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Town administrator outlines major capital projects, warns succession and staffing challenges after resignation
Summary
Town Administrator Eric Anderson reviewed capital projects (bridges, culverts, athletic fields, community center generator) and warned the town will need to address service contracts (animal control) and to plan for his departure; he urged boards to coordinate on hiring and information-sharing.
Eric Anderson, town administrator, briefed the Board of Finance and meeting attendees on the town’s capital program, shared-service changes and staffing challenges tied to his recent resignation.
Anderson said the Northeast Council of Governments will stop providing animal-control services to the town, requiring Andover to secure a new shared-service arrangement or build a staffed animal-holding facility — an outcome he described as expensive because of state requirements for conditioned facilities and monitoring staff. "The North northeast cog is no longer gonna provide animal control services to the town," Anderson said.
He gave a line-by-line update of capital priorities: the Bunker Hill Bridge (about 75% complete), the upcoming Long Hill Road bridge (construction to start next April), a delayed Lake Road culvert replacement (engineers believe the structure can be driven another year but needs replacement), and a list of six other culverts rated poor or failing, each estimated from a half‑million to $1.5 million to replace. Anderson said those major projects are largely funded by town capital funds, state grants and federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act dollars.
Anderson also outlined funded community projects: athletic-field improvements (pickleball courts, new playground, pavilion and lighting) funded by a state STEAP grant, a $250,000 legislative appropriation, and town capital funds; and plans to finish the community center basement and replace an aging fire-department generator. The generator project is estimated at roughly $300,000 for a unit capable of powering the town hall, community center and firehouse to enable the town hall to serve as an emergency operations center.
On roads, Anderson described a multi-year preservation program (shim-and-chip and selective reclaiming) and said reclaim-and-repave work costs about $500,000 per mile; the town has 34 miles of road and will need a sustained program to avoid catastrophic failures. He noted a one-lane restriction on Hutchinson Road after a portion failed.
Anderson said the town has been successful obtaining outside grants and stressed the fiscal importance of pacing capital projects to available funding. He also warned that his resignation will create near-term hiring and continuity challenges: the town will seek an interim town administrator and must decide whether to recruit nationally and increase the salary to attract candidates. "We may need to make some adjustments" to compensation and structure to replace the administrator, he said.
On personnel and governance, selectboard members and other attendees discussed recent Freedom of Information requests exchanged among town offices; several speakers urged better information sharing and inter-board cooperation so that hiring and capital decisions proceed without repeated back-channel disputes.
The board agreed to continue the charter-mandated budget timeline and to hold weekly working meetings in February and March, leading toward the tentative public hearing in April and a budget referendum date referenced in the meeting.
