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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1935-01-22 276 00 SELECTMEN'S MEETING JANUARY 22, 1935. A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Selectmen's Office, Town Office Building, at 7:30 P. M. Messrs. Trask, Gilcreast, Ferguson, O 'Connell and Lyons were present. The Clerk was also present. Birthday Invitation to the President Roosevelt 's Birthday Ball Ball. to be held on January 30th was received by the Board. Letter was received from the Treasurer of the Lexing- ton Savings Bank in which he advised that on December 31, Cemetery 1934 there was on deposit at the Lexington Savings Bank Funds. under Trustees of Public Trusts, Cemetery Funds, a total principal of $21,235. representing 162 separateaccounts. Letter was received from Nelson B. Crosby, Represent- ative in which he acknowledged the letter of the Board. Sunday relative to the bill proposed to prohibit the sale of Liquor liquor on Sundays except where bona fide meals are served. Bill. He stated that he would be glad to follow the matter up as soon as the bill is printed. Letter was received from John S. Valentine of 1698 Mass. Avenue in which he tendered his resignation as a mem- Assessor ber of the Board of Assessors on account of his absence Resignation. from town. The Board voted to accept the resignation and to lay the matter on the table until the appointment of the assessors whose terms run out in March are made. The Town's copy of the Grant Agreement reducing the Standpipe amount from $11,000 to $7500. was received by the Board, Agreement. this being in connection with the construction of the 1,000,000 gallon steel standpipe. Letter was received from the Department of Public Stop Signs. Works enclosing records for approval of isolated stop signs which will be erected by the State on Routes 2A and 4 Bedford St. at Shawsheen Road, North Hancock St. and Westview Street. Certification was signed by the Board for the incor- poration of the Stanley Hill Post of the American Legion Incorporationof Mass. State Post #38, Inc. certifying to the following Stanley Hill names: Albert A. Ross, Raymond L. White, Edmund A. Webb, Post. Clifford M. Martin, James J. Walsh, Hiram W. Jackson, Charles A. McCormack, Clyde A. Booker, Pieere A Northrup, Eugene H. PartridgA, Edward C. Maguire, Johannes T. Carl- son, Frederick H. J.ullar, Eugene E. Loupret, Daniel A. 277 Cronin, and Norton T. Hood, all residents of the town, that they have never been convicted for any violation of the liquor laws or any other criminal offense. In refer ence to Frank Tobin statedment was made that he was in Concord Court on March 2, 1931 for drunkenness but upon appeal in the Superior Court during the month of April, 1931 he was tried before a jury and found not guilty. Joseph Trani was in Concord Cnurt April 3, 1920 for keep- ing and exposing Jamaica Ginger for sale . He was fined $100. and three months in the House of Correction and on April 29, 1920 he paid the $100. and the jail sentence was dismissed. The Chairman stated that he would write a letter with the application stating that both of these citizens were now on good behavior and have been for some time, and that the place to be used by the Legion is the Cary Memorial Hall owned by the town, and the hall has been properly used by the Legion in the past for their meetings . Notice was received of the meeting of the Middlesex Selectmen 's County Selectmen's Association to be held at Concord on Association. January 26th at 10:30 A. M. The Supt. of Public Works was requested to have an Street electric light installed at the corner of Marrett and Light. ' Kendall Roads. Letter was received from the Health Inspector in which he reported in reference to the Iovino family living on James St. that there were three bed rooms and a sun porch that is used in the summer time for sleeping purposes and they have a sink in the kitchen Iovino with water that comes from a spring. He recommended Shack. allowing them to remain in the house as the man is con- templating moving to Laconia Street and he felt that the conditions were not bad even tho, gh there were seven children in the house. Letter was received from James F. Little, Agent of the Lexington Manor land, requesting the acceptance of Blake Road, from Simonds Road to the junction of North Hancock St. and Burlington Street as early as possible. Blake Rd. The Town Engineer has been requested to present the fig- ures on the costfor the next meeting of the Board. It was voted to grant the following licenses: Common Victualler Arcade Luncheonette 1840 Mass. Licenses. Ave. Garbage Collection John H. McCarthy Belmont. Motor Sales McLucas Motor Sales Co. 97 Mass. Avenue. 278 COD Letter was received from Robert H. Holt acknowledg- Cary ing the suggestion of the Board of issuing tickets to con- Lectures. trol the Cary Lectures for the townspeople. He stated that something would be arranged by the committee, for the next year. Extra Approval of the construction of three additional Trunk Line manholes at $65. each and adding $195. to the contract Sewer. of Anthony Ross for the construction of the trunk line sewer was received from the P. W. A. authorities. An article for the town warrant suggesting the estab- lishment of the office of Tnformation Clerk to be appoint- Establish- ed by the Selectmen was received from Edwin B. Worthen ment and Fletcher W. Taft. of Informs- They suggested. that the information clerk be avail- tion Office. able in the Cary Memorial Building for tourists and others seeking information and also that the person be in charge of the town guides, and act as greeter to those coming here as tourists. They suggested also that this person could also work on copying the old town records and indexing the records of town meetings, Selectmen, and Special Boards so that they may be accessible for the reg- ular town employees. They suggested the former Miss Fran- cis Locke, now Mrs. Clarke, would do the job well. The Board voted to insert the article in the warrant, requesting a salary of $450. After consulting with the State Accountants and Mr. Creelman 's Off ice relative to the abatement of the sewer assessment charge made against Mr. George Wyman for $304.48 Wyman Mr. Creelman agreed that- the asSes'sment was illegal because Sewer it 'was not properly made and he felt that Mr. Wyman should Abatement . be entitled to his money. He instructed that the State Accountant Arthur McMenimen give the proper form of abate- ment to put through, and he instructed that the Selectmen send a letter to the Assessors explaining that $94.56 was paidon this account by Mr. Wyman on Jan. 20, 1930 as an apportioned part, and that the balance $200. 00 plus interest $9.92 was paid as an unapportioned part of the sewer assessment. The Board voted to send a letter to the Board of As- sessors requesting them to put through the abatement of $304.48 assessed to Mildred E. Wyman. Notice of renewal of $11,100. town of Lexington Insurance. blanket insurance through the office of Arthur A. Mar- shall & Son was received. It was voted to lay this on the table for one week. Letter was received from the Tax Collector in reply Fees. to the Board's letter asking for a report on the fees received during the year. Mr. Earle stated that he re- 279 ceived $300. for fees but this was turned over to the town. He also mentioned the fact that he received only $14..75 a week for the work of collecting e300,000. water rates and miscellaneous town charges. Letter was received from the mown Clerk in which he Fees. stated that he received $461.13 for fees of Marriages, Mortgages, Discharges, Certificates, Polls and miscellan- eous charges . This amount was turned over to the Town. He also received $266.70 from Dog fees and Hunting fees. This information was desired by the Appropriation Committee in connection with salaries. Letter was received from the 171'ppropriation Committee Secretary asking advice as to whether or not it would be possible to have separate detailed reports printed of the Appropria- report of that committee. tion The Board agreed that it would be well to have the Committee reports printed and decided to so inform the committee. Reports. It was voted to approve the following reports for Reports for printing in the town report: Wire Inspector, Forest Town Report. Warden, Fire Engineers; Public Welfare , Soldiers Relief and Town Clerk. Letter was received from Francis S. Dane urging that some warning signs be placed at the new Concord Avenue Warning Turnpike and Watertown Street. The Supt. of Public Signs. Works stated that some signs of warning had already been erected. Letter was received from Andrew N. Haskell of Bran- don Street, giving notice of an accident which occurred on January 8, 1935 at 6;00 P. M. on Brandon Street when he stepped into a hole in the street over and above the Accident, location of the pipes recently installed by the Town in Haskell. said street or over and above the area excavated by the Town in recent operations, and in so doing received a broken wrist and thumb and dislocated a bone of the thumb. He was totally incapacitated as a result of the accident. The Board decided to turn the letter over to the Town Counsel. Letter was received from the Old Age Assistance Bureau of the State recommending an increase of $1. per Old Age week to Alanson Barker, 1620 Mass. Avenue, increasing Assistance, form $7. to $8. per week. A. Barker. Mr. Barker has a daughter and sister with whom he can live and the Board felt that was no need for an in- crease in this case, and voted to inform the State Bureau that they did not concur with them in their recommendation. 280 oo Letter was received from the Old Age Assistance Old Age Bureau withdrawing their letter recommending the de- McLalan. .urease in Old Age Assistance of Edgar McLalan from $6« per week to $5. per week. Letter was presented by Albert A. Ross in reference to the complaint made by Peter VanGemert. Mr. Ross stat- ed that the only damage to the plumbing at the house on Brandon St. was caused by the water being drawn from the hot water tank, and after the tank was re-filled the safety valve was leaking about three drops per minute.. VanGemert He stated that the service in Brandon St. was installed Complaint. by private owners and the department had no record of the location and could not avoid breaking the pipe. It was found that it would be more economical to install a new service thanto repair the break in the old service and Mr. Ross promised the tenant that he would make the nec- essary repairs to the valve unless it stopped leaking within a few days. It was felt that this should take care of Mr. Van- Gemert's complaint. In reference to the letter of Charles Copelotti of 5 Pearl St. complaining of the payment of $9.75 on water guarantee, and finding they were the only ones paying the Copelotti guarantee, asked that it be applied to their outstanding Water Bill. water bill, Mr. Ross reported that the original bond was signed by Harold Balben _who sold the property owned now by Copelotti to Joseph Busconi. Mr. O'Connell advised that the guarantee bond signed by the former owner could not be enforced against the owner at present. The Board therefor advised Mr. Ross to apply the $9.75 to the water bill of said Copelotti. Mr. Ross presented plan relative to the cost of ex- tending water in Blake Rd. He had two proposals to ex- tend to the lots owned by James G. Robertson who made the request, and the vete of the Board was to insert the art- Blake Rd. iole in the warrant for the annual town meeting. The Water Ex- figures showed a cost of $3500. to extend the water 790 tension. feet and $6000. to extend the water 1465 feet to com- plete with appurtenances. After considering the excessive cost of making this extension either way, it was felt that to extend the water for one house was more than should be expected. It was therefor Toted to reverse the decision of the Board at the last meeting and not insert the article in the Warrant. Letter was received from the Town Counsel in which he made a ggestion to amend the proposed bill of the Plan- ning Board relative to zoning the new Concord Highway. With the suggestions made by him he advised supporting the 281 bill, but cautioned that care be taken while the bill is before the Legislature that it be changed so that the Proposed control1will be vested in the Department of Public Works Bill Zoning and eliminate the effectiveness of the local zoning. He Concord Ave. was opposed to giving control to the State Dept. of Pub- lic Works. Mr. Wrightington made the following suggestions. Section 3 (b) he stated was improper unless compen- satiom is given. At the end of Section 5, he would add, "without compliance also with such other law or by-law". He would suggest inserting in section 7, line 4, before the word "officer" the words "duly authorized", and in place of "said" in that line, would insert the word "such". The Board voted to notify Mr. Duffy and also our Senator and Representatives that they would approve the bill with the changes suggested by Mr. Wrightington, and would approve it only in this form. The Clerk inquired whether or not the Board would ac- cept a mutual company policy for the overhanging sign of Mutual the new hardware store. Mr. Mitchell of the Arlington Insurance Board of Public Works advised that the Town of Arlington Overhanging would not accept a mutual policy on account of the liabil- Sign. ity of the town being assessed. The opinion was expressed that a mutual policy should not be apcepted alto in_.L xington, for the same reason. Letter was received from the own Clerk inquiring Printing whether or not the Board desired to have the By-Laws and By:.Laws. Plumbing Laws printed in the Town Report owing to the fact that they were recently printed in pamphlet form. The Board felt that it was entirely up to the Town Clerk to print the By-Laws as a part of his record, and decided to so inform the Town Clerk. The Board of Selectmen considered the betterments de- rived by the acceptance and construction of Valley Road Valley Rd. and determined that the benefit or advantage to the abut- Acceptance. ting land within the area to be in the amount of $.53105 per front foot and that it shall be assessed proportionate- ly as follows: No. Name Frontage Amount 513 Harriet W. Smith 214.0 ft. $113.65 514 George F. Smith 177.0 94.00 515 Grace H. McNamara 300.0 159.32 516 Heirs of Charles F. Smith 160.A 84.97 517 Town of Lexington 60.0 31.86 518 Charles H. Dempsey 77.0 40.89 519 James A. & ffiaroaret J. Akers 335.0 177.90 520 Anna E. Rardin 75.0 39.83 521 James M. Burr 485.0 257.56 $999.98 282 C.71 00 CD The Chairman reported that as a result of the re- quest that Arlington give permission to allow work to be done in Arlington on the lowering of Mill Brook so that the flow of water which is now being dropped by the work done in Lexington can be taken care of, the town of Arlington have applied for an E.R.A. project to do the work in Mill Brook. Arlington to drain the meadows. The Chairman reported that on the construction of Mill Brook quick sand was encountered and it will now be necessary to put in the Clam Shell digger at a cost of $35. per day, less 10%. Suggestion was made that the brook might be di- verted, but the Supt. of Public Works advised that it could not be diverted very well. There are 650 feet to do. The Chairman stated that the balance of the account of $2600. will just about finish this job as an E-.R.A. project. The Supt. of Public Works reported that. Mr. Anderson who owns property on Winter Street was assessed $350. for Winter St. the installation of the water pipe in Winter Street and Water Pipe. he receive® no benefit as he did not desire to have the water installed to his property. In fact he granted per- mission to the town to install the pipes on his land. The Board after discussing the matter felt that he was entitled to a 50% adjustment for the 395 feet of water construction. The Chairman reported that there would be a meeting Salaries. with the Appropriation Committee and School Committee on Thursday, January 31, 1935. to discuss the matter of sal- aries. The Chairman reported that Mr. Garrity was anxious to construct a skating rink on the end of the park grounds Construction toward where the Pageant was held. He could flood the of Skating rink from Vine Brook and could have an acre flooded. The Rink. Chairman stated that he would apply for an E.R.A. project to cover the construction of the rink. The Supt. of Public Works was requested to have an Light. electric light placed at the corner of Richard and Robbins Road. Estimates. The following estimates were approved to be passed to the Appropriation Committee for their attention: Account Amount Approved Animal Inspection $ 500.00 Board of Appeals 200.00 Assessor's 6300.00 Building Inspection 1125.00 Care of Dumps and Removal of Ashes 2000.00 Engineering _. 9300.00 Garbage Collection 3600.00 283 Health 6000.00 Hydrant Rentals 7890.00 Insect Pest Extermination 1923.00 Interest on Debt 27775.63 Law 2500.00 Maturing Debt 131501.37 Military Aid 100.00 Old Age Assistance- 10500.00 Other Finance Offices & Accounts 200.00 Public Works, Superintenden't Office 4280.00 Water & Sewer (Repairs to Highways ) 1500.00 Shade Trees 1762.00 Sidewalks 1000.00 Slaughtering Inspection 600.00 Snow Removal 19000.00 Soldier's Burials 100.00 Soldier's Relief 3500.00 State Aid 300.00 Street Lights 22500.00 " Signs 500.00 Town Phyalcia& ng 850.00 Traffic Regulation & Control 1300.00 1935 Water Construction Program le main in We. Ave. from Child's Garage to Pleasant St. 10020.00 12" main in Bedford St. from Elm 7500.00 Avenue to Tewksbury St. MP. Ross came before the Board to discuss the esti- mates for the Water and Sewer Department, and the Board requested that he refigure the labor owing to the fact Water and that he was asking for as much labor as last year when Sewer he had extra labor for the freeze ups. Estimates. Mr. Ross was also requested to be at the annual town meeting and bring in a list of separate articles that he desired action on. In reference to the water and sewer extensions in Pinewood Rd. and Summit Rd, Mr. Ross recommended that the water be extended to Fallen Rd. to complete the circuit Water & so that there would not be a dead end, the estimated cost Sewer on of this extension being $1500. to extend 360 feet. In Summit Rd. reference to the sewer extension of 250 feet Mr. Ross Pinewood St. stated that it would cost $1750. The extension of 250 feet in Summit Rd. would cost $850. The Beard voted to recommend the foregoing exten- sions at the annual town meeting. Mr. Mitchell was authorized by the Board to grant aid to Ernest Figenbaum of $6. per week Soldiers Relief. Figenbaum. The man earns $12. per week on E. R. A. 284 cAo co Walker. It was voted to authorize one day additional and withdraw the authorization for fuel to Robert Walker. Andrew Pewtherer, Sr. of Woburn St. desired assis- Pewtherer. tante so that he could pay his taxes. Mr. Mitchell re- ported that he had a daughter receiving $16. per week and according to the budget it is sufficient for the family. No action was taken. Meadows. It was voted to authorize two additional for Wil- liam Meadows who lives in the Central Block. It was voted to approve of the granting of $12. per Harris. week to Gilbert Harris of Pearl Street pending investiga- tion for work on E. R. A. Banks. It was voted to approve $15, per for Chester R. Banks of Ridge Road. Mr. Mitchell reported the case of Edward Holman of 9 Sunnyknoll Avenue whose rent was paid in Lexington by Holman. the Emergency Relief and paid for him some time before, he, came to Lexington. He served in the Navy was not entitled to a pension. He has a wife and small children. The Board approved granting aid temporarily pending further in- vestigation. Mm. Estella Durant, whose husband was receiving Old Durant. Age Assistance was removed to the Somerville Infirmary upon the advice of Dr. Hardcastle . In reference to the application of Samuel Bornstein born Bornstein. in Russia for aid, the Board felt that his grown up children should help him and that it was not a case for town. The meeting adjourned at 11:50 P. M. A true record, Attest: Clerk.