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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1942-02-02 398 SELECTMEN'S MEETING 1111 February 2, 1942. A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Selectmen's Room, Town Office Building on Monday, evening, February 2, 1942 at 7:30 P.M. Chairman Giroux and Messrs. Potter, Rowse, Locke, and Sarano were present. The Clerk was also present. At 7 :30 P.M. Mr. James J. Carroll, Town Treasurer, appeared before the Board. The Chairman read it letter from Adams & Blinn, at- torneys , requesting that the Selectmen, acting as the Board of Survey, endorse a plan of that part of the Grove Franklin P. Simonds Estate situated on Robinson Road, Street and a plan of that part of the Franklin P. Simonds Es- tate located on Grove Street. He also read a letter from Mr. Wrightington on the subject. Under Statute 1935 Chapter 354, Section 2 amended by Statute 1939 Chapter 181, a land owner may file a petition in the Land Court for redemption of part of a larger tract sold for taxes . The Land Court urges the petitioner to bring with his petition an agreement by the Town Treasurer advising the amount to be paid for the release of that part of the land from the tax lien. The 1939 Act requires that if a 41/1 Town has accepted Sections 81-F to J of the new Board of Survey Act, as Lexington has , the Board of Survey shall approve the plat of the proposed subdivision and file the approval in the office of the Board of Survey. The reason for requesting the approval of the Board of Survey is probably because such subdivision usually included proposed streets . Mr. Wrightington said that an important factor was the amount of money to be paid in redemption and this is to be decided by the Town Treasurer. He suggested that the Board confer with Mr. Carroll on the matter. The Chairman said that he be- lieved Mr. Wrightington's suggestion that the Board con- f er with the Town Treasurer was so that the best part of a tract might not be redeemed and the Town would find itself holding onlythe poorest part. Mr. Carroll said that no tracts had been edeemedsince the law went into effect. This is the first one. He-said that the Board of Assessors subdivided the land. Adams & Blinn asked him the amount of money necessary to redeem, and he fur- nished these figures based on the Assessors ' subdivision. Mr Carroll said that Mr. Wrightington preferred that he confer with the Selectmen as it is necessary that the Board of Survey approve the action before the petition is taken into the Land Court. The Chairman said that the matter would be left that whenever there is a large tract being subdivided, and Mr. Carroll wished to confer with the Board, he would do so; 39 4110 Mr. Locke moved that the two plans in question be endorsed and signed. Mr. Potter seconded the motion, and it was so voted. Mr. Carroll retired at 7 :45 F.M. Mr. Paxton appeared before the Board at 7:45 P.M. He said that the Lexington Red Cross had requested Use of the use of a conference room on the first Thursday of Hall each month. Mr. Rowse moved that the use of the room be granted, free of dharge. Mr. Locke seconded the motion, and it was so voted. Mr. Paxton read a letter from Eugene J. Viano pro- testing bills rendered him for the water and sewer ser- vices to his new Block. The custom has been to charge sewer services from the center of the street. Mr. Viano Viano makes an additional claim because of the depth of the claim sewer, saying that the Engineering Department told him that the depth at the curb line was 12 feet when in reality it was only 8 feet. Mr. Viano also feels that he was charged too much for his water services. He said that the Town made a profit on these services and further, he thought he should be reimbursed for damages incurred during the erection of the building. Mr. Paxton said he could find no evidence that the S Engineers gave any information to the effect that the sewer was 12 feet in depth in front of the building. The plan shows a depth of 8 feet. The actual cost of the work was $802.00 and Mr. Viano was charged $569.00. Mr. Paxton said that there was an error in the bill for the water service in the amount of $21.06. Mr. Viano was charged from the main and not from the street line. It was decided to instruct Mr. Paxton to put through an abatement on the water service of $21.06 and to take no action on the other claim. Mr. Paxton said that he had received prices on shovels from various contractors ' supply houses. The lowest of Bid on these was $14.66 per dozen with a six to eight week's shovels delivery. Mr. Paxton recommended purchasing fifteen dozen of these shovels from Waldo Brothers. Mr. Rowse moved that the Superintendent's recommenda- tion be approved. Mr. Locke seconded the motion, and it was so voted. Mr. Paxton thought that this supply would last until May, 1943. Mr. Paxton called the Board's attention to the in- crease in the light bills for the Town Offices and Cary Memorial Building. The bill was $40.00 higher in Lights December, 1941 than in December , 1940 and 30 .00 higher in January, 1942 than in January, 1941. 4110 r 440 The Chairman said he thought it was only fair that the Committee on Public Safety should pay for the power used in the Report Center. Mr. Paxton was requested to submit a figure of what he thought would be a fair charge for the lights in the Report Center. Mr. Paxton said that he appeared before the Tire Rationing Board to try to find out about tires for our municipal equipment. At the present time he can get Tires tires only when they are necessary. Last fall they had all the tires that could be retreaded done, and threw the others away. They have some spares but not an ade- quate supply. Mr. Paxton retired at 8:08 P.M. At 8:10 P.N. Messrs. Allen W. Rucker, Sergeant Neal, Malcolm Clifford, Chief Sullivan, and Ralph Dale appeared before the Board. The Chairman said that the Selectmen had asked them to come in ao that the manner of storage of weapons for Com. on the Committee on Public Safety, and rules and regulations Public as to the use of the weapons could be discussed. Mr. Safety Rucker read some regulations covering the use of this equipment which had been prepared by Mr. Walter Sands , Chairman of the Protection Division. The Chairman asked if the members of the group present were familiar with the regulations , and Mr. Dale said that he was . The Chief said he had discussed the matter somewhat with Mr. Sands , but the others knew nothing of them. The Chairman suggested that the group retire, go over the regulations, and come to an agreement on them and return to the meeting. The group retired at 8:20 P.M. Letter was received from John Janusas , the second man Janusas on the list of persons eligible for temporary appointment re : pol. to the Police Department. Mr. Janusas said that he was app !t. under contract at the Marion-Apolia Academy and would not seek the appointment. The Chairman said that in view of the fact that Mr. Janusas was not interested and Mr. Tobin, the third man on the list is in Class 1-A in the draft and will undoubtedly be called to the service shortly, he had instructed the Clerk to write to the Civil Service Division asking if a new eligible list should be supplied. The Board felt that this was the proper thing to do and the matter was held over for another week. The Chairman read a report of an audit made by the Clerk of the books and accounts of the W.P.A. School Lunch Project for the school year ending December 31 , 1941. The accounts were found to be in order and the records in excellent condition, • 401 4111 Notice was received from the Planning Board of a hear- ing to be held February 13, 1942 at 7:45 P. M. on a pro- Planning posed amendment to the Zoning Law to provide for the ap- Board pointment of four associate members to the Board of Appeals rather than two. The Chairman read a notice of a hearing to be held by the Planning Board on February 13, 1942 at 8:00 P.M. on a proposed amendment to the Zoning Law, to change from Planning a commercial zone to a residential zone, Massachusetts Board Avenue on the westerly side from Vine Brook to the center line on Grant Street, and on the easterly side from Winthrop Road to the Thivierge property. The Chairman said that Mr. W. S. Caouette had in- quired to see if the Town was interested in placing bom- bardment and war risk insurance. Boa-rci foot t.h&t Insurance sawInourenee. The Board felt that such insurance was too expensive and the Clerk was instructed to tell Mr. Caouette that the Board was not interested in placing any at the present time. A petition signed by all of the permanent members of the Fire Department was received. The petition requested Petition an increase in wages and a shorter tour of duty. The men from Fire now have one day off in four and they requested one day Dept. 4111 off in three. It was decided to take no action on the matter until after the meeting on Wednesday night, to dis- cuss the salary policy for 1942. The Clerk said that Mr. Wrightington had informed her that there would be an expense of $23.20 for obtain- Legal Exp. ing a decree of foreclosure of tax title on the Woburn Woburn St. Street land acquired from the Ryders. land Mr. Potter moved that this expense be charged to the Unclassified Account. Mr. Locke seconded the motion and it was so voted. Letter was received from Mr. Wrightington informing the Board that he knew of no way of preventing Mr. Nutt Charles from participating in the aid granted his wife and chil- Nutt dren. Letter was received from Mr. Beach requesting per- mission to open the W.P.A. Lunch Project at the Munroe Munroe School at once. The Chairman said that the Board had ap- School proved this project for 1942 and that there were suffi- lunch tient funds in the account to cover it . It was decided however, not to authorize the opening of the project un- til after Town Meeting. Letter was received from Mr. Beach requesting per- mission to reppen the Block Plan Project when he thought 402 it satisfactory to do so. 411/ Mr. Potter moved that Mr. Beach's request be granted. Mr. Locke seconded the motion, and it was so voted. The Chairman read a letter from Mr. Edwin B. Worthen recommending that the work of bringing the plans of Lex- ington lands, on file at the Registry of Deeds, up to date. He said that up until about eight years ago the Plans of Engineering Department copied these plans for filing in Lex. that office. The Chairman said that Mb. Cosgrove thought Lands that this work could be included in the W.P.A. Block Plan Project. The Clerk was instructed to request Mr. Beach to write this project broadly enough so that the work suggested by Mr. Worthen might be included. The Clerk was instructed to request Mr. Cosgrove to include sufficient funds in his budget each year to pay for keeping this work up to date. Application for a Common Victualler's license was Com. Vic. received from Countryside Inc. of 400 Lowell Street. Mr. license Rowse moved that the application be approved. Mr. Sarano seconded the motion, and it was so voted. Request for certificate of character of Archibald R. Cert. of Giroux of 6 Strathath Road, one of the incorporators of Character the Middlesex County Foundation, Inc. , was received. Mr. Potter moved that the Board sign the certificate. 41/1 Mr. Rowse seconded the motion, and it was so voted. Letter was received from the Surplus Commodities Division relative to insurance coverage on food stamps Ins . on and protection of the cashier while going to and from Food the bank. The letter stated that both of these were Stamps important because of recent robberies in other States. The Chairman read a letter from Mr. Morse advis- ing that the sum of $3,000.00 had been provided for orange stamps , which would mean that that amount would provide $1500.00 worth of blue stamps , therefore the total amount to be covered would be $4500.00. The policy originally taken out was $5,000.00 and this amount has not been changed so the policy is still in effect: It is therefore adequate. Mr. Morse did recommend however, that Mr. Roberts , the Food Stamp Cashier, be taken to and from the bank in the police cruising car. The Board instructed Mr. Morse to talk with the Chief on the matter to see if he could do this without disrupting his Department. Mr. Morse retired and talked with the Chief and when he returned, reported that the Chief said he could transport Mr. Roberts all right. The Chairman said that Mr. Beach had submitted S . 4.03 • several projects for welfare recipients. The Board had a lengthy discussion oni iR bject. The Chairman sug- gested that the Board/Mr. ea h its representative to Welfare devote all the time possible to checking old cases in the welfare department with a view toward making every able person work for his aid. The Board decided to re- quest Messrs. Beach, Paxton, and Morse to consult with one another on the subject and to bring their recommen- dation to the Board at a later date. Mr. Paxton returned to the meeting at 9:18 P.M. He read a letter from Albert A. Miller of the .0n- gineering Department, stating that he had secured a Albert A. position in a defense industry and was resigning its of Miller February 7, 1942. Mr. Miller requested that he be given leave of absence. The Board asked Mr. Paxton if it would be necessary to replace Mr. Miller now, and he said that he didn' t believe it was necessary. The Chairman said that if it was not necessary to replace Mr. Miller, he thought that the Board could give him a leave of absence. It was decided to grant Mr. Miller a leave of absence until April 1, 1943. Mr. Paxton retired at 9:30 P.M. Mr. Morse appeared before the Board at 9:30 P.M. to discuss welfare matters and retired at 10:00 P.M. Messrs . Rucker, Sands, Sullivan, Neil, Clifford, and Dale returned to the meeting at 10:00 P.M. Ammunition Mr. Rucker said the group had gone over the proposed Regulations regulations governing ammunition and had come to an agree- ment. He presented the proposed regulations. The group retired at 10:03 P.M. The Clerk was instructed to furnish each member of the Board with a copy of the regulations and to send a copy to Mr. Wrightington for his approval. Messrs. Sands and Rucker appeared before the Board. Mr. Rucker said that the Committee on Public Safety Funds for had been training 20 men to operate sending and receiving Public radio sets. They have collected a number of radio sets Safety to be repaired and are in need of certain items to go into the sets, such as earphones , plugs, etc. They will need 450.00 for this equipment. Mr. Sarano moved that the expenditure of a sum not to exceed 4,50.00 for this equipment be approved. Mr. Locke seconded the motion, and it was so voted. Mr. Rucker said that Chief Taylor conferred with he and Mr. Sands on Sunday relative to the Fire Division Equipment of the ('ommittee on Public Safety. Chief Taylor said that for Fire there was no major equipment needed. However, he and Division Messrs . Sands and Rucker felt that there should be a small 404 group of thoroughly trained men to supplement the permanent • and call firemen. They are now training 44 Auxiliary Fire- men who need helmets, coats , boots, and belts. Chief Taylor suggested that equipment for these 44 men, plus four extra sets , be provided at an estimated cost of $1050.00. Mr. Rowse asked if the Committee had obtained bids and Mr. Rucker replied in the negative. Mr. Rowse felt that bids should be obtained before the approval of the three Boards was requested. Mr. Rucker agreed to get bids on the equipment and to submit the bids to the three Boards. Messrs. Rucker and Sands retired at 10:15 P.M. Records of the meeting held on January 26, 1942 were declared approved. Commitment of water rates, commitment of water liens, and water rate abatements were signed. The meeting adjourned at 10:18 P.M. A true record, Attest : Clerk