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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1980-01-21-BOS-min / III SELECTMEN'S MEETING JANUARY 21, 1980 A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Selectmen's Meeting Room, Town Office Building, on Monday, January 21, 1980 at 7 30 p m Chairman Miley, Mr Busa, Mr Kent and Mr Crain; Mr Hutchinson, Town Manager; Mr Cohen, Town Counsel; Mrs Nancy Banks, Assistant to the Town Manager; Mrs McCurdy, Executive Clerk, were present Mr Louis Zehner, Town Treasurer, requested the Board's approval to Treasurer borrow $60,00 for swimming pool construction and $90,000 for sewers He recommended an award to the lowest bidder, Shawmut County Bank, at 5 55% Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the recommendation of the Town Treasurer to borrow $60,000 for swimming pool construction and $90,000 for sewers from the Shawmut County Bank of Cambridge at 5 5 percent, notes to be dated January 25, 1980 and refunded with the proceeds of a bond issue also to mature on May 17, 1980 The Board discussed and approved a new member of the Board of Liquor Directors of Bora, Bora, Inc and to sign new 1980 Common Victualler Com Vict liquor and food licenses bearing new hours of operation set at a Licenses previous Board of Appeals ' hearing Bora, Bora IIIUpon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve Mr William Chin as a member of the Board of Directors of Bora, Bora, Inc , 177 Massachusettls Avenue, and to sign the 1980 Common Victualler liquor and food licenses for the hours of Sunday through Thursday-11 00 a m to 9 30 p m ; Frliday and Saturday-12 00 Noon to 10 30 p m ABCC approval of Mr William Chin is to be requested The Board discussed a letter from the Waltham Planning Director Waltham regarding the 1d involved with the Metropolitan State Hospital and Request Re Middlesex County Hospital, and enclosing a copy of a Waltham City Metro State Council Order passed on December 10, 1979 as to the possibility of Mdlsx.County Waltham acquiring title to the hospitals and directing the City Planner Hospitals to develop some initial plans as to their alternate possible use After discussion, Mr Hutchinson agreed to write to the Waltham Planning Director recommending that he work with the Lexington Planning Board regarding proposals between Waltham and Lexington Lexington feels that any planning, particularly on property located within the town, must consider the zoning requirements and objectives of our com- munity Also, to point out that reports on studies made of this land are available in the Lexington Planning Board office Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign a 1-Day 1-Day Liquor license to the United Way for a reception an February 7, 1980 Liq.Lic at the Museum of our National Heritage III 1 Selectmen's Meeting - 2 - January 21, 1980 Land The Board discussed a request from Mr Harold Sinclair, 590 Lowell Purchase Street, to purchase abutting Lot 32 Lowell Street Request Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to refer Mr Sinclair's request to purchase Lot 32 Lowell Street to the Town Manager for a response redommending that Mr Sinclair's attorney investigate the ownership of the lot and again submit the request if it is found to be owned by Lexington Minutes Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the minutes of January 2, 1980 and to table the executive session minutes of October 29, 1979 Appt The Board discussed an appointment to the Fair Housing Committee Fair and Mr Buse nominated Mr Ronald S. Y Chi Housing Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to appoint Mr . Com Ronald S Y Chi, 26 Marrett Road, a member of the Fair Housing Committee School Chairman Miley read a letter from Mr Michael F Koehn concerning Street traffic on School Street, particularly high-speed drivers Traffic Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to refer Mr Koehn's request to the Traffic Safety Committee for a report and to the Police De- partment from a traffic enforcement standpoint School Street traffic will be discussed when the Wilson Road residents meet with the Board Resigna Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to accept with CATV regret the resignation of Dr Peter Shapiro as a member of the Cable Television Advisory Committee Sewer Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign Orders for Construe Construction of Sewer for Grant Street, Robinson Road, Middleby Road Orders Also, to sign Orders of Sewer Taking for Bird Hill Road, Carville Avenue, Davis Road, King Street, Meadow Brook Avenue & Wellington Lane Avenue, Rockville Avenue, Round Hill Road, Winship Road Mrs Miley abstained on the vote to sign the sewer construction order for Robinson Road Express Mr Hutchinson presented the proposal from Mr Goodman, Vocell Bus Co , Bus Fare for a new fare structure for the Lexington/Boston express commuter bus Increase Single ride ticket-$1 60; 12-ride book-$18 00; Monthly pass-$48 00 Mr Crain questioned the elimination of the 20-ride book for $25 00 and Mr Hutchinson agreed to contact Mr Goodman for clarification Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to table the request for an increase in fares on the Lexington/Boston express bus line Hearing - The Board approved Mr Hutchinson's recommendation to set the hearing Honeywell date on February 11, 1980 for the request from Honeywell for a gasoline Gasoline storage permit 1 Selectmen's Meeting - 3 - January 21, 1980 I IIIMr Hutchinson recommended approval of an extra work order for the Patricia Patricia Terrace Sewer Ter Sewer Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the 80-1-E Manager's recommendation to issue Extra Work Order #1 under Contract #80-1-E, awarded to Great Northern Constructors, at a cost of approx- imately $5,000, compensation to be on a unit price basis Authoriza- tion is contained in the appropriation under Article 20 of 1976 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to accept the Bonds Manager's recommendation to approve bonds for Deputy Collectors Paul E Kelley and Ellem. M .Kelley in 'thet.amount of $5,000, each. Mr Hutchinson recommended approval of a transfer of $2,500 to the Transfer Fire and Police Medical Account to, pay bills on hand amounting to $4,945 06; Request present balance of $3,652 16 in this account Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to request the Ap- propriation Committee's approval of a transfer of $2,500 from the Reserve Fund to Account #1125-Fire and Police Medical The Council on Aging and the Recreation Committee met with the Board Budgets Mr Hutchinson said that the Council on Aging would like to review their CoA - budget with you, and I believe we are all in reasonable agreement on this Recreation They have requested $35,100 and I have recommended $34 ,425 Part of this Committee is to bring salaries into line and an area of rental increase for square footage of the church facilities Mrs Joan Melcher, CoA Coordinator, presented a chart of all activities and Mr Sen, Chairman, said if we had to make a gross estimate of what this program is, we have about $30,000 which is used for 3,000 seniors, we get about $25,000 worth of volunteer time,. For the $2,500 we give to Minuteman Home Care, that replicates back to us for $40,000 We have shown you programs that represent about $00,000, of which we ask about $30,000 Mr Busa asked if there is any mOney from state aid? Mr Hutchinson replied that there is no money for direct operating costs; what we are pursuing is money for eventually rehabilitating a center or some initial staff support for equipping a center Right now, as far as we no, there is no money avail- able for equipping a center Mr Sen added that we do get a direct grant of $1,200 a year for the Elder Chorus but it is a one-shot thing. Chairman Miley thanked the members of the Council on Aging fox` their preadntatiou Mr Hutchinson said the only thing he did not recommend on recreation at this time was their capital budget There are a number of items that are worthwhile but he recommends they be deferred Mrs Uhrig, Chairman, discussed the suggested list of playground repairs for $25,000, including Kineens-$8,950; Garfield-$3,310; Rindge-$2,250; Baskin-$4,950; Marvin Street-$1,370; Ivan Street-$3,220; Center-$1,150 The capital request for $25,000 is for upgrading the neighborhood parks and tot lots; last year, we got $15,000 for Sutherland Park and that is underway This year, we took the remaining park areas and what they needed done and put it into one budget This is within the scope of the master plan and also suggested that we spend on the order of $50,000 a year for a few years We will be asking for no more than $55,000 over three years, and if we do not have enough money to finish Sutherland, we will come back next year for the remainder of that We did want to get going on the others in the interim. Selectmen's Meeting - 4 - January 21, 1980 The hoard members questioned items which could be classified as maintenance and done by town forces and after discussion it was agreed that Mr Hutchinson is to come back at the Wednesday meeting with a list of capital and maintenance items Mr Hutchinson added that he did not think the parks were in bad shape and it is just a matter of how much we are going to do at this point in time Ms Joan Halverson, Recreation Coordinator, that the pool construction is on schedule; the target completion date is by May 31 but might not be until the end of June Recreation is in the process of putting together a pool schedule for lessons, etc. The board emphasized the need for proper fencing around the pool during construction and agreed that Mr Coscia, Clerk of the Works, is responsible to the Permdnent Building Committee, to the Manager, to the Selectmen Fencing should be relayed thru the Building Committee not the Recreation Committee The Recreation Committee and the Council on Aging members retired from the meeting Min.Man The subject of traffic conditions at the Minuteman Vocational School Minuteman School were discussed briefly and Mr Busa agreed to talk with Mr Robert Jackson, School Traffic Lexington's Minuteman School representative, regarding all pertinent back- Traffic ground information FY 81 Mr Hutchinson recommended that the Board vote to lay out Rockville Streets Avenue, Kendall Road and the subdivision street,Sandetson Road Vote to Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to lay out the lay out following streets Rockville Avenue from Philip Road 360+ feet to Davis Road Kendall Road from Appolo Circle 415+ feet Vine Brook Sherburne Road from Dane Road southerly to dead end approximately 500 feet A decision on Tower Road will be made at a later date Mr Hutchinson agreed to respond to a letter from Mr Hal Miller-Jacobs, 17 Swan Lane, that there are no present plans to extend Rockville Avenue beyond the section proposed for construction in the 1981 budget There are no plans to do the middle or upper part of Rockville Avenue 1979 Mr Hutchinson recommended that the Board award the contract for Town printing the Town Report to the lowest bidder, Semline, Inc Report Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to award the contract for the 1979 Annual Town Report to Semline, Inc in the amount of $7,166 Center Mr Hutchinson briefly discussed the proposed location of a public Pay pay telephone in the Cent r and pplformed the board that the Historic Phone Districts Commissionitonit bre�iER g Called at Colpitt's or Andersons and indicated a preference to the CVS store near the lights The matter will again be an agenda item at the HDC meeting on January 30, and Mr Hutchinson agreed to come back to the Board at the next meeting with his recommendation I � Selectmen's Meeting - 5 - January 21, 1980 Mr Hutchinsdn discussed the request of Jonathan Clarke to purchase Banks town-owned land on Banks Avenue The original position of the Housing Avenue Authority was that it was not a building lot and it was not included Town- on the list of scattered sites; however, the Assessor has looked at it owned and informs us that it is buildable Mr Hutchinson said that it is lot his intent to pursue the idea, consistent with the Board's policy, that the Housing Authority continue to have first crack at it The Board agreed that the Assessor is to again evaluate the lot before Mr Hutchinson responds to Mr Clarke Fire Chief Bergeron met with the Board to discuss the replacement Fire Dept of the ambulance at a cost of $38,000 and to keep the old ambulance as Ambulance a spare to fill i{1 when the first unit is down for maintenance or re- pairs The proposed new vehicle will have an all-aluminum box on a van chassis; this will produce a better ride as complaints have been re- ceived on the rough ride the present vehicle gives Other options are to purchase a new van type ambulance and trade in the present vehicle; cost of $27,000 Replace the existing truck chassis and transfer the present box onto it; cost of $15,000. Defer the replacement; cost will be a vehicle with at least 70,000 miles and 5,400 engine hours before a replacement could be acquired in FY 82 This decision option would be the worst possible decision for the community with a high risk of extensive down time and vehicle failure After discussion, the Board agreed to take under advisement the possibility of favoring the option of having a proper first vehicle and at some future time a back-up vehicle Mr Hutchinsdn briefly discussed the recommendation of the Capital BAPERN Expenditures Committee for an article this year on replacing the whole Radio radio system withiBAPERN-Boston Area Police Emergency Radio Network System Mr Hutchinson regommended deferral for another year The estimated cost is $125,000; for next year, it is estimated to be $160,000 Chief Corr also recommends deferring it for another year The Board will discuss the matter with the Capital Expenditures Committee Mr Hutchinson announced that the tax rate right now, even with Tax Rate the increased school committee budget, is estimated at $4 40 increase excluding state and county charges Mr Peter DiMatteo, Building Commissioner, met with the Board Bldg Commr Mr Hutchinson discussed Account 1090-Professional Services and said that his recommendation is to retain outside inspection services as the area has been expanded for the building department and the liabilities have increased He recommended allowing $15,000 for professional services Mr DiMatteo presented a report on the number of hours required on inspection time based on current permit activity He said that they are being asked to provide more comprehensive reviews and are trying to avoid additional personnel costs He pointed out that the plumbing and gas inspector has been hospitalized and they are losing their CETA worker Mr Kent felt it should be an item under temporary help or the building department rather than included in the professional services budget The Board generally agreed Mr Hutchinson said he would focus in on temporary help and Mr DiMatteo agreed to submit additional data on permit inspections and the problems confronting him 114% Selectmen's Meeting - 6 - January 21, 1980 The Board agreed to review the budgets lat the meeting on 1 January 23 Executive Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted 4-0 by rail call Session vote - Mrs Miley, Mr Busa, Mr Kent and Mr Crain - to go into execu- tive session for the purpose of discussing strategy with respect to - litigation, with no intention of resuming the open meeting Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn at 10 30 p m. A true record, Attest Executive Clerk, Selectmen II Se)