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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-01-05 Select Board Minutes NORTH ANDOVER SELECT BOARD MINUTES JANUARY 5, 2026 Call To Order: Chair Janice Phillips called the open meeting to order at 7:OOPM in the Select Board Meeting Room located at 120 Main Street North Andover. Select Board in Attendance: Chair Janice Phillips, Rosemary Connelly Smedile, Clerk Brian Roache, Laura Bates, and David Kres were present Non-Board Members in Attendance: Town Manager Melissa Murphy-Rodrigues, Assistant Town Manager Laurie Burzlaff, and Assistant Town Manager Andrew Shapiro were present PUBLIC COMMENT None. NEW BUSINESS Request of Greater Lawrence Technical School to sell existing hangar and purchase adjacent hangar at Lawrence Airport Chet Jackson, principal of Greater Lawrence Technical School, was present. Mr. Jackson stated he is requesting the Board recommend three motions for approval at this year's Town Meeting regarding their Aviation Program. Mr. Jackson discussed the amendments included in the motions. Mr. Jackson stated they are in the process of purchasing a new hangar that will better meet the needs of their aviation program. Mr. Jackson discussed the opportunities and benefits of the new hangar. Mr. Jackson stated the purchase will be funded entirely through the district's excess and deficiency account. Mr. Jackson stated the urgency of this request is due to the fact that the seller of the hangar will move on to another buyer within a week. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated the warrant will open at the end of this month. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated they can commit to having the warrant articles presented. Ms. Phillips asked if it was a vote from the Board. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated it is going to be pending appropriation at Town Meeting. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated the Board could give a sentiment of whether or not there is a commitment to moving these items forward to Town Meeting. Mr. Roache asked if they were selling their physical hangar. Mr. Jackson stated yes. Mr. Roache asked if they were then purchasing a new hangar and leasing the land that the hangar sits on. Mr. Jackson stated yes. Mr. Roache asked if the seller is willing to hang on through Town Meeting. Mr. Jackson stated yes. Ms. Bates asked how much larger is the new hangar. Mr. Jackson stated 1,400 square feet larger. Vote to set 2026 Town Clerk Fees MOTION:Mr. Roache motioned to approve the Town Clerk fees for 2026 as presented. Ms. Smedile seconded. Motion approved 5-0. Vote to extend grant agreement with Centro de Apoyo Familiar for 20 Brown Court Richard Vaillancourt was present. Mr. Vaillancourt stated this request is to extend the grant that they provided to Centro de Apoyo Familiar back in 2023. Mr. Vaillancourt stated the Centro de Apoyo Familiar has taken over for Bread and Roses. Mr. Vaillancourt discussed the delays that have occurred. Mr. Vaillancourt stated they requested an extension on the grant for two years out to 48 months. Mr. Vaillancourt stated the Housing Authority voted affirmatively for it. Ms. Bates asked when they anticipate construction starting. Mr. Vaillancourt stated they still need to go to zoning, but they feel that the extension should cover enough to get them where they need to be on Brown Court. NORTH ANDOVER SELECT BOARD MINUTES JANUARY 5, 2026 MOTION:Ms. Bates motioned to approve the extension of the grant agreement between the Town and Centro de Apoyo Familiar for 20 Brown Street. Mr. Kres seconded. Motion approved 5-0. Vote to adopt Capital Improvement Plan and submit to Finance Committee Mr. Roache discussed paving and infrastructure funding within the five-year plan, noting that budget line items are currently held flat and expressing concern that this could effectively reduce progress if costs increase. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues explained that some costs are stabilized through multi-year contracts, which may allow the same level of work to continue in the short term. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated the goal is to increase funding to keep pace with contract cost changes and to offset the lack of growth in Chapter 90 funding, in order to increase the amount of work completed annually. Ms. Bates asked if there was any discussion at the state level to increase Chapter 90. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated there has been no solid increase in 15 years. Mr. Roache asked if accepting more roads increases their allocation. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated if they are regional roadways. Ms. Bates asked how does that change if it has been stagnant for 15 years. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated there are a lot of competing interests. Mr. Roache asked if the grant programs were specifically for maintenance. Mr. Shapiro stated grants are for more nonoperational purposes. Ms. Bates asked if the schools have a better handle on the status of their buildings. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated there are growing pains as they continue to figure things out. Mr. Roache asked if that thorough review will be incorporated into more of a longer term priority plan. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated when they submitted their plan this year, it was really a one-year plan. Mr. Roache asked if they asked for everything in one year or they stated they want these things this year. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated they submitted a one-year program that was not affordable to do in one year. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues discussed how they worked with the schools to create a priority list and a five-year plan. MOTION:Mr. Roache motioned to adopt the FY27-FY31 Capital Improvement Plan as presented and submit it to the Finance Committee. Mr. Kres seconded. Motion approved 5-0. Request of Mary Therrien to place a First Families plaque on town property at the corner of Academy Road and Mass Avenue Marybeth Therrien was present. Ms. Therrien discussed what the organization does and the association's request. Ms. Therrien stated their association decided they wanted to have something public that recognized the original householders of Andover. Ms. Therrien stated they found an existing monument with a small plaque next to the North Andover Historical Society. Ms. Therrien stated they would like to put the first families of Andover along with their spouses on the plaque. Ms. Therrien stated there would also be a QR code. Ms. Therrien stated they have spoken to the North Andover Historical Society, and they are going to provide a landing page. Ms. Therrien explained what the QR code would do. Ms. Therrien discussed the other benefits of this project. Ms. Phillips asked if they had brought this project to the Old Center Historic District Commission. Ms. Therrien stated yes. Ms. Phillips asked if they are certain this covers all of the families, and if not, what is the plan when someone comes forward with their family. Ms. Therrien stated it is from an actual archival document at the North Andover Historical Society. Ms. Therrien stated the only question they have is the wives. Ms. Therrien stated they are also going to review the list with Robin Siegel at the Historical Society. Ms. Therrien stated they have spoken with the archaeology department to ensure they included Native Americans being here prior to the first families of Andover. Ms. Therrien explained why this project is important to the association. Ms. Therrien stated their goal is to have a representative from all 23 families at the dedication of the monument. Ms. Smedile asked if Mr. Barker's family was on the list. Ms. Therrien stated yes. Ms. Therrien stated they have tried contacting descendants of each of the names on the list. Ms. Bates asked if it should be the first families of Andover. Ms. Therrien stated yes, it was all Andover. Ms. Therrien stated the original settlement was Andover. Ms. Bates asked if that gets explained somewhere. NORTH ANDOVER SELECT BOARD MINUTES JANUARY 5, 2026 Ms. Therrien stated the QR code will have the landing page that will explain it. Ms. Phillips asked if their organization is funding the project. Ms. Therrien stated yes. Ms. Therrien discussed the current plaque on the monument. Ms. Phillips asked how the plaque was going to be designed. Ms. Therrien stated it will be designed to match the one that is there. Ms. Therrien discussed who will be designing the plaque. MOTION:Ms. Bates motioned to approve the request to place a First Families plaque on town property at the corner of Academy Road and Massachusetts Avenue. Mr. Roache seconded. Motion approved 4-1 abstained. Appointments 1. James Dowd - Old Center Historic District Commission 2. Donna Lee - Sustainability Committee 3. Mark Bohrer- Sustainability Committee Ms. Bates discussed the background of each individual. MOTION:Mr. Roache motioned to appoint James Dowd to the Old Center Historic District Commission and Donna Lee and Mark Bohrer to the Sustainability Committee all with terms ending June 30, 2028. Ms. Smedile seconded. Motion approved 5-0. LICENSING MOTION:Ms. Smedile motioned to open a meeting of the North Andover Licensing Commission. Mr. Roache seconded. Motion approved 5-0. Discussion regarding acceptance of Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 138, Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues discussed the local option that was in the last state budget that allows communities to make a change to their on premises beer and wine licenses. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated they could put the local option in front of Town Meeting. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated the local option would allow the person who holds the license to apply for an amendment to that license. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated it does not carry over to another business if the prior business closes. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated other communities have more as North Andover only has one. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated they can speak with the person who has the beer and wine license to see if they have any interest. Mr. Roache asked who had the license. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated Stachey's. Ms. Bates asked if there is a situation where they would get more beer and wine. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated if the population increased. Ms. Bates stated it would be a good idea to have the conversation. OUT OF ORDER: Application from Elbridge Leland of Marble Ridge Farm, LLC for a change of hours and an entertainment license TABLED. Application from Nadine Levin of Pipedream Cupcakes, LLC for a mobile food vendor license Nadine Levin was not present. Mr. Kres discussed the application. Mr. Kres stated the number of mobile food licenses issued is limited to four vendors seeking to park on public ways. Mr. Kres stated one license has been issued out of the four. Mr. Kres stated Nadine has operated a mobile food permit from the town in the past. Mr. Roache asked who has the other food truck license. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated Pablo's. Mr. NORTH ANDOVER SELECT BOARD MINUTES JANUARY 5, 2026 Roache asked if this allows them to park anywhere in town. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated no, there are certain roads they cannot park on, and they cannot park in public parking lots. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated Roberto's is the other one. Mr. Roache asked if there were only certain spots in town where this license is allowed to park. Ms. Burzlaff stated Nadine has Town Meeting permission to be on Main Street. Ms. Burzlaff explained the rules for mobile food licenses. Mr. Roache asked if that is separate from this license. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated yes. MOTION:Ms. Phillips motioned to approve the application from Nadine Levin of Pipedream Cupcake, LLC for a mobile food vendor license. Ms. Smedile seconded. Motion approved 5-0. MOTION:Ms. Smedile motioned to close the meeting of the North Andover Licensing Commission. Mr. Roache seconded. Motion approved 5-0. CONSENT ITEMS A. Accept grant in the amount of$1,303,583.80 from Merrimack Valley Renewal Fund for new HVAC at 120R Main Street B. Accept donations in the amount of$775.00 to the Festival Committee in memory of Beth Davis C. Accept grant in the amount of$13,236.00 from MIIA for risk management trainings and tree removal D. Accept donations in the amount of$2,095.00 to the Festival Committee for Crafts & Cocoa with Santa MOTION:Ms. Bates motioned to accept all consent items. Mr. Roache seconded. Motion approved 5-0. APPROVAL OF OPEN SESSION MINUTES OF DECEMBER 15, 2025 MOTION:Mr. Roache motioned to approve the Open Session minutes of December 15, 2025 as presented. Mr. Kres seconded. Motion approved 5-0. SELECT BOARD UPDATES Ms. Smedile wished everyone a Happy New Year. Mr. Roache thanked the DPW for their work on the last couple of storms. TOWN MANAGER'S REPORT Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues mentioned the flu tips that were sent out. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues mentioned that they are still picking up Christmas trees. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues mentioned long time employee Suzanne Pelich retired. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues mentioned that Joe Agosto, the new youth director, started today. ADJOURNMENT MOTION:Mr. Roache made a MOTION, seconded by Ms. Bates to adjourn the Select Board meeting at 7:50PM. Motion approved 5-0. NORTH ANDOVER SELECT BOARD MINUTES JANUARY 5, 2026 Respectfully submitted, Nicole Civitarese Executive Assistant Brian Roache, Clerk of the Board Documents used at meeting Memorandums Appointments Grant Agreement Capital Plan Letters License application Donations Minutes from 12/15/25