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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1971-03-22-BOS-min 431 SELECTMEN'S MEETING March 22, 1971 A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Bird Room, Cary Memorial Building, on Monday evening, March 22, 1971, at 7 00 p.m. Mrssrs. Kenney, Bailey and Busa, and Mrs Riff in were present Mr. Legro, Town Counsel ; Mr. O'Connell , Town Manager, Mr McSweeney, Town Engineer and Acting Superintendent of Public Works and Mrs McCurdy, Executive Clerk, were also present At the request of the Town Clerk, two jurors were drawn as follows James F McKinney 14 Rindge Avenue Jurors John J Sweeney 10 Barnes Place The Chairman read a request from the Chairman of the 19th of April parade requesting the appointment of a member of the Board as Parade judge of the float competition. Judge Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to appoint Mr. Busa a judge of the float competition at the 19th of April parade. The Chairman read a request from Ralph J Masciulli , 5297 Wash- ington Street, West Roxbury, to purchase lot No 44 Valleyfield Lot 44 Street to combine with his presently owned lot No. 43 Valleyfield Valley- Street Mr. Masciulli states that he is limited in the size of the field dwelling he would erect due to the narrowness of the lot and would like to use the two lots to erect one dwelling . Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to refer this request to the Planning Board for a recommendation The Chairman read a letter from Louis Tropeano requesting that the sanitary landfill be opened on-half hour earlier, from 7 30 a.m to 7 30 p.m. instead of 8 00 a.m. to 8 00 p.m during the summer. Landfill Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to refer Mr. Hours Tropeano' s request to the Town Manager and the Acting Superintendent of PUblic Works for a recommendation The Chairman read a letter from Town Counsel regarding the Stedman Road acquisition of land abutting the Junior High School site Mr. Legro states that he has requested the Assessors to furnish him Stedman Rd with title references for the properties owned by the estate of Mary Land S Condinho, and Stanley and Dorothy B. Robbins; when these are re- Acquisition ceived, he will promptly request the preparation of the title ab- stracts. The Chairman stated that a copy of the appraisals will be sub- mitted to Mr Legro for his use in connection with the takings I 4 3'2 The Board agreed to write to the Board of Assessors and request that Mr Legro be furnished with the necessary information. The Chairman read a memorandum from Mr. O'Connell regarding Blue Cross-Blue Shield contracts at the increased rates, effective Blue Cross- April I , 1971 Mr. O'Connell recommends that the Board authorize Blue Shield the new contracts at the new rates and, also suggests that during 1971 we examine the question of having open bidding of employees group insurance in 1972. Mr O'Connell further recommends that the Board vote to authorize the Treasurer, as the Town' s agent, to ac- cept employee subscriptions for hospitalization coverage only, life insurance coverage only, or both, as authorized by Chapter 269 of the Acts of 1970 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign the con- tract with Blue Cross-Blue Shield at the increased rates, effective April I, 1971 , family coverage, $15.89 ($31 77); individual coverage $5.94 ($ 11 88) Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to authorize the Treasurer, as the Town' s agent, to accept employee subscriptions for hospitalization coverage only, life insurance coverage only, or both, as authorized by Chapter 269 of the Acts of 1970. The Chairman informed the Board that a letter has been received from the Chairman of the Board of Assessors, in answer to the Board' s Master Tax request, on Article 76-Master Tax Plan. Proposal The Board agreed that this information should be incorporated in its position on Article 76 to petition the General Court. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign the abatement for a sewer house connection to Keith Chase, 9 Summer Abatement Street, in the amount of $81 79; drain repair not chargeable to home owner as the drain was broken at the time of sewer service in- stallation. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign the Auctioneer' s license for the following (renewals) Auctioneer' s License Ralph 0 Cataldo 157 East Street Harry J Myers, Jr. 27 Outlook Drive Elaine S Myers 27 Outlook Drive Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to certify the Cert of character of the following who have applied for a Certificate of Incorp Incorporation John R Cassidy 31 Simonds Rd Philip P Spencer, Jr 1963 Mass Ave "Belmont Police Association, Incorporated" I 433 Herbert Wasserman 5 Rogers Road "Drug Abuse Foundation of Boston, Inc " Charles L Miller 24 Colony Road "Community Assistance Corporation" Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign the Common Victualler license for James H. McManus Ice Cream Village, Harold F Common Pace, Jr , Manager; new owner Vict The Chairman read a letter from the Standard Oil Company stating that a new material, Barex bottle resin, has been successfully de- veloped and is an ideal container for foods, beverages, cosmetics and chemicals and can be safely and easily incinerated The request is made to vigorously resist proposals to ban burnable substitute mate- rials for glass and tins. The Chairman said that we will reply that it is the policy to allow no burning within the Town, although we do operate a sanitary landfill for our solid waste disposal Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the Minutes minutes of the Selectmen' s Meeting held on March 8, 1971 The Chairman read a letter from residents of the Franklin School area requesting a guard rail on Waltham Street from Brookside Avenue to Allen Street and, also, school signs The Chairman said that this request was referred to the Town Engineer and he recommends forwarding it to the Traffic Safety Com- mittee for further study. The estimated cost of a project of this nature would be slightly over $20,000 and, in order to justify an expenditure of this nature, there should be a study of traffic and pedestrian usage. Guard Rail After discussion, the Board agreed to request the Traffic Com- Request mittee to look into the situation, taking into consideration the Franklin traffic pattern and accident locations and, also, talk with the Per- School manent Building Committee as to what future traffic pattern would be, Area through and to, the Junior High School . The Traffic Committee is also requested to discuss with the School Committee the possibility of continuing a temporary walkway through the Junior High site as a possible solution Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the Constable' s bond for Constable Guy D Buse in the amount of $3,000 Bond The Chairman read a letter from William G Robinson, Assistant Republican Whip, requesting the Board to take a position regarding an order he had submitted to the legislature that a special committee County of the House be established to make an investigation and study rela- Courthouse tive to the feasibility of redesigning the Middlesex County Court- house in its present stage of construction in order to reduce the 434 proposed cost; said special committee to consist of seven members of the House of Representatives, and it shall report to the General Court the results of its investigation and its recommendations by filing with the Clerk of the House within sixty days of the adoption of this order. The Board agreed not to take a position and to reply to Mr Robinson and request more information on what he feels will be ac- complished by re-design and a hold-up of the bond issue Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to grant permis- Cary sion to the Masterworks Chorale to hold an auction in Cary Hall on Hall Saturday, May 8, 1971 , from 9 00 a.m. to 5 00 p.m , and for set up on May 7 from 6 30 p.m. to 9 30 p.m. The Chairman informed the Board that a vacancy exists on the Town Celebrations Committee and a recommendation has been received Town Celebra- from the Committee to appoint William P. Brenchick, Jr , 48 Lincoln tions Street Appointment Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to appoint William P Brenchick, Jr a member of the Town Celebrations Committee to fill the unexpired term of James W Broderick to April 30, 1971 . Mr. Legro came into the meeting at 7 25 p.m Mr Legro informed the Board that there was going to be an amend- ment to Article 25 to limit the width of pavement to 22 ft on Spring Spring St Street He had reminded the Town Meeting Member that there was no provision for an appropriation of money for the project and it should be taken into consideration The Chairman said that he was aware of the amendment and had a copy of it. The Chairman said that i3 request has been received from the League of Women Voters for the use of the Bird Room for a meeting with Congressman Morse on May I , 1971 from 2 00 p.m to 4 00 p.m. Cary Hall The Board agreed that the Bird Room is not to be used for public functions but permission would be granted to the League of Woman Voters for the use of Cary Hall_on May 1, 1971 from 2 00 p.m. to 4 00 p.rp. The Chairman informed the Board that a request has been received to issue a proclamation declaring April 8, 1971 as Coffee Day for Proclamation Crippled Children and to urge everyone to support Easter Seal rehabili- tation services Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to proclaim April 8, 1971 as Coffee Day for Crippled Children The Chairman read a letter from Warren K Leslie, 38 Valleyfield Street, regarding the "Upper Story" at the First Baptist Church. Complaint The Board agreed to answer Mr. Leslie and inform him that the situation will be thoroughly looked into after Town Meeting. 435 The Chairman informed the Board that he had met with Mr Giroux on Friday regarding the Central Block and had asked ( I ) if they want to sell the entire lot and, if so, for how much? (2) if they do not sell the entire lot, to what point could we talk about buying some part of it? (3) the possibility of closing Depot Place to vehicular Central traffic and make it a pedestrian mall Block I got a call today from Mr. Giroux that they would meet with the appraisers tomorrow morning. The Chairman asked for, and received, permission to keep talking to owners of the Central Block to see if something could be worked out Also, to ask the Engineering Department to show the 15 ft orig- inally agreed upon and stakes at 25 ft , 50 ft , etc. The Chairman informed the Board that he and Mr. O'Connell had met with Boston Edison Company to discuss going underground on Meriam Boston Street, I got a call yesterday that they would, providing the Town did Edison a little bit of the work, they would go to the first or second pole Meriam St beyond the railroad tracks on Meriam Street The Board discussed Article 77 - to release the restrictions im- posed on lots 166 and 167 on Valleyfield Street owned by Mr. and Mrs Domings Domings The Board agreed that it would not like to see the restrictions Lots removed but if Town Meeting votes to release them, the Board would vote for an additional sum of $3,000 to be paid by the Domings Mr O'Connell informed the Board that the Recreation Committee would like Article 57 - Horse Riding Ring moved for indefinite post- Horse ponement on the basis that they intend to hold public hearings for a Riding location and private funds may be available for the construction of Ring the ring Mr. Legro retired from the meeting. Mr Mabee and Dr. Ellicott met with the Board to discuss the Mystic Valley Mental Health Clinic Mr Mabee said that at the last meeting, he had made a big plea for the Board to support the funds for the Clinic. It was the Board' s feeling that we never should override a responsible Board' s decision and the Board of Health is now recommending the full amount of $17,869,82 We would like to have your support. The Chairman said he could find no justification for going all the way. He had talked briefly with Mr Bailey and had asked for Mystic numbers, to just get into the dollars in the total budget and, on Valley that basis, he couldn't see the justification. Mental Dr. Ellicott explained the change in position of the Board of Health Health. He said that, basically, when the figures were first pre- sented in September, he was not familiar with the hours and cases and it was a shock to see them; the fault was in the way they ex- pressed the hours in the children' s clinic, then the hours for the parents without the children, etc Now, he feels, that actually, the Town is getting a bargain. 436 The Chairman asked if he had talked with the Appropriation Com- mittee? Mr Bailey said they are waiting for our position Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to take the position of supporting the funds for the Mystic Valley Mental Health Clinic in the amount of $17,870. Mr Cataldo and Mr Buse abstained The Chairman informed the Board that we have a problem with the Bedford Relief Sewer. The president suspended the Bacon Davis Act Bedford on the Federal wage rates and we are in the middle Sewer Mr McSweeney said that we want to get approval to go ahead The Chairman said that we shall try to get the matter resolved as soon as possible Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn at 7 55 p.m A true record, Attest 34/j" Executive Clerk, Selectmen I r