West Newbury Pays $216,036 to Settle 57-Year Property-Title Mapping Error

WEST NEWBURY -- July 24, 2025, West Newbury Select Board approves $216,036 settlement for a 1968 property-mapping error and votes against joining a regional public health alliance. The board authorized Town Manager Angus Hagerty to issue the payment from free cash to the estate of Anthony Jay Canatelli III, closing a case in which a drafting mistake on the town's first hand-drawn tax maps caused a parcel to be recorded on the wrong side of Ash Street, leading the town to sell land at auction that it never legally owned, a chain of events not discovered until the state Department of Fish and Game surfaced the discrepancy under federal audit in 2023. "This is one of those things that comes up in the town of West Newbury and comes out of nowhere," Hagerty told the board, noting the case consumed hundreds of hours of staff time over 15 months. Separately, a motion to join the Merrimack Valley Public Health Alliance, a 25-year intergovernmental agreement administered by Amesbury, failed on a three-to-zero vote, with members citing the long commitment term and withdrawal-cost language in Section 12 of the agreement. The board also unanimously authorized $5,760 in opioid-settlement funds for calendar years 2025 and 2026, holding back a planned $5,000 speaker line pending research on costs and participation by neighboring communities and the school district.