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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1979-12-17-BOS-min g SELECTMEN'S MEETING December 17, 1979 A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Selectmen's Meeting Room, Town Office Building, on Monday, December 17, 1979 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, Assistant to the Town Manager; Mrs McCurdy, Executive Clerk, were present Chairman Miley opened the hearing on the application for the transfer Liquor- of a Common Victualler license to sell all alcoholic beverages, to be drunk Bora- on the premises, from Bora-Bora, Inc to new owners operating under the Bora title of Bora-Bora, Inc at 177 Massachusetts Avenue The hearing had been advertised in the December 6, 1979 issue of the Lexington Minute-man newspaper, and copies had been sent by the applicant to the abutters by certified mail Attorney William Chin, representing Bora-Bora, Jue Bow Fong aka Joe B Fong, Manager, and Sally D Hsu, President and Clerk, were present Mr Chin said that Mr Fong will be the new Manager; he has been a restaurant manager for 46 years We have applied for a permit from the Board of Appeals and the hearing is to be next week In response to Mr Kent's question regarding stockholders and a new board, Mr Chin said there will be two sole shareholders and a new Board of Directors Mr Kent asked if any inquiries had been made on behalf of the Board of Selectmen in terms of the suitability of the proposed licensee? Mr Hutchinson said that he was not aware of it being done in the three years he had been here No one appearing in favor or in opposition, Chairman Miley declared the hearing closed Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the trans- fer of the 1980 Common Victualler All Alcoholic Beverages license to new owners operating under the title of Bora - Bora, Inc , 177 Massachusetts Avenue, with new Manager Jue Bow Fong, and to transfer the regular Com- mon Victualler license for 1980; both subject to a favorable decision of the Board of Appeals at its scheduled hearing on Bora-Bora, Inc Approval of the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission is to be requested The Board continued the discussion held on November 19 regarding the Historical Historical Commission's request for consideration of an expenditure of Commission money to take advantage of the Boston University graduate program for the historic preservation study Mr Hutchinson recommended that he work with the Historical Commission as there is the capacity within the budgets for technical support as well as using temporary help from our intern pro- gram to assist them As the Commission pointed out in their report, twelve towns used volunteers, so with a certain degree of support and volunteer effort, they should be able to get this done; also, by utilizing existing budget monies as well as budget monies for next year Mr Hutchinson did not recommend approval of the Commission's request for money for other items relating to historical preservation Mr Busa said he had no objection to the Commission listing property for the register of historic places but he strongly urged that the Commission get in touch with the owners of the property involved It is mandated that the Commission come back to the Selectmen with the proposed list but they should contact the owners Mr Hutchinson said the Commission will be asked to file a draft report with the Board and appropriate agencies so that we will be able to look at it Chairman Miley added that it is important to us to expect the Commission to deal with people in a fair way The Manager is to work with the Commission. I, 1 Selectmen's Meeting - 2 - December 17, 1980 Traffic- Chairman Miley read a letter from Ms Lois Brubeck, 12 Adams Street, Brubeck expressing concern about traffic problems, the lack of stop signs and reflectors in certain areas of the town Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to refer Mrs Brubeck's requests to the Town Manager for a report I Minutes Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the minutes of the Selectmen's meeting held on December 3, 1979 Dog Mr Busa discussed the hearing he had conducted on November 6, 1979 Hearing - at 9 00 a m in the Selectmen's Meeting Room on the written complaint of Robinson/ David Robinson, 17 Red Coat Lane, that a German Shepherd dog owned by Culhane Thomas Culhane, 19 Red Coat Lane, is a nuisance by reason of a vicious disposition Mr Busa said it is a serious situation in the neighborhood, and he recommended that the Culhane dog be restricted to a leash at all times, whether in the yard or walking Mr Kent recommended the addition of the word, "physically" (restrained) The Board agreed Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted that the Board of Selectmen has determined that the German Shepherd dog owned by Thomas Culhane of 19 Red Coat Lane is a nuisance by reason of a vicious dis- position and hereby orders that within fourteen days of notification, said dog is to restricted to a leash, and shall be physically restrained on the leash at all times whether in the yard or walking 1-Day Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve 1-Day Liquor liquor licenses for the following W R Grace Associates on December 18, Licenses and St Brigid's Couples Club on New Year's Eve from 9 00 p m to 1 00 a m 1980 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to renew the Com- Common mon Victualler licenses for the following for 1980 Vi ct Lexington House of Pizza Lee Ann's Restaurant, Inc Arno's Deli Howard Johnson's Yangtze River Restaurant Friendly Ice Cream Corp -Waltham St Mario's Friendly Ice Cream Corp -Bedford St Baskin-Robbins Store #1723 Bellino's Bakery, Inc Pewter Pot Kentucky Fried Chicken Lexington Golf Club Denny's LeBellecour Dunkin Donuts Alexander's Pizza The Kitchen 1980 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to renew the Class I Class I license for Lawless Mawhinney Motors, Inc License 1980 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to renew the Class III Class III license for John P Carroll Co , Inc Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign the warrant to Notice the Town Counstable to deliver written notice to abutters of the vote of the on Board on December 10, 1979 of the intent to lay out Garfield Street, Sunny Street Knoll Avenue, Kendall Road, Rockville Avenue, Sherburne Road, Tower Road and Layout Sanderson Road //© Selectmen's Meeting - 3 - December 17, 1979 Mr Hutchinson recommended approval of a transfer of $1,500 from Transfer the Reserve Fund to Account #1090-Professional Services . This request Acct 1090 is necessary due to the unforeseen vacancy in the Planning Director's position and the retention of planning services Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to request ap- proval of the Appropriation Committee for a transfer from the Reserve Fund to Account #1090-Professional Services in the amount of $1,500 Mr Hutchinson recommended that the Board hold the Revenue Sharing Revenue hearing on January 14, 1980 The Board agreed Sharing Mr Louis Zehner, Town Treasurer, met with the Board, to recom- Treasurer mend approval of borrowing $160,000 for the swimming pool and $40,000 for sewer construction from the lowest bidder, Shawmut County Bank ;of Cambridge at 5.50 percent interest Nine bids were submitted and ranged from 5.50 to 6.96 percent Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the recommendation of the Town Treasurer to borrow $200,000 from the Shawmut County Bank of Cambridge at 5.50 percent interest Mr Hutchinson recommended approval of the Vocell Bus Company's Vocell Bus request for an increase in fares on the Lexington to Boston commuter Lex/Boston bus service for• single run tickets from $1 35 to $1 60; 12-ticket book from $15 00 to $18 00 per book, $1 50 per ticket; 20-ticket book from $22.00 to $25 00 per book, $1 25 per ticket Mr. Benjamin Goodwin, Vocell Bus Company, said that they had added a couple of extra runs and we are thinking of taking another survey We are also making applications to one or two other towns and this may enable us to have weekend runs and will give us an opportunity for fur- ther expansion We wanted to have a Christmas bus to Boston during December but the contract was limited as to hours; unfortunately, we should habe read the specifications better. Even though it is a com- muter bus, perhapsyou should review the time restrictions as that was the thing that prevented us from doing it Mr Crain said that since our last meeting and the concerns he had underscored, there has been evidence of considerable follow-through and the equipment problems he had cited had been resolved Also, Mr Goodman had personally been in evidence a number of times He would like to underscore his own impression and that of the other riders about the obvious commitment to affirmative action and his employees and the excellent people that they are; they are a very un- usual group of people The Selectmen have all received calls from people who :rbde -the buses Mr. Goodman said that his son owns the company and he is doing additional things like buying some radios and, if we do have the expansion, the radios will allow us to do a lot of work that perhaps we have been unable to do, and to have a spare bus One of the problems has been financing as we can't go to a bank because we don't have a long- term contract. Mr Kent asked if, as he is currently constituted, he could respond in equipment and service terms to an increase in patronage? Mr. Goodman said that the answer is simple; even a bank reaches out to help somebody that is making quite a profit There isn't any question if you are going to go loaded both ways that you can get equipment if we had to, but patronage at the moment doesn't make that feasible There are six runs and at the moment they are about maximum However, we are all aware I! Selectmen's Meeting - 4 - December 17, 1979 that things are going to happen If fuel is going to rise in cost, the government is going to take steps to make sure that single riders get out of the car At one time, Mr Goodman had counted cars and of ap- proximately 200 cars there were only five with more than one passenger Mr Goodman said that according to the contract, a commuter run is for two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon If we had no limit, we would have advertised and at least run buses on Sundays Mr Crain said that several people had asked him if there is a prospect of a bus from Lowell to the Mall to Lexington, then directly to Boston He asked Mr Goodman if he was still interested in that run? Mr Goodman said that he was and had hoped to get that at the same that they had the financing set up; that would have given us at least one additional bus, which could also be used as an extra and, at the same time, with the Lowell run we thought we could run a weekend bus as well Chairman Miley said that people had told her it would be nice to have a bus that went into Boston one morning a week other than the peak hours to do their shopping and business Mr Goodman said that his son is quite a gambler and he would take the chance to see what the testing would be If the expansion comes about a little bit more, he will try it Mr Kent asked if he would be interested in extending the run from Copley Square to Kenmore Square? Mr Goodman said that it was surprising but South Station seems to be most asked for; we do have South Station Mr Kent asked Mr Hutchinson if there is any reason why we have some relationships elsewhere that require us to retain as a matter of policy these time limits, which don't seem to serve any useful purpose from our point of view? Mr Hutchinson said that he was not aware of it Mr Crain said he would like to return to the Manager several issues to be worked out with Mr Goodman. As he recalled, we are work- ing on a 6-months' extension of the contract to April 13, 1980, and in light of the improvements that have occurred, he would suggest that the Board consider changing that to a longer term agreement as soon as possible. Also, to considdr the Lowell run; to consider the change of the restriction of hours Vote Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to refer the following to the Town Manager to work with Mr Goodman on (1) consideration of a longer term agreement on the bus contract; (2) consideration of the Lowell route; (3) consideration of a change in the restriction of hours of operation Mr Hutchinson commented that the only thing in the servey where there was a split reaction was the overcrowding of buses; this is the major com- plaint that has been received at his office, but that has been alleviated somewhat Mr Goodman said it is difficult to anticipate riders, and an extension of service will resolve that Vote Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the request of the Vocell Bus Company, Inc , Cambridge, for an increase in fares for the Lexington/Boston express bus as follows Single run tickets from $1 35 to $1 60; 12-ticket book from $15 00 to $18 00 per book, $1 50 per ticket; 20-ticket book from $22 00 to $25 00 per book, $1 25 per ticket Mrs Banks said that a letter will now go to the MBTA petitioning them for approval of the increase With a monthly pass, riders would be able to get a discount on their auto insurance and we are trying to develop some kind of cost for a monthly pass Mr Hutchinson said he will bring that back to the Board along with the other items tol Selectmen's Meeting - 5 - December 17, 1979 Mr Hutchinson said that Jane Edmunds, MCAD Commissioner, is willing Fair to come out to Lexington to meet with our Fair Housing Committee Nancy Housing - Banks and Al Zabin will be coordinating this effort and arranging for MCAD appropriate committees to be invited Mr Hutchinson informed the Board that Hammer, Kiefer and Todd, Inc Munroe has been retained as consultant for the Munroe School to prepare a cost School estimate, which will be ready the last week in January Mr Hutchinson recommended approval of an increase in the sewer con- Contract tract previously awarded to Crowley Associates for $346,910 The total 978-5-E price of $374,537 39 is due primarily to an increase in the size, depth, Sewers and lehgth of the pipe on Lowell Street and an unusually thick wearing surface on Lowell Street, necessitating a trench patch thickness of six inches rather than the customary three inches In order to meet our obligations, an increase of $27,627 39 is recommended. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the M anger's recommendation to increase the authorization for Contract #78-5-E in the amount of $27,627 39 Contract was previously awarded to Crowley Associates in the amount of $346,910, and the new total is $374,537 39;authorizatidn contained under Article 19 or 1978 Mr Hutchinson said that we are releasing the $25,000 performance Hancock bond of Sydney and Noyes held by the town Mr Kent was troubled that Condohinium the owners of the condominiums were not aware of this Mr Hutchinson Bond said that, in his opinion, much of what the developers have done is be- yond what is within the bond. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to table the matter of releasing the bond of the developer of the Hancock condo- miniums until the meeting on Wednesday evening Condominium owners are to be informed of the request to release the bond The Board agreed to re-appoint Mr Hutchinson as the Town Manager Manager Chairman Miley said that some of our reasons for re-appointing Mr Re-appt Hutchinson are because of his vigorous pursuit of developing sound management methods within the town government, the development of personnel policies , including sensitivity and support for our hiring obligation in minority areas, forthrightness in dealing with the Board, and a highly professional relationship with the Board Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted unanimously to appoint Mr Robert M. Hutchinson, Jr the Manager of the Town of Lexington for a three year term beginning January 1, 1980 and expiring December 31, 1982 The Board approved Mr Kent's suggestion to save a space in the Warrant Warrant for an article on a two-thirds vote on reconsideration Article Chairman Miley informed the Board that she had attended the MBTA MBTA Sup budget hearing and the Advisory Board hearing today and on the supple- Budget mental budget, Lexington along with 84% of the cities and towns voted no more money; basically, because we have a cap to worry about As for the Governor taking over on an emergency basis, that will unfold within the next few days 13 Selectmen's Meeting - 6 - December 17, 1979 Police Police Chief Corr met with the Board to discuss the police budget Budget Account #3800 - $155,425; last year, $143,000; $12,425 or 8 7% increase Major areas of increase #525 automotive from $34,500 to $42,500 Last year, we replaced only six cruisers; that was primarily because we had one replaced at the end of the fiscal year because of an accident; that was effectively almost new and therefore we deferred on buying the normal complement of seven We will replace six of our cruisers and we have one car that rotates through the inspection and command officer divisions We have provided a modest increase in #262-gas, oil and lubrication of $1,000, primarily because our experience in the police department has been more favorable than other areas based upon the energy efficiency of the vehicles we are dealing with This is the operating budget of the department and it is really geared to replacement of the cars and energy and some increased supply Mrs Miley questioned line items 208 and 305 regarding printing, and Mr Hutchinson explained that the 200 series is what we buy outselves and the 300 series is what we contract for; dif- ferent kinds of printing Mr Crain was concerned that we are dealing with this before we have summed up our goals, because some of the goals in the financial area would relate to our approach to this budget As he recalled in goal setting in terms of centralized purchasing supplies, is that done in one place for everybody? Mr Hutchinson said it is done in DPW Printing is individually contracted on bulk purchasing in DPW Things such as fuel and energy are done in bulk purchasing with the schools; we also hook up with the school system on paper items which they bid on; there are items such as those referenced in this budget that are more discretionary What you have is centralized accountability through the Manager's office; de facto centralized purchasing on most items through public works and the school system Much of the printing is in- dividually contracted for On vehicle supplies, the bulk of our material is through DEW Mr Crain said he hoped we can get into centralized maintenance Mr Hutchinson said he will bring it back in the goals and update the financial information so the Board can look at what kind of position it wishes to take. He had spoken to Chief Corr and Fire Chief Bergeron about centralized maintenance and there are some reservations A report will be prepared for the Board and information will be provided based on last year's bids if we go into a regional consortium Chief Corr said they are already in the Boston Police Council and we have found that through bids from local dealers our figures are lower than Greater Boston's Mr Crain asked for an explanation of the tuition for cadets at $9,000 vs internship Chief Corr said that up to 1965, the police department could have only those from Lexington and couldn't get persons to take the exam- ination Through the efforts of Linc Cole, we were allowed to go to other communities ' lists, and we put on eight men. When we devised the police cadet program, we went into the High School and offered thaw a fully paid tuition About a year after that, a bill was passed and Congress didn't fully fund the Act; only about 50%, and we instituted paying for half with the idea of stimulating youngsters to get their degree Six of the seven we put on were Lexington residents and they all have their degrees - Selectmen's Meeting - 7 - December 17 , 1979 111 Chief Corr still thinks there is merit in our funding the cadet program; for ten years, it has worked out We have six cadets and we intend to fill three vacancies Mr Hutchinson said that under the affirmative action program we address the education incentive we have Mrs Miley asked how many policemen are now on the force through the program? Chief .©nrr said there were nine. Mrs Banks said that we have 22 cadets, 15 have graduated and 9 are on the force Three are still on board; two were dismissed and one looked for another job Mr Crain asked for Chief Corr's point of view on the communication system. Mr Hutchinson said that the system is 15 or 16 years old and Chief Corr recommended $120,000 in the capital budget The Capital Expenditures Committee has asked for an article in the warrant Chief Corr has assured us that deferring it would cost us more money Chief Corr said that recognizing it would cost us $131,000 as we found that we would be able to handle response to riots such as the Cambridge riot of 1970 Thirty-two to thirty-three communities now encompass the circumferential highway and Lexington now is almost isolated It is estimated to go as high as $150,000 to $160,000 next year Mrs Miley asked if there is any way a component of that could be put into operation? Could Lexington be in communication with the towns contiguous to it? chief Corr said that a group of eight towns did band together but now want to become part of the council There is no way for us to participate 111 with one or two towns There would be an interchange between communities that does make sense with this system Mr Hutchinson said that, looking at the expense area, it is a little more than 10 percent on the direct payroll, which is in the order of $1 million Lexington remains in a favorable position on costs We have personnel of 54 including the Chief; 5 Sergeants, 5 Lieutenants, 2 Captains The budget is $155,425, and most of it is in cars and energy Mr Crain asked about the size of cars and the use of cars, and Mr Hutchinson said that he will file some updated material with the Board Chief Corr retired from the meeting Fire Chief Bergeron met with the Board to discuss the Fire Department Fire budget of $95,800 He said that fuel was up, repairs and maintenance of Dept our buildings, storm windows on headquarters estimated at $5,000 and we Budget compoeted half of the windows in E Lexington; oil alone was 15,000 gal- long and we are having problems with our system at headquarters As far as outside repairs for equipment, we have $1500 in body work that has been deferred for two years, and we did need more money in that area We have inflation in automobile parts and medical suppplies and first aid supplies increased As far as the alarm system, we are finishing a re- port on what our plans are. The maintenance differed over the years; it is tested frequently and we have a system to connect the stations We may reduce it in the area of street alarm boxes We have a program and a report will show what direction to go to improve main lines by cabling and that system would be in a lot better shape The Planning Board is not putting boxes in subdivisions We would maintain what we have Mr Busa asked if it has been proven that it is not needed to upgrade those that are not working? Mr Hutchinson said that we would want direction on that Mr Kent said that we could get in trouble if the boxes are not going into new subdivisions Chief Bergeron said that lis Selectmen's Meeting - 8 - December 17, 1979 the new building codes are a lot stricter and the homes now have smoke alarm detectors, etc In a six year period, we have had 41 calls from boxes Mr Busa said that the Energy Committee went to the headquarters building and he hoped that somebody would address the zoning as it is pumping heat when it is not needed Mr Kent asked if $1 04 was across the board for the amount of fuel? Mr Hutchinson said that it was not Mr Kent said that we ought to arrive at what gallons you can get for one single price acroets the board, and he hoped it would include schools Mr Hutchinson agreed to check on it Mr Kent added that it should also apply to gallonage of gasoline and not have it vary from department to department Mr Hutchinson said that the Appropriation Committee has spoken to us in the area of maintenance of plant, and this ties into the whole idea of centralizing, and we are going to be proposing to you at a subsequent meeting to take a lot of these maintenance items and move them into the public works budget because a lot of people feel it is easier to focus in that way on what all of our maintenance costs are The Chief is using much of our technical help in the public works department on much of this and it would be easier to give them the responsibility to let them provide their technical skills to the Chief via the public works' budget We haven't done it at this point in time but we plan to change it, and you will see some of the transfers over the next 30 to 60 days Mr Hutchinson said that Chief Bergeron has proposed in the capital budget $32,000 for a new ambulance; we would get $6,000 for our 1976 am- bulance At $6,000, Mr Hutchinson did not think it was worth it to turn in an ambulance that doesn't need a great deal of maintenance if we keep it as a back-up for the times that our ambulance is down The ambulance business as part of the fire department operation is becoming a growing portion of our business, and we do have periods of times when we have to call for additional ambulance help; we will continue our inter-town arrange- ment Mr Busa asked if there was a garage for it? Chief Bergeron said there are two bays at East Lexington We reduced our engine fleet from six to five Chis year, the down time for our ambulance is the equiva- lent of 10 days out of the year for maintenance and repairs During those periods, we use our neighboring fire departments on a mutual aid basis, and we reciprocate Presently, we are using out-of-town ambulances on the average of 6 or 7 days Last week, we had to use Bedford's ambulance as our men and the ambulance were at a fire on York Street Ambulance de- mands have increased 10% and we see it going up in the future Chairman Miley said that the history of the ambulance is that it was bought in 1973 and at that time it was a module type, and Town Meeting voted that when the mechanical part of it needed to be replaced then the other part could be used. Then, the new codes came in that made that type of an ambulance not right and we had to go to this other one Chief Bergeron said the vehicle you mention was purchased in 1976 and it was sold to the town on the basis that the rear end could be put onto a truck chassis We have found in our experience and others that have had this type of vehicle that this does not seem to work out unless the vehicle is all aluminum; unfortunately, our is steel and we have had problems with „L Selectmen's Meeting - 9 - December 17, 1979 U the compartment, doors, rusting at the hinges, alignment, etc We have one door that won't open right now So, the feasibility of putting that box onto a new chassis. it just won't work What we are saying is to keep that vehicle as a spare and we can get by with it on that basis; it does meet all the state specifications Chairman Miley said she had some problem with the fact that the door doesn't work Her idea is to get it to work, and you can't just say the door doesn't work so let's buy a new one Why won't it open? You should go back to the manufacturer Mrs. Hutchinson said that additional information will be submitted in a report on the ambulance Chief Bergeron retired from the meeting Chairman Miley said that with the problems with the postal workers Traffic parking out front, perhaps we could meter and that might be a solution P 0 to keep this part of Mass Avenue if we want customers for our businesses Mass.Ave Mr Busa said that we are too far from the shopping area, and they are only going to move to Forest Street, Merial Street, etc Mr Kent said that there are various devices to use for all day parking 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 strategy Session with respect to collective bargaining and personnel, with the intention of resuming the open meeting After discussion, it was voted to go out of executive session and resume the open meeting Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the Salary Manager's recommendations for salary adjustments effective January 1, Adjustments 1980 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn at 10 20 p m. A true record, Attest. 7-20 c Executive Clerk, Selectmen 1 I VOID