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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1931-11-24248 SELECTMEN'S MEETING NOVEMBER 24, 1931 A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Sblectmen's Room, Town Office Building, at 7:30 , P.M. Messrs. Trask, Blame, Custance, Shannon and Pilcreast were present. The Supt. of Public 'corks and the Clerk were also. present. Letter was received from'Jr. F. L. Emery stating Letter was received from the United Improvement Society of East Lexington in which they asked that the Mr. Cosgrove was not authorized to give his time to the Board consider the widening of Baker Avenue. They stated Drainage. that the road bed is now only 17 feet wide and they wbuhd Baker like to have it Crider. They desired to fix their sidewalks Avenue, if the street was in the proper condition. stated that he would rely to Mr. The matter was referred to Mr-. Scamman to prepare figures on the cost of the work requested and present expressing the views of the Board that them to the Board. Letter was received from P. Ferri of the Ferri Nurseries in which he called attention to the fact that Planning Board. he did not have an opportunity to bldc:onnthe work of r'.Ferri,re planting shrubbery at the High School. He stated that bids on he understood also that the Franklin School property s'nrubbery. was to be decorated. He stated that as a tax payer of him that later the town, he felt that he should be entitled to an oppor- tunit;y to bid. They Board felt that he should be entitled to Sunday for the bid, and the Chairman was directed to to <e the matter up with the Svhool Committee. Water rates. List of the outstanding grater rates of Section One , was presented to the Board. leeting. Notice of a hearing on amendments to the Civil Service Laws on Wednesday, Dec. 2., at 2 P.M., Room 149, State House, was received. Bill of the Town Counsel for services in the Tax Frost case. Title case of J. Newton Frost in the amount of $42.40 was approved by the Board. The Sunt. of Public Works was requested to investigate and find out whether or not the Frost property had been cleaned up. This property is adjoining the Westview Cemetery and has not been kept in a neat condition. Letter was received from'Jr. F. L. Emery stating that Yie noted by the letter received from the board that Vine Brook Mr. Cosgrove was not authorized to give his time to the Drainage. Planning Board to study the Vine Brook Drainage. The Chairman stated that he would rely to Mr. Emeryts letter, expressing the views of the Board that Mr. Cosgrove would be authorized to do the work for the Planning Board. Unemployment The Chairman reported that the local theater informed I relief. him that later on they would put on a motion picture on Sunday for the benefit of unemployment relief. 249 The Chairman also reported that in addition to the Chairman and the Clerk of the Board, he would ep pointe Mr. Charles H. Schofield, President of the 3oard of Trade, Mrs. Kenneth P. Balke, Vice -President of the Public Health Association, mid Eugene Kraetzer, Chairman, of the Red Cross Committee, as a committee on Unemployment Relief. Letter was received from Edward Wo Taylor, Chief Engineer of the Fire Department, in which he asked whether or not any of the other Town Departments were decreasing their appropriation ten per cent, and if so what depart- Appropriation, ments were doing this. He requested information about the School, Police, Highway, Water and Sewer, and Engineering. Departments. The Chairman replied to Mr. Taylor info ening him that the Board has requested all the departments to cut their appropriation at least 10 per cent, _and, some have cut it more than ton per cent and some less, and that they desired the cooperation of the Fire Department to that extent. Complatnt was received from Mr...:E1mer.L.Cushman of 23 Chase Avenue in .regard to dirty water running out from a hose onto the street from the house of James E. McCarthy, 27 Chase Avenue. Mrs. Chshman complained that her children got into Complaint. the dirty water and she was afa?aid of sickness. The matter was reported to Mr. Prentiss requesting ' that he investigate the complaint and consult with Mr. McCarthy in regard to this matter.. Hearing was declared open on the application of the American Oil Company for permission to increase the capacity of gasoline tanks 200 gallons. This was argoint hearing with.the Board of Appeals, Gasoline The Chairman read the notice of the hearing of the hearing. Bo&:rd»df Selectmen and Mr. Glynn, Clerk Pro -tem of the Bd. of Appeals read the notice ,of the Board of Appeals. . Mr. J. F. Hayes, representin:- the American Oil Co., appeared and explained that they now have two tanks of 2000 gallons and they would like the extra two thousand gallons for convenience. There are now three grades of gas, the regular, the ethyl and a cheaper grade of gas and most all of:the companies now are applying for additional capacity so they can meet the demand of the public for this other gas. They have now three pumps and they did not intend to have any additional pump. They didi�. however, intend to remove the pumps to a different location and move them in about ten feet, which would be an improvement. The stated that the new location would probably line up with the pumps at the Five Forks Service'Station. - ' No persons appeared to object, and the Board voted to grant the permit. Hearing was declared open ont he application of Robbins and Smith for permission to maintain a private garage on lot #45 Smith Avenue. Mr. Smith did not apT ar, but Robbins & the Clerk was informed by him that he could not locate Smith thegarage any farther back on the lot owing to the grade garage of 18 or 20 per cent. He was, however, locating the garage hearing. 250 72 feet from the line. No persons appeared to object, and it was voted to grant the permit. O'Connell Hearing was declared open on the apnlicati.on of garage Daniel J. O'Connell for permission to maintain a two car hearing. private garage at 11-13 Muzzey Street.Mr. O'Connell did not appear and there was no objection. It was voted to grant the permit. Letter was received from the Town Counsel in reference to fixing; the salaries for the various departments. He stated that the Fire Department condition according to law was a little bit,,peculiar,_but after viewing the law, he was of the opinion that the heads of the department had the authority to establish the s&,Iaries. The Chairman called attention to the action taken by the Board at the last meeting wherein it was voted ,IF to decrease the salaries of the firemen fifty cents per day, and stated that he had written a letter to the Town Accountant, Chairman of the Appropriation Committee and Chief of the Fire Department to this effect. It appears,, therefor, that these letters must be withdrawn inasmuch as the Board has no authority to fix the salaries of the Fire Department. Attention was called to the fact, however, that the head of the department might be reprimanded for overrunning on account of giving an increase in dUary. Town Counsel, S. R. Wrightington, came before the Board to discuss the guarantbes for the construction of water mains. Mr. Rupert Stevens, Robert L. Ryder and John J. Burtch came before the Board in regard to water extension on Lowell Street. T]Ae Board discussed the matter at length as to surety that they should request. Mr. Rupert Stevens presented hftssbond with the signature of Floyd L. Carr, 83 Meriam Street. Mr. Ryder was informed lbhat the Board would accept a bond with the name of Minnie Ryder, wife of Charles W. Ryder thereon, End Mr. Burtch was informed that he could get someone to sign his bond for surety. Mr. Custance figured the guaranty to be paid as follows: John J. Burtch $50. Antonio Mercadante 125. Lexington Realty Trust, Robert L. Ryder, Trustee 250. Rupert Stevens 200. Genevieve Eaton 20. —f6-456 r 1 C 1 The usual custom of signing of guaranty bonds allows any person on the bond to beliable if the others fail. The Board decided to consider the interest of persons like Mrs. Genevieve Eaton wiio could not afford to pay more than $20., and for this reason. -felt that the amount to be guaranteed should be divided as stated above. They suggested that the owners of the property could get together aid draw up an agreement to pay these amounts and send the agreement to the Water and Sewer Dept* and that each person be held responsible only for that amount as stated in the agreement. The Board discussed the construction of the various streets that the Town voted to construct, that is Smith Avenue amd Independence avenue, Crescent Hill Avenue and Tucker Avenue. Mr. Trask called attention to the fact that he felt bids should be received on the use of the steam shovel and that Mr. Stevens should not be employed without bids from other contractors on the use of the steam shovel to follow the Town By-laws as much .as possible. Mr. Custance stated thep�e would be very little shovel work on the streets to be corfstructed. Howe9er, Mr. Scamman presented figures"on the use of the steam shovel as follows'. Replies to telephone calls for information on price per day for steam shovels: . Anthony Ross & Son, $7.50 per hour - no charge made when idle. Operator furnished. R. H. Stevens, $7.50 per hoar including engineer & fireman - no charge when idle or during repairs. John A. Gaffey & Sons, 19 James St., Medford. $50.00 per day straight time. Furnish Engineer and firemam. Charge for all day - when idle, extra chargedfor rock work. J.Sullivan, 25 Willard St.,Cambridge. $60 a day straight time whether idle or working. Extra charge for rock work. Engineer, fireman and pitman 'furnished. If idle on holidays men must be paid full time. If worked on holidays mem-must be paid double time. John Fannon, Liberty St.,Somerville. $55.00 a day straight time. No time out for being idle. Extra charge for rock work. 251 Guaranty bonds. Mr. Scamman also stated that other contractors request the Town to pay for the steam shovel if it breaks on the job, Steam also that you have to pay from the time they leave their premises shbvel until they return and at the present time Mr. Stevens is only paid. for the actual time he puts the steam shovel on the job. Also Mr. Stevens puts in a great deal of time supenvi-,sing tbek on highways for which he receives no pay and he supervises the work of the steam shovel for which nothing extra is charged. The. Board requested bhe Supt. of Public Works to have the Highway budget ready for discussion by the Appropriation Committee at_as early a date as possible. Highway The Board believed that the Highway Maintenance budget. account should be reduced to $52,000. for 1932. 252 Letter was-rec=_ive.d from Arthur E. Rowse of Bedford in regard totheaccident at le junction,of Hil_ Street and_.Bedford.Street. $e,stated.that he codes down Hill Stre,:t from the Golf Club several times e ch week and alwAys stops before entering Bedford Street. Heavy trucks and fast moving automobiles are constantly passing this point, Bedford Street being a main highway. He stated that lie did not know what the court decid=d, but the Accident. Lexing on Police mace a serious complaint against one of the drivers of the cars, the one coming along Bedford Street, and he was not responsible. lie claimed that the Town of Lexington was responsible for not taking reasonable care inasmuch as sto;, lights were not located at this street. 4 It was understood that the couple coming out of Hill Street were traveling at tie rate of 40 mile per hour at this intersection. There -for, tt did not a_ipear that they were taking due caution. The Board discussed the matter and uir. Scaim-w n informed them that the State De -t. of Public Works had l;revious_y been to Lexingt_n and advised that they did not bslieve there was any necessity of stogy, signs at this location. It f,as understood that they had come to Lexington again since that time but their recomneddatic,n had not been rec6tved. The Supt. of Public Works was requested to obtain further information -from them about this location. Mr. E1nil Fellman, 177 Scituate Street, Arlington, Mass., who has purbhased lot A on Highland Avenue and is constructing a one faraily brick house on the land, directed a communication to the Board'aski.ng that the drain which was originally constructed by the Town and crosses Highland AvenAe be constructed f9rt:a dIsta.nce(.of,I-fifty feet along his property. Highland Mr. Fellman also came before the Board inasmuch as Avenue he desired to know as soon as possible what could be done. drain. Mr. Fellman was informed that the Board were checking up the records on the drainage and were not sure of their position and whether or not there was any liability on the part of the Town to construct the drain. Mr. Fellman stated that something mast be done or he would have to build a concrete wall if nothing more could be done. He desired that some action be taken immediately so that he could fix up his property, and he felt that if the ditch is left as it is, someone might fall into it and be injured. He state::d that he was` of the opinion that the Town should do the drainage work owing to the fact that they had previously done the work on Highland Avenue. Letter was received from Mr. Fred W. Miller in which he stated that his attention was called to the fact that Mr. Emil Fellman was constructing a house on Highlead Avenue next to the sdrealled Engstrom Brook and was placing; fill alonT the bank of the brook in such a manner as to eventually cause a stoppage in its flow. He 16oked the situation over and saw that the fill was running down the easterly bank of the brook and into the Culvert, under Highland Avenue, and while at the present time there is no water in the brook at that point, as soon as weather conditions cause .the brook to flow the water will carry sand into the culvert and cause a stoppage. D 1 1 1 He felt that this brook has caused considerable trouble and expense And that something should be done to stop any d -mage that might be caused by Mr. F'ellman's placing the fill in the brook. The Board considered the matter and decided that they would inform Mr. F'ellman as soon as they found out what tD.e status of the Town was from the records and from the opinion of the Town Counsel and if it became a Town proposition, if he desired to put in the drain they would reimburse him at some future date. In regard to Mr. Salvatore Trani's request for a street light at the corner of Haskell Street and Summer Street, the Supt. of Public Works requested that a street light be placed at the corner of Haskell Street and Lowell street and one at the corner of Haskell Street m d Summer Street. The Supt. of Public Works was requested to carry out his recommendations. The Chairman stated that lie had a strong plaa from Mrs. Hugh D. McLellan, representing the Parent -Teachers Association, in which she requested that some protection be given to school children at Mass.Avenue and Woburn Street. She suggested that stop signs be put in at Winthrop Road and Woburn Street. The Board discussed the matter, and Mr. Custence recommended that Dave Burke might be employed, possibly at the rate of $.50 per day, to take care of this location. Another suggested was that the Asst Janitor at the High School might be employed at a small additional amount to take care of this work. The Board referred the matter to the Chairman to take up with the School Dept. to see whether they could Ass arrange to have the t Janitor'take care of the children at this point three times a day. 253 Street lights . Protection for sbhoo 1 children. The Chairman reported that Mr. Haynes called his attention to the bntrance into Hill Street and felt that it should be widened. He therefor requested the Supt. Widening, of Public Works to give figures on the cost of widening Hill Street. the ent^ace of Hill Street into Bedford Street. The Supt. of Public Works stated that he did not believe that the widening would make the conditions any safer, and to widen the travelled way it would be necessary to remove the curbing and set it back three feet on each side and excavate the poor material and replace it with gravel and seal it with tar. Ile recommended that the work be done as far as Sargent Street. The cost of removing and setting back the curbing would be $50. and the other work $400. unless lede or boulders were encountered. ,/ The Hoard did . believe that doing this work would remedy the conditions. Mr.F. L. Emery made request that some of the Trust Lothrop, Admit - Funds might be used to furnish money for the admittance ta.nce to Home. of Mrs. Lothrop, formerly of Bloomfield Street, to the Old Ieopl's home. The h v t, s e ac t any- one without the pay mens o 3�8. ami stibn,its. 254 Lothrop could not obtain the $300. It was understood that Mrs. Lothrop has some out property and Mr. Gilereast agreed to look it up to see whether or not she had property sufficient to obtain money enough for her admission, otherwise she might be an , applicant for Old Age Assistance, Mr. Custance reported in regard to the meeting at the office of the Metropolitan Planning Division that Mr. Clarence Cutler, Mr. Wm. D.. Milne, Mr. Albert H. Meeting, Burnham, Joseph Cotton and he represented Lexington Yet.Planning at this meeting. The Towns of Wakefield and Saugus Di.vision• and other Towns were representee? also. They discussed the relocation of Route 128 which will affect Lexington, E d discussed establishing a through route through Concord Avenue,, also the street coming through Arlington to connect with Meple Street. Mr. Custane.e stated that he discussed with Mr. Wyman about the damages' on this layout and-Mr. Wyman stated that the State now are paying for damages on streets laid out by them. Mr. Fred Lonbottom came before the Board and informed them that he had a compl2 nt from Mr. Leslie Wood about a shack owned by a man named Crescenzio Sperandeo. This man has been living in this shack for �.uilding twelve or fourteen years m d now he has built an addition violations. on to it without any permit. It is located. ont.the Battle View Park Section There is also another shack in there occupied by a man bj the name of Michele Stacchi. Neither of these places complied with the Building Laws, and the Board therefor voted to authorize the Building Inspector to communicate with the Town Counsel in regard to notifying these persons to demolish.their.places. Mr. Longbottom stated that he found no record of any permit ever having been issued to Mr. Sperandeo. The Board gave Mr., Longbottom authority to prosecute these persons if the Town Counsel believe it can be done, under the circumstances. The Board decided to recommend to the Appropriation Committee that the Selectmen recommend a decrease of Fire Dept. fifty cents per day in the salaries of the permanent men salaries. in the Fire Dept. s, Sewert The Board signed the order for the installation of orders. a sewer in Plymouth Road, Richard Road to 'Robbins Road. The Chariman reported hat Mr. Stephen F. Hamblin, 45 Parker Street, informed him that he had been run t1to Complaint by Miss Margaret Thompson who is employed by Mr. Earle. re traffic He was going across on the traffic light at Bedford Street , regulations. and Elm Avenue and was struck in the leg. The complained of the traffic lights inasmuch as he felt that they were not property regulated, and made various suggestions of changes that should be made. The Chairman replied to Mr. Hamblin quoting the Standard Code of Traffic Control by the State Dept, of Public Works, and informed him that he felt that their 255 recommendations shoild be taken on matters of this kind Inasmuch as they have made a study of this matter. The weekly report of the Supt. of Public Works was received The meeting; adjourned atill :45 P.M. A true record, Attest: Clerk. *The Board signed the orders for the layout of the following streets; Smith Ave., Independence Ave., Crescent Hill Ave., and Tucker Avenue . 1