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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1934-03-13542 v c� ►-c QIELLCTMEi'S MEETING IMAECH 139 1934, A regular meeting of the Board of Select -mor was held in the Selectmen's Room, Town Office Building, at 7:30 P.M. Messrs. Trask, Gilcreasf;, Ferguson, O'Connell and Lyons were present. The Clel°k was also present. Letter was received from Dr. C. Reginald Ha.rdcastle in which he replied to the Board's letter regarding the nursing Nursing done in the Town that he did not believe it possible for one nurse to take care of all the nursing services necessary in the Town. The Board felt that they were not in a position to pay for any further nursing services at the present time and de- cided to turn it over to the Public Health Association to see whether or not they could provide any additional nursing services. Mr. Lyons reported that he checked up with the Alcoholic Beverage Commission and they informed him that the Lexington Lex,Fruit Fruit Company could,form a corporation and the ,younger bro- Co. beer ther, who is not a citizen could not be in the corporation license and neit_-er could he handle any of the liquor sales. The mat- ' ter. of forming the corporation has been attended to and there- fore it was voted to -,evoke the previous license granted to the Lexington Fruit Company, Andon, Adam and Argir Grigor as partners, and to issue a new _license to the Lexington Fruit Company. The bond of Patrick J. Maguire as Constable in the Town Constable -as approved by the Board. bond Pasteurizati_nn of Milk Licenl-e was granted to Patrick Shanahan of 60 Pleasant Street for a period of one yearthe bMilk , ilk Milk Inspector having approved the granting of the permit. License to haul garbage through the Town was granted to ice se John F. McGrath of Blanchard Road, Burlington. oriaul- ga�bag The bond of the Tax Collector in the amount of 47,000 e issued throureh the American Employers' Insurance Co. was Bond approved bar the Board, the same to be forwarded to the Com- Tax dol- missioner of Corporations and Taxation for their approval. lector The Clerk reported in reference to the application of License t< Mrs. Gertrude H. Emery of 361 Mass. Avenue for a license to board in- board two infants, that the condit4ons at the hor e were very (ants satisfactory. The Board therefmsre, approved the application of Mrs. Emery to board two infants. 543 Notice of a hearing on March 20th, Room 422 at 10:30 Billboards A.M. on billboards was r3ce'_v-d from the Town Counsel. The matter of appearance to the above was to be at- tended to by the Town Counsel. Letter of thanks was received from Joseph A. Ross in reference to the bonus paid ?TI -96i for overtime work in the Water Department on a m ount of freeze -ups. Letter was rec,:�1-ved from the Supt. of the Water & Sewer Department in xhlch he stated tl^.at Miss Katherine Harrington requested_ an abatement on her sewer rental bill of $7.80 for the period ending Jun. 3l, 1934, inasmuch as she claimed Sewer that most of the water used during that period was for lawn Rental and garden purposes. The Board decided not to take anv action on this mat- ter until such time as the matter of sewer rentals is again discussed and definite decision made in reference to sewer rentals. At 8:00 P.M. hearing was declared open on the appli- cation of Walter E. Jones for approval of Board of Survey plan of a part of Winter Street. Winter St. ' Mr. Jones came late to the meeting and the Chairman explained that this approval is necessary before the water could be laid in the street and inasmuch as an article was in the Warrant requesting that water be installed in this part of Winter Street, it was necessary to approve the Board of Survey.* plan. The plan was presented bsi the A�-s't. Town En:--ineer, Stanley Higgins, and the Board approved the layout of Winter Street from the present accepted end a distance of 530 feet. Agreement was received. from the Boston & Maine Railroad B & M. Co. giving the right to excavate a portion of the right of • way at the rear of the Adams School. rigbtt -of - The Board voted to nor..ina+,e Dr. C'r;.ester L. Blakely as Animal Animal Inspe-,tor providing the nomination �,ras approved by Inspector the State Dept. of Animal Industr-r. The Board voted to apno'nt the following as a Board of Assessors: William G. Potter for the term of three -ears; Eugene T. Buc'-1ev `'or ,'F�e term of two years; C�irlys L. Stoci?:_, Arthur Earle " ' " " one year; John Valentine y ' It ti.,rl.s also voted to ap-oi_nt the following assistant Assessors: Frederick J. Spencer for a term of one ,year; 544 c� �c Pain .McDonnell, George V. Morse, and John Sweeney for such period of time as the Assessors deem necessary to retain they.: for ti,etr serv�.ces. In regard to the vote of the Board of Selectmen at Town Counsel the last meeting authorizing the Totirn Counsel to proceed aga'_nst Mr. and Mrs. Montague for maintaining an undertaker's vs.Montague sign in a residence district at their home at 21 Bedford Stre:�t, the Chairman reported. that they agreed to remove the sign and therefore no action was necessary against them. The Chairman reported that he consulted with Mr. Eugene H. Partridge in regard to appointing other members of the April 19th Committee. Mr. Partridge agreed to act as Chair - April 19th man of the Committee and stated that he would like to have Committee Mr. James H. Russell on the Committee and also Mr. John E. Gilcreast representing the Minute -Men. He also suggested that Mr. A. Randall Soder erg be a member of the Committee. The Board voted to appoint the above named as the April 19th Committee. Letter was received from the Supt. of the Water and Sewer Dept. in which he stated that Mr. Eugene B. Hamilton Water desired to have the water extended into the Town of Bedford Hamilton to provide wate to a part of his development. Mr. Ross stated that he was -informed that it was necessary to have an , Act of the Legislature in order to comply with Mr. Hamilton's request. The Board discussed the matter and felt that they had no desire to furnish water over the line in the Town of Bedford. Letter was received from the Supt, of the Water and Sewer Dept, in which he stated that he had discussed with Mr. Parker of Col. Gow's office the matter of withdrawing from the stand- pipe project, docket #2263, the furnishing and laving of 3000 feet of 1011 and 1211 pipe. Mr. Par'_�er agreed that the Town could save some money if this part of the work was omitted Standpipe from the project. Mr. Ross stated that some time ago an order was placed with the Warren Foundry and Pipe Co. for ld " pipe and considerable of the order has not been delivered. If this pipe is used on the project there will be a saving of $464, on the pipe alone and that they have hydrants and valves enough in stock which have been purchased at a much lower price than the present market price. He therefore recommended that as much of the excavation be done by machinery as possible, that the laying of the pipe be done bar the regular Depart- ment men and the backi'_lling with town equipment and labor. He estimated the cost to he about 6000 and the money was pro- vided in the original project. The Board agreed to the recommendation of Mr. Ross and decided to request that this part of the project be with- ' drawn from the original project for the standpipe. the Board voted to nominate Matthew Stevenson as laughter Slaugl*r Inspector providing this nomination was approved by the State Inspector ept. of Public Health. .545 ' Mrs. Laurette Ducharme came bef rn e the Board in ref- erence to application for Common Victualler's license at 1786 Mass. Avenue. Some tii,,e a,,;o Mrs. Ducharme made ap- plication for a hearin befnrc the Board of Appeals and gave a check which could not do cashed o.rinU, to the fact Ducharme that there were no funds in the bank. license The Board informed her ..hf,t they felt she should set- tle up with the Town for this amount before they would take action on the application. She denied that she had received anv letter from the Town Counsel inasmuch as she stated she had been ill all winter and if any member of her family had received a letter she did not know anything about it. Estimates of betterment assessments for proposed sewer in Bow Street, Cliffe And, Theresa Avenues were received from the Town Engineer. The betterments as^essed would be $3305.98 and the Town Engineer stated that the actual amount of bet- Sewere terments would be 1788.21 owi_r!g to the fact that b-- reason of the grad on the Shaw property, which assessment amounts to1412.75, and the aseessmerit on the Town of Arlington property of 105.02, would prnbably be abaft%rl on acr°ount of no bet erment ;_accruing. Letter ,,vas received fro-, the Tax Coll e:�tor. in reply to the Board's letter in xhich then stated that they dial not Tax Collect see their rrav clear to increase his pav as Town Collector, or in which he expressed the feeling that ^e ,vas not satisfied with the decision of the Board. Letter Was received from Edward W. Taglor in which he gave information in regard to insuring the air tanks at the Fire Station, also to insu7,ance of the cyst iron boiler in Air tanks the fire station. & boiler The Chairman stated that at the previous meeting when he 'Drought up the matter of boiler insurance, he neglected to bring up the matter of insurance on the air tl-.nlcs about which Mr. Taylor n.ad spoken to him, and the Board therefore di^cussed the natter as to h;}:ether the -V sn.ould place insur- ance of this kind. The tanl,_s at the present time are located in the shed in the rear of the old location of the Town Hall and the sheds are not owned ry the Town. Prior to that they were located in the Old Town Hall Building for a great many years and the Board decided not to tal-e anv action in placing insurance on the air tanks. Letter was received from Elmer A. Lord & Co. giving a report of the inspection of the boiler at the Center Fire Boiler Engine House and giving.c�rtain items ,ahicr must done be- insurance fore the insurance can be placed on the boiler. It was decided to leave the matter to the Supt. of Puti)lic lmcrl,�s. 546 A �c The Chairman stated that he received a telephone call ' from Mr. Arthur H. Roberts of Adams Street who operates the Oal� Knoll Dairy and he stated_ tb.,t the milk regulations were Milk 1-,eirig viola ted inasmuch as raw mil' vas be i ng sold in the regulations Town and he f -7_t thgt the r.�-ul ations sho;%ld lie printed in the lo -al paper call'_nC, at?-etltion to th,e fact. Mr. Roberts previousiv made a complaint to the Mill- Inspentor in regard to the same matter but refused to state who the parties were that were violati_2g the regulations, The Milk Regulations have been previously printed and the Milk Inspector knows of no persons who are violating the law and it was therefore decid?d that unless Mr. Roberts gave definite information in regard to any v'_olations, that the reguitions would not he printed again. The Supt. of Public Works presented fiFi—r°s on the pur- chase of water cooler for the Town Offi-ce Building as follows: Inrtallati-on of Frigidaire on s­:�onr' floor and nonnect with bubbler on first floor - $201.50 plus $50 for pluwbing; Electric Westinghouse would furnish a cooler for $175.95 cooler General Electric Cooler - 207. plus ,-)lu::1bing costs; Kelvinator is on a rental plan basis which the Supt, did not recommend as economical; Mayflower Coder - $200. installed. Puro Filter Co, would furnish buh"ler installed on the tTo fl pore i.ncludi_Zg plumbing �,ri_th a one ;-ear guarantee for $171. Theirwould also service it frog--. year to ,year for $10 per gear, . The Supt. recorrlended the purchase of a General Electric Cooler even though the cost was greater inasmuch as he stated that the Puro is an assembled machine, and he also recomr:end=d the cooler be not extended to the Police Stat -en owing to the large cost of plumbing installation and also the electric cur- rent for operating. The cooler for the office building would be closed off nights, Sundays, and holidays. The Board felt that the Puro Filter'Co. price was the lowest and inasmuch as they have installed their products in various court houses, Department Stores, and Insurance offices, that the product must be reliable and i_naemuch as a one trear guarantee would be given and the difference in saving was $65 over the cost of the General Electric installed, the Board the-,­efore voted to instruct the Sunt. to nurch_,se a Puro Filter Co. cooler. Bids were received on the plastering and cal_somining of ceilings 'n the house of Walter J. Rose, 6 Tewksbury St. as follows: Roma house, P. F. D4cey, Plastering - $65;00 damagem Franh H. Tobin, Calscmining - 15.00 George H. Jaynes - Plastering- 45;00 ' Calsomining - 12.00 547 1 Both Mr, Ja- ynes and Mr. Dacey mentioned the fact that the wall paper in the hall could not verb- well be saved when the plastering was done on the hall ceiling. Mr. Jaynes gave -a figure of $8, for papering the hall. The Board decided that they would recommend that the lasterin and calsomining be done at Mr. Jaynes' figures of 45. and 12.'but that Mr. Rose should stand the expense of the wall paper and also that Mr. Ro^e should givd a release to the Town for the work as ordered above. Some time ago the matter of assisting Mrs. Martha Jones of Pleasant Street was taken up k,aith Dr. Walsh and it was agreed to move a welfare fam'_ly into her house paving her -5 a month rent. At that time Mrs. Jones was earning suf- ficient to support .her family and could get along very Dories nicely, She stated th..,-'c Or. ?Plal_s'r 'nfo~° ed her at that time water that . town wou-_d take care o" 1--r -r-, ter rates for her but bill tris agreement waE; not made b r the Board. Ther sin --ply agreed to assist her by paging the rent for a. Welfare family that hail to be cared for. Owing to the fact that she misunder- stood the situation, watc_.rbill.s were sent to her and she had not paid them. Therefore, a lied -was placed upon her property for water rates amounting to $15. She now awes the addit`_onal sum of $12. for wa'„er rat; s ._s no,;, b°}ink; nss_sted from ' the Soldier6t Relief Dept. o:^✓ing to the fact that she is unable to secure work to sunmort her fame ly of four chi ldr•eri. It was decided to instruct Mr. Mi'c}sell to render her sufficient .aid to tale cai-e of the water bills, and to allow her sufficient to pay the water rates in the future. The Supt, of PUT)l.ic War�-s presented the following bids s on the cost of two automabile, one for the Supt. ^f Streets and tre ntlier for the Tov,,n Er_gi_neer: Pontiac Business C mine - $810. Chevrol"t Coupe - 645. Ford Coupe - 609.97 ears P1T,m°_out' Coupe - 585.58 He also sta :ed. that Mr. Childs• hnd two 1933 coupes which could be purchased for 450 and $475. respectfully or the two cou�d l.,e purchased .for 8900., and teat Mr, Johnson had a 1932 Coupe which could be purehasc,r' f rr $550. It was suggested that two different tsrpes of cars might be purchased, ',oth Ford and Chevrolet dealers being tax pazrers in the Town, and it hoc s suuested that It would be better to purchase a new car rather than a second hand car. It was therefore voted to authorize the Supt, to pur- chase a new Chevrolet Coupe for the Supt. of Streets and to purchase a Ford for the En„ine^ri.nsr Dept. It was decided, however, to tall over :i1tTi the Town Engineer as to the type of car he desired. 548 Letter was received from Matthew Stevenson reporting in regard to the condition of the house which Mary Lowe lives in Lowe on Wood Street. Mr. Bashian made the cmplaint t,, the build - house ing to the Building Inspector that he did not think the house was fit to live in. Mr. Stevenson stated that the house was considerably filled up with furniture and the woman lived there alone with three dogs. She owns two house lots at the corner of Waltham Street and Farmerest Avenue and he felt that the house should be condemned as a place to live in. It was decided to have the Building Inspector make a re- port in regard to the conditon of the house. In response to the Boardts request, Town Counsel, Town Tax Treasurer, Chairman and Clerk of the Board of Assessors, came before the Board to discuss the matter of foreclosures of tax titles. Letter was previously received from the Town Counsel in which he called attention to the fact that there were errors in the descriptions of tax Titles and therefore there was some expense to the procedure which the Town would lose and he felt that the Tax Collector, Treasurer and the Assessors of- fice should cooperate so that these errors would not occur. Mr. Wrightington stated that it apLeared that in the past when the Tax Collector advertised bids for the sale of land for tax- es, that someone in his office went into the Assessors Office and got the descriptions without having had the descriptions ' checked. Mr. Spencer stated that as he understands the law, it is necessary for the Assessors to furnish the descriptions and he stated that he would be glad to do so, or if Mr. Earle did not want to have him get the descriptions that he would check all descriptions in the future and therefore ay.oid the errors that have occurred in the past. The Town Treasurer stated that if the correct description was given in the first instance there was no reason why the Tax Title procedure should not be correct. It was agreed, therefore, that the Assessors would take care of the matter of checking all descriptions for Tax Title sales. In regard to the drainage in East Lexington, the Chair- man stated that he would withdraw his objection to doing all of the work on Sickle Brook as proposed by Metcalf and Eddy Drainage at a cost of 1.24,000. this year and he stated also that the Appropriation Committee were in favor of having all the work done'and were willing to approve the apprcpriation at the Annual Meeting, the amount -necessary to be appropriated with a bond issue being $5400, and it was decided to appropriate 46000. and issue bonds for $18,000. The Board therefore voted to request this appropriation at the Annual Town Meeting and proceed to complete this sec- , tion of drainage this year. Michael Pero, the son of Norman Pero of 17 Pleasant St. applied for assistance. He was recently living with his aunt on Waltham Street and had been working for her. The Chairman stated that he understood that he was unwilling to work the long hours that she required him to work and there- Pero fore he left her employ. He also was dischareged from driv- Case ing a taxi cab on account of drunkenness. He stated that he had no place to live. The Board felt that Mr. Mitchell should inquire of Mrs. Pero whether or not -she would be willing to take him back if he were willing to work rather than aid him. It was voted to grant Mrs. Sarah Makechnie $1. more Makechnie additional Old Age Assistance so that she could pay for her coal. This made an allowance of J2. a week extra for her coal until May 1st. Mr. Mitchell reported that the C.W.A. worker visited this family and felt that something should be done about caring for Mrs. Makechnie and her son as they would be un- able to continue living there together for any great length of time. The meeting adjourned at 10:05 P.M. I A true record, Attest: Clerk. u