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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1981-02-23-BOS-min 88 { SELECTMEN'S MEETING February 23, 1981 A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Select- men's Meeting Room, Town Office Building, on Monday, February 23, 1981 at 7 30 p m. Chairman Miley, Mr Busa, Mrs Battin, Mr Kent and Mr Crain; Mr Hutchinson, Town Manager; Mr Cohen, Town Counsel; Mrs Banks, Assist- ant to the Town Manager; Miss Casey, Executive Clerk were present The Chairman called on Mr Cornelius Cronin, Director of Guides, who Selectman had come to make a presentation of a gavel to Mr Kent on his retirement Kent from the Board of Selectmen Mr Cronin addressed the Board and gave a short history of the Board of Selectmen in Lexington; one of the first in the Commonwealth First instituted in 1713, the Board members then received 30 pounds annually for its salary Mr Cronin commented that he has been making gavels from limbs of Elm trees on the Green that had been felled during storms in 1959 The last of which had been used during the Ceremonial Town Meeting of the Bi- centennial Celebration on April 20, 1975 The gavel presented to Mr Kent had been made from a tree felled as the result of the snow storm of May 10, 1977 The gavel was inscribed "Historic gavel made from an Elm limb from the Lexington Battle Green - Robert H Kent, Selectman, 1977-1981 --- Lexington, Massachusetts - Moderator, 1966-1969" on each side Mr Kent accepted the gavel and expressed his appreciation stating that there was nothing he would rather have than a gavel made by Mr Cronin The Chairman thanked Mr Cronin and he retired from the meeting The Chairman called on Mr Albert Zabin, Chairman of the Fair Housing Fair • Committee who presented a redraft of the Fair Housing Resolution for Town Housing Meeting Resolution Mr Kent objected to the wording in the resolution that stipulated that "Town Meeting would direct" other boards and officials etc He felt the Housing Authority is not a committee of Town Meeting nor is the Plan- ning Board or Board of Selectmen He stated that there was the implica- tion of authority that is not there and Town Meeting should "request" rather than "instruct" and moved that the resolution be so amended Mp Crain suggested the use of language indicating retention in the Town of people of ethnic minorities and economic moderate to low means He felt that the resolution, as written, implied attracting people into the Town and his concern was to retain those now in town meeting the criteria He stated that he felt the Board must continue to address itself to the financial aspects that would allow people who are here or are at- tracted, to stay The Board and the Committee concurred Mr Busa stated that he felt that the Town has never displayed dis- crimination of any minority but, unfortunately, the economics of the Town has prevented many people regardless of whether or not they are a minority group or majority from coming into the town He stated that reports in- dicate that the Town has achieved the recommended percentage of minority groups as set forth by the Commonwealth He questioned what consideration was being given to create a better atmosphere for the moderate income per- son to come into and stay in the Town He felt that this should be in- corporated into the language of the resolution OC1 - 2 - Mrs Battin disagreed with Mr Kent and stated that, in defense of the wording, the same wording was used that was passed by Town Meeting two years ago She stated that Town Meeting does, by the passage of by-laws, by re- ferring things to committees and directing them to take certain action, in- cluding elected boards ie Planning Board, School Committee etc does di- rect, they stipulate what the roles of certain committees are and then shall have other powers and duties as directed by vote of Town Meeting She stated that this was customary throughout the Commonwealth, and the Town may choose not to, but she felt that it was not inappropriate for Town Meeting to direct or instruct certain actions She stated that she felt that Town Meeting was the one group in Town that could pull the whole Town together She felt that Town Meeting was the only one that could take a stand for the Town She stated that she would vote against Mr Kent in this matter Mr Kent responded that he felt that Mrs Battin was quite right in that does, in effect, from time to time direct the Board of Selectmen by adopting by-laws, but he felt that there was no general policy in the Town Meeting to act as though the Board of Selectmen, the Housing Authority and the Planning Board were committees of the Town Meeting He stated that, therefore, the relationship called for the more respectful language of "request " He stated that there is no general authority of Town Meeting to "direct" the Selectmen to pass certain votes He said that if there were such an authority he would not feel free to disregard those directions once they were made He stated that be believed strongly in the intent of the resolution, but still objected to the implication that Town Meeting would "direct" the Selectmen Mrs Battin pointed out that the Fair Housing Plan was a Selectmen's resolution and had presented it to Town Meeting two years ago with that lan- guage two years ago Mr Kent stated that he felt that it was wrong before and felt that he should say so Mr Zabin disagreed with Mr Kent and stated that the use of the stronger language was to emphasize the importance that the Town placed upon this type of resolution Mr Cohen pointed out that it was a rather academic point and that very little case authority would be found in this regard He stated that his own feeling is that Mr Zabin went a little further than he would but this was only a resolution for Town Meeting and has a lot of worth for symbolic pur- poses but he did not feel that it had any great legal meaning He stated that even though Town Meeting make the policies, the Selectmen are the ones who carry out the policy and is a political matter and if the Townspeople feel that the Selectmen are not carrying out their wishes they will not reelect them. He felt that the Board could decide whether or not they wanted the word "di- rect" or use the word "instruct " Mr Wilson, Chairman of the Lexington Housing Authority, stated that the Housing Authority is not a Town board and is partially State and partially Federal and that is where all of its funds come from. The Town has no legal directive over the Housing Authority because no funds come from the Town He stated that the Housing Authority had received the resolution too late to discuss it at the last meeting but will be on the agenda for its next meeting Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted 4-1, Mrs Battin voting in the negative, to approve Mr Kent's amendment to the resolution Mr Buse moved to table the motion untilifx. Wilson has had a chance to discuss it and report back to the Board and the resolution is re- drafted incorporating the new language Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to table the motion un- til next meeting so that the Board can have the reaction of Mr Wilson, Chair- man of the Housing Authority relative to the whole resolution - 3 - Selectmen's Meeting February 23, 1981 The Chairman read a request from the Bel Canto Restaurant for an All Liquor Alcoholic Beverages Common Victualer License She explained that the License restaurant has recently been enlarged and does qualify for the issuance Bel Canto of the license Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the issu- ance of an All Alcoholic Beverages License to the Bel Canto Restaurant with the following hours Sunday through Thursday 12 00 Noon until 10 00 P.M. Friday and Saturday 12 00 Noon until 11 00 P M. Mrs Anne Grady, Chairman of the Garrity House Committee, met with the Garrity Board relative to its report to the Board on alternative uses for the House Garrity House Three uses suggested were 1 ) Town's appropriation of approximately $100,000 to rehab- ilitate the house and be used for market rate office space with an approximate annual income of $13,000 The carriage house would continue in its present use She stated that the committee felt that this was the more flexible use of the premises 2 ) Convey the premises to the Lexington Housing Authority who would rehabilitate the building and use it for low or mod- 11/ erate income housing The carriage house would continue to be used by the Town after rehabilitation She stated that the LHA has approximately $45,000 in state grants for the rehabilitation and remaining funds (approximately $55,000 would be ap- propriated by the Town ) 3 ) The Town would lease the Garrity House and carriage house to a private developer who would rehabilitate both build- Jogs using the Garrity House for office space and the car- riage house as a light restaurant No additions to the ex- isting buildings would be allowed She stated that the committee included this last proposal since there has been quite a feeling in favor of such a use despite some objections that have been raised She stated that the developer is anxious to work closely with the Town and no food would be prepared on the premises and would be op- erate on limited hours She explained that the restaurant would accomodate about 35 people The proposed hours would be 11 00 a m until 3 00 p m with catered dinner parties in the evening Mr Jaquith stated that the committee was seeking some direction from the Board relative to uses and said that it would not be feasible to put in any major concern for use of the Garrity House because the building is not adapted to large scale use It would have to be some small scale con- cern that would not have a great deal of public use He suggested that it could be possibly used for some municipal use by the Town The question of parking was brought up and Mr Crain stated that he was concerned about this because people who lived in the area had objected to the evening use and was a real problem He felt that he would not be able to support #3 use but if Town Meeting did it would have to put up a sum of money to go into the planning stage He felt that the buildings should be preserved, but was not prepared to support any of the alternatives without more details - 4 - 0) Mr Kent stated that he felt that office use on a limited basis with tight restrictions written into the lease would be the more appropriate use of the premises due to the limited funds available for rehabilitation Mr Busa pointed out that there would have to be a zoning change if there was going to be any commercial use of the premises regardless of whether or not Town Meeting passes Article 62 Mr Cohen explained that in Article 62 there is wording that would change the zoning He stated that he was not sure whether there was an exemption for municipal use in the zoning question The present use of the carriage house by the Town would be permissible Mr Spencer of the Housing Authority stated that they would support the proposal for housing inasmuch as they could, but they were never sure of what funds they could get from State and Federal grants, but could not meet the estimate of $110,000. He stated that he felt that a rehab for housing without destroying the entire intent of preservation of the premises would be very difficult Mr Kent stated that the Committee has suggested alternatives in the order of preference He said the Board would need further information generaged by the people who are interested in the potential uses of the property He sug- gested that the Committee go back to these people and put them on notice of the order of preference encourage them, if they would like, to develop factual information so as to indicate what the potential use might be and what income could be expected to offset the cost of rehabilitation The Chairman requested the Committee to do further research on the pro- posals bearing in mind that due to financial restrictions some of them might not be feasible Mr Kent requested the Town Manager to keep in close contact with the Committee because he felt that it might be entirely possible that all of the proposals would vanish and the Board would be going to Town Meeting with no solution to the problem. Mrs William Cosgrove addressed the Board and stated that she and Dr Cosgrove would like to retain the house and restore it, not to be used for any purpose and get rid of the carriage house and would like to donate $2,000 with the hope that other donations could make up the difference for restoration. She stated that someone has volunteered to take charge of the fund and would present it to different organizations who might like to contribute Dr Cosgrove stated that they would go along with low-profile office use and leave the carriage house because it does have a purpose for the DPW. He was opposed to restaurant use or anything that would require large park- ing facilities The Chairman thanked Dr and Mrs Cosgrove for their generous offer She also thanked the Committee and they retired from the meeting Mr Hanlon, Town Engineer, reviewed the traffic' study plan for the Bedford Street/Hartwell Avenue area which incorporated both short-term and long-term recommendations Short term recommendations included staggered work hours and car pooling and would require full cooperation of the com- panies in the study area Existing traffic details should be maintained and the cost be borne by the companies affected Long term recommendations were 1) widening of Bedford Street from Route 128 to Winter Street, 2) widening of Hartwell Avenue from Bedford Street to Maguire Road and 3) widening of Mar- rett Road from Route 128 to Massachusetts Avenue - 5- 3 q a. Selectmen's Meeting February 23, 1981 Mr Hanlon 1 n r eported that the long-term recommendations should be pur- sued with the Massachusetts DPW immediately in order to get the project moving He stated that by having the Engineering Department to the design work a considerable amount of time can be saved and shorten the overall process from five years to two years He indicated that it might be nec- essary to hire an outside consultant to assist in the traffic signalization design and to help coordinate the project with the Massachusetts DPW Mr Bussgang, spoke for representatives of the industries in the area and stated that the Town received approximately $4,000,000 in taxes from the industries in this area He stated that they feel that they have a serious traffic problem and need assistance which will not be forthcoming unless the Town approves a plan Mrs Battin reported that she and Mrs Wheaton of the Planning Board and Mr Bussgang, representing industry, had met with Representatitie$Doran, and Vigneau and a representative of Senator Rotondi's office who stated that the Town should adopt a policy and then go the Governor's office and Representative Nickinello's office and expedite the process After further discussion, the Board agreed to accept the report of the Traffic Safety Committee and the Town Engineer Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to accept the Hart- well Avenue Traffic Report and support the project as outlined Ms Jacquelyn Low, Vice President of Itek Corporation addressed the Board and expressed the Corporation's view that a traffic signal at the intersection of Hartwell Avenue and Maguire Road should be installed with- out waiting for the full project to be implemented She indicated that the construction would be paid for by Urban Systems Funds and if applied for now the money would be forthcoming without delay She also requested the Board to take immediate action and reinstate the traffic detail at Itek that had been curtailed Mr Tonaszuck indicated that from an engineering standpoint, this improvement did not warrant consideration before the rest of the project is engineered The Manager suggested that the Board designate a task force consist- ing of a Selectman, Town Engineer and representatives of the business community to work with the legislators and the Governor to get some assist- ance in this area The Chairman thanked those in attendance for all the work that had been put in the project and they retired from the meeting The Board met with the Center Revitalization Committee to discuss Center the parking plan for the Center Parking The Manager informed the Board that he had met with the Police Chief, Plan Capt Lima, Planning Director, Mr Bowyer, Pulic Works Director, Mr Tona- zuck and Town Engineer, Mr Hanlon to discuss a program that would not only start on beginning of funding for traffic improvements in the Center, but would lead to long-term solutions Several questions relative to posting of "No Parking" in residential areas were brought up and the impact of the new metering system on the Green The plan was discussed in depth, including the possibility of utilizing private parking facilities such as St Brigid's Church lot The Committee is to report backto the Board with further details and specific costs for implementation and changes to the plan Z� i - 6 - J Weather- The Board met with Myrna Kaye, to discuss her reqest that the Board vane help in organizing a fund-raising effort to buy a weathervane that is being auctioned off in New York She stated that she feels that the rooster weathervane is a "Lexington monument" inasmuch as it is reported to have been at the top of the First Meeting House on the Battle Green The holes in the rooster were reportedly put there by a British musket Mr Larry Whipple of the Lexington Historical Society stated that al- though the weathervane is very old, it never stood on the Battle Green during the Revolution The Chairman explained that this type of matter was not one that the Board could normally take action on and would present too many difficulties even if funds were raised because of the disposition of the funds should the bid go to someone else Mrs Kaye stated that there were some people in Town who had expressed an interest but not exactly enough to make the price The Board expressed its appreciation for her interest in obtaining the weathervane for Lexington but were unable to assist her in her efforts She thanked the Board for its time and retired from the meeting Water better- The Chairman read a request from the Director of Public Works/Engineering ments for abatement of water assessments recorded in the Registry of Deeds in 1951 Concord Ave but were never committed or billed He recommended that they be committed and abated After discussion, it was decided to table the request until further information is obtained Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to table the request of the Director of Public Works/Engineering to commit and abate water better- ment assessments on Concord Avenue recorded in the Registry of Deeds in 1951 but never committed or billed Abatements Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to abate the following Water water bills J Maggiore, 2 Springdale Rd , $270 90 -- defective meter W Uranek, 56 Turning Mill Rd , $33 75 -- estimate adjusted to min chg J Jigargian, 39 Spring St , $11 25 -- account adjustment L Euart, 45 Parker St , $25 20 -- incorrect reading by customer D Victor, 27 Thoreau Rd , $95 85 -- incorrect reading/customer Jan 80 charge abated C Kanon, 11 Norton Rd , $11 25 -- estimate adj to min charge J Donovan, 52 Taft Ave , $27 00 -- defective meter M. Lawthers, 29 Ames Ave , $34 65 -- incorrect reading/customer M. Kornbliet, 23 Locke Lane, $437 40 -- defective meter R. Shaine, 37 Tower Rd , $6 75 -- estimate adjusted M. D'Augusta, 15 Lawrence Lane, $14 40 -- estimate adjusted Minutes Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the minutes of the Selectmen's Meetings of November 3, 1980 and January 19, 1981 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to authorize the Town Manager to request transfer of $20,200 from Account $5450 - line item 02-262 and the amount transferred as follows $1,500 to pay Taylor & Llody, Bedford, Mass for deductible damage from insurance claims on trucks #35, 32 and 25 damaged during snow removal $1,500 to repair 2-way radios received from the Police Department needing new crystals (2 in each radio @ $75 00 each) $2,283 Registry of Motor Vehicles required the Town to upgrade all the tires on vehicles #28 and #28A (tractor & trailer) - 7 - 3 `� y Selectmen's Meeting February 23, 1981 $8,835 repair to equipment - Vehicle Supplies -02-261 - $5,00 re- quired to replace brake system for tractor and trailer due to ac- cident and Registry of Motor Vehicle inspection of deficiencies $1,000 to replace the rear end of truck #18 in the process of being rebuilt $4,082 for new gasoline control system. $1,000 to purchase Town seals for all motor vehicles including the Fire Department Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the re- Discovery quest of the Lexington Chamber of Commerce for permission to hold "Dis- in Lexington covery in Lexington" days of May 22 through May 24 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign the contract Westview for the new addition to the maintenance building at Westview Cemetery, Cemetery Contract #81-6-E -- Construction Management Company approved at the meeting Conract of February 2, subject to Town Counsel review Upon motion duly made and seconded, It was voted to sign the contract Test Borings for Test Borings, Contract #81-5-E Soil Exploration Corp awarded at the Contract meeting of February 2 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve distribu- Article 5 tion of monies from Article 5 to the following accounts Transfers 1060 Town Manager's Office 631 00 1075 Clerical Pool Services 1,409 00 1150 Town Clerk's Office 4,474 00 1500 Board of Appeals 870 00 1600 Planning Board 3,000 00 2000 Board of Registrars 549 00 2470 Recreation 3,722 00 2500 Treasurer/Collector Office 7,763 00 2800 Comptroller's Office 8,532 00 2950 Assessor's Office 1,875 00 3250 Health 4,803 00 3500 Animal Control 1,773 00 4110 Fire Mgt & Staff 4,114 00 4450 Inspection 10,185 00 4900 D P W Coll Barg Unit 68,048 00 5100 Engineering 3,567 00 5200 Town Buildings Maint 3,578 00 7100 Veterans Benefit 812 00 7500 Library 21,240 00 7825 Non-Contrib Pensions 6,000 00 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted by roll call vote Executive 5-0, Mrs Miley, Mr Buse, Mrs Battin, Mr Kent and Mr Crain, to go Session into Executive Session for the purpose of discussing litigation and collective bargaining strategy with no intention of resuming open session Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn at 11 20 p m III A true record, Attest -' a4A4Lcot.1.2 xecutive Clerk v J I VOID