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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1976-12-27-BOS-min 299 SELECTMEN'S MEETING December 27, 1976 A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Se- lectmen's Meeting Room, Town Office Building, on Monday, December 27, 1976 at 7 30 p m Chairman Kassler, Mr Bailey, Mr Busa, Mrs Battin and Mrs Miley; Mr Cohen, Town Counsel; Mr McSweeney, Direc- tor of Public Works/Engineering; Mrs McCurdy, Executive Clerk, were present At the request of the Town Clerk, the following jurors were Jurors drawn. Leila A Paone, 15 Emerald Street Maria Balulescu, 5 Dane Road Anita Worthen, 35 Dexter Road Michael Rosa, 11 Brigham Road Lawrence D Ryan, 12 Ross Road Francis X Bellini, 149 Bedford Street William Thomas Crossman, 82 Reed Street Faye Maxwell Burgress, 2 Wallis Court Chairman Kassler requested the Board to sign notices to the Con- Streets - stable to deliver to abutters of the intent of the Board to lay out Constable & streets, discontinuance of two streets, and the date of street hear- Abutters 111/ ings Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign the notices to the Constable to deliver to abutters involved in the vote of the Board of Selectmen on December 13, 1976 of the intent to lay out subdivision and construction streets for acceptance at Town Meeting; discontinuance of Hinchey Road and Wood Street, and notification of street hearings to be held on January 11, 1977 Chairman Kassler read a request to withdraw a petition for joint Poles - ownership of poles on Nickerson Road and Carmel Circle Nickerson Rd - Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to grant the Carmel Circle request of the New England Telephone Company and the Boston Edison Company for a "Leave to Withdraw" the petition dated October 5, 1976 for joint ownership of fourteen poles on Nickerson Road and two poles on Carmel Circle Chairman Kassler read a request from Mr and Mrs Harry F Jones Tree Removal for the Town to remove a dead poplar tree on their property at 26 Brandon Street Brandon Street Mrs Miley said that she had received a telephone call from the Coordinator of the Council on Aging with the information that Mr Mazerall, Tree Warden, had agreed that the tree was a hazard A report from Mr McSweeney recommended that the tree be removed IIIat no cost to the owner because it was a public nuisance r 300 Selectmen's Meeting December 27, 1976 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the request to remove the dead poplar tree at 26 Brandon Street, at no cost to the owners of the property by reason of public nuisance Cushing St Chairman Kassler read a recommendation from Mr McSweeney that Cul-de-sac the cul-de-sac on Cushing Street be placed on Town-owned land Cushing Street is on the list of construction streets for acceptance at Town Meeting Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the recommendation of the Director of Public Works/Engineering that the proposed cul-de-sac be placed on Town-owned land at the end of Cushing Street Peking The Board discussed a letter from the Board of Appeals requesting Gardens the feeling of the Selectmen on the petition of Lexington Enterprises, Inc , d/b/a Peking Gardens, 27 Waltham Street, to expand their restaurant operation Mr Bailey said that restaurants generally tend to bring traffic into parking lots after the bulk of the day's work is done but that side of the street is in bad shape as far as parking is concerned Mr Busa agreed and recommended that the Traffic Safety Committee should conduct a study on the parking meters and to have a more rigid restriction of all-day parkers Mrs Miley asked about the Planning Board group which is study- ing the Center, and if they had taken into consideration the number of banks to be allowed in the Center Mr Paul MacKenzie, Chairman of the Planning Board, was present and said that there is a Committee on Zoning By-Law revisions and a Subcommittee on application of the revisions It is their feeling that they need more time and probably will not make any recommenda- tions for changes to the Zoning By-Laws The committee may ask for money for an in-depth review of the Central District As far as any restriction on parking in CB Districts, this would not be in line with current Zoning By-Law and, until the By-Law is changed, there isn't any restriction to be placed on CB Districts The Board agreed not to take a position on Peking Gardens Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to inform the Board of Appeals that the Board of Selectmen has no recommendation to make on the petition of Peking Gardens to expand their restaurant operation Articles- Mr Joseph Rooney, Chairman of the Lexington Housing Authority, Housing met with the Board to submit two Articles for the Warrant for approval Authority of constructing a housing project for the elderly on 4 4 acres of land located on the southerly side of Woburn Street Mr Rooney explained that the Town owns 51 8 acres and they are looking for 4 4 acres to build a minimum of 48 units Of all the sites considered, this one was selected as it would be close to trans- 301 Selectmen's Meeting December 27, 1976 portation and stores.to es. If the Board approves, we will also go to the Planning Board for approval The Board agreed to reserve space on the Warrant for two Articles for the Housing Authority, and assured Mr Rooney of support for both Articles Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the Minutes minutes of the Selectmen's meeting held on November 29, 1976 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted 5-0 by roll Executive call vote to go into Executive Session for the purpose of discussing Session strategy with respect to land negotiation, and then to resume the open meeting Chairman Kessler read applications for renewal of Common Carrier 1977 Common licenses Carrier Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to grant the Licenses 1977 Common Carrier license to the following Big W Trans, Inc., Ashland, for operating a common carrier for the transportation of passengers for hire by motor vehicle along this route in the Town of Lexington On Route 128 from Waltham City Line to the Burlington Town Line-No Stops Birmingham Bus Service, Milford, for operating a common carrier for the transportation of passengers for hire by motor vehicle along this route in the Town of Lexington On Route 128 from Waltham City Line to the Burlington Town Line-No Stops Chairman Kessler read a report from Mr George A Smith, Direc- Common tor of Public Health, recommending that the application for a 1977 Victualler Common Victualler license from Sesame, 321 Woburn Street, be with- Seseme, Inc held for violation of Health Sanitary Food Laws A sanitary in- spection made of this establishment on December 20, 1976 showed conditions to be unsatisfactory, and failure to correct outstand- ing violations by Seseme may necessitate more stringent action by this department The Board agreed to accept the recommendation of the Director of Public Health that the application for a 1977 Common Victualler license be held in abeyance until the owner has complied with all conditions set forth by the Board of Health Mr Perry, Acting Town Manager, was requested to instruct Mr Smith to inform the owner, or his representative, that Seseme, Inc is not to open on January 1, 1977 until further notification from the Board of Select- men Chairman Kessler read an application from the Battle Green Inn Battle Green 111 for renewal of the Common Victualler and Innholder liquor licenses 1977 License Comm Vict - Innholder Liquor 1102 Selectmen's Meeting December 27, 1976 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to grant the 1977 Common Victualler license to WHH Company, Inc , d/b/a Battle Green Inn, with hours of operation 11 00 a m to 12 00 Midnight- Weekdays; 1 00 p m. to 12 00 Midnight-Sundays Also, to grant the 1977 Innholder All Alcoholic Beverages liquor license to WHH Company, Inc , d/b/a Battle Green Inn, with hours of operation 11 00 a m to 12 00 Midnight-Weekdays; 1 00 p m to 12 00 Midnight- Sundays; As long as the dining room is open but not later than mid- night. Day Care Chairman Kassler read a report from Mr George A Smith, Direc- Centers- tor of Public Health, regarding the letter from the Office of Children, Licensing & dated November 1, 1976, on the subject of day care licensure The Inspections Selectmen had requested recommendations of the Health Director, and the report stated that on November 1, 1974, the Office of Children had taken over the function of the Board of Health concerning licens- ing and inspectional programs Although the Board of Health is in- terested in becoming once again an integral part of the licensure procedure, they are unable to meet the additional mandated staffing requirements involving eight different people to fill various quality level assurance aspects of the program. Considering that we have a total of eighteen day care centers in operation, it would be quite difficult to integrate inspections back into the inspection capabili- ties at this time and on such short notice Mrs Battin recommended that the Board write to Mrs Winifred Friedman asking her assistance as to whether the Office of Children feels that inspections by the State are adequate or if they should be supplemented by Town inspections Articles- Mrs Battin discussed the recommendation of the Massachusetts Coll Bargain.Selectmen's Association and the Massachusetts League of Cities and Local Aid- Towns for consideration of insertion of three Articles in the Warrant State Mand Programs 1 Collective Bargaining that Town Meeting votes to convey to our elected state representatives and senators the de- sire that there be no extension of compulsory and binding arbitration beyond its termination date of June 30, 1977, so that final authority for determining local expenditures be returned to Town Meeting 2 Local Aid be it resolved by Town Meeting that our elected state representatives and senators be urged to support an increase in the amount of local aid funding for fiscal 1978 at least sufficient to cover the increased costs of state mandated programs and inflation 3 State Mandated Programs be it resolved by Town Meeting that our elected state representatives and senators be urged to work against the passage of all legislation im- posing additional costs on local government 303 Selectmen's Meeting December 27, 1976 The Board agreed to endorse the concept of the three recommended Articles, and to invite Lexington's representatives and senators to a joint meeting to discuss their viewpoints and recommendations The Board discussed the upcoming hearing by the Board of Appeals Drummer Boy on the Drummer Boy condominiums Condominiums Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted that a letter be written to the Board of Appeals stating that the Board of Select- men strongly feels that the 20 one-bedroom units should be retained, in accordance with the vote of Town Meeting Also, to inform the Board of Appeals that the Board of Selectmen does not take a position at this time on any other issue connected with Phase 2 of the Drummer Boy condominiums Chairman Kassler read a memo from Mr McSweeney, Director of Drains- Public Works/Engineering, recommending that all bids submitted on Fletcher Ave construction of drainage on Fletcher Avenue be rejected, and that this drain project be included in another contract to be rebid in the spring The recommendation is based on two factors The second low bidder has alleged that the low bidder has an unbalanced bid, and had indicated that he will protest the bid In our opinion, we believe that it is in the Town's best interests to reject all bids rather than go through a review process with the Department of Labor and Industries relative to a protest for a job of this size Secondly, the size of this project is not economically ad- vantageous; this is a small project where overhead items such as site preparation, performance bonds, insurance certificates, and clean-up cannot adequately be spread out over the project and are reflected in the unit bid prices We believe that more advantageous prices could be achieved if this project were combined with another and rebid as one large project Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to accept the recommendation of the Director of Public Works/Engineering to re- ject all bids submitted for Contract #76-19-E for drain construction on Fletcher Avenue, and all bid securities are to be returned to bidders Chairman Kassler read a memo from the Recreation Committee to Recreation Mr Perry, Acting Town Manager, proposing the use of surplus funds Surplus Funds in the Recreation Personal Services Budget by implementation of new programs on a trial basis, such as, tennis lessons, arts and crafts, and cross country skiing A reply to the Recreation Committee from Mr Perry was read, stating that "in August the Board of Selectmen requested that each committee or board cut back on their expenditures and start no new programs for the current fiscal year because of the financial pic- ture of the Town A memo of September 22 indicated that there were no surplus funds in the Recreation Budget Based on this latest 304 Selectmen's Meeting December 27, 1976 memo, it is assumed that surplus funds have been found but it is expected that Recreation will comply with the directive that says surplus funds should not be expended " The Board agreed that surplus funds are not to be expended for new programs in Recreation, and the Recreation Chairman is to be so informed Board of The Board discussed a letter from Mr George P Wadsworth, Chair- Appeals - man of the Board of Appeals, in response to a letter from the Board Setting hrs of Selectmen recommending that the hours of operation not be discussed of operation at hearings regarding applications for a restaurant, as the hours would be set by the Selectmen when a Common Victualler license is granted The Board of Appeals feels that this factor could not possibly be eliminated from consideration and, therefore, submits three possible alternatives 1 The Board of Selectmen could assume the entire responsibility of the granting of permits and victualler licenses, and this might be accomplished by a vote of Town Meeting 2 The Board of Appeals could make the decision as to the hours, which could be the extreme hours of time allowable The Selectmen could then cut down these hours when they grant the victualler's li- cense This is the manner which we understood was in operation and the one we prefer 3 The Selectmen could notify the Board of Appeals in advance of a hearing as to what hours they were going to grant for the vic- tualler's license, if the restaurant was permitted, and the Board of Appeals could decide in view of these hours whether or not the res- taurant permit should be granted Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to reaffirm the policy of the Board of Selectmen regarding the hours of opera- tion of restaurants - that the Board of Appeals could make the decision as to the hours, which could be the extreme hours of time allowable, and the Board of Selectmen could then cut down these hours when they grant the Common Victualler's license The Board agreed to recommend that the Board of Appeals include in the conditions of the permit the following language "subject to any further restrictions with respect to hours of operation as may be imposed in the Common Victualler's license granted by the Board of Selectmen " Council on Mrs Miley discussed the Council on Aging's request for a table Aging- to be set up on the first floor of the Visitors' Center for the con- Visitors' venience of the elderly (The Council's office is on the second Center floor and senior citizens have difficulty climbing the stairs ) Lā€”_ 305 Selectmen's Meeting December 27, 1976 The Chamber of Commerce has informed them that this could not be done Mr Bailey agreed that space should be provided and suggested that an agreement be worked out with the Chamber of Commerce The Board agreed Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn at 9 45 p.m. A true record, Attest h,āœ“ f 27 Executive Clerk, Selectmen I