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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1933-11-28425 SELECTMEN'S MEETING NOVEMBER 28, 1933 A regular meeting of the Selectmen was held in the Town Office Building, Selectmen's Room, at 7:30 P.M. Messrs. Trask, Gilcreast, Ferguson, O'Connell and Lyons were present. The Clerk was also present. The Board voted to grant a permit for an overhanging Overhanging sign to James F. Cavanaugh of Grant Street to hang a sign Sign. on the building x#1769 Mass. Avenue. It appeared, however, that there was a discrepancy in the permit of the overhang of the highway and this was to be corrected and also the approval of the building In- spector and a certificate of insurance filed before the permit was finally given. Letter was received from Paul Bowser in which he Street stated that there was a necessity for two lights on Grant Lights. Street rather than one. Mr. Gilcreast stated that he had visited Mr. Bowser but'did not find him at home. However, he took the let- ter and stated he would see him again in regard to the ' location of the lights. Letter was received from E. B. Russell, Social Worker Glasses of the Middlesex County Sanatorium in which she requested for that lenses costing $4. be furnished for Kenneth B. Dow K. Dow. who has a settlement in the Town of Lexington. The Board voted to furnish the lenses as requested. Letter was received from the American Legion inviting Invitation. the Board to attend a meeting at Estabrook Hall on Tuesday December 5th, at which time Mr. Hunter of the Industrial Defense Association is to be the speaker of the evening. This-17eing the regular meeting night of the Board of Sel- ectmen, they would be unable to attend. Invitation was received to attend the Lighting Con- " ference 6f7•the Boston Chamber of Commerce. The letter was referred to Mr. Gilcreast for his attention. Since the last meeting of the Board, it became neves- O'Toole sarlr to furnish coal to Mrs. O'Toole, Old Age Assistance Coal. recipient and the Chairman and Mr. Gilcreast approved the order of 4 ton of coal in this case. It was felt that in this particular case, owing to the circumstances, it would be better to furnish coal, and the ' Board therefore authorized that coal be furnished in this case up to four tons. Letter was received from James E. Ward of 229 Har- vard Street, Brookline, applying for the position of Asst. Town Accountant. The Board, decided not to take any action on the matter. Mass. Notice was received of meetings of the Mass. Civic Civic League on December 5th and 12th at which time talks were League to be given by Mr. Sam A. Lew�shon, Chairman of the New York Commission to Investigate Prison Administration and Construction and Joseph W. Bartlett, Chairman of the Mass. Emergency Finance Board, respectively. Holton Letter was received f%wom the Town Counsel in which he & enclosed agreement signed by E. Elizabeth Holton and Louise Brogna M. Brogna in settlement of damages on Wood Street. He also enclosed his bill for legal services of $150 which was approved. Wood Notice was received from the State Dept. of Public Street. Works in which they stated that they had approved the work on the construction of Wood Strut under the contract. Toomey Letter was received from the Town Counsel in which he Case. instructed that the Toomey shack owned by Mrs. Mary A. Toomey, 25 Winter Street, Cambridge, should be now wrecked by the Town inasmuch as she was given an opportunity for a hearing and a sheriff's notice was served upon her. It was decided to instruct the Supt. of Public Works to have the shack taken down on Monday, December 4th. It was also decided to notify Mrs. Mary A. Toomey to have the furniture in the shack removed before that time. The mat- erial was to be left upon the premises. Asst. Town Accountant. trans- The Chairman reported that he requested the Appro- fer priation Committee to transfer $200, from the Reserve Fund of to the Town Accountant's Account inasmuch as the accountant $200. desired to purchase an adding machine and other materials for his office. Tea Notice of the decision of the Board of Appeals on the Room application of Margaret L. Ducharme for permission for a tea room on the farm formerly owned by William P. Martin on Marrett Road was received. ' Water The Board signed the following statements of water liens Liens. against the following property for the following amounts: - 1 Caroline Bowker $13.00 James A. Burrell 14.50 , Pauline H. Claire 12.25 7 CIS 42'7 Water Liens (Cont.) Gustaf S. & VanJa Julin $15.00 Maria McLaughlin 30.78 Melvin A. Jennings 15.00 Margrethe M. Kargaard 16.74 Wilbur E. Rundlett 17.97 Clara Reynolds 35.31 Erie A. Roberts, $ Evelyn A. 18.84 Louis J. Reynolds 17.49 William J. Miskell 77.01 Lillian M. Grassby 18.06 Isabella Fardy 32.50 Margaret Martos 16.32 Wm. F. Ducharme 42.44 Hilda B. & Stephen J. Dolan 12.27 John J. Dwyer 18.39 Minnie M. Ryder 47.28 Chas. W. Ryder & Robert L. 37.29 Albert G. Ross 16.24 Verbal report was received from the Health Inspector in which he stated that Mr. Clyde Steeves was expected to con- Steeves nett the cesspool today on his property occupied b7T Mr. Cesspool. Plummer which has been a cause of nuisance to the neighbor- hood and which was ordered to be completed today. The Board authorized bids to be obtained on the Town Town Report for 1933. Report. Verbal report was received from Mr. Frank H. Gerlach, 76 Bedford Street, Lexington, that the car owned by him which was badly damaged on Maple Street about one-half mile from the Shell Station, on November 28th, was damaged on account of a defect in the highway. The report of the Police Department on the acnident did not state anything; relative to a highway defect. The Supt. of Public Works, however, s ggested that he be informed that he should take the matter up with Mr. Frdd Sabin, State Dept. of Public Works, under hose jurisdiction this State highway is placed. Commitment of sewer assessment charges for Bedford St. Tiowksbury, Shirley and Sargent Streets in t e amount of $3117.62 was signed by the Board. The Asst. Assessor, Fred J. Spencer, was very necessary that the streets in the bered the same as Mass. Avenue was renumbe it is almost impossible to give correct in sons desiring to know who the owners of pr The Board decided to refer the matter Engineer and request him to make a report matter. stated that it town by renum- sd inasmuch as ormation to per- perty are. to the Town n regard to the Gerlach Accident. Commit- ment. Numbering Street. 428 n c� �c Building Mr. William F. Green of Fern Street appeared before ' on the Board and stated that there was a place located on Fern Fern St. Street which had been used for a machine shop that the Building Inspector has given a permit to be changed into a dwelling house. The people on that street are endea- voring to have the street widened to a width of forty feet and he felt that the Building Inspector there should not issue a permit for this building to be changed to a dwelling inasmuch as it would be more expensive for the owners in that vicinity at a later date if he is allowed to improve the property to that extent. The Building Inspector was also before the Board and explained that he f elt he had a right to grant the man a permit, and did so, and owing to the fact that he happened to be in the building he desired to hear what Mr. Green had to say about the matter. Both Mr. O'C'onnell and Mr. Lyons informed Mr. Green that the Building Inspector would have no authority to re- fuse the man a permit to remodel this building, provided it was done 'n accordance with the Building Laws, just because at some future date the street might be widened. Mr. Green, however, differed with the members of the Board and still felt that the man should not be granted a permit. Complaints Letter was received from Ernest C. Martin, owner of ' re the drug store at the corner of Mass. Avenue and the en - new trance to Depot Square, in which he asked for a hearing. Bus Stop. Mr. Martin also appeared before the Board and presented his objections. He stated that the bus stop was going to cost him many hundred dollars in the course of a year. He felt that it did not relieve the congestion and that the Police Dept. were tagging the cars that stopped in the bus stop and therefore they could not go into his store. He explained that the other evening a man and woman came into the store and purchased about $4. worth of cigars and candy and var- ious things and went out and got into their car before they happened to be tagged, and it is such purchases as this that he will lose out on, on account of the bus stop being established. Also, in the past he has made quite an effort to get the corner cleaned up and since the taxi stead has been established, the taxi men hang around his corner rather than on the other corner where the stands were established. He also stated that it took up the whole front of the Ross Stores grid Mr. Dom. Ross was present and stated that -the people are now making a waiting room out of his store and that it will be a general nuisance to him, and furthermore, it"blocks up the space in front of his store where people could drive in, take a piece of furniture out to the car and drive off. If people drive beyond the store they are up to the taxi stands and by the time they get to Rudd's store, ' ' they would not stop to come back to his store, and he felt it was driving business away from his store., ' Mr. Martin stated also that he understood that the M-iddlesex & Boston Street Rwy. Co. desired to have the stop just below the previous stop in Mass. Avenue near the Edi- son office, and he felt that this location would be very much better for the bus stop. He stated that when the bus stop was located in front of Trani's store, there was no stop painted on the street as there is now and that cars were parking in the bus stop all the time. He stated that he would have to reduce his help in the store if the bus stop remained there. He stated that right now he depended a lot upon the transient travel and on Sundays the cars stop in front of his place to make purchases. Now with the bus stop in front of his place he will lost that trade. Mr. Martin also suggested that the Board might consider establishing a parking rule from 7 to 10 making one"half hour parking on Mass. Avenue. The Board informed him that they would discuss the matter. Mr. Martin, being a Director of the Board of Trade, the letter of the Board of Trade in which they suggested that two-thirds of the green at Depot Square Park be set aside for a public parking space properly I -aid out and marked for parking was discussed. The Board informed Mr. Martin that there was a re- striction included in the deed whereby it was to be used for a public park for 100 ,years from the date of the deed in 1922 and could not be changed unless voted upon at a town meeting. After discussing the matter in private session, the Board decided to inform the Board of Trade that they did not feel that the amount of space gained would warrant their taking up the matter at a Town Meeting att his time. Letter was received from Anstiss 5. Hunt. et al which stated that the tenants in their block complained of them of the bus stop recently established in front of their building, complaints being based on the loss of business resulting from the establishing of the bus stop. Letter was also received from the Board of Trade ob- jecting to the recently established bus stop in front of the store of Ernest C. Martin and requesting that it be placed back on Mass. Avenue at Waltham Street near the space occupied by a taxi stand. It was decided to notify Anstiss S. Hunt et al, the Board of Trade and also Mr. Martin, that the Board decided to try out the bus stop at this location for a longer time to see how it would work out. Letter was received from William L. Barnes in which he called attention to a matter which has been before the Board of Selectmen at a previous date relative to covering of the brook near his property on Fletcher Avenue. �He explained that what he wanted to do was to cover the brook with rein- forced concrete slab about six inches thick and grade over 429 Complaints re new Bus Stop. Depot Square, Parking Bus Stop. 430 c� it with gravel and make a decent approach to the garage. , He asked that the Board cooperate with him in the matter. Supt, of Public Works was requested to bring in a report in regard to the condition and bring in his recom- mendation at the next meeting of the Board. Oak Another letter was received from P. J. Neary in which Street. he resented the attitude of the Board relative'to the use of Charles Street rather than Oak Street in a snow storm, and invited the Board to try using Charles Street in icy weather. He also again called attention to the unprotected wall on Oak Street with a drop of twenty feet to Mass. Ave. and felt that the matter should be corrected before the con- dition would cost the taxpayers some money. Supt, of Public Works stated that he would go down to the location and see what he could do. Letter was received from the Board of Trade in which they gave up the control and maintenance of the "Welcome to Lexington" siggs given to the Town by Sarah A. Holmes in memory of her father in 1925, at the time of the April 19 celebration. The Board had previously voted to accept this gift from Miss Holmes. Loan. The Clerk reported that Mr. McMenimem, the State Account- ' ant, advised that the Treasurer be authorized to obtain a loan of either $35,000 or $46,000 and he felt he would find out whether or not a loan as authorized by the Town Meeting should be reduced by the $11,000 grant so that he could ad- vise the Board whether or not $35,000 or $46,000 should be borrowed. At the present time, the construction of the trunk line sewer is being charged to the $8000 appropriated by the Town at the Annual Meeting and the Board felt, therefore, that they had time enough to authorize the loan and therefore decided to wait one week. The Board authorized the Town Treasurer to secure bids on Temporary Loan for $175,000 bids to be presented at the next meeting of the Board at 7:45 P.M. Mr. Ross and Mr. Scamman came before the Board in re- gard to Civil Works projects. Mr. Scamman reported that he presented the project of pruning and care of trees and brush on various public streets and they would not approve the project inasmuch as the ser- vices of the Bartlett Tree Expert Co. would be included in this project amounting to $800. They stated that they would approve of the project if it only included local men, the estimate of which was made at $1200. The Supt. of Public Works reported that now that the Engineering project which he presented todav for field work making a topographical survey and complete drainage plans 431 of the entire Town amountin to a total of $2217 was approved, there remains balance 11793, left to be expended a of under the allotment of $24,101 for Civil Works in the Town of Lex- ington. He stated in approving the Engineering project they would not approve the furnishing of transits for the work. Civil Therefore, that would have to come out of'the Engineering Works appropriation. This project would allow for two crews of Projects. men to be put out on the topographical survey. The Chairman reported that Mr. Arthur Dodge was appointed to register the men. Mr. Ross presented a project whereby he stated that he would like to put on the white-collar men. He stated that about 500 of the meters that are installed they have record of in the office and the balance of the total of 2800 they have no record of and he would like to put a man to work doing this work. It was suggestted that a sidewalk might be built from the gate at Ryderfs to Marrett Road and the Board felt that this job might well be done under the Civil Works and voted to have this job for the construction of the sidewalk be sub- mitted for approval. It was voted not to take any action on the suggestion of Mr. Ross to employ a man for the record of meters. Supt. of Public Works reported that the Civil Works would not approve any maintenance jobs. ' Mr. Ross reported that it was his understanding that Anthony Ross & Son would not employ any men on the con- struction of a sewer unless they were registered under the Civil Works. Also that the men were to work only a six hour day. They would therefore have one crew work at 7 in the morning and another crew at 12:30.• The Supt. of Public Works recommended that it might be possible that a scheme could be worked out whereby some of the properties not now connected with the sewer could be connected under the Civil Works. It was felt that it might be possible to make arrangements that the'owners might pay for the pipe. The Board requested him to bring in a list of the houses in the Town that were not connected with the sewer. Supt, of Public Works reported that there was sufficient Car money in the Engineering Dept. to purchase a new ford in- For asmuch as the Ford car now furnished to the Dept. is a 1929 Eng. car. It was voted to purchase a car which had been run 1500 Dept. miles for $475 with the old car turned in. The Board decided that the Supt. of Public Works should Supt. talk with Mr. White, Supt. of Streets, in regard to his re- of tirement after ha has completed his fifty years of service Streets. with the Town. ' The Chairman reported that he talked with the Appro- priation Committee in regard to salaries and he felt that 432 A c� �c the salary of Mr. Albert Ross should be increased to $3000, ' on Jan. lst, as agreed by the Board at a previous date. He recommended also that Mr. Garrity's salary be raised to $2000 for the job of Supt. of Parks and Supt. of the Moth Dept. In this salary is included his free rent, telephone, and free gasoline. He also gets $125 as call man of the Fire Dept. He also recommended that the Town Engineer be increased to $3000, on Jan, lst. Mr. Ferguson brought up the discussion as to whether or not these men should be paid $3000 when the Supt. of Public Works was being paid $3000. and he felt that for the jobs, the salaries were not equitable. After some discussion, it was voted to increase the salaries of Albert A. Ross to $3000 on Jan 1st, also the salary of John T. Cosgrove to $3000 on Jan. 1st, and the of John J. Garrity to $2000 on Jan. lst. The Meeting adjourned at 10:25 P. M. A true record, Attest: Clerk. 4• 1