BY DERRICK PERKINS Fire and finance department officials are making a break with tradition by enlisting the services of a collection agency to help recoup some of the $132,000 owed to the town in outstanding ambulance bills. In March, Director of Finance Jane Savastano began working with the town’s third-party billing agent ...

BY DERRICK PERKINS Selectmen held off on making a decision to petition for a special town meeting in the fall that would allow them to move toward rebuilding two bridges on the state’s red list. During the Monday, June 23, meeting, selectmen discussed a possible special vote, which would allow the board to contract with an engineering ...

BY JENN McDOWELL A new plan for dealing with the town’s most central traffic problem at the Depot intersection may come through cooperation of businesses and abutters affected most by the regular traffic backup. By working with abutters, community development director Bill Scott told selectmen that progress may come as ...

BY JIM DEVINE NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Although some Salem residents criticized the time and place, the selectmen’s goal-setting retreat set restoring Salem as the “Gateway City of New Hampshire” as a symbolic centerpiece among ongoing issues of infrastructure and the economy. The meeting on Friday, May 9, prompted ...

BY JIM DEVINESelectmen voted to create a charter reform committee but plans for the panel have yet to be nailed down. In a unanimous vote on Monday, April 14, selectmen approved a proposal by Selectman Michael Lyons to create a seven- person panel to investigate the town’s governing charter while assessing other possible options. Four ...

BY DARRELL HALEN Salem selectmen voted to withdraw $750,000 from the town’s unreserved fund balance in order to cut the municipal tax increase of the 2007 property tax rate from 6 percent to 3 percent. But during the board’s special meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 24, a Budget Committee member questioned if selectmen came up with a plan ...

BY DARRELL HALEN Plans for renovating the old train depot station in Salem are moving along, thanks to $60,000 that will be used to remove asbestos from the structure and raze a portion of the building. Selectmen recently authorized the use of the money, which will come from the Depot Trust Fund. Built in 1867, the now-vacant building stands ...

BY DARRELL HALEN Water and sewer rates in Salem are going up for the second time in four months. Selectmen approved raising the rate for water from $2.58 to $3 per 100 cubic feet, and the sewer rate from $2.60 to $3.35 per 100 cubic feet. The new rate for sewer took place Oct. 1, while the new price for water goes into effect Oct. ...

BY MATT HERSH A plan to restore Salem’s depot train station has been in the works for more than a year, but project organizers are concerned that opportunities for free labor may be passing by. Diane Paquette, a Salem resident with a passion for old buildings who has been spearheading the project, recently told selectmen that the ...

BY MATT HERSH Salem selectmen have announced the details of their contract with new town manager Jonathan Sistare, who is set to begin work in October. After months of candidate searching and negotiations with Sistare, who is currently in Iraq with the U.S. Army Reserve, selectmen have set his salary at $118,000 for the first of three years. He ...