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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1934-11-13 185 ' SET,FCTMEN 'S MEETING NOVEMBER 13, 1934. A regular meeting of the Selectmen was held in the Select- men' s Room, Town Office Building, at 7:30 P. M. Messrs. Trask, Gilcreat, Ferguson, O'Connell and Lyons were present. The Clerk was also present. Hearing was declared open on the application of Henry P. and Frances B. Dooley for permission to maintain a one carg ar- age of brick with wooden roof at 9 Lisbeth Street. Garage. Mr. Dooley rresented the plans of the garage, and no per- sons appeared to object. It was voted to grant the permit subject to the approval of the Building Inspector. Abatement in the amount of $418.00 same being for aid rendered to Florence E. Mann, was signed by the Board. Bills Abatement were changed on account of settlement ceasing under date of April 23, 1934. State Aid returns in the amount of $6. for each month were State Aid signed for the months of September and October. Letter was received from the Charles W. Hoyt Co. in which they requested permission to have Christmas carols in the Town. It was felt in all probability there would be some ad- Carols. vertising on the truck advertising the Harvard Brewing Co. and therefor the Board felt that they should advise them that they would rather not have carols in the Town. Notice was received from the Dept. of Education of the at- tendance at the Somerville Vocational School of Anthony M. Vocation- Mongelli and Victor E. Terrazzano and at the Boston Trade al School School of Joseph D. Brucchi. Request was received from the Market Garden Association Use of for the use of Cary Memorial Hall on December 8th at a Cary reduced charge. Hall. It was voted to grant the use of the hall for the sum of $10. Letter was received from the Town Treasurer in which he advised that he received a bid for the balance of the stand- Stand- pipe construction loan of $5000. from the Lexington Trust pipe Co. of par $1000. bearing interest at the rate of 14%. Loan. The Board voted to approve the acceptance of this bid. Harry E. Wheeler of Somerset Road was drawn as a juror Juror. for the criminal session at Cambridge in December. 186 cn cn CD Notice of the Board of Appeals granting permission to Board of Bertha M. Garfield for the use of the house at 259 Bedford Appeals. Street for the sale of antiques for a period of one year, was received. Letter was received from the Metropolitan District Com- mission 20 Sommrset Street, Boston, in which they called at- Hearing tention to a hearing to be held on November 19th at 10 A.M. Metropoli- at which the officials of cities and towns within the Metro- tan Com- politan water district will be given an opportunity to pre- mission. sent their views relative to the advisability of changing the present method of apportionment of the expense of the Metro- politan Water System. The Chairman stated that he felt that Mr. Ross was cap- able of representing the Board at t his meeting and it was voted to request Mr. Ross to attend the hearing. Letter was received from the Supt. of Public Works in which he called attention to the fact that a blast set off in the bed of Sickle Brook damaged the windshield of a car Blasting passing through Mass. Avenue. The car was owned by J. Verne Damage. Quimby of Hillsboro, New Hampshire . Letter ws received from the Continental Insurance Co. of N. Y. requesting the payment of damages of $15.60. Mr. Scamman reported that the damage was done by the blasting and it was therefor voted to authorize the Supt. of Public Works to pay the bill. Application was received from Max Berman for a license for all alcoholic beverages to be sold at 12 Mass. Avenue. It was decided to lay this ap lication on the table until such time as all of the applications are taken up. The Clerk suggested t at a notice be sent to all appli- cants holding permits for alcoholic beverages that the fees for the same must be paid in advance and not in installments as was permitted last year. Attention was also called to the amendments of the Law Liquor which called for advertising all original applications for Licenses. Liquor Licenses. It was felt that a letter hould be written to the pre- ent applicants calling their attention to the fact that the license fee must be pa d in advance to give them an oppor- tunity to be prepared. The Chairman reported that Mr. Martin, druggist, inform- ed him that the two druggists would protest the fee paid by them as they felt it was too high. Coal for Requests for coal for old age assistance cases of Sarah Old Age Devine and Marciano Cardillo were referred to Mr. Gilcreast Cases. for report. Johnston In reference to the application of Saville Johnston of Old Age. 13 Oxford Street for Old Age Assistance, Mr. Gilcreast felt that the application could remain upon the table for the presett. 187 Letter was presented by the Chief of the Fire Dept. in which he called attention to the fact that he considered the conditions in the Central House on the second floor, where the Board granted a license to operate a pool room to William J. Dailey, as very unfavorable with respect to fire and he deemed it a fire hazard owing to the fact that the boom did not have any brick walls or any other non-combust- Pool ible materials, and the b_ ilding was filled with tenants who Room. have a lot of children. e felt that it was his duty to bring the matter to the attention of the Board to avoid any loss of life on account of any fire that might start in this block. The Board did not think of the fire hazard in granting the permit for a pool room and decided to notify Mr. Dailey that it would be necessary for them not to allow him to op- erate a pool room at this location after November 30th. The Board would consider another suitable location or if he was unable to obtain another location, they would return the fee paid. Mr. Mitchell came before the Board and reported that he had received request from Mr. Arthur Webier of 363 Mass. Avenue for fuel. Owing to the fact that one of Mr. Webbers ' Webber sons is getting $25. per week and paying $15. in to the Case. house, and Mr. Webber is getting $9 . -ler week, it was voted not to grant fuel in this case. Mr. Mitchell also reported that Mr. Richard Burke of Marrett Road was receiving $10. per month from the Commission for the Blind and he recommended duplicating the amount so that Mr. Burke would have sufficient to live on. He owns Burke his property on Marrett Road free of mortgages , but with Case. conditions as they are , it would not be possible for him to pay interest on a mortgage, provided one could be obtained. It was voted to grant the payment of $10. per month in this case. It was voted to grant the use of the conference room Conference downstairs in the Cary Memorial Building once a month on Room. the third Wednesday for the Lexin-ton Minute-Men. Attention of the Supt. of Public Works was called to the fact that the sign on Lisbeth Street was down. Also Street a street sign in the vicinity of Hayes Avenue was down. Signs. Supt. of Publics Works stated that he already had five signs costing approximately $10. each to be erected. Mr. Scamman reported that he had ordered the snow plow Snow Plow. tractor, but it had not been received from the factory as yet. The Chairman cllled attention to the fact that funds would be available for work in destroying the elm leaf beetle 188 and that he desired to find out whether or not the Town had any right to go on private property to do the work. Mr. Art' ur Hutchinson came before the Board at the Board's request to substantiate the claim he made at the Town Meeting on October 29th that the Water Department were negligent and did not cooperate with the Selectmen in the performance of their duty. Mr. Albert Ross, Supt. of the Water Dept. was also present. Mr. Hutchinson stated that by vote of the Town, in June, a water pipe was to be laid in Blossom Street There the new road is to cross and the pipe was brought up there and laid along side of the road and this was as far as it ever got ex'ept to corse and take it away. On August 30 he called Mr. Trask and read a let- ter received from him dated August 31st as follows: August 31, 1934. Arthur Hutchinson Blossom Street Lexington, Mass. Dear Mr. Hutchinson: I have talked with Mr. Ross about the water pipe cross- over at Blossom Street and find that as I thought, he has been in constant touch with the Supt. of Construction of that division of the State Highway, and they had come to the con- clusion that there was so much danger of breaking the pipe if it was installed before the fill, that it would be better for the Town to wait until the fill was completed before in- stalling the pipe. This looks like a waste of money and it is, but we are unable to get any cooperation from the con- tractors whose interest is solely that of getting the State Highway completed as quickly and cheaply as possible, so that we cannot expect any effort on their part to protect the pipe if it is put in there before the fill is made. I have asked Mr. Ross to again go over the matter with the Stake Engineer and try to make some arrangement to protect the Town 's interest so that we can nut the pipe in first at a less expense to the Town. Because of the above mentioned reasons, I very much feel that th _s willnot be brought about and I am writing so that you will understand that we have not been neglect- ful of the Town's interests in the matter but are working to get the work done at the least possible cost without danger of breaking the pipe. Thank you very much for calling this matter to my attention. Yours very truly, Robert P. Trask, Chairman, Selectmen. 189 On Oug-ust 31st, he talked with Mr. Casey and Mr. Ottoway and they told him that they expected the pipe would be put in. On Sept. 5th, Mr. Casey -gave him the following facts: On August 24th he saw Mr. Cosgrove and told him that they should lay the pipe at Blossom Street and offered to put gravel on top of the pipe and on August 25th and August 27th he acain called attention that the construction was ready for the installation. On Sept . 5th he talked with Mr. Casey and Mr. Oijtoway and called Mr. Trask at 9:30 A.M. and he stated that he would come over and he did not come. Mr. Ross and Mr. Cosgrove cane at 2:30 in the afternoon and discus-ed the proposition. On Sept. 20 he talked with Mr. Casey and he talked of Mr. Ross doing the di ing on the job of 500 feet and Mr. Ross said that he would not dig the trench for the pipe. On August 21, Mr. Casey called the Water Dept. and was informed by the Clerk that the pipe would be nut in soon. He stated that Mr. Casey had the statements in his diary and was willing to back it up. When questioned by Mr. Lynn as to whet'ner or not this was his complaint that the pipe had not been laid in Blossom Street between August 24 and Sept. 5th, Mr. Hutchinson stated that the Town had voted to put in the pipe at a Town Meeting and as the new road was to be constructed and t would be forty feet of cement that would have to be removed to nut in the pipe later, he saw no reason why the pipe should not have been put in. Mr. Hutchinson also stated that Mr. Casey, who is that State man on the State ,job constructing the high- way, told him a number of times that he offered to fill in gravel on top of the pipe so that t would not break. Mr. Ross stated that he did not met Mr. Casey until after they decided not to put in the pipe and in the mean- time he talked with the man in the office at the State House and with the Fuller Construction office. He did not have the dates before him but he did have them in his office. Mr. Ross stated that he went to Blossom Stre t one morning to put the pipe in with a gan of .len and on that morning there were six or eight trucks crossing Blossom Street at that time and he talked with the foreman on the job and he in- formed him that if they attempted to put in the pipe, it would interfere with the work they ver doing. He then called his men off. He talked with the office and they said they would let him know when they were ready. When he went there again there was a bulldozer filling in boulders from the street. He then decided that he would not put in the water pipe as there would be danger of .smashing the p pe with the boulders. He talked with Mr. Scamman and they decided that it was not really essential to lay the pipe across Blossom Street, that they could lay a main from Concord Avenue to the new highway on the south side of Blossom Street that would take care of anything that might be built and the main could be extended parallel to Concord Avenue. Mr. Ferguson was here at the office at that time and they got together and decided the matter in that way. 190 CD Mr. Hutchinson stated that the fact that the pipe was not laid did not handicap him as he would not be cut off from his supply but called handicap him as he would not be cut off fr m his supply but called attention to the fact that it leaves a dead end at Slocum's corner and dead ends are what the Town is trying to ;yet rid of. He stated that althourrh there is no real demand for it at the present time they could not tell how soon it would be and the p pes should be put in before the new road is built and when the Town ap- propriate money to put in a six inch main it is best to put it in when you can lay the pipe on the top of the ground and only have the cost of the pipe for 100 feet and the Engineers of the State were after the Water Department for three weeks to lay the pipe and at that time they would put gravel over the pipe. He therefor questioned the judgment of the Tenn in not putting in the pipe and his complaint was lack of judgment. He differed with Mr. Ross that he could put in the pipe without any extra cost as he could lay a line of pipe for less than the cost of 100 feet. Mr. Ross stated that Metcalf & Eddy's report recommend- ed that a larger main be laid across over the hill from Well- ington Lane and they would lay a main parallel with the new highway. That is why he did not recommend laying the main across Blossom Street. Mr. Hutchinson stated that plenty of the work of the Water Department was done improperly and that the pipe had been broken in Pleasant Street by a steam shovel and he did not think that the pipe was more than three feet underground. Mr. Hutchinson stated that the pipe had been there from three to five years and was there before they started the new road and he felt that the pipe should have been down more than three feet. Mr. Ross stated that the pipe was low enoigh so that it could stand the 20° below zero freezing weather last winter and that the grade of the street had been changed when the new road was laid and they made considerably more of a cut than was originally planned. Mr. Ross stated that in some other streets in the Town water pipes were not low enough, for nstance York Street. That pipe was only down 1A inches owing to the fact that the street had been washed away. He stated that when the pipes are laid in streets the grade of the street is given by the Engineering Depart- ment so that they can tell ho deep to lay the pipe. Mr. Hutchinson insinuated that if A. Ross and Son as contractors would not go over to dig the 500 feet of trench at the new highway that the town must be paying them consi- erable. The Cha rman informed him that A. Ross and Son as contractors had nothing to do with the town and that five years ago he checked up this fact and found that Mr. Ross has nothing to do with A.Ross contracting concern. Mr. Hutchinson stated that this was not a part of his complaint only the particular facts about the Town not laying 191 the pipe when the pipe was voted to be laid in Blossom St. This matter was only hearsay. He stated, however, that there was plenty of rearsay about the way the Water Dept. was run and a Boston contractor informed him that it would not be possible to obtain a contract in Lexington under the Water Dept. owing to the fact that a contractor's son ran the Department. The Board inquired what he felt should be done to remedy any conditions of hearsay, and he stated that they could get a new head of the Water Denartment. Mr. Hutchinson agreed to get further facts in regard to matters pertaining to the Water Deuartment wherein the Water Department was not run to his mind in the proper manner. The meeting was adjourned at 9:55 P.M. A true record, Attest: Clerk. I