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North Andover Town
Meeting, Love it or Leave it
George
Vozeolos
With another Special Town
Meeting taking place last month, I would like to make it
clear what I am trying to do and why.
First the why. Our existing town charter was adopted over
22 years ago and North Andover has grown considerably.
Like an old sweater, we know it is comfortable but we
need to make sure it still fits. If one was to examine
several recent Town meetings that were held, you start to
question if it still fits and then it becomes easy to
understand the why
1) July 23, 2006 - Uncivil Disobedience
A Special Town Meeting was held to discuss trash fees.
This Town Meeting set a State record for attendance and
uncivil behavior. It pointed out deficiencies in our
ability to support a town meeting, if everyone wanted to
exercise their right to vote. For the override, we had
8,000 people vote, which was a good thing, now if they
all show up for a Town Meeting - where do we hold it -
Boston Garden? Fenway Park?
2) May 14, 15, & 21, 2007 - A Tale of Three Cities
Town Meeting was extended to three nights with attendance
of 1300, 400, 160. Who would like to debate that if any
of the closely contested articles were voted on another
night the results would be different. Does that make
sense to anyone? Is that any way to run a town?
3) June 4, 2007 - Bataan Death March with Voting Cards
A Special Town Meeting was held to approve the 40R zoning
at Osgood Landing. Despite a recommendation by the FINCOM
for further evaluation, five hundred people endured 2 1/2
hours of discussions and when the issue was put to vote -
it passed 495 to 4. Seems like an awfully long time for a
decision that was nearly unanimous.
Dont forget this meeting was delayed first from
February then May. If North Andover is telling businesses
we will roll out the red carpet for them, lets not
tell them how long it is!!
4) November 26, 2007 - The Doomsday Scenario
The Open Town Meeting Doomsday scenario goes something
like this: A special interest group (Wireless Bylaw
Committee?) gets 200 signatures, which forces the
selectmen to call a special town meeting (as specified in
our current charter), a few people show up (no quorum is
specified) and the article is passed which serve the
narrows needs of the special interest group but not the
needs of the town as a whole. So right now we are half
way there - lets see how many people show up. This
meeting will cost the town $5,000 - 10,000. Now I cant
speak to the legitimacy of this issue but if no one shows
up to analyze the merits of the article and it passes, it
could cost the town another $10K to defend litigations.
Another way to look at this meeting, there were four
articles on the warrant, so this town meeting will cost
the town $2,500 a decision. In addition to delaying cell
tower permits, there are 2 articles expanding the scope
of serving liquor. A humorous thought, if we pass having
a moratorium on issuing cell tower permit renewals and
expand the scope of liquor licenses, how will the drunks
be able to call a taxi to get a ride home?
Seriously, I am not sure how any person can reflect on
the past meetings and not ask Is there a better
way?
My answer is: There has to be, I dont know
what it is, but I want to find out.
Which leads into - what I am trying to do. I am
circulating a petition to have a charter commission
elected which would review our charter and then recommend
either modifications to our existing charter or adoption
of a new charter. A nine-member charter commission is
elected and their recommendations are voted on again. All
charter commission meetings are open meetings with plenty
of public participation so we will have a lot of say in
what happens.
If you agree will all this, then here is the rub.
Petitions dont sign themselves.
You need to sign a petition!! Better yet, get some
petitions and ask your neighbors to sign one at the
neighborhood holiday get-together or school holiday
socials.
We have a little under1,000 signatures and we need 2,400,
so nothing will move forward unless people step up and
help out.
You can get petitions from Joyce Bradshaw in the Town
Clerks office or you can contact me at NACharter@comcast.com
[mailto: NACharter@comcast.net].
It is best to return signed petitions to the Town Clerks
office as well. If you have a business in North Andover
and would be willing to put a petition out and be added
to list on the left or if you are looking for additional
ways to help please contact me [mailto:NACharter@comcast.net].
One last thing, Tracy Watson who is a advocate of
reviewing our town charter is running for Selectman.
Besides being a supporter for a charter review, she has
lots of positive ideas for the Town.
*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.
We publish 16,000 newspapers and distribute in Andover,
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Westford, Acton, and Lowell.
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