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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1930-12-23 374 SELECTMEN ' S MEETIN( Dec. 23, 1930. A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held at the Selectmen's Room Town Office Building, at 7 30 P.M. Messrs . Burnham, L,ustance, Blake, Trask, and Shannon were present. The Clerk was also present. Bids for the printing of the Town report in accordance with the specifications mailed to the various printers were received. The bids were is follows Hadley Press Inc . $1 96 per page. Town Medford Printing Co. 1.90 " " Report bids . Somerville Printing Co. 1 .75 " " Melrose Free Press 2.75 " If The bid was awarded to the Somerville Printing Co , the lowest bidder. Letter was received from Elmer A. Lord & Co. in which they stated that they, placed ?oiler insurance on the boiler Boiler in the Public Works Dept. Bldg. in accordance with instructions I Ins . received from Inr. Custance, and stated that they would have tne inspector inspect the boiler .as soon as possible. Letter was received from Mr. Francis Chamberlain of Summit goad, in which he called attention to the fact that Damage a blast that was set off when the highwa dept . was working by on Summit road broke some of the slate on his roof and blasting. and stated that he wozl(, hold the Town accountable for damage done. It was understood that Mr. Custance had the damage repaired. Letter was recei ed from "r: E. W. Chapman, Manager of the Real Estate Bureau of thrr B. & M. R. R. in which he stated in regard to tne desire of the Town to acquire certain B. & M. railroad property in cnnnection with the settlement of damages Co. re Hunt to the Hunt & O'Connell properties near the station grounds, & O' Connell ti,ere seemed to be a discrepancy between the plans of the Town property. and the Railroad plans as to property lines and theywould have the lines checked up and make an appointment to go over the 1 matter with Mr. Custance at an early date. Two letters were received from mr. Sydney R. Wrightdngton regarding the Ryder pi ; case. he stated that Mr. Roberts B. Owen, Attorney for Ryder in this case , astonished him by saying Hyder that he was disturbed by the Sipreme Uo,zrt 's decision and that pig case . he was going to take the unusual step to ask the Court for a re-haaring, inasmuch as he felt that the Judge chose a =*round for rejecting his appeal which was not justifiable. Mr. Wrightington felt that action, whether or not it was taken, .would mean a delay before he could enforee the verdict 375 of the Jury or collect the costs therefore he felt that it would be well for the Select en to file a bill in equity, so that there would not be any further delay if the case roes before the Court for a re-hearing. the Chairmai of the 3oard of Selectmen already signed the bill in equity against the iyders , so that there would not be any further delay in enforcing the order of prohibition. Letter was received from Mr. Thomas S. rri.ndle in which he stated that the estimate of the School Department Estimates for 1931 is 5236,000. The estimate for the Dental Clinic School is $1800. This includes An increase of $100. which it Dept . was desired to give to the dentist. Dental Clinic The matter of , ollecting a sidewalk bill on the property of James Picariello in the amoznt of $46.20, the James same being for construction of a granolit.hic sidewalk Picarriello was left with 1r. Custance to take up with him in Sidewalk bill. connection with his request for an abatement for a sewer betterment of $169 on his property on Fottler Avenue. Various abatements were received from the Water & ' Sewer Dept. to be put through. In looking over the same, it appeared that some of Abatements. the abatements included water rates which were supposed to be a lien upon the property. It was decided to go over the abatements with the Supt. of Public Works and see if any of the collections could be made. Letter was received from the Town Accountant in which he called attention to the fact that there would be a shortage in the account of Massachusetts Avenue reconstruction in the amount of $245.00. It was decided to request the kopropriation Committee Mass. Ave to make a transfer from the Rese"ve bund of this amount Reconstr. to cover the overdraft of the account. Acct. Commitment of highway betterments on Fottler Ave. in the amount of $3914.15 and on 3ertwell Road in the Commitments . amoant of $5788.22 were signed by the Hoard. Mr. William Gavin and Roy Cook came before the board regarding land damages. Mr. Gavin desired to discuss the matter of the taking of his land on account of the new highway. he stated that Mr. Custance had talked with him about the damages and Mr. Gavin he felt that he was not offered sufficient . Mr. Custance re land reported his conversation with Mr. Gavin and stated that damages . he offered him $2000 provided Mr. Gavin would give a deed to the land on the other side of the street which includes about 40,000 , on the northwesterly side of Massachusetts Avenue. This small strip of land was left between the new and the old highway. Mr. Gavin stated that after thinking the 37G matter over, he thought he may be able to use the land. "11 He felt that if the territory grew, later it might be a good place for stores or a filling station, or if it remained a residential district there could be three house lots made out of this land. He thought , therefore, that consideration should be given to the owners of the land taken for the highway, which is 51,4001 . Mr. Gustance suggested that the town should take the 40,000 ' of land and abandon the old highway; then give the persons with land back of this highway a right of way to the street . Mr. Gavin thought that inasmuch as he had a great deal of fill on both sides of the street, in order to use the land for house lots , he did not believe he could fill it in for less }than $1000. and for that reason he felt he should receive $2000 for the land taken for the highway. Mr. Gavin statdd that he would be glad to come before the Board again next Tuesday eventing and talk the matter over. After looking up the assesse valuation of the Gavin property, it was found th t it was assessed at $150.80 an acre. The board voted that it was the sentiment pf the Board that the damage to the Gatin property for land only taken for the highway would be a sum not exceeding $225.00. If Mr. Gavin surrender) title to the property on the northwesterly side of Mass. Avenue they would recommend that the Town pay the sum of 01000 for the land taken for the highway, namely 51,400' and the 40,0001 of land lying between the two streets . Mr. Trask reported having talked with Mr. Bedros Bashian regarding the land taken from him. He stated that Bashian Mr. Bashian's chief trouble was the increase in taxes land on his property and he was not able to pay the additional damages . amount caused by the increased valuation. He stated that there was 31,0001 of land taken from the Bashian property.. The Board voted to authorize Mr. Trask to make a settlement with Mr. Bashian not exceeding $400. Mr. .Burnham reported having attended hearing held in Arlington for the construction of a State highway across East Street and stated that is was the intention of the State to pay the entire cost of building the road and the 'Town to pay for the land damages . He also stated Hearing that they considered building a road from Summer Street re across Maple Street and -uilding a new bridge over proposed Maple Street. In this project, it was expected that the highways. Town would stand the entire cost in the amount of *200,000. Mr. Custance stated that he proposed a street that would connect with the street that the Town of Winchester is considering building which will be a dross cut direct from Winchester to Lexington without going around Summer Street Extension. The Board considered the East Lexington meadows East and Mr. Burnham reported that the Town of Arlington Lex. was interested, in putting in a golf course on part of ea�owa . the land owned by the Town of Arlington. 377 It was decided to communicate with the Town Engineer to see what information could be drawn up to find out the o mer- ship of the East Lexington Meadows. The Clerk re-aor.•ted that the Town Counsel requested information regarding the traffic beacon which was located at the junction of Concord Avenue and ! altham Street. This information was 'equested in connection ith the Brophy case which he stated is to be in Court about the first of January. The following is the wee.ay report of the Supt. of Public Works . For the week ending December 20, 1930. HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT Grading and leveling in Weston Street, Old County Road, School street, Grove Street and Robinson Road. Surface patches applied in several street.. and a number of catch basins cleaned, brush cut in Allen and Blossom Streets. Cleaned up bank and ledge in Summit R.,.ad. Cleaning off' ledge and drilling in Hill Street. Next week the department will attend to the regular maintenance. MOTH & SHADE TREE DEPT. Cleaning and treating gypsy moth nests with creosote. Moving equipment to Public Works Building. Next week the work of treating the moth nests will be continued. PARK DEPARTMEIT Regular maintenance work attended to and will be looked after next week. W ITER & SETER DEPART_:IENT ?eater Maintenance Installed water service on Downing Road. Repaired two leaks in services and one leak in a main. Two men have been working at the public works building. Tater Construction We have laid 2750 feet of 8 It & 1011 pipe, making a total of 65501 fcr pipe laic to date. We have installed ten hydrants. The work contemplated for next week is as follows : water and sewer services, Wood Street. ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT 378 Highways Lincoln Street information completed and sent to State Department. , Drainage Office work on survey and leve? notes fOr Vine Brock. PSS .scellaneous Plan of Adams School and survey .for levels for school Department. One man (entire time) Pith kiood otreet water con- struction. Record building line plans over O'Connell property. Completed record of r.erambulations. Completed new Smith layout to ccnnect with existing streets. Yours very truly, Villiam S. Scamman. Supt. of Public Uorks The meeting adjourned at 10 45 P.M. A true record, Attest Clerk. 1