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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1978-11-06-BOS-min :368 SELECTMEN'S MEETING NOVEMBER 6, 1978 A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Selectmen's Meeting Room, Town Office Building, on Monday, November 6, 1978 at 7 30 P.M. Chairman Battin, Mrs Miley, Mr Kent and Mr Crain; Mr Hutchinson, Town Manager; Mrs Banks, Assistant to the Town Manager; Mr Cohen, Town Counsel, Mrs McCurdy, Executive Clerk, were present Mr Hutchinson introduced two new firefighters, Arthur Raithel of New Fire- Chelsea and Peter Torode of Acton, who have completed their probation- fighters ary program at the Firefighter Academy Chief Bergeron presented them with Fire Department badges and said that they will be sworn in this week. He added that they have Associate degrees in fire science and are registered EMTs The Board congratulated both and wished them success as new employees of the town Chairman Battin opened the hearing on the petition of the Boston Bos Edsn Edison Company to install underground conduit on North Street, south Conduit- of Burlington Street Notines of the hearing had been sent to abut- North St ters and filed with the Public Works Department A report from Mr Warren Empey, Acting DPW Director, recommended approval of the request Ms Carol Clinton, Boston Edison Company representative, informed the Board that approval is requested for the installation of 14 feet of conduit to service a new home at 54 North Street No one appearing in favor or in opposition, Chairman Battin de- clared the hearing closed Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to grant permission to the Boston Edison Company for the installation of underground conduit at the following location. North Street, northeasterly, approximately 2150 ft south of Burlington Street a distance of about 14 feet of conduit Chairman Battin opened the hearing on the petition of the New England Telephone Company to install underground conduit on Massachusetts Avenue, Marrett Road and Forbes Road Notices of the hearing had been sent to N E T &T abutters and filed with the Public Works Department A report from Mr Conduit- Warren Empey, Acting DPW Director, recommended approval of the request Mass Ave Mr Roland Pinault, N E T &T Co representative, informed the Marrett Rd Board that the proposed work is necessary to provide additional ser- Forbes Rd vice to new office buildings being constructed on Forbes Road, and to conform to National Historic Park underground requirements No one appearing in favor or in opposition, Chairman Battin de- clared the hearing closed Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted 4-0, Mr Crain abstaining, to grant permission to the New England Telephone Company 111 for the installation of underground conduit at the following location. 369' Selectmen's Meeting - 2 - November 6, 1978 Old Massachusetts Avenue. on the northerly tide, from exist- ing manhole 54/202 located approximately 545- feet north- easterly froT Marrett Road, running westerly 60- feet, thence southerly 90- feet to p operty of Minute Man National Historic Park, approximately 151- feet of conduit; PP Y Marrett Road on the northeasterly side, from property of Minute Man National Historic Park, located approximately 3n- feet west of Massachusetts Avenue, easterly approx 29- feet to new manhole 54/200, thence easterly approx 727- feet to new manhole 54/199, thence southerly to the norrhwesterly corner of Forbes Road, thence easterly avrox 204- feet to existing pole 193/125, approximately 1005-+ft of conduit; also on the northeasterly side, approx 330- ft west of Massachusetts Avenue, one (1) mahole 54/200, and on the northeasterly side, approximately 75- feet west of Forbes Road, one (1) manhole 54/199 Forbes Road on the westerly side, from Massachusetts Avenue, southerly approximately 40- feet to existing Telephone Company conduits The Board voted to approve the following agenda items Resignation Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to accept Town Celeb with regret the resignation of Richard F Perry as a member of Committee the Town Celebrations Committee Auctioneer Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign an Auctioneer's license for Roger Neal Seltzer, 17 Blake Road The question was raised as to whether non-profit organiza- tions, such as P T.A. groups and churches, might be able to conduct auctions without the services of a town-licensed Auctioneer Mr Cohen agreed to review the statute and advise the Board Liquor Lic Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign a W.R Grace 1-Day liquor license for W R. Grace Company employees to have a retirement party on November 30, 1978 Abatement Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to abate a Water Bill water bill of $11 25 for the occupant of 11 Round Hill Road because of a billing error Cert of Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve Incorp the following locations for Certificates of Incorporation. Eastern Business Education Association Inc , 35 Balfour Street; Indian Medical Association of New England, Inc , 4 Maureen Road Minutes Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the minutes of the Selectmen's open meeting of September 25, 1978 and the executive session of October 11, 1978 370 Selectmen's Meeting - 3 - November 6, 1978 The Board discussed the possibility of a State subsidy for MBTA META Passes passes for State employees Chairman Battin agreed to inform Repre- State Empl sentative Cole that if and when the proposal is discussed, he should be guided by the monetary impact on the town Chairman Battin requested the Selectmen to submit a brief sum- Sel.Annual mary, by November 27, of the activities of his/her assignments during Report 1978 for inclusion in the Selectmen's Report section of the Annual Report Chairman Battin will then write the final report The Board agreed Chairman Battin reported on a meeting she had attended on Minuteman November 1 at the Minuteman Regional School to discuss a proposed School second access from the school to relieve the existing traffic Access problem Present were representatives of the Minuteman School, the Town of Lincoln, National Park Service, Mass DPW/Central Transportation Planning Staff and the Mass Department of Public Works Representatives of Lexington were Chairman Battin, Jerry Martin, Assistant Town Engineer; Sally Castleman, Transportation Advisory Committee; Robert Jackson, Minuteman School District Committee Chairman Battin said that several alternatives were discussed One would be to construct an access road from the school through a section of Minuteman National Park land to Route 2A; 530 feet at a cost of approximately $45,000 This would mean obtaining approval of the Minuteman Park Service and they seem to be quite adamant that they do not want the highway The other possibility would be to go from the school parking lot to Mill Street in Lincoln. This would cost approximately $200,000 because of ledge; Lincoln is concerned because it would cost them money Regardless of where the other access is, Route 2A will have to be widened down to Route 128, and it would be done within the existing right-of-way with no land takings in Lexington All that Lexington would be required to do is to design the widening; Mr Martin feels that it could be done in-house We did not commit Lexington Safety is an overriding factor and when the traffic light was discussed, we were asked if we would be willing to try a trip-light because traffic becomes backed up to Route 128 We are exploring which are the best solu- tions but before we give them any material, Jerry Martin will come to the Board with the whole package Lincoln will get data from their files and we will get together again to see what else is needed Mrs Battin pointed out that no one has done a detailed engineering analysis of what the problem is, what the peak times are, and what's causing the problems Mr Hutchinson commented that these problems were pointed out when the school was proposed Mr Hutchinson reported on the smoke detection program Twenty Smoke illegal connections have been found, most of which are roof leaders Detection and the owners are being notified to correct the violations We Program remain hopeful that we will find one of the major contributing fact- ors causing problems in the Saddle Club area and we will report back to the Board 3 `11 Selectmen's Meeting - 5 - November 6, 1978 Chapter 90 Mr Hutchinson informed the Board that the problems with the Hancock St Chapter 90 Hancock Street project appear to be resolved He has been dealing with the State DPW and he understands that the project will go out for rebidding The reason for this is that after the previous contract at $120,000 had been awarded, it was found that additional drainage calculations were necessary to go with the contract (which was designed by the State) and these amounted to $120,000 It was felt that this cost was excessive and it was requested that the job go back out for bid In the interim, the contractor had incurred minor administrative costs of about $3,000, and these have to be paid The project will go out for rebid and then construction will start in the spring. Mr Hutchinson agreed to furnish all pertinent information to be published in the newspaper for the benefit of all involved citizens Express Bus Mr Hutchinson requested authorization of the Board to Service execute a contract with the Vocell Bus Company for one year, retroactive to October 13, 1978. We have a contract with the MBTA which allows the town as an agent of the MBTA to run ex- press bus service to Boston This give us the authorization to execute an additional agreement with the Vocell Bus Company to use the rights-of-way being granted to the town The MBTA does not want to grant permanent rights to the town and we do not want them until we have had a chance to assess the results. Mrs Banks has been working with the Transportation Advisory Company on ways of monitoring the service more closely and it is our hope that if the service continues to upgrade itself by greater participation, we might be able to enter into multi- year agreements, after receiving the appropriate MBTA approval Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to author- ize the Town Manager to execute a contract with the Vocell Bus Company, Cambridge, to provide express bus service between Lexington and Boston during the hours of 6 00-9 00 a.m and 4:00-6 00 p.m along routes mutually agreed upon with the Town Manager's office MAPC 208 Mrs Banks discussed the MAPC 208 Areawide Waste Treatment Waste Management Plan. In response to the Board's comments to MAPC in Treatment September, MAPC has corrected factual errors in the report and Plan has published an addendum We had no real problems with the recommendations in the report, which are very broad and general, and Mr. Martin and Mrs Frick recommend that the Board endorse the plan Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to endorse the MAPC 208 Areawide Waste Treatment Management Plan, and to direct Mrs Angela Frick, Lexington's MAPC representative, to vote to support the motion to be presented at the next MAPC meet- ing to approve the MAPC 208 Areawide Waste Treatment Management Plan and Addendum. 3 72 Selectmen's Meeting - 5 - November 6, 1978 Mr Hutchinson informed the Board that he is working with DPW to Sewer develop a formula for a sewer use charge, and this would be designed Water around a high-user system. They are also trying to address the issue Charges of revising the water rates by having a formula which would allow for modest increase in residential rates but, at the same time, allow for a substantial increase for high volume users Charges in surrounding towns will be checked before proposals are subni1ted to the Selectmen Mr Hutchinson discussed recyclifig an71, because the program does Recycling not appear to be generating the necessary revenue, he recommended con- tinuing it for a short period of time and then terminating it, subject to Town Counsel's approval The cost of curbside pickup is $48,000 and we can expect to realize approximately $12,000 if participation continues at the present level A report has been filed with the Board that it is not cost effective An article will be inserted in the warrant for trash collection including recycling The Board agreed to accept the recommendations of the Town Meeting TMMA - Members Association Subcommittee for changes in the 1979 warrant format, 1979 Warrant as outlined in the minutes of October 30, 1978 A letter is to be sent to Mrs Wood, TMMA Chairman, thanking her and her committee for the thoughtful attention given to improving the warrant The Board agreed to meet on Monday and Wednesday evenings during Selectmen's the month of December The goal setting proposed process will be Meetings discussed on November 27 and December 4 meetings Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted 4 - 0 by roll Executive call vote to go into Executive Session, with no intention of resum- Session ing the open meeting, for the purpose of discussing strategy with respect to litigation and, real estate negotiations and collective bargaining After discussion, it was voted to go out of Executive Session Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn at 1055pm A true record, Attest (V.4444-.1 . //!C 61.4.41,::70,0 Executive Clerk, Selectmen 1