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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1979-06-04-BOS-min �d, .5.13 t SELECTMEN'S MEETING JUNE 4, 1979 A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Select- men's Meeting Room, Town Office Building, on Monday, June 4, 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 (9 14 p m ); Mrs McCurdy, Executive Clerk, were present The Board removed from the table, as voted on April 9, 1979, the N E T &T petition of the New England Telephone Company to install conduit, man- Pedestal hole, and pedestal terminal on Bow Street; conduit and manhole on Bow St / Cliffe Avenue Notices of the continued hearing were sent to abutters Cliffe Ave and filed with the Public Works Department Mr. Pinault, representative of the Telephone Company, informed the Board that he had met with Mr Marques, an abutter at 22 Bow Street, and explained that it is a service-area concept pedestal, 56" high, 40" wide, 12" deep, to be located at the corner of Bow Street and Cliffe Avenue This is a new distribution-type cabinet, which would eliminate some of the overhead wires in the area Chairman Miley read a report from Mr Empey, Acting Director of 111 Public Works, recommending approval of the petition Mr Busa, as a resident of the area, was in favor of the petitioned location of the pedestal which would eliminate the visible pollution from the wires and poles This particular intersection has quite a bit of overgrowth and debris, and after the installation the Telephone Company has agreed to landscape around the pedestal; this should enhance the location Mr Anthony Marques, 22 Bow Street, asked to be recorded in opposi- tion as his home was situated across the street from the proposed pedestal and he would look directly out on it He suggested an alternate location between the railroad right-of-way and one of the trees, and it would be set back so that it would not encumber his property Mr Pinault was not aware that this proposal would be pre- sented and it was agreed to table the petition for one week, pending meetings between the Telephone Company Engineer, Mr Marques, and the Public Works Department At Chairman Miley's suggestion, Mr Marques agreed to look at pedestal installations in Lexington and surrounding towns Upon notion duly made and seconded, it was voted to table the New England Telephone Company petition for a pedestal terminal until June 11, 1979 Reverend Handley, Director of Guides, met with the Board to recom- Guides mend the appointment of Official Lexington Guides All new candidates had successfully passed the examination given by Reverend Handley L.(39' Selectmen's Meeting - 2 - June 4, 1979 Guides Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to appoint the following Guides for a term expiring June 1, 1980 Appointments Ted Ford 4 Grove Street David Hamburger 18 Cooke Road Melissa Hart 69 Bloomfield Street John Nordhal 13 Meriam Street Nat Taylor 9 Washington Street Peter Wasserman 188 Waltham Street Re-appointments Stephen Bertolini 9 Brown Street Charles V. Ford 4 Grove Street David Harrington 240 Worthen Road John Hayden 4 Davis Road Richard John 19 Saddle Club Road Judd Levingston 350 No Emerson Road James Lyons 12 Chase Avenue Peter Ostrow 7 Castle Road Charles Soparkar 12 Saddle Club Road David A Wasserman 188 Waltham Street Deborah Zeltzer 5A Eliot Road Bruce Baron 236 Worthen Road Chairman Miley, on behalf of the Board, congratulated the Guides and thanked them for giving their time to conduct tours They have quite a responsibility as, many times, they are the only persons the visitors have contact with in our town The Board discussed the list of annual appointments and agreed to the following: Board of Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to appoint Mrs Appeals Natalie H Riffin a member of the Board of Appeals for a five year term Member expiring May 31, 1984 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to reappnint Assoc Robert A Bowyer, Eric T Clarke, Robert M Gary, William J Scouler, Members Clarence D Turner as Associate Members of the Board of Appeals for one year terms expiring May 31, 1980. Also, to appoint Robert V Whitman an Associate Member of the Board of Appeals for a one year term expiring May 31, 1980 Personnel Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to reappoint Adv Bd Frank Hazel a member of the Personnel Advisory Board for a three year term of office expiring May 31, 1982 Mr Crain agreed to come back to the Board with a recommendation for one more appointment to P.A B I 3,sSe6-345- Selectmen's lectmen's Meeting - 3 - June 4, 1979 Upon motion dulymade and seconded, it was voted to reappoint Town Erna S Greene, Raymond J Culler, Rev Harold T Handley, Robert B. Report Sawyer, and Louis A Zehner as members of the Town Report Committee Committee for one year terms expiring May 31, 1980 Also, to appoint Phil Blampied and Frederick C Frick members of the Town Report Committee for one-year terms expiring May 31, 1979 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to reappoint Fence Louis A. Zehner and Rev Harold T Handley as Fence Viewers for one Viewers year terms expiring May 31, 1980 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to reap pint Police Robert B Kent, Alexander J Cella, Hugh M Chapin, James F Corr, Manual William C Hays, Irving H Mabee as members of the Police Manual Policy Policy Committee for one year terms of office expiring May 31, 1980 Committee Also, to appoint Gerald L. McLeod a member of the Police Manual Policy Committee for a one year term of office expiring May 31, 1980 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to reappoint Sewer Katherine G Fricker, Gordon E Barnes, Jr., Charles J Code, Jr , Advisory George F McCormack, Kenneth W Nill, Richard J Rycroft as members Committee of the Sewer Advisory Committee for one year terms of office expiring May 31, 1980 Mr Crain agreed to come back to the Board with a recommendation for one more appointment to the Sewer Advisory Committee Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to reappoint Charles L MacManus the Youth Counselor for the Town of Lexington for a one year term expiring May 31, 1980 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to reappoint Eleanor M. McCurdy the Executive Clerk to the Board of Selectmen for a one year term expiring May 31, 1980 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to reappoint Gamel Helena R Butters and Leona W Martin as Trustees of the Gamel Legacy Legacy Income for one year terms expiring May 31, 1980 Income Mrs Battin brought to the attention of the Board that this is Trustees a small trust with a principal of $500 00 and an income accumulation of $485 00 In the past, we have received requests from people for funds and we should be using these trusts more actively Mr. Hutchinson agreed to review the trusts to have them available as sources of need. The Board agreed to defer for a short time the appointments to School the School Sites Conversion Committee Sites Com. Selectmen's Meeting - 4 - June 4, 1979 Limousine Mr Paul Sullivan, Vice President of Transportation Management, P g v Licenses- and Attorney Conroy met with the Board to discuss the rate structure Transporta and the renewal of ten limousine licenses, which expire June 7, 1979 Management The Board had been informed by letter from Transprotation Management, dated March 23, 1979, that the rates for limousine service between Lexington and Logan Airport would be increased from $9 00 to $11 00 for the first person transported from each stop; $4 00 for each addi- tional person would remain the same Mr Cohen advised that, as the licensing authority, it is the Board's responsibility to set the rates for limousine service Mr. Kent asked Mr Sullivan how long did he foresee operating under the revised rate structure before coming back to the Board requesting an increase? Mr Sullivan couldn't say; it depended on the anticipated increase in the cost of gasoline to approximately 95 cents a gallon, and how long he could afford to absorb increased costs We want to make it go and hope the volume will take care of the increase Chairman Miley brought up the question raised at the meeting with Transportation Management on December 20, 1978 relative to three businesses operating at this one location, and the effect upon the traffic flow Mr. Hutchinson said a report is being compiled and will be completed shortly The Police Department has received only one com- plaint recently regarding congestion in the area The Board agreed to discuss the matter when the Manager's report is submitted Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve ten limousine licenses for Transportation Management Corporation, 1668 Massachusetts Avenue, for public vehicles for hire, specifically limousine service to Logan Airport, in accordance with a letter filed with the Board of Selectmen and dated March 23, 1979 The rates shall be as specified by the Board of Selectmen, $11.00 for the first person transported from each stop, and $4 00 for each additional person Licenses shall expire May 1, 1980 The Board approved the following agenda items Cert. of Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the Incorp request of Secretary Connolly for a change in address on Certificate of Incorporation for Middlesex Tennis & Swim Club, Inc from 114 Waltham Street to 475 Bedford Street Bike-a- Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the Thon change in the date for Ride-a-Bike for Retarded Citizens from May 20 to Sunday, June 10, from 1 00-4 00 p m. Minutes Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the I minutes of Selectmen's meetings held on May 7, 14, 21, 1979 "'Art 52 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the Peking request of Town Counsel to sign the release of a land easement held Gardens by the town and given to Lexington Enterprises, Inc (Peking Gardens) Easement as voted under Article 52 of the 1979 Annual Town Meeting X37 Selectmen's Meeting - 5 - June 4, 1979 Mr Hutchinson recommended that the Board approve the abatement of Colangelo a sewer charge for Mr Michael Colangelo for property at 125 Hartwell Sewer Avenue in the amount of $4,211 48 as the installation is to be done at Abatement Mr Colangelo's expense and at no expense to the town Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to abate the sewer betterment charge for Mr Michael Colangelo for the property at 125 Hartwell Avenue in the amount of $4,211 48 Mr Hutchinson requested approval of transfers of $1,000 to the Transfers Town Clerk's Election Account and $650 00 to the Selectmen's Election Town Clk Account to cover additional expenses resulting from the upcoming Selectmen Referendum on June 12, 1979 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to request the Appropriation Committee for approval of a transfer from the Reserve Fund to Account 1950-Town Clerk Elections in the amount of $1,000 00; also, a transfer from the Reserve Fund to Account 1900-Selectmen's Elections in the amount of $650 00 Mr Hutchinson discussed the Morehouse sewer connection and recom- Morehouse mended that the Board schedule an administrative hearing, inviting Sewer members of the Sewer Advisory Committee, to decide whether it would be advisable to include this with the Bird Hill sewer program to be completed in FY 80 TWe-will include Other homes .lo be serticed and Engineering is working up cost estimates of including them with the FY 80 program The Board agreed to schedule the hearing at the Selectmen's meeting on June 25 Mr Hutchinson discussed the letter from the Recreation Committee Recreation requesting outside engineering help be hired to do whatever has been Bicycle requested by the state to get the bicycle path project underway It Path is Recreation's understanding that the town engineering department Engineer- has too much else to deal with and cannot perform these services at ing this time. Mr Hutchinson said that engineering has commitments for the sewer program, road construction, the sanitary landfill, etc and people should be aware it is a matter of prioritising It was agreed we would provide certain engineering services before we got the grant for the bicycle path project and we will check with the state to see exactly what is required. Mr Kent recommended that every effort be made to do the engineering work this fall;otherwise, the practical impact would be a year's delay Mr Hutchinson said he would file a report with the Board Mr Hutchinson requested the Board toapprovEhe technical agreement Patricia between Arlington and Lexington for the Patricia Terrace Sewer; also to Terrace vote an intent to take an easement on Lot "F" in Lexington The re- Sewer mainder of the easement is in Arlington and therefore may have to be Agreement taken by Arlington's Board of Selectmen Intent to Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the Take Ease- technical agreement between Arlington and Lexington for the Patricia ment Terrace sewer Upon motion duly made and seconded, the Board voted an intent to take a sewer easement on Lot "F" in Lexington for the Patricia Terrace sewer, with an award of no damages .53a Selectmen's Meeting - 6 - June 4, 1979 Summit Rd Mr Hutchinson discussed the letter from Mr Douglas Allred of Sewer 38 Summit Road stating that the roadway was damaged during sewer Project construction and should have been replaced with a road surface equivalent to its prior condition A report from Mr Empey, Acting Director of Public Works/Engineering, stated that the Engineering Division had looked closely at this location and it was determined that since this project was intended only to provide sanitary sewer to Summit Road and funds are not available to relandscape or repave private property, or to reconstruct the street, the town should re- store the roadway as it does on nearly all sewer projects, i e , to patch the trench to the original grade of the street and not to over- lay the roadway By doing this, we have met our obligations with respect to restoration and have eliminated the possibility of water puddling on the abutting lawns and driveways Mr Hutchinson agreed to respond to Mr Allred that the town does not have an obligation to totally resurface the road on the sewer project; however, the current work does address protecting the lawns and driveways in the area Sewer Mr Hutchinson informed the Board that requests for sewer extensions Requests to North Street, Amherst Street, Hayward Avenue area, and Concord Avenue from Chadbourne Road to the Belmont line will be considered as part of our bond authorization and the normal budget process, and the appropriate hearings will be held We would support moving as much into the FY 80 budget as we can handle within our financial capacity Tax Title Mrs Mary Shunney, Chairman of the Housing Authority, and Mrs Moratorium Iris Wheaton, Planning Board representative, met with the Board Chairman Miley said it was agreed_ at our last joint meeting on April 30 to extend the moratorium on the sale of tax title lots from May 1, 1979 to June 15, 1979 The minutes of that meeting recorded the recommendation of the Housing Authority for an exten- sion of the moratorium to enable the authority to complete all trans- actions on the scattered sites lots Also, Mrs Wheaton had informed the Board that the Planning Board feels that the list of tax title lots located throughout the town should be reviewed, particularly the individual lots which may be buildable and, in some cases, those which may be combined with an abutting town-owned lot to provide an area suitable for building. Mrs Shunney said that it is not the intention of the Housing Authority to ask for a further extension of the moratorium as the scattered sites program has been presented to HUD and we do not see the possibility of adding more. It is our understanding that as these tax title lots come up, if someone else wants to purchase them or take some sort of action on the lots, that the major boards be in- formed of such requests; that is the Housing Authority's concern We We have been advised informally that we are going to get our Country- side and our 25 family units, which will be used for the developers of condominiums We feel we have done as much as we could under scattered sites; we do have a few problems we are trying to iron out with HUD but we are going to be able to go forward with the program and, hopefully, the contract is going to be signed by June 15 X39 Selectmen's Meeting - 7 - June 4, 1979 Mrs Wheaton said that the Planning Board feels the town should keep Tax Title all of the tax title lots that might be combined with other tax title lots Moratorium that might be used for the Housing program. The Housing Authority has (cont'd ) worked hard in getting this one underway but in five years they may be able to undertake another such venture, and if we don't have the land available to us, if it is sold, then we have lost out We feel that we don't always know when the tax title lots are coming up; most of the time, we realize we do get notices but at one of our meetings it was brought up that a 13,700 sq ft lot with 50 ft frontage located on North Street opposite Carl Road was apparently sold last November, and none of us remembered hearing about it She had no idea of whether it was a tax title lot or not and if it could possibly have gone for a scattered sites program We don't know when an isolated request comes in if there is tax title land adjacent to is and it could be incorporated with it If there is a potential for it to be used by itself or in con- junction with another piece of land, we feel that the town should save it; otherwise, if it is obviously too small and obviously cannot be combined with other town land, then the town should dispense with it Mr Cohen said that when Mr O'Connell was the Town Manager, he had his assistant go through every single tax title lot and he came up with 38 lots throughout the whole town, and that was the basis of the scattered sites project The only lots that have come on the market that the town has acquired within the last 16 years were all of low value and were small lots The North Street lot mentioned was of low value and, under the statute, you must have an auction when you foreclose any property of low value We have had two auctions since he has been Town Counsel, and all of those lots were in the paper, with an announcement of an auction. The lots were checked out very carefully before the town made the decision to foreclose There were some on tax title that had never been foreclosed and all of those had been reviewed as to which were not buildable and could not be used for scattered sites, and so they could go on this low value process. After a lengthy discussion, Mr Hutchinson agreed to get the list of tax title lots, noting the lots that have been deleted, update the list, provide all interested boards with the list, which will be consulted when individual requests to purchase lots are received. Mr Cohen agreed to meet with Mrs Wheaton to explain the process of the town acquiring tax title lots Mrs Wheaton retired from the meeting Mr Hutchinson recommended the Board'a approval of the request of the Town of Bedford for 700,000 gallons of water to be provided through the Lexington system. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to authorize the Bedford Town Manager to draw up the appropriate agreement to provide the Town Water of Bedford with 700,000 gallons of water through the Lexington system, Agreement subject to the approval of the Metropolitan District Commission .5310 Selectmen's Meeting - 8 - June 4, 1979 Mr Hutchinson requested approval of his appointments to committees Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the Town Manager's appointments to the following commissions Sara Chase to the Historical Commission for the period April 1, 1979 through March 31, 1982 Frank Fields to the Conservation Commission for the period April 1, 1979 through March 31, 1982 Drainage Mr Hutchinson informed the Board that corrective action has been Leaks taken on Mr Frank Sandy's letter concerning a street drain in Hayes Lane, and a small gasoline leak into the Vine Brook culvert under Mass Avenue in the vicinity of the former Colonial Garage Center Chairman Miley said the Board has a mandate from Town Meeting re- Traffic garding the center of town and Mr Busa has been asked for his assistance on traffic and businesses, and in forming a committee to get the ball rolling Executive Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted 5r0 by roll call Session vote - Mrs Miley, Mr Busa, Mrs Battin, Mr Kent and Mr Crain - to go into Executive Session for the purpose of discussing strategy with respect to collective bargaining, litigation, and a land item After discussion, it was voted to go out of Executive Session Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn at 10 00 p m A true record, Attest Alke640"--d•" Executive Clerk, Selectmen