HomeMy WebLinkAbout1927-05-31 REGULAR. MEETING, MAY 31, 1927. C=1•
P. regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the
Selectmen' s Office at 7 30 P.M. Messrs . Custance, Burnham, Ballard,
Robertson and Chamberlain were present. The Supt. of Public Works
and the Clerk were also present.
The records of the last meeting were approved.
Carl Damon of Grant Street came before the Board together with
his wife to explain in person the conditions outlined in his letter
to the Board relative to the spring in his cellar which is flooding
the cellar by reason of the fact that it has no outlet. He cltims
that Mr. John Stack shadh. off the outlet to this spring Where it
goes through a pipe running through the cellar of a house oaoed by
said Stack. The Board informed Mr. Lemon that the matter was en-
tirely up to he and Mr. Stack that they had no jurisdiction in the
matter. Mr. Damon however stated that he could not afford to
procure counsel and Mr. Ballard therefor offered personally to have
the title reference of the property looked up to see whether there
were any drainage rights .
Acting Town Engineer, John T. Cosgrove, presented the Board
with plan of lay out of rerkins alanor as presented to him by the
Planning Board. The Board felt that the lay out was a-very good
one and decided to ask the Planning Board to continue with their
endeavors to make arrangements with the neighbors for exchange
of land to bring about this lay out.
Bids were received on the $175,000. temporary loan as follows : fob
Atlantic National Bank 3.69
First National Bank 3.71
Grafton Company 3.79
Lexington Trust Co. 3.669
The bid was awarded to the Lexington Trust Company.
Hearing was held at 8. 30 P.M. on the application of Harry W.
Patterson for permission to erect a two car garage on his premises.
Mr. Patterson was present for his petition, and no persons objected
and it was therefor voted to grant the permit.
Joint pole location was signed by the Board for the Edison
Electric Ill. Co. for one pole on Pleasant Street . Also joint
pole location for five poles on Old County Road was granted by the
Board, hearings having been duly held respectively at 8 35 P.M.
and 8 45 P.M.
Hearing was held at 8. 40 P.M. upon the application of
Raymond L. Nickerson for permission to erect a one car garage at
43 Forest Street . No persons appeared to object and it was voted
to grant the permit.
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At 8. 50 P.M hearing was called upon the application of
VVilliam I. Brown of 21 Winthrop Road for permission to alter his
present garage and made the same into a two car garage. Mr. Brown
presented plan showing the location of the garage when altered.
The garage would be only two feet from the boundary line of the
property of wr Knights . .r. Brown presented a letter signed by
Mr. Knights giving permission as far as he was concerned to erect
the building nearer than the 74 ft. as required by law. The Board
questioned their right to grant the p-rmit and decided to refer
the matter to the Town Counsel for his opinion.
The following joint pole location orders were granted by the
Board for the Edison Electric Ill. Co.
Parker Street Thirteen poles
C1ar..e treet Five poles
Percy Road Nineteen poles
North Hancock Street Nine poles
Warren Street Nine poles
Public Carriage license was granted to John E. Timothy.
The Board signed the . greement with the Lexington Golf Club
for the rental of land of the Town Almshouse property.
The Board voted to appoint the following men as fire engineers
Edward VI. Taylor
Edward L Fenn
idorr_an C. Hooper .
Before making the appointment of Mr. Fenn and Mr. Hooper
the Board called the gentlemen before them to talk over matters
relative to the duties of the department. Both Mr. Fenn and
Mr. Hooper expressed the desire to serve the town in this capacity
and felt that some changes might be made in the personell such
as possibly a permanent chief, the prevention of fire as well as
of the fighting of the fire by more frequent inspections of cellars
and conditions about premises .
It was called to Mr. Ballardls attention that he was to report
on June 8 in regard to the establishing of a building line on Mass. /
Avenue fro! Waltham Street to Hancock street. Mr. Ballard stated d
that he was unable to make any progress on this matter but akked
to be slated to report in sixty days from this date.
Report of a hearing to be held at Room 166 State House on
June 15, 1927 at 10:30 t . .u. before the Public Utilities for
discussion of rates for transportation of school pupils. It was
decided to send this to the School Committee.
' Letter waL received from the Lexington Historical Society
enclosing a letter from krs. iiedora Robbins Crosby in regard to
breaking in and entering at her home 494 Zass . Avenue. It was de-
cided to refer the matter to the Chief of Police for his attention.
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Letter a - received from Russell I. 2rentis,s reporting the
conditions on the ,Jremises. of Fran. Canisius He stated that he :7
still found E; very unsightly condition at lir. Canisius' premises
that he hes been violating the general laws Chapter 111, Section
31 1 since the tile of its enactment in 1921 and has no recourse
in the matter. He also felt that the Selectmen should not grant
a oermitin spite of the objections from Mr. Canisius
The Board decided to send a copy of Mr. Prentiss ' letter to
r. Canisius together with a copy of the report.
The Chairman reported that the Chief of Police desired to
attend the convention of the Chief of Police Association at
\' indsor, Canada, June 6, 7, 8, and 9. The Town Counsel had been
asked for an opinion as to whether the expenses could be paid for
by the Town. The Town Counsel reported verbally that owing to the
fact that there was a doubt as to the meaning of the statute, that
he did not feel he could report that it would be proper to approve
the bill. The Board, expressed their willingness to have the Chief
attend the convention, but felt under the circumstances they oould
not authorize payment of his expenses . It was decided therefor
to allow the Chief leave of absence with pay.
In regard to Barrington nark so-called located in East Lex-
ington and surrounded by what is called the Robbins & Smith lay
out the Board decided to request the Town Counsel to save this
lot for the Town inasmuch as it was deeded to them by the Burns
Heirs in 1898 for standpipe and water purposes . They also re-
quested him to save the passageway shown on the plan of the lay
outleading to the nearest street on the hobbins & Smith property.
The Board discussed the matter of installing a sewer in High-
land Avenue and viewed the plan of the lay out of the Sewer drawn
by the engineer, and decided to transfer $6,030 from the Sewer
Assessment Account to the Sewer Construction Account for construction
work in Highland h.venue from Bloomfield Street to Washington Street
and one hundred feet on Percy Road.
Letter was received from William H. Ballard in which he
informed the Board of his situation in regard to the erection
of the New Town Office Building He personally did not believe
that a TownMeeting should be called on June 30, 1927 inasmuch as
he did not believe that sufficient study could be given to plans at
that time. He also did not believe it would be good business sinde
this date rill be after the schools are closed and close to the 4th
of July week end. lie stated that he felt that he should feel obliged
to offer a minority report for the Building Comnlittee.
AT Ballard also submitted F form of invitation for bids on
the purchase of the Town Hall property Some suggestions were
made and Mr. Ballard was reque-ted to proceed with the bids so that
they might be in on June 20, 1927.
Letter was written to Thomas F. Vahey, ttorney for Dr. W. L.
Barnes, in which he was informed that the Board would not entertain
the petition of Dr. Barnes for a filling station to be located near
the corner of Mass . Avenue and Woburn Street inasmuch as the don-
ditions at the present time were not any different than the time
when the petition v,as formally refused.
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In regard to the claim of George F. Smith for the additional
sum of k500. for land taken on the Bedford Street widening, the
Board voted to make this award raking the total sum w805 00 and to
secure a special release prepared by the Town Counsel on the same.
Meeting adjourned at 11 10 P.L.
A true record, Attest. /
-,_14/ (3ga-eg (
Clerk.
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