ANDOVER—The citizen’s announcement at Andover’s selectmen’s meeting on Feb. 2 was from Leo Camire, chairman of Andover’s Olde Home Days committee. “It’s time to start thinking about Olde Home Days,” he said.
This year Olde Home Days will be held August 5-7. The theme will be honoring public safety: EMS, the fire department, law enforcement, the police department and the warden service.
The committee is looking for volunteers to help create an event that people will enjoy coming to. “We are working on some ways of getting the Color Guard from the warden service and hopefully bring some people to town,” Camire said.
Publicity will involve flyers, putting posters up in town, and advertising in the Rumford Falls Times and The Bethel Citizen, he says. He has also posted a notice asking for volunteers on Andover’s Olde Home Days’ Facebook page.
Selectman Jane Rich said “Olde Home Days has a parade, flower show, display of collections of things, lawn-tractor racing, vendors on the common, an antique auto show, kids’ games, pie-eating contest, and a great photography show in the Town hall.”
Another discussion at the meeting was regarding residents dumping tires at the transfer station. Treasurer Barbara Simmons said that the Town office received two slips from the transfer station requiring payment for the extra tires dumped there. “I called the person (resident) to let them know what they owed and he wasn’t too happy and the transfer station (attendant) said they didn’t realize they were supposed to tell the people that they had to come up to the Town office and pay.”
Simmons said she thinks that someone needs to let residents know that they need to go to the Town office to pay for the extra tires. Residents are allowed to dispose of four tires a year at the transfer station but there is a fee for more than four.
Chairman Keith Farrington said that transfer station attendants should have the procedure written down for them “And they can give it (to residents), so that everybody will know what the rules are.”
Simmons also said that Twyla, an attendant at the station, said she wasn’t aware either and she thought she just had to give the person a slip.
In other business, Mexico’s Region 9 School of Applied Technology school board was due to vote last Wednesday Feb. 3, regarding whether or not they would take over Andover school’s payroll accounts in July.
Simmons and Selectman Jim Adler both acknowledged that Region 9 would be considering taking on Andover and Eustus’ school department, with Adler saying “Yeah, we’re kind of in the same boat with Eustus.”
On Thursday, Region 9 Director Brenda Gammon said that the Feb. 3 meeting was cancelled due to inclement weather and that they will have the meeting the first week of March.
Secretary Hope Peterson handed out The Town Report review draft for the selectmen to view. She said that the report will be 23 pages and the inside cover will include the cover contest winner’s names. Three drawings were chosen from Andover students K-5 to be published on the cover.
Peterson said she thought the selectmen could take the review draft home to check it for any mistakes. She said “Even if we get an audit at this point, I still think it’s going to be well under the $900 that we paid last year.”
The selectmen scheduled a workshop meeting on Saturday Feb. 7 “to get everything ironed out” on the review draft.
Clerk Melinda Averill said she was still trying to decide about preparing an article about the corner markers for Andover cemetery lots.
Rich encouraged Averill to go ahead with the article for the corner markers, saying “I think you should; they can’t go anywhere else and buy a cemetery lot and corner markers for $500.” Rich also added that an explanation in the form of a “blurb” would be helpful to “Explain to them (residents) that this is so we don’t have errors (in the lots).
Another discussion was about establishing a committee to look at Town government structure. Rich said the selectmen had talked about becoming more efficient, and that it would make Peterson’s job one with more responsibility.
Peterson added that “Even if you have a town manager you still have a board.” And Adler said “I could definitely see an expanded position for a secretary with more authority.” And Peterson said “It would behoove us to get a safety coordinator for the record keeping.”
Farrington said that the article to establish a committee should be “just something general, not too specific.”
The selectmen also voted to sell the Deuce and a half cargo truck from the town’s surplus equipment upon receipt of the registration.
Farrington said he had a call from someone who is interested in buying it and it’s registered until 2020 to the town. Rich said to put an ad for the Deuce and a half truck in The Bethel Citizen and the Rumford Falls Times, and Adler said to “put “as is” because they can’t drive it.”
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