. Mills said a parcel across from the station could be developed for parking close to the bathrooms. There is no available parking at the station.
Election of officers will be held from 1 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Town Hall. Seeking three-year terms are Mills, Adler, Averill, school board Director Pete Coolidge and Road Commissioner Mark Farrington.
Andover Fire Chief Jim Adler stands to address voters Saturday at the annual Town Meeting on the need for a new tanker truck. The article passed 50-34. Bruce Farrin/Rumford Falls Times
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