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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1980-01-07-BOS-min 131 SELECTMEN'S MEETING JANUARY 7, 1980 ' A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Selectmen's Meeting Room, Town Office Building, on Monday, January 7, 1980, at 7 30 p m. Chairman Miley, Mr Busa, Mrs Battin, Mr Crain, Mr. Kent, Mr Hutchinson, Town Manager, Mrs Banks, Assistant to the Town Manager; Mi, Cohen, Town Counsel; Mrs McCurdy, Executive Clerk, were present Bos Edsn Chairman Miley opened a hearing upon the petition of the Boston Edison Conduit Company to install 8+ feet of conduit in Waltham Street easterly of Concord Avenue Notices of the hearing were sent to the abutters Mr Edmund Kelly, representing the Boston Edison Company, said that this would be coming off a pole to service 1048 Waltham Street Chairman Miley read a recommendation from Mr Warren Empey, Acting Director of Public Works, that approval be granted as it would service the building at 1048 Waltham Street No one appearing in favor or in opposition, Chairman Miley de- clared the hearing closed Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to grant permission to the Boston Edison Company for the following location Waltham Street, easterly approximately 1,550 feet south of Concord Avenue, a distance of about 8 feet of conduit Mr Busa said that it had nothing to do with this hearing but someone ought to bring it to the attention of the Planning Board that manufacturing plants are not allowed in Lexington Mr Hutchinson said that he will refer it to the Planning Board LEXPRESS The Transportation Advisory Committee met with the Board regarding Mini-Bus Lexpress Mrs Sally Castleman, Co-chairman of the Committee, said that Lexpress has been received favorably in the town and has provided needed service to the townspeople, and Transportation Management has been pro- viding the service we have contracted for As to the economics, when the Committee wrote the proposal a year and a half ago, we made all our rider- ship estimates conservatively, so we estimated 16 riders per hour and in fact we are averaging 20; this is a 25% increase over our projections We based our cost per hour figures from three bids that we received from trans- , portation companies and on the most recently negotiated contracts with other towns; so, we estimated $12 per hour when in fact the low bid is $15 39 The rise in fuel costs and the subsequent accelerated inflation of our costs threw our budget off by 28% We have already covered a great deal of the difference because of our past programs and additional fares going to the Mall and from our consistently high ridership However, we still do have a projected deficit of 5% or $11,000 We have submitted options for your consideration and the committee doesn't feel it is necessary to make up the entire $11,000 Some of our options could be instituted later We want to make sure that we don't compromise the consistency and dependability of the hourly schedules Mrs Joyce Hals said that the MBTA will definitely fund $40,000 to $45,000 After discussion, the Board voted the following Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adopt the recom- mendations of the Transportation Advisory Committee, (1) To introduce advertising on the buses; (2) Consideration and gearing for summer cuts; (3) A cut of two buses between 6 30 p m.-7 00 p m ; (4) The institution of selling transfers at 10 cents (5) Implementation on February 1, 1980 / ter. Selectmen's Meeting - 2 - January 7, 1980 Mrs. Nancy Banks came into the meeting. Mr John Mackey, Chairman, Ms Elaine Sullivan and Mr Daniel Lucas Insurance of the Insurance Committee met with the Board Mr Mackey thanked the Committee Board for the opportunity to work on the insurance issues and also Report offered to reconvene some time in the late spring or thereafter when the town has had an opportunity to follow up on some of the suggestions made by the committee. There are two essential observations, (1) We feel that a safety management program is essential and would mean the designation of a safety manager to manage the program, whether it be adding to the responsibilities of an existing person or making sure that they can provide adequate attention to whatever is accomplished by the town We feel that the essential part of lowering insurance costs is to manage the safety with which the different programs are being implemented The other thing we emphasize is, we feel the town should come to an evaluation of' its liability regarding town property As a result of the change in Chapter 258 of the Massachusetts Laws, there is some question of the legal liability of the town putting cars on town property that does not currently have coverage, as we outlined in our report We believe these are the two most critical areas for im- mediate work by the town. Chairman Miley asked if the recommendation on an adviser is common practice? She read the following, "The Town should consider employing the services of a professional insurance adviser whenever insurance is put out to bid. Such an individual can structure the information in a request for proposal so that it is easier for insurance representatives to formulate a bid. This might result in more bids being submitted, with resultant possibilities for lower cost " Mr Lucas said that this is common practice in private industry, and some of the municipalities in the Commonwealth now employ an insurance adviser Chairman Miley said that in this town we have so many people who are willing to give their expertise, perhaps that might be a resource rather than having another person on the payroll We are trying to compress rather than enlarge at this point Mr Hutchinson said that we may have to get someone and pay him. Mrs Battin said that the Mass Municipal Association has filed legislation which, if passed, would allow towns to pool their resources to self-insure This has been referred to the Insurance Committee of the Municipal Association. Mrs Banks, a member of that committee, said that they are hoping to have the mechanism in place by January, 1981 Mr. Hutchinson said that the Board raised the question to him about public officials ' liability and that area really wasn't addressed as it is such a specialized area Mr Mackey said that the town does carry $1 million in that regard right now; as far as having addressed it further, if you look at our report on property, we recommend the town consider an excess umbrella liability coverage to provide excess coverage over the present automobile and general liability contracts, and the selectmen's insurance would be one of the given liability contracts that we were referring to Mr Hutchinson said we are addressing that with our insurance carrier and we are not sure it is technically feasible as it is a special liability Mr. Kent said that relative to the insurance adviser proposal, how do we operate now with regard to the structuring of information for bids on insurance contracts? Mr Hutchinson said that we utilize the services of Brewer and Lord as an adviser in the sense of receiving proposals and looking at various firms for us as an agent. A Selectmen's Meeting - - January 7, 1980 Brewer and Lord also acts as our broker We have prepared our own automobile bids and it has been suggested that we look for some additional advice for types of vehicles and beyond that to raising deductibles, and having more comprehensive specifications Mr Kent asked if the adviser arrangement suggested by the committee imports a division of those functions so that the adviser in operating on a compensated basis solely in the interests of the town with no interest in the insurance furnishing function at all? Mr Hutchinson said, "Yes " The adviser can't wear both hats Mr Kent said that this is something that we ought to look to very closely Mrs Battin asked if the Board would be considering the committee's thoughtful suggestions during the budget process? Mr Hutchinson said that we are trying to move on a number of recommendations now The question about the adviser requires more time being spent to find out how that might be implemented We are investigating the safety program now and trying to work with volunteer resources, and some of the companies that are around here might advise us on how to embark upon such a program. We will respond to each one of these in writing Mr Lucas said that the existing insurors would be glad to offer suggestions to help on additional safety management Mr Crain said that because of the sense of urgency and resource regarding the safety program, he would recommend the Manager con- sider first appointing a coordinator and he would suggest he consider selecting someone from his existing staff to demonstrate the capacity for additional responsibility which would be an excellent way to test that capacity and then that person as a focus could establish a date in the not too distant future to come back to the Board with a proposal for the safety program Mr Hutchinson agreed to come back to the Board within 30 days Chairman Miley thanked the Insurance Committee and they retired from the meeting Housing Mrs Mary Shunney, Chairman of the Housing Authority, met with the Board Author Chairman Miley read a draft of a letter from the Town Manager to Mr Marvin Sect 8 Silflinger, Area Manager of the Department of Housing and Urban Development stating, "The Lexington Board of Selectmen supports the position of the Lexing- ton Housing Authority, which is opposed to the request by the Department of Community Affairs to administer 1600 units of Section 8 housing The town specifically supports the proposition of the Lexington Housing Authority that town housing needs are better served when programs are administered by a local board We would point out that Lexington is pursuing an equal hous- ing policy and has had a very successful experience of operation under local management, in contrast to the state's limited management capacity. In short, most local governments, particularly Lexington, have done a better job in operating housing than larger, more insensitive organizations such as the State " Mrs Shunney thanked the Board and the Manager for their support, and the letter is to be sent to HUD 1980 Inn- Chairman Miley read an application for an Innkeeper license. keeper Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to renew the Innkeeper license license for the Lexington Chalet, Inc , 440 Bedford Street, which was in- spected and approved by the Fire Department, Health Director and the Building Inspector l=. Selectmen's Meeting - 4 - January 7, 1980 Mr Michael Hanlon, Town Engineer, met with the Board to discuss the Inflow/ recommendations of Whitman & Howard and the results of the Inflow/Infiltra- Infiltra- tion study He said that infiltration/inflow are two separate and distinct tion Study types of flow Infiltration is the flow that comes from groundwater through cracked pipes or leaky joints When the groundwater table is high in the spring, infiltration rates are high, and it is low during the dry season in the fall Inflow is directly related to rainfall and if it doesn't rain you don't have inflow The study identifies relative amount of infiltration and the inflow and, through a cross section analysis, determines the extent of the possibly excessive amount of I/I; you can compare the cost of trans- porting and treating I/I vs cost of removing some systems The program consists of three phases, including analysis, evaluation and rehabilitation. The first phase, the I/I analysis, identifies the presence, flow rate, and type of I/I conditions which exist This phase was approved by the 1976 Town Meeting, with the work starting in July, 1977 and completed in December, 1978 The town was subdivided into 14 mini- systems and using the EPA criteria, mini-systems 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 and 12 are contributing excessive infiltration, and area 3, Saddle Club area, is contributing excessive inflow Using EPA guidelines, the analysis indicated that approximately 46 percent of the average daily infiltration and 37 percent of the average daily inflow could be cost effectively eliminated The cost to do the analysis phase was $67,000 Based on the information found during the analysis phase, it is recommended that a compoete Sewerage System Evalua- tion Survey (SSES) be conducted for infiltration in mini-systems 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12, and for inflow in mini-system 3 This evaluation phase focuses on the areas of previously determined possibly excessive I/I, and locates the points of infiltration and inflow by a systematic examination of the sewer system SSES will be initiated in the spring of 1980 and Article 24 of 1978 appropriated $25,000 as the Town's share of the SSES for inflow This year, we are recommending to Town Meeting that $75,000 be appropriated to cover the town's cost of the infiltration portion of the evaluation phase; estimated total cost of $200,000, 18 months to complete A separate grant, Step 3, will be sought for the rehabilitation after com- pletion of SSES, estimated cost of $1,000,000 While the possibility of overflows would be eliminated once the I/I rehabilitation has been completed, the only permanent solution will be the construction of the Millbrook Valley Relief Sewer A study has been initiated by the MDC, and Mr. Hanlon has been talking with MDC and the Division of Water Pollution, and he will send them a letter for their records Mr Hanlon said that the first thing we have to decide is who is going to do the next phase There is enough question in my mind that we want to look for another consultant rather than use Whitman & Howard At that point when we have selected a new consultant, they will submit a proposal to us to do that work and we will know exactly what the cost is and exactly what we would have to appropriate Mr Hutchinson said that consistent with the scope of the services to be performed in moving into a new phase of this, we are going to receive proposals from engineering firms to accomplish the rest of the work. Effectively dealing with the project, it is $55,000 up to $75,000 I for approximately $300,000 of work to be done based upon the federal sub- sidies Mr Crain said that a firm has done the basic building blocks phases and would this in any way compromise another firm's coming in and bidding the next phase? Mr Hanlon said that it would basically be a lot Selectmen's Meeting - 5 - January 7, 1980 smoother if the same firm could do the work, as they have had a lot of experience on this project; to make a change would be ailittle bit cum- bersome but it can be overcome Mrs. Battin said that she had carried the I/I article last year and the question raised repeatedly last year and is still being raised was, with the degree of inflow/infiltration, should we be allowing building and development in those areas? The answer that the Board of Selectmen got, and satisfied us, was that the amount that was going to be introduced to the system by building was so little compared to the excess that it didn't make that much difference What is your sense? Mr Hanlon said that is true; both the timing of the building and the amount that you are going to get is minor compared to what the flows are right now Mrs Frick, Conservation Commission, said the Commission is concerned about two very extensive developments in the Tophet Swamp area and the Whitman & Howard report says there is a problem in that area Mrs Battin said that she raised the question as to whether we should be prohibiting new development in these problem areas and the answer was that any new development is not going to make that much difference Mr Hanlon concurred, and said that that kind of development would have a minimum effect Mr Crain said it was the decision of this Board to stop the moratorium on building as a result of an intensive presentation and consideration, and if the Board feels it is time to take another look at it in light of current development, it could be done, but he did not think it productive to talk without having specific facts The Board thanked Mr Hanlon on the I/I presentation and he retired from the meeting Traffic Chairman Miley read a recommendation from the Traffic Safety Committee Park Dr regarding a request from Mrs Coppe, President of Pre-School PTA, for the installation of speed bumps in the circle at the end of Park Drive and additional signing indicating that it is not a through street Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to accept the recommendation of the Traffic Safety Committee for the installation of two "Not a Through Way" signs, one at Clarke Street and Park Drive, and one at Muzzey Street and Park Drive The committee pointed out the policy of the town against the use of speed bumps to control speeding, but assurance has been received from the Police Department that strict enforcement will continue in the area Wilson The Board discussed the report from the Traffic Safety Committee Road on Wilson Road and agreed to schedule a meeting with the Traffic Safety Traffic Committee, Mr Bibbo, and the residents of the area for a more detailed discussion of the traffic situation The Appropriation Committee met with the Board for a review of the budget Mr Hutchinson said that the critical issue is the solid waste issue, and there is no question we have to be out of there during 1980 Proposals wt11 be in this month for building a transfer station and a collecting and non-collecting system There is a 13% increase in the municipal budget, $600,000 alone in items dealing with solid waste In certain areas, such as energy, we will come back with amended figures Mr White said that / amu Selectmen's Meeting - 6 - January 7, 1980 Illthe committee is meeting twice a week and we will complete our report on Saturday, January 26 There are going to be a lot of unrealistic issues and he hoped they could get a handle on solid waste this year We are concerned about the energy area and we are going to have to deal with the library using 100% over last year Also concerned about the timing of the police communication system this year or next The renovation of Munroe we don't think is realistic We would be in- terested in getting your timing on Munroe We will be meeting with the Minuteman School and we get the feeling their budget may be down a bit At this point, that's all we can say The Appropriation Com- mittee retired from the meeting The Board discussed the possible additional MBTA assessment and voted the following: Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted unanimously to MBTA wholeheartedly support the vote of the META Advisory Board that the Assessment Budget Committee be charged with the responsibility of expressing to the Governor the concerns of the full board regarding his im- proper and inappropriate takeover of the Authority, that no costs incurred by the takeover be levied on top of the approved amount assessed from local property taxes; the Board would take the strongest possible action to resist payment of any such costs Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the Minutes minutes of the Selectmen's meeting of October 22, 1979 The Board agreed to schedule a meeting with the Planning Board Center Center Revitalization Committee to discuss the committee's report Revitali- A copy of the Selectmen's goal on Center Revitalization is to be zation sent to interested committees Mr Hutchinson recommended that the Board award the contract Semline for printing the warrant Warrant Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to award the Printing contract to Semline, Inc , Braintree, for printing the warrant for the 1980 Annual Town Meeting and the Appropriation Committee and Capital Expenditures Report, at $58 81 per page Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted 5-0 by roll call Executive vote to go into executive session for the purpose of discussing matters Session !• of real estate, with no intension of resuming the open meeting After discussion, it was voted to go out of executive session. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn at 1000 pm A true record, Attest 6 5� �C Executive Clerk, Selectmen I VOID