Star Studded Village Board Meeting 10/21/2025

The Andover Village Board of Trustees meeting held at the former Methodist Church and present Village Offices was well attended. Board members Brian Black, Samantha Gavin, Michael Stone, and Scott Updyke (in alphabetical order, not by height) were in attendance as well as Police Chief PJ Sherman, Code Enforcer Chuck Cagle and the Honorable Mayor David P. Truax and Village Clerk Maria Gaylord. The public also showed up in force with 9 attendees which is practically a hullabaloo. Mayoral candidate Tom Davis was in attendance in addition to 3 members of the Volunteer Fire Department. It was lovely to see so many folks out enjoying the civic duties being performed in our fine Village.

A good looking bunch of public officials

The meeting was called to order promptly at 6pm Eastern Standard Time.++ Mayor David W. Truax briefly skipped over the public commentary portion of the meeting to take the code enforcement report as Chuck has another meeting to grace with his presence and Mayor David Z. Truax, correctly, thought the public might be long winded. Code Enforcer, Chuck, confirmed that he's still enforcing all the codes and ticketing people who need to be ticketed. There were a couple addresses of particular concern, and there was some back and forth about court dates and fines and whatnot.

Following the approval of the Code Enforcement report, which was unanimous, Mayor Truax opened the floor to public commentary. On the agenda were Jeanne Todd and Samantha Ordiway. Jeanne spoke at great length (approximately 18 minutes) about the parking issue previously reported in our world class and definitely not a joke blog. Jeanne's dad Stephen Walker also chimed in to back up her long winded and not at all repetitive grievance. Mayor Truax stated that he will prioritize looking into adding additional signage to prevent problematic parking (and ticketing). Chief Sherman suggested some solutions should the issue arise again in the future before Mayor Truax is able to install additional signage. Members of the public also in attendance chimed in with additional information from their communications with the DOT as well as expert suggestions on who may be able to assist with signs and line painting. Google was also offered up as a convenient and free resource in this matter.

Following Jeanne's complaints the Board of Trustees heard a shocking complaint about Rochambeau Avenue. As anyone in Andover knows this is a non-problematic, totally smooth road with zero drainage issues. However, even with the immaculate condition* of Rochambeau it seems the Ordiways are experiencing extensive erosion causing serious concerns on their property. Mayor Truax stated he'll go out and look at it and see if they can't come up with a solution. Trustee Updyke also said he will go look at the situation personally.

There were two other public complaints that were brought up later in the meeting, but I'll include here. The first was that the fire department was billed for 45,000 gallons of water usage. This was most certainly in error since Brian Perkins did not report any water damage on the premises or a giant sink hole or geyser situation in evidence. The board voted to correct the bill to an average of the previous 3 months and replace the faulty meter. Local businessman Jake from affordable came in to discuss an issue with a leaning pole at the corner of his property. He's wanting to burry his electrical line but is worried about there being enough slack if the pole is ever corrected. The board had a rousing discussion about poles for what felt like 10 minutes, but was probably more like 2. I did not understand most of what was discussed, as I do not have much experience with this kind of pole problem, so I'm not entirely sure about the state of Jake's pole moving forward. However, everyone present seemed satisfied with the outcome. Pole.**

Board Trustee Mike Stone did bring an issue to the board's attention that had been brought to his attention by a resident. Apparently there is an issue with a portion of sidewalk on South Main Street. Trustee Stone presented a photograph as well as the address and asked if the damage could be in relation to the ongoing water project. There was some back and forth discussion on the matter.

Public Works did not give a report so there was nothing to approve or disprove there.

The Police Department gave a report on the 34 traffic tickets issued in town. The average speed for a speeding ticket issued in town was 44mph. A reminder to those who were unaware the speed limit in the village is 25 unless you're in the school zone and then it is less. Chief Sherman did also discuss other tickets for unlicensed drivers, equipment violations, expired tags etc. He did not discuss parking tickets, but that may be due to the lengthy public commentary. He discussed several trainings and equipment updates. His report was unanimously approved.

Following the PD report the Honorable Mayor David J. Truax declared that for the year of 2025 Halloween trick-or-treating hours will be held on Friday October 31st from 6-8pm.

There were some votes to approve a fair housing statement (read in full by Trustee Gavin) as well as some bill payments and then the board kicked out the public so they could hold an executive session. The meeting did end at approximately 7:18pm, which if you subtract Jeanne Todd's monologue does have this meeting squeaking in at just an hour. This meeting was a 10/10. The board discussion was concise and informative. The public engagement was top notch. Nobody cried and there were no fisticuffs.

++ I'm informed that we'represently in Daylights Savings time, but time is just a construct and Daylight Savings Time is trash.

*This is sarcasm. Rochambeau may be in less than immaculate condition.

** Pole. 😂😂😂

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