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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1971-10-26-BOS-min 9i SELECTMEN'S MEETING October 26, 1971 A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Select- men's Room, Town Office Building, on Tuesday evening, October 26, 1971, at 7 30 p.m. Chairman Cataldo, Messrs. Kenney, Bailey and Buse, ind Mrs. Riff in; Mr. Legro, Town Counsel; Mr O'Connell, Town Manager, Mr McSweeney, Town Engineer and Acting Superintendent of Public Works; Mrs McCurdy, Executive Clerk, were present. At the request of the Town Clerk, two jurors were drawn as follows Jurors Elliot J. Feiner 9 Flintlock Road Frank J. Sanderson 5 Meadowbrook Avenue Mr O'Connell informed the Board that we have received the new regulations governing the determination of rates of payment to be used Ambulance by all governmental units and carriers under the Workmen' s Compensation Rates Act for all ambulance services provided publicly-aided patients and industrial accident patients, effective on and after October I, 1971 . The maximum compensation fee is $35 and we have no problem as our ambu- lance charge is far below that. Mr. O'Connell informed the Board that our sanitary landfill opera- Landfill tion was recently inspected by the State and after there is an opportunity to review the results of their report with Mr Heustis and Mr. McSweeney, he will come back to the Board. Mr. O'Connell informed the Board that he had received a memo today from the Department of Community Affairs to local Boards of Health, calling attention to House Bill 5693 which has passed the House and is House now before the Senate. If passed, it would require that a search war- Bill 5693 rant be obtained for inspection of any premises under the State Board of Sanitary Code The Department of Community Affairs is desirous of Health In- getting the reactions of municipal boards if it is a satisfactory thing spection There is a penalty of $200 for any official who makes an inspection without a search warrant After discussion, the Board agreed to take a position opposing the bill . Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to send a tele- gram to Senator MacKenzie that the Board strongly opposes House Bill 5693. Chairman Cataldo read a request from Mr. William R Page, Chair- Harrington man of the Harrington Seedling Forest Committee, to meet with the Seedling Board to review and discuss plans for 1972 and long range plans on Forest locations and types of plantings The Board agreed to schedule a meeting . 97 Chairman Cataldo read a letter from Attorney Francis W.K. Smith sub- mitting a photocopy of the plan on record of the Middlesex South District Registry of Deeds showing lot 462 Banks Avenue and, also, a photocopy of Tarbox the deed to Mr Tarbox. 462 Banks Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was unanimously voted to in- Avenue sert an Article in the Warrant for the 1972 Annual Town Meeting for the 1972 Art acceptance of the gift to the Town of Lot 462 Banks Avenue from Priscilla E. Tarbox, Executrix of the estate of Lee E. Tarbox. Chairman Cataldo read a letter from Mr Fish of Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc offering W. No 288 as shown on Plan No. I9485K as a gift to the Town; this lot consists of a triangular parcel of land located be- tween Route 2 and Hayden Avenue The only conditions to this gift are BB & N that it be accepted by June 30, 1972 and that any betterment assessments Lot 288 against the parcel be removed prior to the acceptance of the gift. Mr 1972 Art Fish states that it is his understanding that Lot No 288 may be subject to an order for constuction of a sewer on Concord Avenue. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was unanimously voted to in- sert an Article in the Warrant for the 1972 Annual Town Meeting for the acceptance of the gift to the Town of Lot No. 288, off Hayden Avenue, from Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the Adinutes of the open meeting held by the Board of Selectmen on October 18, Minutes 1971. Chairman Cataldo read an invitation from the Massachusetts Leqgue of Cities and Towns to attend the League' s Annual Meeting at Auburn, Massachusetts on November 13, 1971 . Mrs. Riff in is to attend. Chairman Cataldo informed the Board that an application for a Common Victualler's license has been received from Mario' s, 1733 Massa- Mario' s chusetts Avenue This is a new restaurant and the Board of Health has Com. Vict inspected and approved the premises. License Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign the Common Victualler's license for Mario's, 1733 Massachusetts Avenue Chairman Cataldo read a letter from the Boston Transportation Plan- ning Review thanking us for the meeting with representatives of the Town Boston which was held on October 5, 1971 . A map was submitted illustrating the Transp major transportation-related problems identified at that meeting and a Planning request for comments Review Upon potion duly made and seconded, it was voted to refer the matter to the Town and the Planning Director for comments. Chairman Cataldo read a letter from Dr Paul F Vinger regarding Traffic traffic conditions at Eldred and Bedford Streets during 7 30 a.m. to Bedford & 9 00 a.m. and recommending that a patrolman or a traffic signal would Eldred alleviate the problem Streets 98 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to refer the letter to the Traffic Committee for a report. Chairman CataIdo read a letter from Mrs Pauline Spagnolia, 18 Rindge Avenue, regarding a new wall in front of her property. Spagnolia Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to instruct Request the Acting Superintendent of Public Works to inspect the premises and report back to the Board Chairman Cataldo read a request from Attorney Polcari request- ing a deferment of water betterment assessment on Lot 43 Kendall Road owned by Anthony Apollonio, in the amount of $75, Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted under thelpoo- Apollonio visions of Chapter 159 of the Acts of 1950, to extend the time of Water payment of the water betterment assessment, in the amount of $75, Deferment levied against property owned by Anthony and Delfino Apollonio, located on Lot 43 Kendall Road, without interest, until said land or any part thereof is built upon, sold or until the expiration of three years from the date hereof, whichever event occurs first, provided, however that this extension of time shall terminate immediately if the facilities of the water main are used for said land or any part thereof Chairman Cataldo read a letter from Thomas P. Damm, 40 Reed Street, regarding the sidewalk betterment assessment on Lot 10A Vaille Avenue, in the amount of $23 The letter states that during the paving of Vaille Avenue in 1970, I was advised by the town that Sidewalk because my property at 40 Reed Street had only 23 feet frontage on Assessment Vaille Avenue and 75 feet on Reed Street, 1 had no obligation for Mr Damm the betterment As explained to me, the town policy is to assess betterments of this type, streets, sewer, sidewalk, etc where the property fronts on more than one street, islto charge for only the excess frontage on the secondary street over that which the property faces In my case, the Vaille Avenue frontage is greatly exceeded by Reed Street I did not receive any betterment assessment for the paving of Vaille Avenue and this seems to support my understanding of town practices Based on this, I do not feel that the sidewalk-.charge is applicable Mr. Kenney Mr McSweeney was asked to review the policy Mr Bailey We must see a plan before we can discuss this and make a decision. The Board agreed to request the Town Engineer for a plan of the area involved and his recommendations regarding Mr. Damm' s request Chairman Cataldo informed the Board that a letter has been re- Housing ceived from George Woron, Counsel for the Housing Authority, submit- Authority ting a copy of the Plan of Land in Lexington proposed to be conveyed Deed to from the Town of Lexington Housing Authority; this Plan has been ap- Land off proved by the Lexington Planning Board on October 18, 1971 . Mr Woron Waltham hopes this will be sufficient to permit them to proceed with the convey- Street ancingof the land 99 111 Chairman Cataldo to Mr McSweeney Is the plan, as submitted, the same land we agreed to convey? Mr McSweeney Yes, it is the same piece that we discussed on the Architect's plan with Mr. Scanlon Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to request Town Counsel to draw the deed for the plan submitted by the Lexington Housing Authority for the conveyance of land to the Lexington Housing Authority from the Town of Lexington. Assistant District Attorney Foster Furcolo, Drug Counselors Paul Suslowitz and' Robert Minick of Project PREP met with the Board Members of the Lexington Drug Committee and Mr McManus, Drug Counselor were also present Chairman Cataldo The Board is interested in hearing about your drug program Mr Furcolo Project PREP began a little over a year ago out of District Attorney Droney's office, it is a program in his office and he decided to have a drug program at the Middlesex County Hospital . There is no affiliation and no treatment of a medical nature; it is located there because the facility is there and we put the thing together since there are considerable experts in drug matters there. I am a layman but I am connected with the drug program and the staff is comprised of back- ground people in narcotics; two people are top people in the State Police narcotic program, two were with the F.B.I , one with the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, two lawyers connected with law enforcement or defense in drug addiction cases. Then we have Guidance Counselors with psycholo- Project gical backgrounds, one was a Drug Counselor in the Wayland area and was PREP the Massachusetts teacher of the year In addition to his education, he had an athletic background Another was a teacher and is at Brandies There is a woman in Nursing School and a Guidance Counselor in a college Another had nine years at an elementary school and worked with underprivileged children and another was a psychiatric aide at Tri-City Mental Hospital We felt if we put this group together, we would have a group of counselors of all shapes and sizes We embarked on a series of programs and went into schools with programs. One we just started of interest tonight; some months ago, we felt it would be helpful to send our people into the community to try to be helpful . The first was Marlborough, a joint venture between Marlborough and PREP; two of our counselors went into Marlborough and reviewed whatever it was to have facilities for young people We were given a copy by the authorities and recommended specific steps on how Marlborough might make better use of facilities or new steps to be taken. We spent time there in schools and hospitals and talked with people. We were aware that some communities had nothing and some were sophisticated and had a great many programs. All kinds can be set up When in Marlborough, they did an excellent job and after they completed the job they made an oral presentation to the "powers that be" and a written report of 50 pages in length, giving specifics. They don't go into communities to criticize. You have people who work hard and long and do en excel- ' lent job and the basic purpose is to be helpful When concluded, the 100 Mayor gave an excellent recommendation Paul Andrews of the State De- partment of Education reviewed their work and gave a very high 111 recommendation At a point in time, he will give a recommendation to any community becausehe thinks it helpful to do this kind of thing We think it might be helpful to have someone from the outside; it is the value of having an objective of evaluating whatever facilities there may be It originally started out that we might be helpful to communities without cost but we are a government agency and because of the curtailment of our staff, we are not in a position to say we have the people and will send them in We have to say we would have to do this as a joint venture As far as the PREP staff, the com- munity doesn't have to pay. Our staff is cut, so the way we operate is we have available to us people trained by us or act as consultants to us In Malden, we undertook a survey there and they provided us with a place for the counselor to hang his hat and our people super- vise and they bring in two or three to work under their supervision and Malden pays these people and our people are not being paid by Malden It would be beyond our capabilities but by working as a joint venture, we find we are able to do this. The best way to get into a venture of this sort, if Lexington is interested, the best way to approach it would be for our people to make a survey of two areas and it would not cost anything but the Town Fathers opening up the doors and then we are in condition to come back in 6 to 10 weeks and say it would cost so much. We didn't do that in Marlborough; we gave them our guestimate and it took two days to make the survey. That is as 1 view it Bob Minick and Paul Suslowitz did the survey in Marl- ' borough_anilthey supervise the communities into which we go. Chairman Cataldo Are you telling us, Governor, you will assign a couple of your people to the Town as long as your consultants are working Mr Furcolo Our two people have charge in Malden; Malden pays 2 or 3 people - these two and two or three others outside. Chairman Cataldo What is your schedule? Mr Furcolo In Marlborough, they spent a great deal of time. In Malden, we worked closely with the counselor of Tri-City and we were familiar with what the situation might be. We gave them an estimate that it would take 4, 5 or 6 weeks; Marlborough went 12 weeks. We talked with three towns and gave a guestimate of about 7 weeks, now, we find when talking with them, we think it will be 7 weeks and about $2,000. We felt it would be a better approach to go in with- out a charge to the community and give a guestimate. Wfith Malden, they were financially limited and the Mayor and the Council passed it. We made arrangements that we would stay within that figure and if it is not a true figure, Project PREP will finish up without further charge. Chairman Cataldo When could you do it? Mr. Furcolo My guess is that we could start in about two weeks. Mr Suslowitz I think the Governor outlined what we did in Marlborough. There are a lot of things hidden and in Marlborough we worked very closely with the self-help group and it caused the City lot Officials and Police a great deal of concern. We spent a great deal of time improving the public image and felt they had to justify their existence By the time we left Marlborough, they were supporting it by $10,000 a year The Director is a professional . In the schools, we worked closely in developing a program Mr Furcolo It seems to me it is something that could be help- ful to a community. Lets assume a community has everything it needs and we make suggestions. I think it is helpful to the community from the point of view for future funds where the community is asking the state for help. The first question is, are these the right facilities? If you are in a position where an outside survey is made, it is helpful and it is something that should be considered. Chairman Cataldo We do have a Drug Committee. Mr. Furcolo Everything we hear about Lexington is good; you are far ahead and have a sophisticated program in the community and we are delighted when we see something of that kind. We are interested just as much in seeing what is right and good and to straighten things out without making a federal case of it Mr. Kenney I have talked with Mr Minick and gave the background and I am not sure how familiar you are with Lexington. We have Mr McManus, Dr. Ellicott and Mr Mabee of the Drug Committee here Are there any questions? Mr Furcolo In Marlborough they worked fairly closely withLthe school and made suggestions to the school that are being followed up. Dr Ellicott What factors in a Town would determine how exten- sive and how long the survey might be? What things do you look at in a 2-day survey? Mr Suslowitz In a 2-day survey, we are also looking whether we are needed here. We are not coming in for the sake of coming in. A lot of surveys would be a survey of resources and to sit down and talk with people in the school and people in the street and see whether there are gaps. Unless we had a broad mandate to include all School Committee people, our effectiveness is limited. If we go to the school and the school is not included, their attitude is, you are intruding From experience, we would like to talk with people and get a sense of where we can help in the school or the street Mr. Furcolo In Malden, they sat down with people in hospitals and would go and talk with the various schools; in addition to that, they talked with people in the court The beginning is more or less in substance to go to people and say what don't you have, and they also get out and get directly with the kids. A teacher from Marl- borough said that two counselors, at the end of 5 or 6 weeks, got the trust and confidence of the kids and they wanted them to go back and get continuity. They would contact anybody or everybody who had con- tact with a drug abuse problem. Mr. Kenney My reason for asking is, we have good groups in town but I think it could be very valuable if some outside people came in free of prejudice. Mr. Furcolo In Malden, they said they would like to have some- 1 body come in from the outside The first thing in Malden was the lack 102 of coordination and very often an outside group coming in can suggest something to pull them together. We think our people are well quail- fied and we do come in from outside. Mr McManus I think it a very interesting idea and it does have a lot of potential ; I am interested to see what is happening. , Mrs Parsons Are you getting to the root of the matter by arresting the pushers? Mr. Furcolo Project PREP doesn't get into that; the District Attorney and the Police do that sort of work. We have a youth center at Project PREP and we don't endanger youth confidence, youngsters don't want to go to counselors. Our guidance is kept completely separate. When our people go into a community, one of the stops is with the police as they are active. That' s a separate thing from what these folks do when they go into a community as they don't want to go into a community and get involved with law enforcement. Chairman Cataldo The pusher is the responsibility of the Police We know of many pushers but are not arresting them yet un- til the laws are tightened up for the police to get into it and make it stick Until this is done, we can't do anything and make it stick. Mr Furcolo We try to get the youngster before he actually is involved. In our youth center, our appeal is to young people before, they get involved. There may be 4 or 5 different steps before they become involved; they are as much interested in looking at the over- all picture as far as the youngsters are concerned. Mr. Kenney When. we hired our counselor, this problem was how closely he would be associated with the police and if he gained the conficence of youngsters, there had to be a sharp delineation. Mr Furcolo- I agree. At our youth center, we didn't ask for identification Mr. Mabee Is the kind of program you are about to offer us flexible? If we didn't have quite as much as Malden, could we have, less if we explained specifically? Mr Furcolo Yes One of the purposes of the 2'day survey is this very point; they check over and find out what you have and if you have certain facilities, there is no use fooling around If you want it tailored, yes Mr Minick I think that could be arranged. If the Drug Com- mittee determined some sort of investigation, we could do that Chairman Cataldo You said they would spend two days and in that time they should work with you and find out what areas you want covered. Mr Furcolo The "powers that be" open doors for them. Mrs Riff in Tell us a little more about background experience, training and costs. Mr Furcolo The cost actually given one town recently came to $300 a week for a consultant; that particular community figured $2, 100 for 7 weeks. Malden estimated either 4 or 5 weeks at $1,000. 103 Mr Paul Suslowitz I have a B.A. in Psychology; I worked for a year at Ricker' s Island Prison and worked running groups for hard core addicts and one year with 6 to 14 year old disturbed children, I worked Harvard basically with case studies on jails and drug addiction and examining both administrative and programmatic as well , and taught in Concord for half a year Mr Bob Minick I worked in community organization. B.A. in Pyschology from Colgate and did graduate work at the University of Oregon on a program on community development; I had a year in VISTA As a consultant to poor people, I developed projects for emergency food and medical care. After that, I came to PREP and received training like other counselors Mr Suslowitz We have a center coordinator and he has worked as a social worker for three years and one girl working at Bridgewater with serious offenders; one worked at Roiabury and one at Boston City at Project Turnoff It is a kind of varied group. Mr Minick We looked for people with some experience Chairman Cataldo Governor, would you please explain the money - would these people be on our payroll? Mr Furcolo The way we did it in Malden, we gave two, three or four names and Marlborough pays them directly, $150, $200 or 'whatever it might be. Chairman Cataldo Our agreement would have to be directly with them as consultants? Mr Furcolo I suppose so. In Malden, he is called the liaison man and of these three names, each one got so much We thought it best that the Town engage these people as consultants and the Town not have anything to do with paying Project PREP. Mrs. Riff in Who went as the liaison person? Mr Minick One went to the Drug Committee and the other man to the school . Mr. Furcolo The Department of Education has a group "Project Decision " They send people into various communities and there is no conflict Project PREP goes in first and after we are through if the community needs help, "Project Decision" comes in In Malden it was originally opposed and said why spend money if we can get it for nothing as the Department of Mental Health does this for nothing. They called the Department of Mental Health and were told they do not do that because of no personnel . They thought it best for Malden to do it Chairman Cataldo Thank you for coming; the Board will discuss it Mr Furcolo, Mr Minick and Mr Suslowitz retired from the meeting. The Board discussed Project PREP with members of the Drug Com- mittee. Mr. Kenney The Governor did suggest a second step Mr McManus, Drug Counselor I think a 2-day survey might be good; many of the things they would look for, the people in Lexington might tell them Maybe they could pull it together 104 Mr. Kenney Maybe their survey time could be cut back. Chairman Cataldo Is it your feeling to have Mr Kenney talk with the Governor to set up the next step? Dr Ellicott With the positive recommendations from the Mayor of Marlborough, was there any material that came to anyone's light that would be detrimental to Marlborough to act against the decision? Mr. Kenney Dr Monderer did talk to the school and got a good recommendation Chairman Cataldo We could talk with the principal of Marlborough High School . Mr Mabee As I see it, you don't make a commitment until they make this study of two days. Chairman Cataldo All they are saying is, do what you want Mr. Mabee The Drug Committee could get together with them and ask how much would it cost to do that Dr Ellicott The criteria is different; Malden and Marlborough had different setups. I would like to know what criteria are they going to look at? Chairman Cataldo As I understand it, they are going to tabulate everything that is going on in this Town, anything in the field of drugs and the coordination of it. I don't think they are going to come up with anything other than to coordinate them. I see nothing wrong for them to go on that step and 1f.you people are interested in looking at what the final report will be if it does not cost us. If I asked them to come in two or three weeks, you fellows see in what direction you want to go. I see it as a consultant coming in and picking brains and putting it together Mr. Mabee Maybe there are some answers we really want and would like to give them some direction. Mr. Kenney I would call and ask them to send one of the fellows over Chairman Cataldo I would like to have them come in cold and look at the total picture without cranking anything in; I would hate to lead them. Mr Mabee All they will do is talk to all the people in Town and hand it all back to you. I am in agreement to go the next step. Chairman Cataldo There is no question as far as setting up ap- pointments with department heads Mr Kenney I will call them and ask them who do you want to talk with, and assist them in setting up appointments and introduce them, and they are on their own When they are ready to report an the survey, the Drug Committee will meet with them and come back to the Board The Board agreed that Mr. Kenney is to contact Project PREP. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to go into Exe- Executive cutive Session for the purpose of discussing, deliberating or voting Session on matters which, if made public, might adversely affect the public security, the financial interests of the Town or the reputation of a person 1t)5 ' After discussion of matters of financial interest to the Town, 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. AA true record, Attest 7lr Ex cutive Clerk, Selectmen I