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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1940-01-18 14 SELECTMEN'S MEETING JAN. 18, 1940 1 A special meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Selectmen' s Room, Town Office Building, at 7:30 P. M. Chairman Giroux, Messrs . Potter, Rowse, Locke and Sarano were present . The Clerk was also present. Application for approval of a Peddler' s License was License received from Walter T . Jolin of 160 Lowell Street. Mr. Potter moved that the license be approved. Mr. Rowse seconded the motion and it was so voted. Budgets were discussed and acted on as follows: Amount Amount Account Requested Approved. Registrars - Expenses $700.00 $700.00 Town Offices - Outlay 225.00 40.00 Weights & Measures - Pers . Services 500.00 500.00 Insect Suppression-Wages & Exp. 3933.40 3933.40 Shade Trees-Wages & Expenses 2130.00 2130.00 Forest Fires - Personal Services 200.00 200.00 Dog Officer - Personal Services 100.00 100.00 Health Dept. -Personal Services 500.00 500.00 Health Dept. - Expenses 5000.00 5000.00 Dog Clinic - Expenses 350.00 350.00 Dental Clinic - Pers . Services 1750.00 1750.00 Dental Clinic - Expenses 100.00 100.00 Budgets Posture Clinic 6.5.00 625.00 ( It was felt that the Posture Clinic Committee should work more closely with the School Dept. and it was decided to appoint a member of the School Committee to the Posture Clinic Committee when the appoint- ments are made . ) Vital Statistics 25.00 25.00 Animal Inspector 500.00 500.00 Slaughter Insp. - Pers . Services 800.00 800.00 Plumbing Dept . - Pers . Services 1100.00 800.00 Ashes and Dumps 1900.00 1900.00 Garbage Collection 5065.00 5065.00 Memorial Day 250.00 250.00) Patriots' Day 750.00 500.00 Pensions - Police 1098.00 1098.00 Pensions - Fire 1110.85 1110.85 Unclassified 300.00 300.00 At 9:15 P.M. , Mr. Bingham of the Bingham Survey Assoc- iates, Mr. John W. Raymond, Jr. and the Appropriation Committee appeared before the Bourd. The Chairman told the group that the Board had invited 111 Mr. Bingham here this evening to secure a little information from him relative to the making of a survey of the Town of 15 Lexington and the cost of doing it. The Chairman stated that like all communities, this community is anxious to secure a lower tax rate and the Selectmen thought they might give consideration to some outside survey. If the idea is approved by the two groups present, it will be sub- mitted to the Town Meeting members . The Chairman asked Mr. Bingham to give some outline of his experience and the scope of the organization. Mr. Bingham said he started herein _New England as Town Manager in Norwood in 1915, then became City Engineer in Waltham, then went to Watertown, N.Y. and then to West Palm Beach, Florida for three years . He came back to Norwood as Town Manager in 1928 and stayed there until 1933. He then went to work for the C .W.A. as State Director. In 1934, the Public Administration Service of Chicago asked Bingham him to open up their New England office. During that time survey he madea survey of the Welfare Departments in Boston and Brookline . He did work for the Administration for Tex:11a orary Relief in New York city and also in Albany. He came back to Boston and started business for himself. He said the organization had made about forty surveys in Massachusetts , Maine, and Connecticut . They have worked in all sizes of cities and towns from towns the size of Canton and Dracut to cities the size of Portland, Maine. Surveys had been made in Quincy, Haverhill, Watertown, Dedham, Whittensville , Milford, Fairhaven, and Troy, New York. Mr. Bingham said that for the past one and a half II years he has been with the State as a member of the II Legislative Recess Commission. He said the personnel of his own organization runs from three or four persons to fourteen or fifteen persons . Last year they made a survey in Peabody. Their work covers all departments, but pri- marilly Welfare Departments as it seems that most towns are more interested. in Welitas Departments now. They havd done twenty-five or thirty welfare departments alone but of course their work covers all departments . Mr. Bingham said that the people he employs are not acedemically pre- pared but practically all of them have had experience in town or city government. His Chief Engineer is a member of the American Society for Civil Engineers, a graduate of M.I.T . and was with the T .V.A. He has an Ass 't. Engineer who is a graduate of Northeastern and has made foursurveys for him. Mr. Bingham said that he himself was a member of the American Society for Civil Engineers and had been a Supt . of Public Works . For the welfare surveys, they have two senior workers, one of whom is a graduate of Wellesley College , attended the University of Chicago and is a graduate of Oxford University. The other worker, who is Mr. Bingham' s daughter, is a graduate of Smith and has a Master' s degree. She is now employed by the Welfare Department in Stamford, Conn. and is therefor available only when she is on leave . They have a registered nurse and doctor on their staff so they are qualified to investigate the matter of hospitals and Town Physicians . They have a trained man who can go into the matter of 16 orl to settlements , Federal assistance, etc. The Police and Fire Departments , Mr. Bingham does himself because he has had experience along those lines. The Chairman asked how he arrived at his compensation. Mr. Bingham said that that varied and that one could not go by population. There are certain procedures that have to be gone through in every municipality regardless of how large or how small it may be . For a welfare survey they have a sliding scale; if a town' s population is under 5, 000, the cost is about $900.00, and the cost runs up to $3500. for cities over 100,000. It would cost about $1800. to do a town with a population of about 15,000. A welfare survey covers one-half of the job and takes about seven weeks, therefor it would take fourteen weeks to do a whole town. The cost of complete survey would run from $3200. to $3600. The Chairman asked Mr. Bingham if he made recommen- dations in his report. He replied in the affirmative and showed samples of reports made for other towns. He said he tried in every case to give proof of what he claimed. They usually find that they can show savings of from 10% to 15%. The Chairman asked if he generally found that their recommendations were on the elimination of personnel. Mr. Bingham said that he never recommended laying off employees . Mr. Bingham said that his firm made a private survey for Mayor Burgin of Quincy and Mayor Burgin told him that the departments took the survey in a spirit of helpfulness rather than a spirit of criticism. Mayor Burgin says that he has made a savings of over $12, 000. in one department alone and the Water Dept. has collected about $67 , 000. worth of old bills . The Chairman asked if they found that there was a large possibility of sailing in welfare departments . Mr. Bingham said that that was where savings were most frequently recommended. Mr. Emery asked if Mr. Bingham had found any ratio of the amount of saving as compared with the cost of the survey. Mr. Bingham said that Taunton wanted him to tell them how much he could save so he he would save five or ten times the cost of the survey and he did save about - d.e3ty times the cost. He finds that it runs from five to ten times the cost of thesurvey. In Haverhill, his firm thought the city should save $100,000. in the Welfare Dept. The first year the survey was pigeon-holed, but the second year a new commissioner came in. The new commissioner put in over half of the recommendations and he told Mr. Bingham that he had saved about $50,000. in Haverhill that year eventhough they had an increase in the welfare rolls. He said it was entirely up to the Town as to whether or not they wanted to adopt the recommendations . Mr. Merriam asked if he found that towns usually followed his recommendations . Mr. Bingham said that they guarantee in their proposal that there will be nothing unlawful, illegal, impossible to put in, or any suggestion that has not been used elsewhere . 17 Mr. Rowse asked if the survey covered schools, and he replied in the affirmative . Mr. Emery asked if his firm had ever made a survey where it could not make much of a saving, and he replied in the affirmative. He said they had had some towns that were very much pleased with the work even though they could not affect much of a saving. He said, however, in those towns there were no criticisms to make so they could make no recommendations. Mr. Brask asked if such a survey were made in Lext ington it would be completed so that it might be put into operation this year. Mr. Bingham said the survey would take about fourteen weeks and if anything was found that should be rectified right away, the town officials would be told of it immediately. Many times surveys have been paid for before they are completed. Mr. Emery asked if there was any delay in getting a survey started. Mr. Bingham said that his firm was working on five jobs now and it had about a dozen that were about to come any minute, but Lexington would not be held up more than two or three weeks . The Chairman asked him low long it would take for him tosubmit a proposal if the Towh desired it, and he said he could do it in a day or two. The Chairman expressed the thanks of the Board and the. Appropriation Committee to Mr. Bingham for coming out and explaining his work and he retired at 9:45 P.M. The Chairman asked the group if it was sufficiently interested to write the towns in which Bingham had made surveys to ask their opinion of his work, and everybody felt that this would be interesting information. The Clerk was instructed to write the various municipalities to get theirimpressions of Mr. Bingham' s work. The Chairman stated that the Selectmen had been giving some thought to a suggestion whereby laborers in town departments might be given some fixed rate of pay with the idea that they would benefit by having some stabilized amount coming in each week. He said the Selectmen thought the idea was worth looking into and some time ago asked Mr. Raymond to give the matter some thought, to discuss it with the Town Accountant and the Appropriation Committee, and report to the Board. He asked Mr. Raymond if he had done this, and Mr. Raymond said that he had. Mr. Raymond said that it was very difficult to arrive at a normal operating year for the departments . For instance, 1939 was one year in perhaps twenty where there were almost 100 percent of the working days in the construction period which were good working days . 1938 was one year in perhaps twenty when a very large percent- age of the year were not good working days . He studied both years and had come to the conclusion that 1939 was more nearly a normal year. He found that if $1761. more had been paid to the reFular employees of the Highway Dept . , they would have received a minimum wage of $24. per week 18 in 1939. Many of the men averaged more than $24. per week. There were thirteen out of nineteen who averaged more than the $24. per week. The Chairman asked if his figures Laborers were based on fifty-two weeks or on the number of weeks wages . the men worked, and Mr Raymond said they were based on fifty-two weeks . The following amounts would have been needed to pay the men a minimum of $24. per week: Park, Moth and Shade Tree departments, '536.00: Water and Sewer, 2339.00; Public Works Building, 250. a total of $4886. would be needed if operations were exactly as they were in 1939. If a minimum wage were established, Mr. Raymond said he was sure that a smaller sum of money would suffice to guarantee $24. a week except in cases of emergency. Mr. Potter asked if the men were paid extra for over- time, and Mr. Raymond replied in the negative. He said that that was one of the objections to the proposal. The Town Accountant submitted a letter giving figures in regard to t'-,e matter based on an average of $24. a week and the Cleik was instructed to make copies of it for the Board. The Chairman asked the group to give the matter some thought and said that it would be discussed again in a couple of weeks . The Chairman asked Mr. Raymond what the Department beads thought of the idea, and he said that they had different views on it . One Superintendent thinks it ib an individual problem and in his department it takes care of itself very well. He thinks his men are capable of managing their own finances and that they get along all right . In that department work is much more uniform than in some of the others . He said that there are some men who take time off of their own free will. Also, consid- eration must be given as to how much time should be allowed for sickness in addition to vacations. The discussion terminated at 11: P.M. The Clerk left the meeting at 11:05 P.M. and the Selectmen and the Appropriation Committee remained. A true record, Attest: Clerk. The Appropriation Committee and the Selectmen dis- cussed salaries, and the following increases were approved by both bodies : 1939 Approved Name Department Salary Salary Beach, Clayton M. W.P.A. $30. per wk. 35. per wk. Chadwick, Ralph Wgts . & Measures $450. yr. 500. yr. Harvey, Isabelle M. Water Dept . $18. per wk. 20. per wk. Hayes, Ruth " of 14. " of 15. " " 19 Litchenberg, John Engineers $20. wk. $22. wk. Lowe, Eleanor M. Selectmen 32. " 34. " Salaries I O'Connor, John Highway 30. " 32. " Sousa, Cidaliza Highway 13. " 14. ItHubley, Elinor Accountant 13. " 15. " Regs . of Voters Personal Serv. (Special for 1940) 100. " A true record, Attest : Chairman.