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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1932-07-19SELECTMENIS MEETING JULY 19, 1932 ' A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Selectmen's Room, `Down Office Building, at 7:30 P.M. Messrs, Trash, Custance, Gilcreast, Ferguson and O?Connell were present. The Supt. of Public Works and the Clerk were also present. J �J Mr. Wyman came before the Board and stated that in 5eptmeber 1929 he bought a place on Locust Avenue. At that time his Attorney went through the records and found no lien on the property. It appears, however, that there - is a dewer as far as Robbins Road. On the 27th elf- December he received a letter from Mr. Bernard, from whom: -he purchased the property, enclosing a bill, dated Decber 17th from the Town for a sewer betterment 481 assessment. He communicated with Mr. Custance and Mr. Mr. Wyman, Scamman within a few days and they both told him that re sewer Mr. Bernard would pay the bill. There was a clause in it betterment which allowed him to make an application for ten years assessment. payment. He was told that it it would help matters if he would pay the $294. The matter went on and he spoke to Mr. Scamman and Mr. Bernard came back from California in December 1931, He went to his home at 1234 Beacon Street, Brookline and Mr. Bernard refused to pay the sewer bill. Later some of his friends informed him that they had seen his place in the paper advertised for taxes for the non-payment of the sewer tax. He was very much annoyed but he payed the bill to the Town. He felt that inasmuch as this was a gentlemen's agreement that Mr. Bernard should be made to ppy the bill which he suffered hAmiliation for by having his pr&perty advertised for the sewer tax. Mr, Custanee agreed to communicate with Mr. Bernard as soon as -he was informed of his address in an endeavor to collect the amount of the bill. Mr. Wyman also wanted to speak about the matter of sidewalk in front of his premises. He desired `to have a sidewalk put in along his premises and he wanted to change the grade and he applied to the Public Yorks Dept. and was informed that there were no funds at that time but that if he would put in the sidewalk, the Town would reimburse him one half the cost. As het he has not received one half of the expense inasmuch as he was informed that there were not funds in the Department. He felt, the rtfor, that he had been treated unfairly. The Board informed him that the 1931 funds are almost exhausted but if he would send in a copy of the receipted bill for the work done, he would be reimbursed for one half the coat, Mr. Benjamin Santosuosso came before the Board and stated that as a res-&itodf a notice to him that he would have to turn in the number plates of his car and of any Mr.Wyman re sidewalk. 482L,,bor �oven of is family owning a ear, he sold his on car for he that his He a stated that understood son, ny, turned 7in his number plates on the 22nd of the month and they cancelled his'insurance. Mr. Santosuosso asked that he be given more work. The Board informed him that they would check up in regard to the car and consider whether or not they would give him any further assistance, Unemploy. Mr. Thomas Ryan of 17 Grant Street came before the ment Board and stated in regard to the notice h&nteeelledt, relative to his son turning in.his number plates if he was to obtain work., that his son was of age and that he bought this automobile and he says if he has to turn in the number plates he will go and board out and he will then lose $10, a week board. The car is a 1928 Dodge car, the Excise Tax costs him $2.99 And the car itself is not worth very mzzvh. Mr. Ryan has worked only two days this month, but he has had work in the past, Mr, Manuel Moniz came before the Board and was informed that inasmcuh as he was not a citizen, he would have to apply to the Welfare Dept, for assistance if he needed it. Mr. Fred Modoona came before the Board relative to the notice sent to his father relative to turning in the number plates of the cars owned by his two sons. He stated that he had a Ford car which was not as yet paid for. He gets $4, a day and works six days a week. There are ten in the famlly.at home. He had a great many bills in the vicinity of $500. that were not paid. He paid about $100* on his car and pays something each month. The insurance also is not paid up. The car was registered in the name of John Modoona., his ounger brother. He gives into the family each week 13. towards the support of the family. Sometimes he gives in $5. Mr. Modoona stated that his father also owned what was formerly the.Hughes house from which he gets $25. per month when he gets it. the Board informed him that they would take the matter under consideration., but they felt that he should give more into the family for support than he was now giving. Mr, Russell I. Prentiss., Health and Milk Inspector., came before the Board and presented samples taken of the milk in July to show the work done by him on the milk tests. He also sent in a report in Health regard to the water in the Lexington Reservoir which matters. proved to be satisfactory for bathing purposes. He also reported on the swimming pool. He reported that it cost five dollars to I -ave the water analyzed. The Board discussed whether or not it might be advisable to turn the Metropolitan water into the Lexington Reservoir, but it was felt that it would take considerable water to raise the height of the water in the pond, Mr. Prentiss stated that he would make another examination of the water in the Reservoir the first of the month. He stated that last year the water in t he swimming pool showed hardly any contamination and they took eight samples during the season* . In regard to'the letter to Mr*Prentiss relative to I his absence from his duties of the Town, he stated that this is.the first time in.nine years that he has been away any lentth of time. If he was away for three or four days a week, he would always be horn on the week- end to attend to the business at that time. He stated that in 1924 he became Milk Inspector and later Mr. Miles of the Board of Selectmen came to him and informed him that he had had the Chief of Police acting as -Health Officer and that it had not been satisfactory and asked him if he would take on the work. His first duty was the inspectionofthe piggeries and at that time there was considerable trouble with piggeries, and the cases were brought to Court and he made a great many inspections. After that he also had the inspection of cesspools and any complaints that were turned in. He later began inspecting stores, barber shops and beatrty parlors. He rewrote a good part of the Health Regulations. Part of this work he has taken on himself without any instructions from the. Board inasmuch as he felt it should be done. he stated that while he was away he started to work early in the morning,and did not get through until ten at night and therefor'did not have a very good opportunity to communicate with the Board and he also had to work on Sundays. The Board discussed the matter and felt that Mr. Prentiss had taken care of all the matters thathad been hanging over during his abseense and also felt thst his salary is by the year and they would not make any reduction for the loss of time. ' It was voted to grant the petition of the N. E. Tel. & Tel. Co. and the $. E. i. Co. for location of one pole on Concord Avenue approximately 30 feet southwesterly of the -Lexington -Lincoln line. Mr. Edward Ballard came before the Board and present- ed a proposed perspective of the layout of the grounds around the Public Works Dept. Building. He suggested a thirty foot roadway going into the building and that this roadway be laid out all around the building. He suggested that in the center of the .roadway, directly ini'front of the building, an island to indicate that the persons should either park in front or drive around the building. The second sketch showed the planting with suggested trees around the entire road and in the front, suggesting a section screened by trees which might later be sold to a private party. He suggested that the cheapest kind of a treeefdrothe plaft - in the back of the road might be willows, but ofcourse they would not be a screen for 411 months of the year; also that if maples are planted, that the gravel will have to be removed so that the roots, can go down far enough to get moisture. Instead of arbor vitae in front of the building, it was d1tAgasted that red cedars might be planted, they being less spWsticated. ' He stated that he would be glad to bring in a planting plan and felt that the trees in the Park land should be used wherever possible inasmuch as the Town could grow trees from seeds. Hes tated that in ordinary planting, he would figure on shrubs from three to four feet high, but it might be possible in this instance to put in shrubs from two to three feet high that would be less Pole location. Publ is Works Dept.Bldg. grounds. 484 expensive, He also suggested that locust trees might be planted along the line of the M. & B, St, Rwy. Co. property. The Board instructed the Town Engineer to go forth with the laying out of the entrance to the building on the lines laid down by Mr. Ballard in his plin and Mr, Ballard agreed to bring in the planting plan at an early date. Letter was received from Mr, caul Bowser, in which he stated that he would like to construct approximately six or seven hundred feet of Grant Street running from Bowser his new garage twward East Street, this to be done in request accordance with the Towns specifications, and he asked to con- if when the Town decided to put the street through, he struct would be given credit .for the number of feet constructed, Grant St, The Board'agreed that Mr. Bowser had made considerable improvement on his premises; that he had built a.garage with an apartment overhead that was of considerable value and inasmuch as he intends to build a home ,that will bring considerable taxation, they felt that the courtesy should be extended to him of allowing him to build this street, and to allow him credit for the portion of the street built by him based upon the cost of construction at the time the street was built. Attention of the Board was called to the fact that a hearing will be held on the relocation of East East Street next Tuesday evening. .The Board viewed the.plan St.hear- presented by the Town Engineer and felt that there should ing, be no claim for damages from any of the abuttors. The. Board discussed the manner in which Pollen Aoad was being constructed, and Mr. Custance stated that the blue loam should not be left in the streeV. that r'ollen Rd, rough gravel should be put in on the sides of the street, The Board also felt that.the Supt, of Public Works should not hir& trucks from outside, that we had sufficient Town trucks -to arrange to have them available for the work to be done. Mr. O'Connell reported lbaving seen Mr, Ross's Trucks truck hired for the work on Pollen Road while the Water for work. Dept, truck was laying idle all that day, N Mr, Ferguson also called attention to the fact that the ParkDept, truck was laying idle for one hour in the afternoon and he felt arrangements' could be made whereby there could be trucks furnished for the work when necessary. Mr* Custance reported that Mr. Merriam had made a request that Mr. George E. Pekins be appointed as Special Police Officer. inasmuch as he lived on the Special Merriam property. Police. Mr. O'Connell abated thathesaw no necessity of making the appointment; that Mr, David Murphy was much more of a caretaker than Mr, Pekins was. It was stated that Mr, Pekins has a badge and he felt he should turn the badge in. It was therefor decided not to appoint him its a Special Police officer and to request him to turn in his badge. L � a Supt, was requested to have a shade placed on the light on Audubon Road in front of the house of Hubert Grieves. The ' Supt. of Public Works reported in regard to Street the lights on Pinewood Street that one light should be lights. placed on the pole half dray between Follen Road and Summit Road and one light in Summit load directly opposite Pinewood Street. The Board instructed the Supt. of have the lights installed when the appropriation would allow it, and Mr. C. B. Van Wyck was so informed. 1 1 The Board voted to pass an order for the construction Side. of a sidewalk on Muzzey Street in front df the propertyof walk. Bion C. Merry. - Certificate of Incorporation of the Lexington Botanic Gardens with Stephen F. Hamlin, 45 Parker Street, Certificate Helen N. Webster, 1916 Mass. Avenue' Marion G. Whipple, of Incor- 15 Belfry Terrace and Alice Manning,.50"Woodland Road poration. as Directors was signed by the Board.' Supt. of Public Works reported that he talked with Mr. R. D. Brown of the Edison Company in regard to the lighting of the Minute -Man from underneath rather than overhead. Mr. Brown advised that the overhead lighting from the flood light was fauch more satisfactory than from below because there are fewer shadows cast from overhead. Mr. Brown suggested that he talk with Mr. Willard D. Brown about it inasmuch as he wgs on the Committee the time the light was installed. Mr. Custance stated that he would not go into the matter any further inasmuch as Mr. Brown's opinion was sufficient. Supt. of Public Works reported that the rear of the Shea property in East Lexington which the Shea boys asked be filled in consisted of approximately 91,476 square feet and would cost about $5000 to fill so that it could be used for building purposes, Besides the filling, the property should be properly drained. He felt that any work done on the property would be a waste of money until the brook nearby could be lowered and the property properly drained. Ile stated that Mr. Shea had some work done on the building and wanted to be allowed to make repairs to use the building as a store. Flood light at Statue. Shea property.` List of outstanding water rates for section three was presented. Mr. Custande called attention to the fact that some of the unemployed should be allowed an extra day to work out their water rates inasmuch as there were Water rates several bills that have not been paid. He felt also that an order should be signed by the unemployed giving authority to the Treasurer to withhold some money each week toward .the water rates. Mr. Custance also called attention to the fact that the Water Dept, should notify the bank having the mortgage on property where the water rates have run up and have been uppaid so that the bank could give the matter their attention. 486 Shirley St, The Board decided to lay the 'matter of the Shirley. sewer. Street sewer over for another week. �C Copy of the report of the analysis of the Algonquin , Springs was received and the report was not f avorable inasmuch as the recommended no building bear the spring Algonquin be used for habitation. The owner of this property springs. recently requested permission to extend the business to allow the making of carbonated beverages, Drainage. The Town Engineer was requested to report on the drainage near Hillside Terrace for next week. Mr. Custance called attention to the fact that the property at the cement block plant formerly operated by Arley Bur ess of Woburn Street should be cleaned up, t was decided to notify the Lexington Savings Bank who hold the mortgage on the property that the property has become a nuisance and should be cleaned up. The weekly report of the Supt. of Public Works was received. The.meeting adjourned at 11:52 P.M. A true record, Attest: - Clerk, I