Andover Select Board Votes 3-2 to Create Two New Opioid Positions

ANDOVER — August 10, 2015 — Andover Select Board authorizes two new opioid positions in a 3-2 vote, citing seven local deaths in 2015. The board approved the creation of a clinician and a program coordinator to address the town's escalating heroin and opioid crisis, with Police Chief Patrick Keefe telling members that five overdose incidents had occurred in the preceding 10 days and that the median age of overdose victims in Andover is approximately 22. Interim Town Manager Terry Murphy said the positions are expected to cost under six figures for the remainder of the fiscal year, funded from existing public safety salary lines. Board member Dan Kowalski, who made the motion, argued that inaction guaranteed more deaths; board member Paul Salafia dissented, saying the board had moved too quickly from a first briefing to a two-position proposal without fully mapping available state and nonprofit resources. A high school senior named Juliet told the board she wears bracelets commemorating friends who have died from heroin and urged the board not to "put this off any longer."