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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1931-04-2112 SELECTMEN IS MEETING APRIL 21, 1931. A regular meetingof the Board of Selectmen was held at the Selectmen's Room, Town .Office Building at 7:30 P.M. Messrs. Trask, Custance, Blake and Gilcreast were present. The Supt. of .Public 'horks and the Clerk were also present. Mr. Edward W. Taylor, Chief, Fire Dept., came before the Board to discuss the matter of insurance to protect himself while on duty as Chief of the Fire Dept. Mr. Gilcreast informed him that in his investigation, he found ta.at the Federal Surety Co, will write a separate policy for him, covering him on liability insurance for his car, that is to say, he will have one policy on his car which will cover him privately, and the other policy will cover him as Chief of the Fire Dept. The B.ployers Liability Assurance Co. would place Lon endorsement on his present accident policy covering him to the amount of $4000 while on duty as Chief of Fire Chief the Fire Dept re insurance. The Board discussed the matter at some length and discussed whether or not it would be best to increase the salary of the Chief, which authority is in the hands of the Engineers; whether he should sell his car to the ° na�r � i9 � e ee Surety o. woo a l 2 r ire and which the Employers Liability Assurance Co. would Allow. In any event, Mr. Taylorts beneficiaries would be at a disadvantage if he,were killed while he was in the employ of the Tovin as Chief of the Fire Dept., inasmuch as his policy would be void. The Board decided, in view of the fact that there is a bill before the Legislature to provide authority to insure employees, that they would wait to see what action was taken by the Legislature. The following licenses were granted: Alcohol Ross Tire & Battery Co. 3 Depot Square Calvin W. Childs 339 & 409 Mass. Ave. Waverly Hardware Co. 1756 Mass. Ave. 6ommon Victuallers Howard M. Munroe & Irving Annie B. Fraser Jacob Bornstein Hattie E. A. Peckham Lillian J. Pratt Mary A. & Ernest R. 3, K. Liggett & Co. Jame M. Lawrence Currier, Woburn & Lowell St. 803 Mass, Ave. 4 Sylvia St. 37 Hancock St. Marrett Rd. Rowland Lowell St. 1721 Mass. Ave. Concord Ave. 1 1 1 1 Common Victuallers Entertainment Countryside Filling Station Lowell & Woburn Sts. Innholders George S. MacAlpine Warren E. 'Russ ell 50 Percy Rd. 1505 Mass. Ave. Manufacture of Ice Cream A. W. Partridge Cor Waltham St. & Marrett Rd. Hearing was declared open by the Board of Survey on the application of James R. Smith of Arlington for approval of plans of layout of streets over the property. located at the corner or Mass. Avenue and Locust Av enye, at 8 P.M. Mr. James R. Smith and his Engineer, -Mr. Joyce were present at the hearing. They presented plans showing the lotting s cheme and the layout of Richard Road, Towe r St. , Plymouth Road and Robbins Road. The plans were in very fine shape for acceptance by the Board of Survey. No persons app eared against the layout, anal the Board voted to approve the layout of these streets and lotting plan. he ('hairman inquired of Mr. Smith, whether or not he would consider putting in bounds, and Mr. Smith replied that he would do so if the Board desired to havelfin, He stated, however, that he had been on the Board.of Surtey in the Town of Arlington for a period of six years and the experience there was that stone bounds may be placed in, but when trucks hit them, they are epi out of place and many times it tikes considerable engineering work to get 'the bound in place again. They did agree havever, that there should be bounds placed on street corners. They would not object to placing stone bounds if the Board insisted upon their doing so. The Town Engineer reported that the sewers had been cleaned by the Sewer Dept. from Maple Street to Grant Street and that they had been considerably clogged up by debris of various kinds such as automobile tires. He suggested that they be cleaned out from Maple Street to the Arlington line. Mr. Trask felt that there should be s cane way of 1 oclring the manhole covers down so that people could not threw things into the sewers. The Supt. of Public Works did not believe that this was feas�ble, inasmuch as it was necessary to get at them many times in a hurry, and that it re- quired two men to remove one of the manhole covers with tools at the present time. Mr. Albert H. Burnham came before the Board 13 J. R. Smith layout. Cleaning out of sewers. 14 Mr. Burnham re Vine Brook presenting the Board with a Manual of the General Court. Mr. Burnham asked what the Board intended to do on Vine brook. He called attention to the fact that he has a water system on his pPoperty that Cost him considerable money and if Vine Brook were lowered 2J ft. it would damage his water system, and he 'felt that he should collect damages. After considering the.matter, the Board informed Mr. Burnham that they did not see any reason why he should not dam up the brook on his own property if he so desired when it reached the low point if he did not have a sufficient water supply, inasmuch as this would not damage any one further along on the brook, and it would not back the water up on the upper end of Vine Brook. 1 The deed of Stephen F. '& Nellie J. Hamblin of Hamblin gift a gift of land in the rear of their premises adjoining of land. the center playground was received. The Board voted to present this to the Town for acceptance. Notice was received of the tenth annual conf er- Ind.& Public ence of the Industrial and Public Safety Committee SAFety conf. to be held at the Hotal 5tatler April 29 and 30. This matter was referred to Mr.-'Gilcreast to attend to. Notice of the approval of the Attorney General the amendment to the By-law all caving a business .of district to be established on the property of George W. Bean, 241 Bedford Street, and' the approval of the map by the Attorney General was received. G. W. Bean The Clerk reported having consulted with the property. Town Counsel on this matter, and he believed that as long as the plan was approved, that it should also be published. This had not been done before in other cases where the amendments were made to the Zoning Law; it would .also be rather costly to print the map each time an amendment was made, inasmuch as the map is cast in one single plate and a new plate would have to be made each time. It was left with the Chairman and the Clerk to proceed to advertise.the by-law in the proper manner as advised by the Town Counsel,. Aoz)lication Application for the boarding of infants was to board received from Florida Crawford, B9 Moreland Ave. infants. The Board voted to lay the matter on the table until such time as the Clerk males an investigation of the premises - Notice, of a hearing to be held Wednesday April 22, 1 1 1 15 1931 at Room #245, State House at 10:30 A.M. on Senate Bill #463 was received, in regard to taking water Senate Bill from the Quinapoxe6 River and its tributaries by the ##463. City of Worcester. The Representative and the Senator were requested to oppose this project at the hearing. Notice of the annual confe ence of the Sealers: of Sealer of Weights & Measures at Washington D. C., July 2 - Weights & June 5, 1931 was received by the Board. Measures It was felt that the attention of the Sealer should Son - be broughtto the fact that there was no allowance in Vention. his appropriation for his attendance at this convention. Petition for damages from Sarah E. Hplmes for S.E.Holmes damages to her property located on Mass. A e. where petition for the reloi:on was made in 1930 was acknowledged by damages. the Town Counsel who. stated that he would attend to the matter. Letter was received from the Town Counsel in which he advised, inasmuch as the Town voted to give to the Board of Appeals the power to decide on Vote re the appeals from the Building Law, that the Board of following vote be passed by the Board of Selectmen Appeals. appointing said Board:: Voted: That Theodore A. Custance, a member of the Board of Selectmen, C. Edward Glynn, a member of fae Planning Bow d, Roland W. Baldrey, Curlys L. Slocum and Arthur N. M•Addison, be appointed a Board of Appeals under Article Ii, Section 4, of the Building By-law of the Torn. Further Voted: That all acts of the Board of Appeals heretofore appointed under Article ZI, section 4 of the Building By-law of the town., be and they hereby' are ,ratifiedp and approved. The. matter of guard rails was laid over again for one mohth. The Town Counsel enclosed a check of $332. Sale of land received from Mr.'William L. Burrill for lend at Public purchased at the Public Works Department and also a Works Dept. check' for $1000 received from the Home Finance Co. for land purchased at the Public Works Dept. The Chairman, presented a letter which was brought to him by "Paul Revere" on the 20th of April signed by Joseph McGrath, Acting Mayor of the City of Boston, in which they joined with the Town of Lexington.in commemorating the 156th anniversary of the historical ride of Paul Revere. April 20th celebration. Letter was received from the N4ar East Relief Assoc. in which they requested permission to use the Near East Police and Fire stations for the collection of bundles Helief for the Near East relief. It was decided to refer this matter to the local paper to put in the paper -this infonnation about the 16 Mother Is Day. collection for the Near East Relief so that people in the Town may avail themselves of an opportunity to leave bundles at the fire station and police station for this purpose. A pircular letter,enclosing a proclamation was received from the Maternity Center of N. Y. City proclaiming a new Motherst Day of May 10th. This matter was left with the Chairman to attend to. The Bo<ird did not, believe that they should adopt a proclamation on this matter, but that the information might be given to the local newspaper for the benefit of those who might be interested. The Board confirmed the action of three members Led7'el.�wn of the Board in approving the lotting plan of the Ave.- plan. Home Finan ee Co. which showed the lots on Ledgelawn Ave. which wAs. signed by Messrs. Trask, Custance and Shannon on April 16th. Town of Letter was received from the Chairman of the Lincoln re Board of Selectmen, Town of Lincoln, in which he answering extended his thanks for the service of the Lexington fire alarm.. Fire. Dpet. in answering the call in Lincoln on , Monday evening, and expressing their appreciation of the prompt action, and offered their assistance to Lexington at any time. 1 u Bids on the painting of the cottage and barn at 9 Hancock St., located on the ?.uekman Tavern property ancupied by John J. Garrity, Supt. of Parks was received as ifollows S Fred N. Hargreaves & Son - 1 coat $140. 2 coats. 260. .Bids, painting J. Garrity's Frank H. Tobin 1 coat 140. house. 2 coags 250. Ludwig Geiss 1 Coat Barn $40, cottage $70 - Total $110. 2 coats " 700 cottage $110 - Total $180. The. Board vct ed to award'the bid to the lowest bidder, Lud*ig Geiss, 917 Mass. Ave., Lex., at his bid of $180 for two coats of paint. Letter was received from the President of the Massa Association of Selectmen, Axel Zetterrnan, in which he thanked the Board for their letter of the Letter, Axel 8th instant. He stated that the letter referred to Zetterman re was not signed or authorized by him, and was repudiated gasoline tax, by him at the meeting.He agreed that some new Legislation should be favored by the SelectmenA t Assoc. to the end that more of the gasoline money be given to the Chapter 81 Towns, and that no Towns be burdened with the expense of any portion of the cost -69 building State highways. 1 u 1 1 P Letter was received from the Supt. of Public Works in which he reported that he talked with James V. Picariello in regard to the sidewalk assessment on.his property on Shirley Street, and Mr. Picariello stated that he did not s:ee any reason why he.should pay the sidewalk charge in,Asmuch as when he purchased the property there was no record of any lien upon the property, and he felt that the former owner should pay the sidewalk tape. Mr. Custance reported that he endeavored to. secure payment of this sidewalk assessment from Mrs. Holstrom who'ordered the sidewalk, but had been unable' to do so, and recommended that the'amount be abated. 17 Picariello sidewalk tax. Letter. was received from the Town Counsel in which he reported that Mr. Hendrick indicated that Costs, the costs that will be taxed in the 0!Connell case O'Connell would be between $150 and $1752 the exact amount would cases be determined at a later date. Letter was received from the Mass. Safety Council, 6 Beacon Street, calling attention to a confbrence Mass. Safet. on April 30th to discuss highway c8nd industrial Council acciddnt problems. Conference. This matter was left to Mr. John E. Gilcreast to attend the conference. The Chief of the. Fire Dept. reported regarding the notices which the Board requested that he draw up for posting around 1hhe Town, that he felt the Town should save the money which would be spent on printing the posters inasmuch as he did not believe Posters re that the posters would do a great deal toward Forest eliminating fires. fires. It was unofficially reported that Mr. Hamlin of Parker Street knew who the person was that set the fire in back of Lexington Gardens, and that he was ready to tak6 the party to Court. It was felt that if some action of this kind was taken and the person convicted, that it would do more good toward the stopping of fires than any other action which could be taken. Mr. Seamman re n_orte d an estimate of the cost of repairs on Pleasant Street, between Mass. Avenue and Watertown Street as $4200. If the street were scarifted rolled and used for a Foundation for a penetrated top, it would last for a number of years. If it were Pleasant scarified, a thin coating of gravel applied with Street. surfacing material and peac:stone top, the cost would be reduced about $800, but this would not im)rove the street except for one or two years. The Board felt that this street was in such poor condition thy. t a lftirly good job should be done on it and also that the Supt. should take off a part of the curve at the junction of Watertown Street which is now rather dangerous, and the Board so instructed the Supt. of Public Works, Report re accidents, Mass.Ave. Letter was received from the Chief of Police in ' regard to accidents in East Lexington, from Marrett Road to the Arlington line. He stated that the traffic turning left, onto Marrett Road from Mass. Ave. had difficulty in. entering this street, due to the fact that traffic going east on Mass. Ave refused to slow down. This is one of the causes of accidents at this point. Traffic coming down Marrett Road entering Mass. Ave. enters at a fast rate of speed and comes in contact with the east bound traffic on Mass. Ave. Strangers stop ::it Maple Street at the sign pointing to Cam- bridge and Boston. He also called attention to the fact. that the ro :d narrows down near Independence Aoe., and inas- michr:as the automobiles park on both sides of the street on account of the stores, this causes congestion. Traffic coming out of Pleasant Street refuses to slow down at the corner, and traffic on Mass. Ave. fails to slow down. Motorists making left turns, off the Avenue from F-asoline stations have caus.ed accidents. The width of Mass. Ave. at Bow lRtreet and Sylvia Street is a cause of dan*er to the children. There is also a grade on M+ass.AVe. near that point. He stated that he believed iall accidents in any part of the Town were caused.from speed. Mr. Trask called attention to the fact that the Board should make a report to the Town on this matter, in-.. asmuch as it was referred to them, and Mr. Custence made suggestions to remedy the -situation. He sgested'that a white line be drawn on Mass. Ave. from Marrett Road to - Pleasant Street'in the middle of the street; that the Board increase the candle power of the lights from Marrett Road to Pleasant Street; that no p arkirig be allowed on Independence Avenue for a disrance of 50 ft. from its intersection with -Mass. Ave., and no parking on Mass. Ave. at its junction. with Independene Ave. a distance of 25 or 30 feet from the corner, and that the Board consi�er adopting parking regulations to this effect. The Board. discussed the matter of painting a line on Mass. Ave. and felt that perhaps the vhIlte line should only be painted on the curves, inasmuch as this would hinder tk-affic going on the straight' stretches of•the road. The Supt. of Public Works was instructed to look up :rhe. cost of operation of larger lights from Independence Ave. to Pleasant Street. The Supt. of Public Works reported that Mr. haynas Haynes desired to have the easement presented -to him changed, easement. taking out the word ".rain", inasmueh as he felt that at Biome later date he might be compelled to allow an open drain on his premises. The Board saw no objection to this change in the ea.s ement . Mr. Cus t anc a called attention to the fact that the Trenches trenches across the highways are not properly tamped. fixed on He stated that they should be rolled and that the manner in highways. which they are now fixed, with heavy traffic passing over e r If 19, them, they settle v -pry quickly. The Board therefore instructed the Supt. of Public Works to see that all trenches were properly -fixed on , $edford Street from the railroad crossing to Mass. Ave. and on Mass. Acre. from near Parker Street to the Arlington line and also one on Waltham Street. The Supt. of Public Works was requested to have the Pumping stone bound and curbing removed from the pumping station Stat ion. property on Lincoln Street. Mr. Custance called attention to five elm trees on the Kelley place on Bedford Street. These trees are within the highway bounds, and they should have attention. Elm trees, It was left with the Supt. of Public Works .to find Bedford St, out whether or not the St ite would look after these trees inasmuch as Bedford Street at that point is a State highway. Mr. Custance also called attention to the fact that all the trees from Bedford St. to No. Hancock St. should be trimmed. .The Chainnan called attention to the fact that the trees in front of the Bashian property on Mass..Avenue should also be trimmed. ' Attention was called to the fact that requests were made for trees on Hillside Ferrate, Hill Top Ave., and Simonds Road. Trees. ' Discussion as to what kind of trdes should be planted was entered.into. Mr. Scamman reported that ma.ple'trees would be rather costly. It was decided -that if enough trees were needed, it might be well to send for scm e that would be received at a lower rate than they could be purchased for at some local place. .This matter was left with the Chairman to attend to. Mr. Blake called attention to the fire menace that Fi-^e existed on the premises of Edmund A. Webb, 27 Hayes Ave. Menace, He stated that Mr. Webb had sold some trees and that the Webb slash had been left on the ground and if a fire got into property. this it would destroy a great deal of territory. It was decided to request Mr. Webb to clean up the fire menace at a very early date. Mr. Custance reported having received notice from Tearing down the Lowell Building & Wreckirig Co., that they accept the Alms house. proposition of removing the Al=e House and sheds without cost to. the Town and they would provide liability insurance to protect the Town. The Board considered the rough draft of votes prepared for the Town Meeting and suggested certain changds to be made. The Clerk celled attention to the fact that when talking with the Town Accountant, he did not believe that bonds would be issued for the payment of d mages to Mr. O'Connell in the amount of $22,447, and the Clerk upon Town Meet- ing Votes. 20 rr V 0?Connell Bldg. line. talking to Mr. Waddell, was informed by him that he did not knout whether or not bonds could be issued on the building linea This was a new question to him. The Town Counsel informed the Clerk that he considered the build- ing line a part of the relocation of a street and for that reason bonds could be issued. Inasmuchas the question arose, it was decided to refer the matter to Mr. Custance to take up with Mr. Waddell to be sure of the proper decision on the. preparation for this vote. It was decided to call the next meeting of the Selectmen at 7 o'clock P.M.,'inasmuoh as the community service meeting is to be held in Cary Memorial Hall at 8, P.M.., at which time the Selectmen are requested to b e present. The weekly report of the Supt. of Public Works was faceived. The meeting adjourned at 11:30 P.M. A true record, Attest: Clerk. 1 1