Town leaders have agreed upon a design to divvy up town-owned property at 15 Blanchard St. into sports fields.
How much of the property will be baseball diamonds, multi-use or soccer fields will be revealed at a public meeting on the proposed design on Dec. 15, from 7 to 9 p.m. at Temple Emanuel, 7 Haggetts Pond Road.
Annual Town Meeting voters earlier this year paved the way for the new sports complex in town, approving $425,000 to create a plan for this town-owned property. At that time, Andover was looking at a possible model with three baseball fields and one multi-use sports field.
The study was meant to firm up plans so 2010 Town Meeting voters could approve plans to begin building, if desired.
Representatives from Andover's Little League and youth soccer association stood up at Town Meeting and pledged to raise more than half of the project's estimated eventual $1.8 million total cost.
Blog on the budget
Have a question about union bargaining, your taxes, town budget or other municipal operations? A trio of board members just may be blogging the answer to your question.
The tri-board communications subcommittee, comprised of Selectman Mary Lyman, School Committee member Annie Gilbert and Finance Committee member Mary O'Donoghue will be posting answers to resident's frequently asked questions on a web log they launched this week.
Visit www.andoverbudgetblog.blogspot.com to see their posts or send questions via email.
Superintendent Claudia Bach tried to access the blog on her laptop as it was being announced at the Dec. 7 tri-board meeting. In a twist, the blog was blocked by the school department's firewall.
Town borrows to pay bills
The town is borrowing $6 million through a revenue anticipation note to help pay bills until property tax revenue comes in this winter. The short-term note will have to be repaid Feb. 11, 2010.
The loan will help with cash flow, said Town Treasurer David Reilly, and will be repaid with tax revenue.
Selectmen approved the move at their Dec. 7 meeting, going with the lowest bidder First Southwest Company, who offered an interest rate of 0.5352 percent.
Finance and Budget Director Anthony Torrisi said there is no need for residents to be alarmed. This is a short-term, temporary measure that will cost the town roughly $4,000 in interest, he said.
Selectmen not party poopers
The Indian Ridge Country Club and Glory restaurant are set to party away the last moments of the decade, as well as the first few hours of 2010.
Selectmen approved requests from both establishments to extend their hours on New Year's Eve, so that they can remain open until 2 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 1, 2010. Alcohol will not be sold after 1:30 a.m., per order of the Andover police department.
