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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1940-12-02Drawing of Jurors Pole petition Jell is' offer to purchase lots SELECTMEN'S MEETING December 2, 1940 A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Selectmen's Room, Town Office Building at 7:25 P.M. Chairman Giroux, Messrs. Potter, Rowse, Sarano end Locke were present. The Clerk was also present. At 7:27 the Town Clerk appeared before the Board for the drawing of two jurors. Mr. Leonard Jellis, Telephone Company, of 70 Ward Street was drawn to serve on criminal business at Cambridge, beginning January 60 1941. Mr. Gilbert Etheridge, foreman, of 53 Downing Rd. was drawn to serve as a Grand Juror in Cambridge beginn- ing January 6, 1941. At 7:30 P. M. hearing was declared open on the peti- tion of the Boston Edison Company and the New'England Telephone & Telegraph -Co. for permission to erect and maintain one pole on Locust Avenue, approximately 105' feet west of Lexington Avenue. Mr. Mayon of the Boston Edison Company and Mr. Paxton were present at the hearing. Mr. Paxton said that he and the Town Engineer approved the location. Mr. Potter moved that the petition be granted. Mr. Locke seconded the motion, and it was so voted. Mr. Mayon retired at 7:35 P.M. Mr. Potter said that Mr. Leonard Jellis of 70 Ward Street had spoken to him about purchasing lots 27, 28 and 29 in Block 19 Meagher Development. The chair - main said that the Board of Assessors felt that the Town should not sell any of the lots in this area until the location of the new route 128 had been decided upon. Mr. Potter moved that Mr. Jellis be informed that the Board did not care to sell any lots in the areaet this time because of the uncertainty of the location of route 128, Mr. Locke seconded the motion, and it was so voted. Mr. Paxton said that the Red Cross had requested U. -e of the use of a conference room on the evening of December donf. room 10th. Mr. Rowse moved that the use of the conference room be granted free of charge. Mr. Sarano seconded the motion, and it was so voted. Mr. Paxton said that the Veterans of Foreign Wars had requested the use of Cary Hall on the evening of December 19th from 8:00 P. M. to 10:30 P. Pd. for a children's Christmas party. Mr. Sarano moved that the hall be granted free of charge. Mr. Locke seconded the motion, and it was so voted. 1 1 1 C Mr. Paxton said that he went over the proposed agree- ment between the Lexington Homes, Inc. and the Town of Lexington with Mr. Knipe and he also went over the form of bond with him. Mr. Knipe telephoned Mr. Paxton today and said that after talking over the matter with his lawyer, they felt that the agreement constituted a lien on the property. Apparently for the present they; plan to do nothing fur- ther on the layout. Mr. Paxton said that he would talk to Mr. Wrightington to see if any other form of Bond would do. However, the Board felt that inasmuch as other developers had filed the regular Bond, the Lexington Homes Inc. should do likewise. No action was taken on the matter. Mr. Paxton said he thought the Town Engineer should be an ex -officio member of the Planning Board so that he would know what was going on. The Chairman suggested that it might be well for the Superintendent of Public Works to be invited to the Planning Board meetings, at such times as the Planning Board felt there would be discussion which would interest the Super- intendent. The Clerk was instructed to write the Chairman of the Planning Board and ask if the Town Engineer and the Super- intendent of Public Works might be invited to attend the Planning Board meetings. The Chairman said that Mr. Daniel J. O'Connell was on the Advisory Committee of the Draft Board. That committee would like permission.to use a room in the Town Office Building when Lexington cases came up. The Selectmen felt that the committee should meet in the Town Offices. The matter was left that Judge Hinchey of the Draft Board would contact the Clerk when he wanted to use a room. Mr. Paxton presented his recommendation relative to the charges to be made for the use of the ambulance. The Clerk was instructed to make copies of the re- commendation so that each member of the Board might have one. Mr. Paxton retired at 8.00 P.M. The Chairman said that Mr. Nathan B. Bidwell had talked with Mr. Wrightington on the Porter case and Mr. Wrightington told him to talk to the Board. Mr. Bidwell is going to ask the Court for a view and that would mean that the case would have to be put over until spring in all probability. An Order for the extension of a water main in Winthrop Road was signed as follows: (See page 485 for this Order which was omitted from this record through error. Agreement of Lex. Homes,Inc. Planning Bd. Meetings Use of Town Offices for Advisory Comm. meetings. Charges to be made for use of ambulance Porter case 444 Mr. Wrightington is going to object to this strenuously as he is anxious to get all the cases disposed of. One , of the Porter brothers is willing to settle for $1,000. but the other doesn't want to settle at all. We have offered them $700. It was decided to take no further action on the case until the next meeting when the Town Counsel would probably know the outcome of the Ham case. The Chairman asked if the Board would be willing to hold the meeting next week on Tuesday rather than Monday. There being no objection, it was decided to do this.. The erection of a lunch cart in front of 1698 Mass. Avenue by James J. Waldron was discussed. Mr. Potter said he understood that Mr. Waldron was going to move James Waldron his lunch cart from its present location to in front of lunch cart the Hutchinson house. Mr. Rowse asked if a Common Victualler's license had been applied for at the new location and the Chairman replied in the negative. Mr. Potter said that he had received a telephone call from a resident objecting to the new location and this resident stated that a petition protesting it was being circulated. Mr. Rowse moved that Mr. Waldron be informed, be- fore he goes to the expense of re -locating the lunch cart, that there was some agitation in Town against it and that no license had been issued at the new location. Mr. Potter seconded the motion, and it was so voted. Mr. Raymond said that today a check was received on the North Lexington Sewer Project. This is the final check except for the money involved in the Porter case and that held back on Rounds, etc. In settlement the Check re e d Federal Government allowed us 3% of the cost of con- No.Lex.Sewer struction for engineering inspection and services and the actual cost to the Town was 6%, making the loss in grant about $1700. Mr. Raymond said that he did not know if there was any possibility of getting any more money on this or not. He wrote about a year ago and pro- tested the decision at that time to give us only 2 so evidently that letter had some affect. He asked if the Board wanted to give him any in- struction to decline this check and write the Government and put forth any arguments that he could think of as to why it should allow more money on engineering. The Board felt he should try to get as much as he could and told him to write the Government whatever he thought necessary. Mr, Rowse asked how they arrived at the basis of 3%. Mr. Raymond said he thought it was just an arbitrary ruling. Mr. Raymond retired at 8:25 P.M. 1 1 W. S. Caouette said the Security Committee of the Lexington Co-operative Bank asked him to come before the Selectmen and bring up the question of the extension of a water main in Winter Street, a distance of approximately 650 feet. The Bank owns the house at #66 and Mr. Sharkey owns the house next door. He said the bank and Mr. Sharkey had digned a petition for the extension. Mr. Caouette said that a well was driven on the property line some years ago and both houses drew from this well by means of two pumps. The well has apparently gone dry and both houses are without water at the present time. A well drilling concern was consulted and they said that it would be neeessar�,* to go down a minimum of 75 feet for water and that two wells woul`e� have to be in- stalled. The expense of this would be considerable and would be more or less of a temporary service. The bank wondered if the Town would extend the water to serve these two properties and if so on what basis it could be done. Mr. Paxton said that the cost to the abutters would be 90� per front foot. Mr. Caouette said that there was a health and fire question involved here. Mr. Paxton said that Mr. Ross gave a rough estimate of the extension as $1800. The Chairman told Mr. Caouette that the Engineering ' Department would contact the abutters and see how many would be willing to pay the betterment assessment. Mr. Caouette retired at 8:40 P. M. ".4 Request for ,water main ext. =' on Winter St. Messrs. George C. Sheldon, Chairman of the Appropria- tion Committee, and James H. Russell, Town Accountant, appeared before the Board at 8;45 P. M. The Chairman said that the Lexington Co-operative Bank had requested the extension of a water main in Winter Street which would cost about $1800. He asked where the Town would get the money if it was necessary, from a health angle, to make the extension. Mr. Russell said that there would have to be an article in the warrant and the money would have to come from E. & D. However, if the money was needed for a water extension, it would come from the Water Department Avail- able Surplus Account. The Chairman said that the Board had declared an Emergency in the Snow Removal Account because there was a balance of only $1400. The cost of the November 26th storm was $2300. He said that there were possibilities Emergency of more snow between now and the end of the year so Snow Removal there would be no sense in getting a transfer from the Reserve Fund to pay the $900. deficit. Mr. Russell said the balance in the Reserve Fund was only about $500. any- way. He said that it had been held that the declaration of an Emergency simply gave the Department head the right to incur expenses but did not give the authority to pay any bills until the money had been made available. 446 The Chairman said that the Town Counsel was going to meet with the Selectmen on December 10th to decide what was to be done on the Stevens, Ham and perhaps the ' Porter case. Mr. Rowse asked Mr. Russell if he would prefer having Town a Town Meeting this year rather than in January of 1941. Meeting Mr. Russell said he saw no reason why the meeting could not be held in January if the Board do desired. The Chairman said that there wasa good possibility of decreasing the tax rate this year but still doing the same amount of work that was done last year and doing some of the work that has been put off from year to year. Our bonded debt comes down about $23,000. in Possibility principal and $2,000. in interest. There will be a saving of reduced on police pensions and on a few other things. With a net tax rate gain of $400,000. on increased valuations by the assessors, there is a possibility of coming down 40,000. which would mean reducing the rate to about $30. The Chairman said he hoped that the Boards would see fit to do some of the work that should be done but had beenp ut off in other years. He thought this was the year to do it. Mr. Sheldon said that the Appropriation Committee would not like to see the tax rate come down if it meant not doing I some of the things we should do such as Fallen Road, Spring Street, etc. ' Mr. Sheldon said that if there was going to be a Town Meeting, the Appropriation Committee would meet in advance of it. He said he promised Allen Rucker, Vice-chairman of the Defense Committee, an opportunity to appear before the Appropriation Committee and explain the financial needs Defense Com. of the Defense Committee. He says that the Defense Committee Financial needs $185. immediately. The Chairman said he thought the needs. matter should go before the Town Meeting but Mr. Russell said the Town Counsel had ruled that such appropriation was illegal. The Chairman said the Town had a perfect right to pur- chase equipment for the Police Department for protection. It was decided to discuss this matter with the Town Counsel next Tuesday evening. Mr. Sheldon said that he had talked with Mr. Morse relative to the Welfare Department budgets for 1941. Mr. Welfare Dept Morse said that people were not bringing in clothes the Budgets way they used to and that he had reached the point where he would have to spend a lot of money for clothing. He said that many people have old clothes but gave them to the Salvation Army or the Morgan Memorial. They both thought it would be worth while to start an Old Clothes I Project. 1 n Mr. Rowse suggested that a person in charge of this in the Public Health Association discuss the subject with the Board but no action was taken on the suggestion. Mr. Sheldon said that the Public Health Association was charging the Town for making calls on T. Be cases; also the Association was charging for transporting T. Be patients to the Sanatorium. He thought that inasmuch as the townspeople contributed to the Red Cross and the Community Fund, the Public Health Association should not charge for these services. The Chairman said that this subject would be discussed when Mr. Lyon Carter came before the Board the next time. Mr. Sheldon brought up the subject of consolidating the Town's trucking equipment. The Chairman said that the Board had discussed this several times with Mr. Ray- mond but after considering all angles, he did not think it a good plan. Mr. Paxton said that he had not given the matter a great deal of study but he thought that there might be some merit to the plan. He thought there would be an advantage as far as cost control was concerned. The Chairman suggested that Mr. Paxton discuss the subject with Mr. James Spellman of the Appropriation Committee, whose business is transportation, and Mr. Paxton said he would be very glad to do so. The group retired at 9:32 P. Me Chief Sullivan appeared before the Board. The Chairman said there had been some criticism on the part of the Town because of the number of accidents on the Concord Turnpike. He said that Arlington patrolled the highway and he wondered if Lexington did. Chief Sullivan said they did patrol the highwpLy some, but they did not have the men to patrol it properly. The Chairman suggested that the Chief confer with the State's officer in charge of this area and ask him to do every- thing possible to control speeding on the Turnpike. The Chief said he would do so. Chief Sullivan retired at 9:37 P. M• Mr. Morse appeared before the Board to discuss Welfare matters. RR Public Health Assn. charges Consolidating Town's truck- ing equipment Letter was received from the Town Accountant stating that because the Building Inspector's automobile allowance had been reduced from $100. to $75. per yecr as of March lst. there would be a shortage in the account of $6.25. However, because of a balance of $4.80 in the postage and supplies item, the deficit would amount to only $1.45 Mr. Rowse moved that the Appropriation Committee be re- quested to transfer the sum of "1.45 from the Reserve Fund to the Building Department Expenses Account. Mr. Locke seconded the motion, and it was so voted. Accidents on Concord Turn- pike Bldg. Insp. Auto allowance J I 0 • Suggested meeting re: Lowell Turn- pike outlet A letter was received from Charles E. Ferguson, Representative elect, suggesting that -a meeting be held so that there might be a free discussion relative to the future location -of the outlet of the Lowell Turn- pike. He suggested that the two other Representatives from this district, Mr. Cousens and Mr. Furbush, be in- vited to attend the meeting. The Chairman suggested that the Planning Board be asked if it would recommend such a meeting and if so, that the Selectmen call the meeting and have the Planning Board handle it. Letter was received from the Town Counsel rela- tive to land damages in connection with the Lowell high- way. Mr. Wrightington said that the reason the Town was that there was a special Act which imposed a pnrtion of the expense on different towns. The Lowell Turnpike is contemplated as a State highway under General Laws with no legislation except an appropriation and an authoriza- tion. Mr. Wrightington suggested that the Town watch for any legislation which might result in an assessment on the Town for land damages. The Clerk was instructed to write the Representatives and request them to notify the Selectmen when any legisla- tion was planned which would cause the Town of Lexington to be assessed for land damages in connection with the construction of the Lowell Turnpike. Letter was received from the Town Counsel containing Town Counsel his opinion on the matter of restricting construction re:cars back- of garages from which cars would have to be backed ' . 'ling into into main highways. He said that under existing legis - main highway lation, he doubted if the Town could restrict the loca- tion of garages giving access to main highways. The Clerk was instructed to send a copy of the letter to the Planning Board. IRi 1 Letter was received from W. R. Greeley advising that in accordance with the Chairman's request, he had taken up with his engineer the matter of the over - Overheating heating of the Town Office Building., Mr. Moller, the Town Office engineer, suggested that a thermostat be installed in Bldg. the Selectmen's room and said this would cost about $370. It was decided to consider having this work done when the budgets for 1941.were discussed. Mr. Sarano said that he had looked at the•tree Tree in front of the driveway at 93 Hancock Street and he removal agreed with the Lexington Botanical Gardens, Inc. that the tree should be removed. IRi 1 n r 1 Mr. Sarano moved that the Board of Selectmen, acting as Tree Wardens, post the tree for removal. Mr. Rowse seconded the motion, and it was so voted. The Clerk said that the Town Accountant had talked with her relative to the abatements of interest on sewer betterments on the Ryder property which the Selectmen authorized on November 18th. He said that when the Ryder drainage cases were settled all sewer assessments and interest thereon up to and including 1938 were settled. Therefore, it was unnecessary to abate the interest for 1937 and 19 38 . Mr. Rowse moved that the vote of November 18th authorizing the abatement of interest on sewer better- ments for the years 1937, 1938, 1939 and 1940 be rescinded. Mr. Locke seconded the motion, and it was so voted. Mr. Rowse then moved that the Board authorize the abatement of interest in the amount of $10,38 on Lot Eleven and 10.56 -on lot X. Mr. Locke seconded the motion, and it was so voted. Im Ryder abatements Application for license to sell Methyl Alcohol for 1941 was received from H. M. Lawrence'.. Mr. Potter moved Methyl Ale. that the license be granted. Mr. Sarano seconded the license motion, and it was so voted. The Chairman said that Mr. Carl Hauck had telephoned him this evening and stated that Mrs. Frank Yelink of Fottler Avenue was in the Palmer Memorial Hospital and Request for had to be taken home in an ambulance and he wanted to use of am - know if the Town ambulance might be used to take Mrs. bulance Yelink home. The Board suggested that the case be investigated by Mr. Morse and if the woman did not have sufficient funds to pay for her own ambulance charge, that the Welfare Department take care of it. Sommitments of water rates, water liens and water miscellaneous charges were signed. The meeting adjourned -at 10:33 P. M. A true record: Attest Clerk