Dear fellow Hanoverians:
Hope you and yours enjoyed Thanksgiving! I am just back from a delightful extended Thanksgiving vacation on the (much warmer) North Carolina coast with my family and mom. It’s great to be home, though.
Forgive me if you have heard the following terrific news already, but I could not pass up the opportunity to make sure you heard some of the rationale behind it, too. It truly speaks to the power of our community. Suffice it to say that I was more than pleased to receive the following e-mail from our Town Planner!
Cathy & All –
Thanks for your kind thoughts. You (and so many others) have been MUCH too kind with your praise. I did not even have the time to tell everyone I was leaving and their appreciation came out of the woodwork. If I’ve done some small part to encourage collaboration and planning for our common future, that would be much.
If you have not already heard, the Board of Selectmen successfully talked me out of leaving – at the very last minute even. As expected this comes with a new financial arrangement, but also expanded job duties and leadership roles. We can talk in more depth when you have a chance, but I did want to thank the many people who have been so gracious about my impending departure. I was already out the door and did not expect this unusual turn of events. I had set up a starting date of December 1st, and various administrative issues with Braintree, and changing those was difficult for me. I looked forward to working in a larger community with different development pressures as well as a Mayoral form of government. But perhaps more difficult would have been leaving the many people and projects I’ve enjoyed here. A good planning process may be universal, but a sense of community is not. ATOTW is one example of that. I hope to serve “Hanoverians” in the years to come – the best of my abilities – and in a greater leadership role.
In the next few weeks I’ll catch up with everyone on this news, finish projects we’ve been working on, start new ones, and help wherever I can to encourage coordination and mutual support for our public initiatives. I am a big believer in team work and public service. Town government – as shown by so many of you – is central and indispensable. I look forward to helping all involved address the long term recommendations identified in Hanover’s Master Plan. The Town will need some assistance and leadership with the coordination of economic development goals, preservation initiatives, housing and other planning issues. I consider it an honor and a duty to do more in the coming months and years to assist you – as residents – in preserving and improving this community for future generations.
Again, you have all been much too kind. I can only hope to serve you better moving forward.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Warm Regards –
Andy
Andrew R. Port, AICP, Town Planner
Department of Municipal Inspections
Town of Hanover, 550 Hanover Street, Hanover, MA 02339
Phone (781) 826-7641
Fax # (781) 826-5950
Email planning@hanover-ma.gov
Web www.hanover-ma.gov
I am so pleased for Andy, and for the Town of Hanover. Kudos to our Selectmen for keeping him here; further congratulations to all of YOU for making Hanover a terrific place that people want to work in…and stay working in. ?
For “Around Town on the Web”,
Cathy H-B