Andover Town Meeting begins Monday night, May 2nd. It is also scheduled for Tuesday, May 3rd and Monday, May 9th, with potential to extend to a fourth night on Tuesday, May 10th. Each night of Town Meeting begins at 7:00pm at the Collins Center at Andover High School (80 Shawsheen Road).
So that parents can participate in at least the first night of Town Meeting, the Andover Educator Association (AEA) will be offering free child care on May 2nd. Registration will begin at 6:30pm in the lobby area of Andover High, and activities will be held in the field house (crafts, supervised games and physical activities).
Town Meeting is convened annually to adopt an operating budget and to consider other matters such as zoning changes, town purchases, by-law additions and amendments. The business of each Town Meeting is contained in a document known as “the warrant,” a book of which is mailed to all registered voters within a Finance Committee Report. The 2016 Town Meeting book arrived at your house with a blue cover, and you can also view it online here:
http://andoverma.gov/fincom/16fincomreport.pdf
At Town Meeting, the Town Moderator will call warrant articles for vote until she feels it appropriate to close for the night (typically before 10:00pm), and the next night picks up where the previous night ended. Thus, it’s difficult to determine which articles will be voted on which night (though, being early in the warrant, the town and school budgets in article 4 are always voted the first night).
Every article at Town Meeting is important and will have an impact on the town, but these specific articles have particular bearing on Andover schools and community projects:
Article Number – Article Title
4 – FY2017 Budget* (see note below)
5 – FY2017 Capital Projects Fund Appropriation
11A – Grant Program Authorization
11E – Contracts in Excess of Three Years
17 – Creation of School Dept Revolving Account (summer school)
29 – Collins Center Façade Replacement (needs 2/3rds to pass)
30 – Lovely Field Turf Replacement (needs 2/3rds to pass)
31 – Acquisition of 5 Campanella Drive (for new town yard)
34 – School Building Maintenance and Renovation
35 – 1:1 Student Learning Initiative
36 – Elementary School Projectors
37 – Annual Computer Workstation and Laptop Replacement Program and
38 – Town and School Energy Initiatives
40 – In-Town Independent Living Overlay District
55 – Deyermond Park Ball Field Lighting
57 – Memorial Playstead Playground
* Related to the school budget (article 4), the Town Manager and Superintendent struck a compromise agreement to present a budget of $76,099,203 which is an update to what is printed in the Town Meeting book. The Board of Selectman voted 5-0 (April 25th), the Finance Committee voted 7-0 (April 27th) and the School Committee voted 4-0-1 (April 28th) to accept this recommendation. While this agreement has potential to make the budget vote less contentious than in year past, it is still important to attend Town Meeting and cast your vote.