To the residents of Andover:
If you drive around the streets of Andover and look around,
you will notice how badly our village has deteriorated over the last several
years.
Back in 2015, some fellow residents and I started attending
village meetings to voice our concerns about the state of the village. After many attempts to get some answers, we
never received the information we were looking for.
Now, 2 years later, the village continues to regress and
none of the major issues or street repairs have been addressed. Some of these concerns include; curbing
having been torn up and left in residents’ lawns, the streets are covered in
pot holes and the roads are cracking and disintegrating, piles of black top are
laying in the streets, and busted drains left unfixed with only cones and
barrels to cover them. All of these
issues not only make our village look poorly, but also are a major safety
hazard to our children.
According to the fiscal stress list, released by the state
comptrollers, Andover continues to be in fiscal distress for the third year in
a row. Although, Andover has made
progress in this area, the village still lacks funds for the necessary
maintenance and repairs to the streets.
After requesting information on the village budget and equipment
purchases, it was found that excessive amounts were being spent on the
purchases and lease to purchase of equipment.
CHIPS money, which is received from the state and is meant for street
repairs, has been used on the payments for the purchase of equipment. From 2012 until the end of 2015, the village
has spent in excess of $500,000.00 in equipment, some of which were unnecessary
purchases. There are many things that can be done to start cleaning up Andover that require just
equipment and labor, but with no leadership the village is in shambles and it’s getting worse. I urge people to get out and take a look for themselves. We want to get Andover back on track, but it cannot be done in one to two years. It will take time and we can get headed in the right direction. With the help of the residents of Andover and their support, we want to make this happen. We would like to clean up Andover and make it a place we all can be proud of again.
On Tuesday March
21st, vote Matt Zengerle for mayor with a write-in vote on the space provided
on the ballot. (It is very important to
spell his name correctly or your vote will not count) Vote for Pat Vance, Mike Dibble and Rob Carter
for the trustee positions.
