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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1978-11-27-BOS-min SELECTMEN'S MEETING NOVEMBER 27, 1978 A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Select- men's Meeting Room, Town Office Building, on Monday, November 27, 1978 at 7 30 p.m Chairman Battin, Mr Busa, Mrs Miley, 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 MAPC Mr Hutchinson informed the Board that he will contact MAPC regard- ing their letter on an energy conservation program and advise them that Mr Fred Sweet had been appointed as the Town's Energy Officer, and he has been attending a number of meetings with the State Energy Office MAPC In response to a-request from Mrs Frick, Lexington's MAPC repre- Alt sentative, the Board agreed to appoint an alternate Rep Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to appoint Mrs Nancy Banks, Assistant to the Town Manager, as an alternate representa- tive of Lexington on MAPC Appt - Mr Busa submitted a nominee for appointment to the Town Celetrations Celebra Committee Committee Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to appoint Mr Gerald Hagerty, 115 Reed Street, a member of the Town Celebrations Com- mittee, to fill an unexpired term of office to April 30, 1981 111 1979 Chairman Battin recommended approval of 1979 liquor licenses Liquor Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted 4E-0 _toapprotia re- Licenses newel of the following liquor licenses &impitisig December 31, 1979 Mr Busa abstained Restaurants Bora-Bora, Inc ; Lexington Enterprises, Inc d b a Peking Garden; Yangtze River Restaurant Package Goods Berman's Inc , 1775 Wine & Spirit Shop Inc , Lexington Liquor Mart, Inc , Busa Bros Liquors,Inc Vinebrook Corporation Clubs Lexington Council No 94 Knights of Columbus; Lexington Golf Club; Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Inc Resign - Mr Hutchinson informed the Board that he has received a letter of Martin resignation from Jerry Martin, Assistant Town Engineer, effective on December 8, 1978 He said that he had been extremely pleased with Jerry's work during his service with the town but an opportunity has opened up for him to work in the private sector, which will give him a broader breadth of experience now that the town is moving into a maintenance program. I 385 Selectmen's Meeting - 2 - November 27, 1978 Mrs Ruth Wales, Chairman of the Minuteman School Committee; Mr Minuteman James Wood, Lexington's Representative to the Minuteman Expansion Reg Voc Planning Committee; Mr Otis Brown, Chairman of the, Lexington School School Committee, met with the Board Chairman Battin said that the meeting was arranged to discuss the preliminary school budget, expansion of the school district membership and how it relates to our Lexington school program and filling our quota Mrs Wales said that the expansion is not in the budget as we have had only one meeting on it Our budget meetings start in November and go to January How much information is carried back to the towns is up to the town's representative Our proposed budget will be 3 5 percent higher this year and we won't know the real im- pact until we find out the amount of State Aid Five towns have expressed interest membership - Lancaster, Bolton, Hingham, Dover, and North Regional; Needham and Brookline may join The issue we dis- cussed is primarily how the new towns would participate in the capital expenses; they would be apportioned and would pay some reasonable sum The State pays 65 percent of the construction project Mr Wood presented a report and said that from Lexington's point of view we would look at how the addition of new towns would affect our cost, space available for our students, and the ability to in- fluence policy and planning Ron Fitzgerald will attempt to give us the answer to the question of what federal or state programs exist or may be planned which might impact enrollments The present enrollment is about 1200, with a capacity of 1400-1500; by law, class size is a maximum of 20 and Lexington has 115 students Proportionately, our percentage dropped a little so the cost per student dropped but the total cost went up To add five or six towns, you would have one vote out of eighteen Mrs Wales commented that there has never been a vote reflecting a town and nothing to suggest that anybody is trying to dominate You should consider something more than twelve towns Mr Brown said that, until recently, there hasn't been any input with the School Committee, except in an educational aspect There has not been enough emphasis and effort on our behalf to encourage youngsters to go there, and we hope to address this more seriously in the future One observation to the expansion of the district is that it would increase your per pupil cost, particularly on transportation to expand the district further out The town transports students for approximately one-half the cost for Minuteman to transport theirs Mrs Wales responded that the committee had discussed that, and for any town that is further away, there would be a transportation differential It was agreed that the Appropriation Committee representative is working with the Minuteman School Committee and Bob Jackson, Lexington's representative who also attends all meetings, would be invited to meet with the Selectmen annually for an update on school budget matters 38I Selectmen's Meeting - 3 -- November 27, 1978 A second access to the Minuteman School was discussed with the Transportation Advisory Committee and Dr Clarke of the Planning Board. Chairman Battin said that Engineering has advised that the aituatinnVill not be resolved until an engineering study of the area has been made After discussion, it was agreed that Mrs Wales, Chairman of the Minuteman School Committee, is to contact the Town Manager to discuss a possible police detail, opening the Boston Edison easement, the widening of Route 2A and working with the State DPW MBTA The Board approved the recommendation that the Transportation Bus Advisory Committee write to the MBTA suggesting modifications in the Route present bus route to Harvard Square inbound/outbound via Worthen Road, with a stop in front of Cary Library; morning inbound and after- noon outbound buses to travel Route 2 main roadway except to drop off and pick up transfers at Route 60 Chair- The Board approved the request of the Transportation Advisory Com- Car mittee to write to surrounding towns relative to sharing the cost for Van the use of the chair-car van for the elderly and the handicapped This van will be given to the town under the MBTA Suburban Transit proposal, which was awarded to Lexington in October subject to Town Meeting ap- proval Solid Mr James Reilly, Chairman, and members of the Solid Waste Ad- Waste visory Committee met with the Board to present recommendations for Report the town to join the Northeast Waste Disposal Council and the pro- posed incinerator in North Andover The facility would consume all the trash from surrounding communities and will generate electricity The town would deposit at a central transfer station and then it would be trucked to North Andover The committee felt that special education and planning programs should be initiated on mandatory town-wide trash collection and recycling and two articles should be in the warrant for the Town Meeting The Board thanked the committee for the report and agreed to give serious consideration to the proposal Permit Mr Hutchinson recommended that the Board approve increases in Fees - charges for Building Department fees, use of the landfill, and dog fees During discussion, the Board agreed to delete the fees for nursing home inspections until more information is submitted Bldg Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve in- Dept creases in the list of fees submitted by the Building Commissioner, including building permits, building inspections, plumbing, gas, and electrical fees Landfill Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adopt the Fees following increased rates for sanitary landfill permits Daily commer- cial permits-$5 00; Yearly commercial residential permits-$10 00; yearly commercial stickers-$50 00; Yearly commercial stickers-$500 00 387 Selectmen's Meeting - 4 - November 27, 1979 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adopt the fol- Dog lowing increased fees for pick-up of dogs First Offense-$25 00; Fees Second Offense-$50 00 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted 5-0 by roll call Executive vote - Mrs Battin, Mr Busa, Mrs Miley, Mr Kent and Mr Crain - to Session go into Executive Session, with the intention of resuming the open meeting, to discuss strategy with respect to litigation and the sale of real property After discussion, it was voted to go out of Executive Session and resume the open meeting Mrs Miley announced that the Board had discussed the use of the Parker Parker School School Mrs Miley moved that the Selectmen designate Parker School as residential rental with a maximum of 30 units and would go to the developers to ask for two different types of proposals, one using only the present building and the other with some additions to the present building; that the town maintain walking easements, and that 25 percent of these units be low income housing Chairman Battin said that she would like to specify that she intended to vote for the motion but would like to abstain on the 25 percent low income housing as she would prefer 50 percent low and moderate income housing - 25 percent low and 25 percent moderate - and she would abstain on that section Mr Kent said that he would vote for the motion but he would have preferred that the low and moderate income housing be 50 percent rather than the 25 percent He would vote for the motion as made Mr Busa said that he would vote the entire motion with reserva- tions of what the definition of low to moderate income housing is Mrs Miley said that the moiton only has low in it Mr Buse said that he wanted a definition of low income Chairman Battin called for a vote on the motion as presented by Mrs Miley Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted unanimously to designate Parker School as residential rental with a maximum of 30 units and would go to the developers to ask for two different types of proposals, one using only the present building and the other with some additions to the present building; that the town maintain walking easements and that 25 percent of these units be low income housing Mrs Battin abstained on the percentage Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn at 11 15 p.m A true record, Attest 11 lc441tort,,,e7 2h . ecutive Clerk, Selectmen