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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1978-10-03-BOS-min 353 SELECTMEN'S MEETING OCTOBER 3, 1978 A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Selectmen's Meeting Room, Town Office Building, on Tuesday, October 3, 1978, at 7 30 p m. Chairman Battin, Mr Busa, Mrs Miley, Jr Kent and Mr Crain; Mr Hutchinson, Town Manager; Mrs Banks, Assistant to the Town Manager; Mrs McCurdy, Execu- tive Clerk, were present. Mrs Joyce Hals, Chairman of the Transportation Advisory Committee, Transporta- met with the Board. After discussion, the Board approved the reommenda- tion Adv. tions that (1) A letter is to be sent from the Board of Selectmen to Committee large Lexington business firms urging the participation in employee carpools; (2) Town employees are to be encouraged to arrange carpools; (3) A carpool information center for citizens is to be set up in the Town Office Building; (4) An article in the Minute-man will stress the high cost of driving and urge residents to participate in alternatives Chairman Battin read a recommendation from the Transportation Advi- Appointments sory Committee to expand the committee and appoint four new members Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to appoint the following members of the Transportation Advisory Committee; Margaret Olsen, 3 Brigham Road; Laurence P Chait, 25 Fairlawn Lane; Sally Castleman, 3 Kimball Road; Fred D Rosenberg, 165 Wood Street Mr Louis Zehner, Town Treasurer, met with the Board to request ap- Treasurer proval of borrowing $750,000 in anticipation of taxes He recommended that the bids be awardedto the banks bidding the lowest interest rates Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to borrow $750,000 from the following banks, with notes to be dated October 6, 1978 and maturing on October 31, 1978; $250,000-New England Merchants at 3 32%; $250,000-First National Bank of Boston at 3 38%; $200,000-Bay Bank/ Harvard Trust at 3 45% $25,000-Bay Bank/Middlesex at 3 48%; $25,000- Newton Waltham Bank at 3.48% Chairman Battin read a request from the League of Women Voters for L W V.- a voter registration banner to be strung across Mass Avenue and a Voter table set up in front of the Town Office Building Registration Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to grant permission to the League of Women Voters for a banner and a table to be set up in front of the Town Offices on Saturday, October 7, 1978 Chairman Battin read a letter of resignation from George E Williams Resignation Upon motion duly mae and seconded, it was voted to accept with re- Registrar of gret the resignation of George E Williams (D) as a Registrar of Voters, Voters effective December 31, 1978 The Board agreed to abate a water bill which was liened in error Abatement Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to abate the 111 water bill of Gary P Bucciero, 14 Sylvia Street, in the amount of $6.00 354 Selectmen's Meeting - 2 - October 3, 1978 Minutes Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the minutes of the Selectmen's meeting held on August 14, 1978 Certificate Chairman Battin read requests from Secretary Guzzi for approval of of Incorp addresses for applicants for certificates of incorporation Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve 755 Mass Avenue as a mail drop for Share-a-Home, Share-a-Life, Inc., at the Follen Church. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to table the applica- tion for Eastern Business Education Association Inc at 35 Balfour Street pending further information on the use of the premises Mass Ave / Mr. Hutchinson reported that the town is ready to go forward with the Cedar St installation of curbing along Mass Avenue in the Cedar Street block. Mr Curbing Breslin will cooperate with us in order to resolve the situation; the sidewalk will be narrow and the curbing will keep cars off the sidewalk in front of Breslin's market Mr Crain commented that the shrubs have been cut back and it is very effective; he hoped this will continue to be done in addition to maintaining the sidewalk and the crosswalk Mr Kent agrees Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted that the Town Manager is to proceed with plans for the installation of curbing in the Mass Avenue/ Cedar Street block, subject to review of traffic Conditions in the area with the Traffic Safety Committee Sidewalk Mr Hutchinson requested approval of a cost overrun of $2,772 to Construc- replace defective curbing during the sidewalk project conducted in the tion Center The contract had been awarded to LiDonni Incorporated, Newton- Overrun ville, at $32,790, and we would still be within the appropriation of $49,193. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the recommendation of the Town Manager for payment of $2,772 under Contract #77-2-E, sidewalk construction Chapter 90 Mr. Hutchinson recommended that the Board approve Adams Street from Adams St East Street to the Burlington Town Line as our primary Chapter 90 street, East St with East Street from Lowell Street to the Woburn Town Line as our alternate street On October 10, the State DPW Commissioners are con- ducting the annual highway hearing on a list of projects submitted by various communities He explained that it would not be something that would be geared to restrictive standards and we would be working with the residents in the hope of coming up with a design basis that will accommodate both the state and the residents We would then submit the design to the state Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the recommendation of the Town Manager to submit to the State DPW Com- missioners the following streets for construction under Chapter 90 Adams Street from East Street to the Burlington Town Line, approx- imately 3600 feet, at an estimated cost of $250,000 with an estimated 355 Selectmen's Meeting - 3 - October 3, 1978 town expenditure of $60,000 As an alternate, East Street from Lowell Street to the Woburn Town Line, approximately 800 feet, at an estimated cost of $60,000 The Conservation Commission met with the Board to discuss brook Brook cleaning and recommended that the Public Works Department follow the Cleaning guidelines adopted by the Commission on May 22, 1973 If DPW had work to do on a brook, which could be accomplished under the guidelines, to in- form Conservation of the area involved and then proceed. If DPW antic- ipated major reconstruction or alteration to culverts, etc , then they could either file for a determination of file for a hearing Mr Hutchinson said that we would like to file for a determination in each instance and would then feel more comfortable when we execute the project We will be requesting $15,000 for a minimum maintanance program t and we will identify areas on a project-by-project basis for a determination by Conservation The restraints that would be placed upon the town would be outlined by Conservation He added that the issue of maintenance over private property is one that probably would continue We have no interest in serving private developers as a whole but we do feel there is an obligation to maintain the streams to benefit the town When the drainage study is completed, more information will be available If a complaint is received, it was recommended that a meeting could be arranged for a citizen to discuss a possible resolution of the problem with DPW and the Conservation Commission The Conservation Commission agreed to the process outlined by the Town Manager and retired from the meeting Mr Hutchinson recommended that the Board approve a smoke-testing pro- Sewer gram to be conducted in the Saddle Club Road area. Quotations of $2,000 to Smoke $4,000 have been received and we have $8,000 in the Article The Inflow/Infil- Testing tration study is almost completed and there was one mini-system in the Saddle Club area that had inconclusive results about inflow/infiltration; that mini- system has been ascertained to generate 2 2 million gallons a day of direct inflow, which is about one-third of the total inflow of the total 14 mini- systems Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the recom- mendation of the Town Manager to proceed with the smoke-testing program in the Saddle Club Road area Chairman Battin discussed the fair housing plan According to the Fair memorandum of agreement with Mass Commission Against Discrimination,the Housing Selectmen have the responsibility of a fair housing plan being developed by May This is being carried out by the Housing Planning Committee and they hope to have a preliminary report done by November 1; this would go back to all the committees concerned for review and comment When we talked with the Housing Authority, the Selectmen felt there ought to be some over- all policy regarding land use and development, not only on housing but also 111 commercial and industrial land use We also talked about maintaining the 35(5 Selectmen's Meeting - 4 - October 3, 1978 heterogeneous mix within the town by an active low and moderate income housing program. Mr Busa gave a report on the progress of the Housing Master Plan Com- mittee, which has been divided into subcommittees on (1) finance and federal funding; (2) available land; (3) survey of population and income Mr Busa is on the subcommittee on land and they are looking over the town to make a determination on how it would be feasible to have private builders come in and make houses or apartments available for people of moderate income, similar to the development of Hancock School it was agreed that four units per acre was a determining factor that would push the price range out of the reach of moderate and low income people We are now looking into the possibility of having four per acre and then allow a percentage of a number of units on an acreage basis to be constructed or rented, leased or authority given to the Housing Authority to rent or lease those houses Because of the controversy on low to moderate income housing when subsidized housing was an issue, we are at the discussion stage of looking into rather than 8, 10 or 12 acres to have smaller areas of '2 1/2 to 3 acres, similar to Russell Square or East Village Square, and adding a number of units depending on the acreage Mr Busa added that the subcommittees hope to complete their assign- ments in October and have a policy, plan, or a majority/minority report on what we think would be the best direction to go to create these homes Mr Hutchinson advised the Board to wait until these reports are sub- mitted Chairman Battin said that we would not want to make any policy de- cisions for uses of any land or any building We all still subscribe to the statement of the growth policy of the town and all the boards repre- sented in 1976 that our objectives would be to find ways to encourgage a more heterogeneous mix in the town's population by an active moderate to low income program; that, in essence, is our policy and we will wait for specific policy statements about programs until we get the report from the Housing Planning Committee The Board agreed Mr Hutchinson said that the School Sites Committee had looked at low to moderate income on Hancock School and he was sure the committee is going to look at it again Mr Busa said that he had received information that one or two of the Hancock condominiums were picked up by speculators and are now back on the market He wanted everybody to know that the Board and the town and Mr Sydney and Mr Noyes had made every effort to make them available to people of moderate means and he believed that the majority who did get them were of moderate means but unfortunately the system was challenged. Mr Hutchinson said that we have done everything we can legally within the province of the town Those types of comments can be con- veyed back to Mr Sydney and he can give whatever observations he wants and those who are identified as speculators can be focused upon for violating what is the best interest of the town as a whole Parker Mrs Miley reported that 20 proposals on Parker School had been re- School ceived last Friday and the School Sites Committee will meet to go over them. There are several housing proposals, many of them are condominiums, and not too many on a lower price level. The committee would like the Board to consider what the building should be used for as, in the final analysis, the Selectmen do make the decision to bring to Town Meeting. Oct 16 The Board discussed meeting on Monday, October 16, and voted not to Sel mtg meet on date because of a lack of a quorum 357 Selectmen's Meeting - 5 - October 3, 1978 Chairman Battin informed the Board that quotations had been received on printing the Warrant for the November 7, 1978 State Election Lexington Press, Lexington 9,500 copies of 8-page Warrant-$610,000; 9,500 copies Contract of 12-page Warrant-$880 00 Maran Printing Service, Inc , Arlington, Nov.. 7 9,500 copies of 8-page Warrant-$605 00; 9,500 copies of 12-page Warrant- Warrant $916 00. Chairman Battin said that we have not received the necessary information from the State as to the number of questions to be on the Warrant and therefore we are uncertain as to the number of pages involved Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to award the contract to Lexington Press, Lexington, for printing the Warrant for the November 7, 1978 State Election A preliminary discussion was held on the operating procedures of the Board of Selectmen and it was agreed to continue the discussion at the meeting of October 11 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted 5-0 by roll call vote to go into Executive Session, with no intention of resuming the open meeting, for the purpose of discussing strategy with respect to litigation After discussion, it was voted to go out of Executive Session Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn at 9 50 P.M. A true record, Attest 71 NeLt� Executive Clerk, Selectmen I