>>Valley Patriot>>
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Silence of town officials at N.A.
Special
Town Meeting is Unacceptable
Sandy
Gleed
This Mondays special town meeting demonstrated far
more about the shortcomings of municipal government than
it did about the average citizens desire to exert
control over wireless communications. The wireless
article sparked very legitimate concerns about:
* our towns failure to monitor current cell tower
permits
* our towns failure to enforce our own cell tower
bylaws
* the presence of a cell tower in a church steeple 300
feet from the Atkinson School, clearly in violation of
the 650 setback required in our bylaw.
Our town attorney advised citizens that federal wireless
communications laws ty-pically override local wireless
zoning laws in court. He did not speak to the
is-sues of who is responsible for monitoring and
enforcing our bylaws, why it hasnt been done, and
what procedures are in place to revise unenforceable
bylaws to bring them into compliance with state and
federal statutes.
When former Board of Selectman Susan Haltmaier
asked why these permits were allowed to expire and run up
large, probably uncollectible punitive fees, and whether
our Planning Board had sent letters out to wireless
venders encouraging them to speed up their permit
applications because a moratorium was pending, the
silence was deafening.
North Andover United believes that it is unacceptable for
town officials to ignore important questions from our
citizens. Not answering Ms. Haltmeiers
questions damages the credibility and accountability of
our local government.
Ms. Haltmaiers first question had everything to do
with sound municipal management practices. Whose
responsibility is it to oversee these permits? Town
Manager Mark Rees owes citizens an explanation of why the
permits werent tracked. Then both he and the
Board of Selectmen owe us an explanation of what systems
have now been implemented to ensure that the permits [all
permits] are renewed and not allowed to lapse
again. If we have bylaws, we are legally required
to follow them not get tripped up in
unenforceability issues weve created for
ourselves. If the bylaws themselves are inherently
flawed, then we are long-overdue in revising them to make
them enforceable.
Ms. Haltmaiers second question concerns whether the
Planning Board is acting in the best interests of the
town or the holders of the permits. If they sent
out a letter, its a public document, and they need
to release it to the public, now. The Planning
Board needs to confirm that their actions must always put
the interests of the town first. They also need to
explain how or why a permit was issued that so flagrantly
violated our bylaws, allowing installation of a cell
tower in an area occupied by three schools and close
residential neighborhoods.
North Andover United took no position on the moratorium
article itself. Our concern is that the terms of
the Joint Resolution, pledging open and accountable
government, be upheld. Our Board of Selectmen,
School Committee, Finance Committee, and every other
committee and board in town must understand that as
citizens of North Andover, we deserve honest answers to
honest questions, regardless of whether the news reveals
bad judgment or just benign neglect.
Strong leadership requires you to be accountable for your
actions when the going gets rough. We ask that our
offi-cials do the right thing answer Susans
honest questions with honest answers, explain the cell
tower next door to Atkinson, and do it at the next
regularly scheduled Board of Selectmen meeting.
*Send your questions comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com
The December 2007
Edition of the Valley Patriot
The Valley Patriot is a Monthly
Publication.
All Contents (C) 2007, Valley Patriot, Inc.
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