Thursday, July 6, 2000 Older Editions

No view of review yet

By Rebecca Piro

Selectmen have not yet begun the town-charter review they approved last February in a 3-2 vote, and former selectman Larry Larsen, who supported the motion earlier this year, is wondering why.

It may be that some town officials are afraid of what a charter review could suggest, said Larsen. A review could change Andover's open town meeting to a representative town meeting, or even make Andover a city.

"Come on, what's the problem?" Larsen asked. "Why hasn't anything happened? A charter review is an open and honest look at who we are and how we are governing ourselves. I don't understand the resistance and fear."

Although the charter review was agreed upon by the board as it stood in February, said Chairman Brian Major, the new and old members need to regroup before taking any steps. One seat has changed on the board since February, with Selectman Ted Teichert replacing the outgoing Larsen.

"The new board needs to decide if that is what we want to do, and if so, how do we set it up?" said Major. The details of the commission would need to be worked out. "Would private citizens help, and how soon would we need to get some answers back to the board?"

Selectman John Hess, who was one of the three voters for the review in February, is willing to entertain a look at the charter, although he does not see a lot of changes in store for Andover's government. He has not seen much evidence to suggest that the public feels a strong need to review. "Since we voted on it, no one has really come up to me and said, 'Hey, I want to be in on it.' It tells me that maybe there's not that much interest in it," Hess said.

However, Larsen, who was on the board when the vote was taken, says that most of those details had already been ironed out with the initial vote.

"(The charter review) was a goal set last year," he said. "It should by now have been in effect. The motion was to set it up right away and have it last for two years."

Though Major will support the board's decision to open the charter -- something that has not been done since the town-manager form of government was established in the 1950s -- he does not consider a review something of primary need in relation to several other projects the town already has before it, such as the new schools, the public safety center and the sewer project.

"I am not a strong advocate of it," he said. "I'm not sold that that's in the best interest of Andover. I think we already have way too much on our plate."

Nor does Major speculate that the townspeople would agree to a change in the town's format of government. Town meeting is unique, he added, in that every registered voter essentially can stand up and voice their opinion. "We have about 31,000 people in the community, and over 19,000 are registered voters," Major said. "In actuality, all 19,000 can have a say, and my vote is no more important than anyone else's. We're all equal.

"I like the town-meeting form of government. I like that any registered voter can speak their mind," Major said. "It's a very rare form of government now," he added, and Andover's is the largest in New England.

Hess says he also believes the public is content with the town government as it is. "People like being able to talk at town meeting, and they don't want to give that up," he said.

But a charter review does not necessarily mean completely overhauling the town-meeting format, admitted Hess. If the public was against changing the town government, then a review could be helpful in adjusting town meeting itself, making it easier for more people to be heard more easily.

But the outcome of a review is not the point, said Larsen. As years go by, every institution is warranted to check up on itself.

"I think that all institutions should study themselves every quarter century, and it's been about a half century (for Andover)," Larsen said. "The point is to see if we're doing the best job governing ourselves as possible. I believe Andover has changed. It's not the same place as it was 30 years ago."

Selectmen Lori Becker was also in support of the review at voting time.

If the town does undertake a charter review, Hess projects a two-year process that would begin sometime in the fall.

A commission would meet to come up with questions as a whole, and then in the springtime, present their research and get feedback from the public. The next step would to bring any findings and proposals to the 2001 Town Meeting.