Ken Orttel, Andover council member, moves on

Andover City Council Member Ken Orttel's proudest accomplishment is one he bets is invisible to most residents.

A new Target store now sits on a site that made headlines in 1989, when one of the nation's largest piles of trashed tires ignited; fire departments from 10 cities worked overnight to extinguish the blaze. Bunker Lake Boulevard now cuts a path through homes and businesses, rather than rows of moldering landfills, defining the city in a very different way than it once did.

Last week, Orttel, who as council member and mayor helped to transform a village into a city, said he won't seek reelection, citing changes in the position and a desire to focus on his personal life.

Once, Orttel said, being a council member meant creativity, troubleshooting and working directly to solve residents' problems. Now, city staff may be more efficient and responsive, but the system isn't as much fun, he said.

"I miss the hands-on stuff, dealing with people," he said. "We just don't have that now."

Orttel, 61, added that a busy insurance business, two young grandchildren and a serious bout of chronic lymphocytic leukemia that nearly sidelined him in 2006 also factored into his decision to move on.

"You spend more time concentrating on the present," he said of the illness. "The hardest thing for me to get used to was that I didn't have a future. That was hard for me. I was a planner, and always thinking about what comes next."

"We were pretty young; I don't know why they elected us," said Orttel, who was 29 when he was first elected. "I thought, these people really elected me. I always respected that so much."

As an officeholder for 28 of the past 31 years, Orttel saw triumphs and setbacks, conflict and controversy in City Hall. He was elected mayor in 1990, but lost a 1992 run for the Legislature and a second mayoral race two years later. He returned to the council in 1996.

Over the years, Orttel had differences with his colleagues, but now says it was always important to all to keep conflicts out of the council chambers.

"When the clock was running, we did our job," he said.

Orttel and Council Member Julie Trude both noted that they had disagreed in recent years, but Trude lauded Orttel's ability to put differences aside.

Mayor Mike Gamache was one of several people who said the years Orttel spent in City Hall meant an institutional memory that continually influenced the city's decisions.

"We're going to be losing our compass," he said. "He has this center in him that you know what he's doing is going to be good for the city."