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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1929-09-17360 SELECTMENIS MEETING - SEPT. 172 1929. The regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held at the Selectmen}s Room, Town Office Building at 7:30 P.M. Messrs. Burnham,. Custance, Blake and Shannon were present. The Supt. of Public Works and the Clerk were also present. shot, .+e za n 1 At 7:30 P.M. Mr. James A. Peirce of Marrett Road, came before the Board and presented to the Board Mr. Peircets a letter giving the facts of his case in detail relative case of to his Airdale dog that had developed a case of rabLes damages, re to which he called Dr. Blakely. After Dr. Blakely dog bite. had tried to get the dog to quarantine him, the dog broke away and they called the Police Department, at about 8 o'clock P.M. officer Barry brought the riot, gun, fired at the.d.og and missed him. The dog ran away and did not return. Later the Police Department called Mr. Peirce and informed him that his dog had been killed in Belmont by the Belmont Police aftAr he had bitten two people. Mr. Peirce had.received a claim of $350. against him for dog_bi.tes to. the persona bitten in Belmont, and he felt that the Town was partly• responsible inasmuch as he _did his part in _.calling.,,the Police and trying to protect the public in having the dog and he thought it was negligence on the part_of t7; Police that they dict not shoot the dog. Mr. S. R. Wrightington.,, Town. Counsel, was prebeAt and Dr. Blakely came in later at the conference. fir. Wrightington felt that the Town was not responsible In any way inasmuch as, the Law clear.ly.states that the owner of the dog is respnnsible. Mr. Peirce stated that he understood that in the City of Newton there was a similar case, and the City in that instance, paid the damages on the claim. Mr. Wrightington stated that he could not obtain any information from. the City Solicitor of Newton on the case inasmuch as he did not know the name cif the person having the claim, but he would .be very glad to" receive any information that Mr. Peirce might secure for him, but as far as he could'see the -law clearly stated that Mr. Peirce was responsible. The Board after hearing the evidence_ presented informed Mr. Peirce that they would take the matter under advisement. Later after'discussing the matter, the Board decided to notify Mr. Peirce that inasmuch as the Town Counsel advised them that the Town was not responsible in this case, they did not feel they could do anything for him. Mr. F. C. Duntlin of the Apex Exterminator Extermina- Company, 44 Bromfield Street,, Boston,, came before the ting rats. Board together with Mr. Kennedy who acts as Advisorary Expert to the Exterminator Company. Mr. Kennedy explained that he was the official exterminator of rats for the City of Boston.; He also did work"_for various other parties, wuch as DeBlois.&,Maddison., shot, .+e za n 1 1 1 Corporation Counsel Hill and the City of Malden. He sited various experiences_ with rats in places where there are various dumps and offal, material which drawn the rats and explained that this Company that.Mr. Duntlin represented had a form of inoculation that to his mind was the best thing that he knew of. He stated that in the City of Malden the rats were so bad in the Tennis Courts that the women were driven into their homes and could not use the Tennis Courts. In manor instances in the City of Boston, the rats climb upon the fire escapes and go in the apartments and' bite the fingers and faces of children. In some - places he stated that the rats could not be thoroughly exterminated, but they could be kept down by inoculation. He believed that if the Board_did.not have a very seriouscondition, that it might be well to keep them down before they get so bad that they become a menace. Mr. Custance explained that there had been complaints already of rats coming from the Town dump, and he felt that something should be done. It was finally decided to ask Mr. Dun.tlin to look at the Town Dumps and also at the Highway stable and inform the Board what the cost.would be to exterminate the rats. 6 RM Hearing was declared open upon the application H.A. Flint of Herbert X* Flint, 10 Ca.rvill.e Avenue., for per- garage mission to erect a private garage. Mr. Flint was application. present at the hearing. No persons appeared -to object, and it was voted to grant_.the__permit. Mr. Morris A. Page, 15 Independence Avenue, appeared before the Board and presented a letter infcgrmi,ng the Board that under date of Sept. 11, 1929 he had received a letter from the Building Inspector advising him to demolish the tin building on the property purchased by him.from'the Town under tax title deed. Mr. Page stated that he did not know what the bounds of the property were, and he was not sure that the building was on his property. For that reason he desired to have the Town Engineer establish the bounds, and if the building was on his property, he would be glad to do anything to cooperate with the Board in taking it down. The Board decided to request the Town Engineer to establish the bounds on the property in accordance with the tax title deed rendered to Mr. Page by the Tax Collector. Hearing was declared -open -on the petition of the E.E.I.Co, and the N.E. Tel.& Tel. Co. for joint location of one pole at the corner of Spring Street and Maflrett Rodd. No persons apoeared to object, and it was voted to grant the location order. Tin building. Joint location of one pole. 362 Sewer abatement in the amount of $74.98 Sewer on property owned by the Town of Lexington on Abatement. Waltham Street was signed by the Board. Commitment. Commitment of 'sidewalk charges in the ' amount of $738.24 was signed. It was voted to t ransfer the sum of $5000. Transfer of from the Sewer Assessment Account to the Sewer $5000. Construction Account, notice having been received from the Town Accountant that the Sewer Construction Account was overdrawn to the extent of $88.38, and that there was available in the Sewer Assessment Fund $6400. Traffic Regulations to be 'adopted by the Board to Regulations. cover the control of traffic signals were received.' from the Department of Public Works of the State. The Board took a copy of the regulations to view thew.. Application for sewer in Fottler Avenue was received from the residents of that street. Sewer,'Fottler, They desired to have the sewer pipes laid before Avenue. the street is_,constructed. It was decided to_request the Town Engineer to gather the information of_the _cost of con- struction of the sewer and present same to the Board. Ryder Trial Notice was received from the Town counsel that the 8yders Stock Farm Inc. case will probably come up about October 7, 1929, ,and that he will need the _testimony -of the Board of Selectmen at that trial. The Board received copy of_the notice received by the Town Treasurer from Howard S. _ 0. Tower Park Nichols, Chairman, Trustees of Public Trusts, that Income* he was handing the Treasurer $140. which In the income from the Wm.. A. Tower Memorial Park Trust Fund. Mr. Blake stated that he felt that the Trust Fund could be increased by more wisely investing the money:, and he was going to inquire how the investment was made and suggest a ehange_to bbtaln better income. The Town Engineer promised to have the Hill Street. information on .Hill Street ready so that a formal hearing could be held October 8, 1929. The Town Engineer brought up the suggestion Construction of building streets to their full width and ' of streets to putting in gravel sidewalks. their full The question arose as, to whether or not, the width. Board should build the streets to their full width until they were accepted. 000 The bond of Constable James J. Sullivan was Cons tablet,d bond, approved, it having had satisfactory surety. ' Letter was received from A. G. Frothingham York Street. of York Street relative to the condition of the street left after the Water Department put in the water pipe. Letter was also received from the Supt. of Public Works explaining the condition in which he found the street and stated that he felt that for the sum of $200. the street could be fixed up. The Board decided to leave this matter to the Supt. of Public Works. Auctioneerr's License was granted to Mr. Herbits Auctioneer's to -auction the premises known as the Paul Revere License. ° Tavern. The following renewals of insurance were al thoriz ed for the balance of the year. J Insurance Expiring in October, 1929. Renewal of! Insurance.F E.A.Lord & Co. Schedule 010,000 Exp. Oct. 75, 1929 102000 " Oct. 7, 1929 " 1919 Ford_Omnibus School, Fire & Theft, $200. Exp. Oct. 28, 1929 ' R. Whittemore Schedule $10,000 " Oct. 22, 1929 Insurance Expiring in November & December, 1929. A.A.Marshall & Son. Moth Dept. Moth Dept. Liability Robert Whitney Schedule Neil McIntosh rr A.A.Marshall & Son. " E. A. Lord & Co. rr Robert Whitney Work Comp. Exp. Nov. 23, 1929 Con. Public The Board discussed various articles listed for consideration at the Town Meeting, and felt that a Articles for Town Meeting called for the purpose of having a Town Meeting, ballot on the Representative Town Meeting Act, would also have whatever business on hand in the same Warrant. The Board viewed the plan of the East Lexington East Lex. Meadows in which there appears to be approximately 380 Meadows. acres of land upon which there is nottaxes derived except about $300. received from. the Town of Arlington. ' Mr. Blake agreed to see if anything could be done about establishing the rights of this property provided he was furnished with the information as to the assessment from which the income is received. The weekly report of the Supt. of Public Works is as follows: rr Nov. 23, 1929 $10,000 " Nov. 2A, 1929 10,000 r' Nov. , 1929 20,000 " Dec. 5, 1929 30,000 " Dec. 5, 1929 20,000 " Dec. 5, 1929 The Board discussed various articles listed for consideration at the Town Meeting, and felt that a Articles for Town Meeting called for the purpose of having a Town Meeting, ballot on the Representative Town Meeting Act, would also have whatever business on hand in the same Warrant. The Board viewed the plan of the East Lexington East Lex. Meadows in which there appears to be approximately 380 Meadows. acres of land upon which there is nottaxes derived except about $300. received from. the Town of Arlington. ' Mr. Blake agreed to see if anything could be done about establishing the rights of this property provided he was furnished with the information as to the assessment from which the income is received. The weekly report of the Supt. of Public Works is as follows: 364 For the week ending Sept. 14, 1929. Highway Department. Catch basins, gutters and streets were cleaned. Surface patches were made on Massachusetts .Avenue, Wood Street and Bedford Street. Bow Street and Cliffe Avenue were treated with a seal coat of asphaltic oil and pea stone. A seal coat of asphaltic oil and pea sone was applied to the surface of Simonds. Road about one half the street being finished. The balance is to be dome during the present week. Gravel fill has bgen made and graded at the corners":of Taft Avenue and Charles Street and Taft Avenue, and Baker Avenue between Taft Ave. and Oak Street. Next week in addition to the regular maintenance, the department will construct Coolidge Avenue. Moth and Shade Tree Department. This department has been occupied with cutting and burning the underbrush and cleaning Belfry Hill* Next week it is intended to start treating the nekts of the Gypsy Moth by the usual method of applying creosote. Park Department. Regular maintenance occupied the time of. the department during the past geek and the same work will be attended to next week. . Mater Maintenance. Water services have been installed as follows: Molloy, Farmcrest Avenue_; Judkins, Robbins Road; Morash, Robbins Road, Norris, Bedford Street (renewal; Morse, Vine Brook. Road (renewal). Water Construction. We have laid 175' of 6" water pipe in Shade Street. Moved back hydrant 151 at State Road and Waltham St. Sewer Construction. We have unloaded a carload of 6" sewer pipe and fittings. Sewer Maintenance. We have installed sewer services as follows: Judkins and Morash, Robbins Road;'eonnecting services on Baker and Oak Streets. Five men have been flushing sewers. u 1 1 n n The work contemplated for is as follows: water main water and sewer services. the week ending Sept. 28 extension on Spring Street, Engineering_ Department. Sewers. - Continued work as Town Shady by making profiles of streets totalling 30,400 feet. Highways. Completed survey- and levels of"Coolidge Avenue from Adams Street to Hancock Street. Set line and grade stakes for 600 feet. Started survey of Hillside Terrace for construction. Miscellaneous. Completed three plans .of Fottler. Avenue for hearing Sept. 10. "Completed plan of Clarke Street Extension for hearing Sept. 10.. Started preliminw7 work for development of Golden Guernsey Farm which is now before the Planning board. After comparing levels which were -figured from this Sewer Study' in the sections along Concord Avenue which rnardrain to Hardy ►s Pond and to the Cambridge Basin. 1 went over this territory with Mr. Clarence Cutter of Concord Avenue.. we believe the section now draining to Hardy's Pond may be diverted to the Cambridge Basun with greatly improved drainage results. Yours very trdy, William S. Scamman Supt. of Public Works The meeting adjourned at 10:.55 P.M. A true record, Attest: Clerk.