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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1939-01-09SELECTMENIS MEETING IJAN. 9th, 1939. A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Selectmen►s Room, Town Office Building, at 7:00 P.M. Chairman Giroux, Messrs. Potter, Rowse, Ross and Clark were present. The Clerk was also present. Mr. James J. Carroll appeared before the Board for the drawing of jurors. The following persons were drawn: Frarieis H. Ready, merchant, 33 Parker Street, to serve at the criminal session in Cambridge beginning February 6, 1939;'Seldon M. Loring, advertising, 55 Bloomfield Street, to serve at the civil session at Cambridge beginning Feb- ruary 13, 1939. Letters were received from the Appropriation Committee advising that the following transfers from the Reserve Fund had been approved: $16.41 to'Law Department expenses 49.22 to Soldiers' Relief 106.92 to Public Welfare, Aid & Expenses 9.73 to Engineering Dept. Expenses .28 to Street Signs account., ' Upon motion of Mr. Clark, seconded by Mr. Ross, it was voted to grant the following licenses: Warren D. Libby, 57 Spring St. - Peddlers Frank R. McCarthy, Belmont - Trans. of Garbage George Callahan, Bedford - it n n Mr. Spencer appeared before the Board. He asked if there was any chance of getting his salary restored to what it was before the pay cut. In 1933 he was receiving $2800. in salary and $200. car expenses. He was cut to 2400., increased to 62500., then to $2600., which he has been receiving for the last three years. The Chairman told him that he was going to recommend that the Board meet with the Appropriation Committee to discuss what its attitude on salaries was going to be. Mr. Spencer said that he could not run his car on town business for $100. a year and do his duty. Mr. Potter said that Mr. Spencer's case was similar to a couple of others in that although they were not cut the full 15%, they were never restored to their original salaries. The Board told. Mr. Spencer that the matter would be consiTbred and he retired. Jurors Transfers Licenses Spencer re salary Mr. Ross stated that a citizen had telephoned him and ' suggested that danger signs be placed on skating areas by Skating the Police when the ice was not safe. He said that this areas was done in Arlington and various other communities. Mr. Ross moved that Mr. Raymond look into the matter and inform 100 the Board as to how many of these signs he would recommend and also the approximate cost. Mr. Clark seconded the , motion, and it was so voted. Welfare Mr. Ross said that he thought the Assessors should Advisory be represented on the Welfare Advisory Board and moved Board. that Mr. F. J. Spencer be made a member of it. Mr. Potter seconded the motion and it was so voted. Mr. Raymond reported that the Lafayette Club had re- quested the use of Cary Hall on Feb. 20th for the purpose of holding a play for which an admission charge of $.50 would be made. Mr. Ross moved that the use of the hall be granted on this date subject to a fee of $15.00. Mr. Potter seconded the motion and it was so voted. Mr. Raymond reported that the Follen Church had re- quested the use of Cary Hall on Feb. 10th for the purpose of holding an entertainment for which an admission charge Use of of $.40 would be made. Mr. Ross moved that the use of the Hall, hall be granted subject to a charge of $15.00. Mr. Potter seconddd the motion and it was so voted. The Clerk informed the Board that each year it was the practice to make a charge of $15.00 to the Drum Corps for the use of the hall, but that usually either the American Legion or the V.F.W. allowed the organization to use one of their free nights. Mr. Ross moved that the vote of December 27th on this matter be rescinded and that the use of the hall be allowed on March 17th subject to a fee of $15.00. Mr. Rowse seconded the motion and it was so voted. Mr. Raymond said that he had records of four payrolls on the Vine Brook project. For the week of Dec. 18 -24, there were six Lexington men employed. That week there Laborers on were only seventeen employees, of whom only seven were P.W,A. laborers. The next week there were three less laborers. Projects. On the North Lexington Sewer project,'the week of December 3-10, there were no Lexington men employed, but there were no laborers working that week. The week of December 18-24, one Lexington man worked as a pump man. Mr. Raymond said he did not believe that there was any chance of criticism. He said he would keep a check on the matter, however. Mr. Raymond reported that he had drawn up a rough draft for the orders of takings in connection with the Butterfield's Pond storage basin. One order of taking was drawn up to take "in fee simple" including the area in the pond itself and about three acres of land belonging to George E. Hamm of Burlington and 5000 feet belonging to John J. and Esther H. Burtch of Lexington. Mr. Raymond said he made an attempt to estimate the damages to Burtch according to the assessed valuation, plus one-hh.ird, together with $3. per cord for the estimated amount of wood on the land, plus $10. as the indefinite value of any claim for land they may have under ' the pond. The total amounts to $70.67 and because their land fronts on Lowell Street, he figured the damages at $100.00. . Hamm has three acres of upland assessed at $125. an acre and plus one-third, this would amount to 0500.00. Mr. Raymond estimates that there is not over 200 cords of wood at �3. per cord, which would amount to $600.00. Hamm h1so claims some title to land under the pond, and Mr. Raymond felt that we should allow $50. for that, making the total damages $1150. He thought Mr. Hamm was going to ask for considerably more money than that, but in his mind, that was a fair award. Harvey C. Wheeler has 6.7 acres under the pond, of Vine Brook which Hamm has doubtful claim to one acre, leaving 5.7 takings acres. That is not assessed, and Mr. Raymond figured these damages at $300. David H. Eaton has an indefinite claim to land under the pond and he figured his damages at 610.00. The total estimated damages amount to $1570.00 and Mr. Raymond requested authority to make up the order with these awards of damages. Mr. Ross moved that Mr. Raymond be granted this authority. Mr. Potter seconded the motion and it was so voted. In the matter of flowage rights - in computing the damages, Mr. Raymond allowed the assessed valuation of the areas that will be flowed up to the elevation to which we ' have taken the right to flow the water. We are actually not taking the land, but the right to flow, which prevents the owners from building anything on the land and probably also destroys any chance of raising cord wood, but it is possible that they might get a considerable yield. Where the land can bd cultivated, they could raise crops which are suitable to low land. The areas which are close to the pond are not suitable for any purpose at all. Practically none of the areas are cultivated now. Mr. Ross asked if the town had a record of what the land was being used for now so that if a question came up in the futule we would know what use was made of the land. Mr. Raymond said that for the most part, the plan showed the present used. Mr. Rowse asked if the town had done what Mr. Burnham wanted. Mr. Raymond said that Mr. Burnham wanted a Board of Survey plan made showing a street from Adams Street and showing that that land would be reserved for a street to his land. Mr. Burnham has asked for three copies of the detailed drawing and Mr. Raymond felt that he was going to be satisfied. The other damages he figured as follows; Antonio Mercadante .3 acres $40.00 David H. Eaton .9 " 243.00 John J. & Esther M. Burtch .5 tt 100.00 Florence M. Anderson .3 " 120.00 ' Jenny E. H. Brown and Lyla Hightower .3 " 150.00 R. H. Stevens 4.3 " 1290.00 102 A. H. Burnham 5.3 Acres, $$2230.00 , William E. Fiske 80.00 Mary Trepazzo .a " 60.00 R. M. Brogie 4.6 " 920.00 Jacob Bernstein .2 " 40.00 In the case of Harvey C. Wheeler,.Mr. Raymond said there is a bottling house which is now assessed for $500. In figuring these damages, he included $1000.00 for build- ing a dyke, making the total damages $2670. He did not believe that there would be any claim on account of the loss of ice -cutting privilege as he maintained that privilege was not worth anything because he thought the water was polluted. Mr. Rowse suggested that the water be analyzed. Mr. Raymond said he believed the water had been polluted for several years. Mr. Ross suggested that the $$1000, for the dyke be omitted and the damages left at $$1670. and it was decided to do this. Mr. Raymond said that they would take a very small strip of Edith Willard's land, probably not more than 700 feet, but he did not think that the damages were worth allowing. It was decided to award damages of $4, in this case. Mr. Potter moved that the order be made up with the damages as outlined by Mr. Raymond tonight with adjustments , as suggested by the Board. Mr. Rowse seconded the motion and it was so voted. Mr, Raymond reported that the.School Department had School applied for a permit to erect a shelter on Bedford Street Shelter at the corner of Winter Street. He wanted to know if the Board would approve placing this shelter on town land. Mr. Ross moved that the Board approve it, subject to there being no opposition. Mr. Potter seconded the motion and it was so voted. At 8;00 P. M. Senator Joseph R. Cotton, Robert P. Merriam and JamesH. Russell appeared before the Board. The Chairman stated that he had requested Senator Cotton to attend the meeting for two reasons. The first Senator was for the Selectmen to take official recognition of his Cotton high office in the Commonwealth as President of the Mass- achusetts Senate and to have it incorporated in the Selectmen's Records that the Board wished to make this recognition. The Chairman congratulated Senator Cotton on the excellent manner in which he handled the inauguration of Governor Saltonstall. The other matter was to discuss with him the State grant of $16,700. and Lexington's share of the State deficiency, which amounts to $32,000.00. Ile said that the , Town had not used the grant feeling that it wanted to hold it back and use it against the deficiency tax. The Chair- man said this money could not be paid out to regular town 103 employees in normal work. If the Legislature does not amend the Act, the town may not be able to use the money ' as it desires and will still have to pay the $32,600. deficiency tax. Senator Cotton said that there was a bill on file to cover the situation, but he did not know the details. He did not see how the money -could be used for anything but Highway purposes. It was the intention to State Tax make the bill plain so that the total appropriation could be used with the $16,700. as an offset and the balance only would have to be appropriated. That was the understanding when the bill was passed, but the Law Department interpreted it differently. He did not believe that it made any difference how the money was used as long as it was used for highway construction, maintenance or repair. The Chairman said that the Board would like to record Lexington as being in favor of the money being used for any highway purposes. Senator Cotton said that the State Tax this year would be larger than last year and whereas our total State tax last year was $60,000. it might be $70,000. this year. He said that there had been talk of making a park of the Great Meadows and as soon as that was done, Lexington would come under the M. D. C. park system. Senator Cotton said he felt that sewerage in Lexington should be metered the same as water is metered. He said there was a possibility that even though we did not have an inch of park in Lexington, we might come within the park system if a proposed new ' method of assessing for parks is adopted. The Chairman said that Lexington had a deficiency tax of $30,000. in excess of the normal tax of $30,000. Based on the deficiency of $18,000,000. last year and figuring on a deficiency of $30,000,000. this year, our state tax might amount to $80,000. in 1939 or $4. on the tax rate. He asked Senator Cotton when the Board might know what the tax might be for 1939. Senator Cotton said that there probably would be nothing in the way of Legislation avail- able before Town Meeting. He said, however, that he would look into the matter. The Chairman said that after the hurricane, the cities and towns borrowed money under Storm Emergency for one year. The Selectmen's Association has gone on record as recommend- ing that the cities and toxins have the option of spreading the money borrowed over five or ten years. He sAid he did not know vhiat the Board's position would be on th8 matter. Mr. Russell said that the town should know before Town Meeting whether or not the Storm Emergency money would have to be paid this year or could be spread over a period of years. Senator Cotton said he did not know if a decision on this would be reached before Town Meeting, but suggested that if a decision had not been reached by March 20th, that the Town Meeting be adjourned two or three weeks. He said he would look into the matters discussed at this meeting and advise the Town Accountant of any development. He retired. N Me a ting. Reports on controversal matters. The Chairman suggested to Mr. Merriam that the Appropriation Committee meet with the Selectmen to decide what the policy was going to be with regard to salaries for 1939. It was decided to invite the Appropriation Committee to meet with the Selectmen next Monday to decide the matter. The Clerk was instructed to list the salary increases requested. Mr. Rowse said that in the past, the Selectmen said that they did not have an opportunity to put their arguments in the matter of appropriations before the people other than the Committee of Twelve, and he thought that that could be taken care of very easily. He f elt that if the Committee of Twelve was given a report on controversal matters, it would take care of the matter. He suggested that the Appropriation Committee in their report list the Selectmen's arguments on controversal matters. Mr. Merriam thought it would be better to make their own report on controversal matters and that this report be sent out with the Approp- riation Committee report. Mr. Rowse still felt that it would be better to have both sides' (argument) in one report. Mr. Merriam said that the Appropriation Committee was meet- ing Wednesday evening and the matter would be discussed then. Mr. Russell suggested that it might be satisfactory if the Committee of Twelve were given the general picture rattier than the individual budgets. They retired. Letter was received from Chief Sullivan with reference Traffic at to the congestion on Mass. Ave. at Waltham Street in front Waltham of the Lexington Fruit Store. Chief Sullivan said that Street. he noted the condition some time ago and requested the busses to pull away from the corner before taking on passengers. He said that the officers would be instructed to keep the area clear in the future. The Town Counsel submitted a proposed bill to amend the Sewer Act. Lexington Sewer Act so that sewers might be extended with W.P.A. funds. Messrs. Raymond, Ross and Cosgrove had approved the bill. Mr. Ross moved that the bill be sent to the Town Counsel and that he be requested to submit it to the Legislature. Mr. Rowse seconded the motion and it was so voted. Mr. Ross moved that an article be inserted in the Article Warrant for the annual Town Meeting to see if the Town would accept this Act. Mr. Rowse seconded the motion and it was so voted. The Chairman informed the Board that he had received Coa}plaint a complaint to the effect that a Mr. Connerty, 288 Marrett Road, was leaving his milk truck in the yard and getting up at two or three o'clock in the morning and making a great deal of noise shifting cans, etc. The Clerk was instructed to have the Building Inspector check on the matter to find out if the man was carrying on a business in a residential zone, D D 1 1 1 Letter was received from the Town Counsel relative to creating a separate Board of Public Welfare. Mr. Wrighting- ton said -that if it was decided to do this, it would be necessary to have a special town meeting at least thirty days before the annual town meeting to see how the town felt on the matter, and if it approved.. then a bill could be submitted to the Legislature. In view of the fact that there would not be time to do that this year, it was decided to take no action on the matter for the present. Letter was received from Mr. Garrity suggesting that the following persons be appointed as a committee to take charge of the Community Day: Robert C. Merriam, William E. Mulliken, Edward H. Mara, Rupert H. Stevens, George M. Hynes. Mr. Potter moved that the Committee as suggested be appointed. Mr. Rowse seconded the motion and it was so voted. Mr. Clark voted in opposition to the whole idea. Letter was received from the Town Engineer stating that he was convinced that it would be unwise to cut the Engineer- ing Expenses in the 1939 budget to the extent of x;215. He submitted another plan. He said that in October, 1938, one of the engineers resig.ed and had not been replaced as yet. By def erring his replacement until March 6th, a saving of $306. could bd. effected. The Board felt that this would take care of the matter satisfactorily. Letter was received from the Clerk relative to the following committees: Committee on Permanent Memorial for Veterans appointed Ded. 8, 1927, Committee on Arboretum appointed Oct. 15, 1930, and Building By-law Committee appointed Dec. 6, 1929. The Chairman asked the Town Accountant about the Committee on Permanent Memorial for Veterans. Mr. Russell said that the towns instructions were to erect memorials in memory of veterans -of all wars for whom memorials had not already been erected. Mr. Russell informed the Board that there was an appropriation of $800. for this committee vdiich was still on the books. It was decided to request Mr. Willard D. Brown, Chairman, to come before the Board next week to discuss the matter. Mr. Raymond informed the Board that Mr. F. B. Hunneman of Parker Street objected to the paragraph in the specifica- tions for contract 2, North Lexington Sewer project, on mechanical screenings and mechanical equipment. He objects to the words "contractorls'option" and wants this to read "Selectmen's option". Mr. Hunneman had an appointment with the Board at 8:45 but did not appear. Mr. Raymond said that if the Board wanted to change the wording of this paragraph an addenda could be prepared and submitted to Washington for approval, etc. Mr. Raymond said he talked with Mr. Eddy on the matter and he said that they wrote this paragraph of their own free will and as far as they were concerned, one 105 Separate Welfare Board. Community Day Committee Engineer- ing budget. Unactive committees North Lexington Sewer Project 106 method was as good as another. Mr., Raymond retired. Mr. Hunneman appeared before the Board at 9:45 P.M. and stated that he had made a mistake in the hour. He said he had been a resident of Lexington for several years and had followed this sewer project right along. He was quite disturbed at the way the specifications read because they allowed for two methods of screening. He was interested in a Chicago Comminutor pump which he said required no handling by man. He said that subject to the option of the con- tractor, either of two methods of screening might be used. He said the contractor was interested only in the cost to himself and if there was d difference of only $10. in the two methods, of course the contractor would choose the cheaper method. Mr. Hunneman said he was connected with the Chicago firm and probably his equipment would be a trifle more expensive. Mr. Hunneman said that Metcalf & Eddy were recommending their type of machine on several other projects. He went to their office this morning and talked with Mr. Greenleaf there who agreed that the wording of the specifications was not fair and that the wording should have been different. Mr. Greenleaf recommended that Mr. Hunneman confer with the Selectmen and Hunneman asked him why Metcalf & Eddy did not issue an addenda. Greenleaf told him that the specifications were written the way they were in this paragraph at the re- quest of an offical of the town of Lexingtoh.. Mr. Hunneman asked him if this information was confidential and he stated ' that it was not. Mr. Ross asked if Mr. Hunneman would be satisfied if the specifications were to read so that his machine or its equal could be used, and he replied in the affirmative. Mr. Rowse asked Mr. Hunrieman if he said that Metcalf & Eddy did not consider that the other machine was as good as his, and he replied that Mr. Greenleaf said so. Mr. Hunneman said that his apparatus would not require a wants attention other than a periodic inspection. 9r. Rowse asked Mr. Hunneman what he would like the wording of the paragraph to be. He said he would like it either as suggested by Mr. Ross or that it be left the way it is and that thea words "at the contractorts option" be changed to read "at the Selectmen's option". Mr. Ross said that he did not approve of the latter. Mr. Ross moved that an addenda be sent out by Metcalf & Eddy changing the section in the specifications relative to screening so that Mr. Hunneman's equipment or its equal could be used, said addenda to be subject to the approval of Metcalf & Eddy. Mr. Rowse seconded the motion and it was so voted. Mr. Hunneman retired. The Chairman read a letter which Sergeant Neal suggested Innholderst be sent to persons taking more than four or five lodgers licenses requiring them to have an innholderts license. Mr. Clark moved that the Clerk take this matter up with the Town 1 C Counsel for his advice. Mr. Rowse seconded the motion and it was so voted. Budgets under the jurisdiction of the Selectmen were approved as follows: Unclassified $300.00 Board of Selectmen: Expenses 5500.00 Selectmen's Expenses 1761.00 Patriots' Day 500.00 Memorial Day 250.00 Im Budgets The Clerk reminded the Board that the bids on Contract 2 on the North Lexington Sewer project were to be opened Meeting on Thursday evening, Jan. 19th, at 8:00 P. M. It was decided to meet at 7:00 P. M. on that evening to go over budgets. The Clerk informed the Board that Blanche Meadows, a tuberculosis patient who had been discharged from the Meadows Middlesex Co. Sanatorium two years ago, was ill again and case sanatorium treatment had been advised. Mrs. Meadows, who is ill in bed, did not wish to go to the sanatorium and requested that the Board approve payment of a woman to take care of her house and children and that she be allowed to remain at home. The Board felt that it would be much better for Mrs. Meadows herself to ego back to the sanatorium, and believed that it would be endangering the health of the children if she were allowed to remain at home. The Clerk was instructed to inform Miss Eastman, who brought up the matter, that it would not approve putting a woman in the house while Mrs. Meadows remained at home. Messrs. Mitchell and Morse appeared relative to Wel- Welfare fare matters. The meeting adjourned at 11:15 P. M. A true record, Attest: Clerk.