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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1978-09-18-BOS-min 340 SELECTMEN'S MEETING September 18, 1978 , A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Selectmen's Meeting Room, Town Office Building, on Monday, September 18, 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 NET&T Co Chairman Battin opened the hearing on the New England Telephone Company Conduit petition to lay conduit on Lincoln Street, east of Marrett Road Lincoln St Notices of the hearing had been sent to the abutters, as listed on the petitioner's plan, and filed with the Public Works Department Mr Daniel Yauckoes, representative of the Telephone Company, said that this petition is to request permission to install the underground conduit to service the Curtin Realty Trust Office Building. A report from Mr Warren Empey, Acting Director of Public Works/Engineer- ing,recommended approval of the petition No one was present in favor or in opposition and Chairman Battin declared the hearing closed Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to grant permission to the New England Telephone Company for the following location Mr Crain ab- stained Lincoln Street on the northerly side, from existing pole 55/43 located. approximately 183'+ east of Marrett Road, westerly, approximately 75'+ to private property #271 Lincoln Street; approximately 75'+ of conduit. NET&T Co Chairman Battin opened the hearing on the New England Telephone Campany Conduit/ petition to lay conduit on Massachusetts Avenue and to install one manhole Pedestal and one pedestal terminal on the easterly side of Hastings Road Mass. Ave Notices of the hearing had been sent to the abutters, as listed on the Hastings Rd. petitioner's plan, and filed with the Public Works Department Mr Daniel Yauckoes, representative of the Telephone Company said that this a rather large conduit request to rehabilitate the Massachusetts Avenue/ Cedar Street area and it is designed to improve the service Chairman Battin read a report from Mr Coscia, Acting Director of Public Works/Engineering, recommending that the petition be approved All excava- tions near the tree roots shall be done by hand-digging and the pedestal terminal shall be landscaped to the satisfaction of the Lexington Tree Warden. A letter from the Chairman of the Historic Districts Commission stated that the Commission had no objection to anything done below ground However, we do oppose the erection of a pedestal terminal in Hastings Park as the Tele- phone Company well knows by a Notice of Determination dated April 12, 1978 disapproving their application If it is their position that the pedestal terminal is not in Hastings Park, we disagree We consider that the Park includes the entire area up to the paved road used by motor vehicles Any other interpretation would make a mockery of a statute designed to protect the beauty of the park We, therefore, recommend that the petition be dis- approved. , 341 Selectmen's Meeting - 2 - September 18, 1978 Mr Coscia was present and informed the Board that the plan shows the layout line and the Historic District's line as one and the same However, there is a distance of 12 feet from the edge of the pavement to the H D line and we own it as a public way; therefore, there is no jurisdiction of the Historic Districts Commission The proposed pedestal size is 6 feet instead of the one shown on the plan as being 5 feet high At this point in time, he only opposed the height of the pedestal Mr Louis Visco, 2118 Massachusetts Avenue, Mr James Sullivan, 14 Hastings Road and Steven Sitzman, 6 Hastings Road, were present as abutters and asked for more information from the Telephone Company on the location of the pedestal terminal and the effect on their property. The Board agreed that more information should be presented by the Telephone Company on the location and size of the pedestal terminal. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to table the New England Telephone Company petition to lay conduit and install a pedestal terminal in the Massachusetts Avenue/Hastings Road area Mr Crain did not take part in the discussion and abstained from voting The Board voted to approve a request for a bake sale and a block party Permits Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to grant permission to the Pilgrim Church for a bake sale on the Visitors' Center grounds on October 5 from 10 00 a.m to 2 00 p.m Also, to grant permission for a block party on Clyde Place on September 30 from 2 00 p.m. to 7 00 p.m Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the minutes Minutes of the Selectmen's meetings held on July 31, 1978, August 21, 1978, and the executive session of August 28, 1978 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to proclaim the week Prodla- of October 2 through October 7, 1978 as United Way Week mation Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign Contract Contract #79-2-E, awarded on September 11, 1978 to Starrett Paving Corporation, #79-2-E Marlboro, for street resurfacing in the amount of $55,786.25 subject Street to approval of Town Counsel as to form. Resur- Mr Hutchinson recommended that the Board award the contract for a facing fire truck to the second lowest bidder, Continental Fire Truck of Hopkinton, Mass which includes a trade-in vehicle The lowest bidder, Maynard Fire Fire Apparatus did not meet the specifications Truck Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to award the contract for a fire truck to Continental Fire Truck of Hopkinton, Mass Upon Mr Hutchinson's recommendation, the Board voted to send a letter MAPC 208 to the Executive Director of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council concern- Water ing a review of the draft copy of the 208 Area-wide Water Quality Plan and Quality to include specific comments from town boards and staff Generally, the town agrees with the recommendations and in a number of cases has already implemented them, including the proposed model Sewer Use Law now effective in Lexington; a number of other recommendations will be implemented in the near future Some areas, valuable to Lexington, are not addressed, such as 342 Selectmen's Meeting - 3 - September 18, 1978 no reference to the Shawsheen and Mystic River Watersheds The Town could have a substantial impact on these and they should be reviewed to obtain a more comprehensive review of drainage in Lexington There is incorrect information in the report stating that the Lexington landfill is located on the Munroe Brook and is one of the two primary pollution sources to the brook There is no landfill on the Munroe Brook. Also, the cost data used appears to be out-of-date, based on our cost estimates Sewer Ext Mr Hutchinson recommended that the Board approve the requests of Mr Colangelo & Colangelo and Mr Gompers to extend sewers to service property that they Gompers own on Hartwell Avenue Sewer lines would be in the public way and it would be necessary for the town to put them in as part of the overall sewer program The advantage that we would gain is that we do not have to expend that money to put in sewer lines for the developers These lines should be authorized as they pose no technical problems and they must meet the requirements of the Board of Selectmen's sewer Policy DPW is somewhat concerned abut this process but Fred Bailey has pointed out that the policy was designed to accomodate these types of requests The Colangelo project would require the installation of approximately 600 linear feet of 8" gravity sewer main along the westerly sidelines of Hartwell Avenue from lot 10 on Assessors' Map 74 to the existing Sewer near the common boundary line between lots 8A and 9 on Hartwell Avenue. The Gompers project would require the installation of approximately 700 linear feet of sewer force main along the westerly shoulder of Hartwell Avenue from a proposed privately owned and maintained sewer pumping station on lot 4, Assessors' Map 80, to the existing sewer at the intersection of Hartwell Place After discussion, the Board agreed to both sewer extensions Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the recommendation of the Town Manager and to grant permission to Mr Michael Colangelo to extend the sewer at 20 Hartwell Avenue, and to Mr David Gompers to extend the sewer line to service Kiln Brook Office Park at Hartwell Avenue, subject to the requirements outlined in the Selectmen's Sewer Policy Mr Hutchinson agreed to make the necessary arrangements with Mr Colangelo and Mr Gompers Hancock Mr Hutchinson informed the Board that the lottery had been held for Condominiums the Hancock School condominiums and nine of the eighteen units are to be for Lexington residents Sump Pump Mr Hutchinson reported that at the present time we have had twelve Violations responses to the notice concerning sump pump violations; 7 have been con- firmed violations, 3 have proposed taking action for correction, and we are dealing with the others In most areas, it was found to be a simple correction Also, dye-testing will be conducted in the Grant Street/Saddle Club area, and the Hayes Lane By-pass is now completed and being reviewed with Whitman and Howard in order to alleviate some of the problem areas, especially in the Center Mr Hutchinson will report back in a month 343 Selectmen's Meeting - 4 - September 18, 1978 Chairman Battin discussed a memorandum from the Lt Governor's Lt Gov.Memo office concerning federal-state-local issues which were reviewed at a Fed/State meeting of the Local Governor's Advisory Committee Several items are of Local interest to Lexington The most serious cuts proposed are for CETA; Massa- Issues chusetts could lose $49 million if all cuts go through The one they were particularly pleased about was the Labor Intensive Public Works, which is for a reconstruction and rehabilitation program. This relates to the re- habilitation and reconstruction of sewers The Lt Governor's office sug- gested that in order to take advantage of this, each town's Public Works Department should make a rough inventory of what they would like to do and in what order Regarding Section 312- HousBRehabilitation Loans, it looks as though the Adminstration-proposed $150 million increase will go through. The Board agreed to notify the Housing Authority to be ready if and when that money comes through Livable Cities (HUD) - the Admin- istration proposed a $20 million program to provide grants to local govern- ments, private non-profits, community organizations for projects which have the potential for revitalizing communities, enhancing community identity or pride and for contributing to expanded cultural opportunties for low and moderate income residents in cities Chairman Battin said that possibly our Senior Center might qualify for this and we should keep informed Urban Parks-the Administration had proposed a $150 million a year 5-year pro- gram for matching grants to rehabilitate parks and recreational facilities in hard-pressed urban areas - they suggested that even suburban areas do an in- ventory on our recreation and open space needs, and it was agreed that the Town Manager is to alert the Recreation Committee of this potential increase On August 16, the President signed four executive orders, one of which es- tablishes a process to study the urban and community impact of agency activities by requiring agencies to prepare impact analyses on major policy initiatives This is similar to an environmental impact statement but would also cover the financial impact of any proposed federal action The Board continued the discussion of the memorandum of recommendations Selectmeris of the Chairman of the Board, the Town Manager, and the Executive Clerk Office concerning the staffing pattern to accomplish the Selectmen's Office re- Reorganize organization Chairman Battin said that we three agree that the Executive Clerk and her assistant should be permanently stationed in the Selectmen's Office The Chairman and the Executive Clerk believe that the assistant should be an employee of the Board, chosen by and responsible to the Exec- utive Clerk, with the approval of the Board However, the Manager has mixed views and feels that the assistant could also be on the Manager's staff and permanently assigned by him to the Selectmen's Office Chairman Battin said that,under this option, she raises the question of divided loyalties Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted that the position of the Chairman of the Board and the Executive Clerk be adopted relative to continuing the procedure that the Executive Clerk's assistant be am em- ployee of the Board, chosen by and responsible to the Executive Clerk with the approval of the Board 344 Selectmen's Meeting - 5 - September 18, 1978 Sel/Mgr's Chairman Battin said that it is unclear- at this time where a third Staff person should be assigned It is the opinion of the Manager and the Chairman that all additional staff needed should be the Manager's staff and be on call of the Executive Clerk as needed to carry out the work of the Selectmen, with the understanding that the Board will decide what priority is to be given its business There are certain things we will say we need to be done by a certain date The Executive Clerk disagrees with this position and feels that a third person should be a permanent part of the Selectmen's staff but available to work on other town busi- ness when not occupied with Selectmen's duties Mr Hutchinson said that we feel that, administratively, we can carry out the duties of this organization by working with staff under the Manager Mrs McCurdy said that the third person should be part of the Selectmen's staff because of the heavy workload and the necessity of fulfilling the Board's requests immediately Mr Busa was in favor of the third position being assigned to the Selectmen's Office Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted 4-1 to approve the recommendation of the Chairman of the Board and the Town Manager that all additional staff is to be the Manager's staff and be on call of the Executive Clerk, as needed, to carry out the work of the Select- men, with the understanding that the Board will decide what priority is to be given its business Mr Busa voted in the negative The Board agreed to assess the matter in two months, or earlier if the situation warrants discussion Executive Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted 5-0 to go into Session Executive Session, with no intention of resuming the open meeting, for the purpose of discussing strategy with respect to litigation and real estate After discussion, it was voted to go out of Executive Session Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn at 8 55 P M. A true record, Attest J? Eju1I \CCLL4JLj cutive Clerk, Selectmen