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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1970-11-02-BOS-minF 2s SELECTMEN'S MEETING November 2, 1970 A regularmeeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Bird Room, Cary MemorialBuilding, on Monday evening, November 2, 1970 at 7 30 p.m Chairman Cataldo, Messrs Mabee, Kenney, Greeley and Bailey were present, Mr Legro, Town Counsel ; Mr O'Connell , Town Manager; and Mrs. McCurdy, Executive Clerk. At the request of the Town Clerk, three jurors were drawn as follows Jurors Allan H Greenleaf 49 Colony Road William Irwin 14 Sherman Street Peter Liepkalns 18 Albemarle Avenue Hearing was declared open upon the petition of Ginn & Company for the installation of two 10,000 gallon underground tanks for storage of fuel oil to be used to heat the building on the premises at 191 Spring Street Ginn & Co A notice of the hearing was inserted in the October 22, 1970 is- Fuel Oil sue of the Lexington Minute-man and sent by certified mail to the Hearing abutters, as listed on the records of the Assessors. Application was approved by Chief Spellman of the Fire Depart- ment Mr Ralph Owens, representing Ginn & Co. was present and said that they plan on putting it in a vault and it is to be used only for heating purposes, it would be No 6 oil No one appearing in favor or in opposition, the Chairman de- clared the hearing closed Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to grant per- mission to Ginn & Company to install two 10,000 gallon underground tanks for the storage of No 6 fuel oil to be used for heating the building on the premises at 191 Spring Street Mr Zehner met with the Board to ask for formal approval of the sellingof bonds on last WednesdayThe First National Bank at the interest rate of 4.20% was low bidder We had 13 bids, which spread Town Office from Boston, New York, Miami and Chicago, there were bids from five Building major Chicago banks as there is interest in our bonds in the mid- i Bond west After we sold at 4.20, Burlington sold an A-rated issue at 6.20, 24-hours later, Wellesley sold at $ 1 M AAA issue at 4.5%. The difference is, we offered a 5-year maturity, Wellesley, 10-years, Burlington, 20-years. It is the short maturity issue that lends fovor in the bond market and the intermediate and long term issues are not bid for Mr Perry and I made a quick calculation and deci- sion to go for a 5-year maturity rather than 10-years, and saved the Town over $100,000 in interest over the life of the bonds We are fortunate that the timing was such as to coincide with the downturn in the interest rates. Our meeting with Moody resulted in a raise from A to A- I rating, we think we should have been AA ri Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to authorize the Treasurer to cause facsimiles of our signatures to be engraved or printed on the following 4.20 percent bonds of the Town dated December I , 1970 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted that the sale of the following 4.20% bonds of the Town dated December I , 1970, $790,000 Municipal Purpose loan of 1970-Within Debt Limit (Nos I to 158) payable December I , $ 160,000 in 1971 to 1973 and $ 155,000 in 1974 and 1975, to the First National Bank of Boston at 100 053999 and accrued interest is hereby confirmed Mr Zehner retired from the meeting Mr Legro informed the Board that he had reviewed the Boston Blacktop Corporation contract for two tennis courts and had signed Tennis Ct it; the insurance certificate has been extended to November 22, Contract 1970 Mr. Legro said that he had reported at the last meeting that the time for recording of the Order of Taking for the Crawford property would expire on Wednesday, October 28, and he had left it that Mr Christoforo would get in touch with me for a closing on Crawford Tuesday afternoon; Mr Christoforo was unable to do that but, to- Order of day, he did. Therefore, I request that the Board rescind the pre- Taking vious order and vote tonight to adopt one. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to rescind the Order of Taking of the Crawford land, with an award of $ 10,000, voted by the Board on September 28, 1970 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adopt the Order of Taking of land owned by George H Crawford on Hayden Ave- nue, with an award of damages in the amount of $ 10,000. Mr O'Connell informed the Board that he has received two re- quests for transfers ( I) from the Board of Health for $ 1 ,000 for additional expenses associated with the Lexington Visiting Nurse Association. Transfers Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to request the Appropriation Committee for a transfer in the amount of $ 1 ,000 from the Reserve Fund to the Board of Health Mr. O'Connell said that the second request is from the Comp- troller for $2521 and does not have to be acted on before November 30; this request is for funds to cover the cost of increase in pay- ment for non-contributory employees in the retirement fund. The Board agreed to hold this request Mr. O'Connell informed the Board that we have awarded the con- tract for No 2 oil to the Lexington Coal & Oil Co Inc , for the Fuel Oil coming season and this means the Town has it all under contract Contract This contract is for 035¢ per gallon above Boston posted tank car price and includes all repairs and maintenance to fire boxes We received a second bid from Mystic Oil of Medford but we placed it 266 locally on the availability of service on a 24-hour basis Our fuel oil is now in good shape as far as having it under contract. We are looking into the possibility of keeping our own tanks as full as possible Boundary Mr O'Connell informed the Board that he had received two re- Perambula- plies to our letter regarding the perambulation of Town boundaries tion Arlington and Belmont have Suggested dates and Mr O'Connell is to contact them tomorrow to confirm them The Chairman read a letter from the Knights of Columbus re- questing permission to extend the hours of operation of club liquor K of C licenses until 2 00 a.m. on New year' s eve. New Year! S Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to grant per- Eve mission to the Lexington Council Knights of Columbus Building Asso- ciation, Inc to extend the hours to 2 00 a.m. on New Year' s eve; subject tot the outcome of the vote on November 3, 1970 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign the application for approval of the Alcoholic Beverages Commission for the following Sheraton Lexington Motor Inn Liquor Lexington Lodge of Elks License Knights of Columbus Berman' s Market Lexington Liquor Mart Vinebrook Bottle Shop The Chairman read a letter from the State DPW requesting the Board of Selectmen to consider the acceptance of approximately 0.6 miles of Woburn Street following completion of reconstruction work Mr Legro said that if you don't lay it out, it creates some problems, he thought it would be preferable to lay it out as a town way and then accept it at Town Meeting Woburn Mr Greeley asked why we can't just accept the State layout? Street Mr Legro said if we are going to do it completely, we should lay it out; we will use the same location but with a different layout. Mr Mabee asked what our responsibility would be if we ac- cepted it? The Chairman said that we would do everything, plowing, sand- ing, etc Mr Greeley asked what happens if we say we don't want it? The Chairman said that the State would have to keep it and maintain it. Mr. Mabee asked what is the advantage to us? The Chairman said that it is new. He felt the Board should have a policy as to whether we take it or not 267 Mr. Greeley felt we should receive some gain for it. The Chairman pointed out that the State reconstructed it before they offered it to us The Board agreed that Mr O'Connell and Mr McSweeney will get together and discuss the matter and report back to the Board The Chairman read a letter from the Massachusetts Port Author- ity regarding new noise abatement procedures for Hanscom Field; a Hanscom copy of the flight pattern was enclosed. Field The Board agreed to forward this to the Minute-man .inn order to inform the citizens of the Town Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to grant the request of the Mystic Valley Gas Company to locate a 2-inch high gas Permit main in Phinney Road and Fairbanks Road to service the home at Fair- banks Road. The Chairman read an invitation from the Town Celebrations Com- mittee for the Board to participate in the exercises on Veterans' Veterans' Day, November II , 1970 Day Members of the Board will attend. The Board agreed to set up an appointment for next Monday to meet with the Planning Board on Worthen Road Worthen Rd. The Chairman informed the Board that a report has been received from the Traffic Committee regarding the traffic situation on Bridge Street, stating that according to the informal traffic counts by residents, approximately 100 cars use the street during the after- noon peak period between 4 00 and 6 00 p.m , thus, the volume of traffic is certainly not so high as to warrant any regulatory meas- ures (2) Secondary streets have a speed limit of 30 mph, which is established statewide and may only be changed with the approval Traffic of the Massachusetts DPW and the Registry of Motor Vehicles and it Bridge is against the policy of these authorities to deviate from the Street standard speed limit The request for a reduction cannot, there- fore, be complied with regardless of its merits (3) The Chief of Police will continue the surveilliance of Bridge Street and the strict enforcement of legal speed limits and other regulations (4) Making a street one-way or restricting turning movements at an intersection requires approval of the Massachusetts DPW It is our understanding that one-way streets may be established when traffic volumes are so high that two-way operation puts a strain on the capacity of a street (which does not apply to Bridge Street) and when an approximately parallel street provides for traffic in the other direction In other words, one-way streets are used to move the traffic more effectively, rather than to impede it The same general policy applies to the restriction of turning movements It is the opinion of the Traffic Committee that neither is warranted 2i8 or likely to receive State approval as regards Bridge Street Should the Selectmen wish to pursue this further and apply for State ap9 prove ! , comprehensive study of traffic volumes and turning movements will be necessary, the same type of study would be needed for a stop sign The Traffic Committee recommends the renovation of replacement of the "Slow Children" sign; and also recommends the installation of a sidewalk in the remainder of Bridge Street Other than possible speeding violations, which can only be controlled by enforcement, the Traffic Committee is not aware of any conditions which make Bridge Street different from other Lexington streets or require special cor- rective treatment. After discussion, the Board agreed to accept the recommendations of the Traffic Committee regarding the replacement of the "Slow Chil- dren" sign and to consider the installation of a sidewalk on Bridge Street at budget time; and to so inform Mrs. Arlan, of 54 Bridge Street Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to instruct the Town Manager to make arrangements for the replacement of the "Slow Children" sign on Bridge Street The Chairman read a memo from the Chairman of the Traffic Commit- tee stating that he had received a telephone call from Mrs. James P. Walsh, 19 Bertwell Road, regarding a traffic caution sign Mrs. Bertwell Walsh has one blind child and another with serious vision impairment Road Sign and she had contacted a Town official about a sign, she had forgotten the official ' s name and had been referred to Mr Zaleski , who was unable to determine which official she had spoken to The Board agreed to request the Traffic Committee to look into the matter of a sign and submit a report The Board agreed not to submit nominees to the Massachusetts Selectmen' s Association and Massachusetts League of Cities and Towns for the outstanding Town Employee and Distinguished Citizen!,S Awards. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to go into Executive Executive Session for the purpose of discussing, deliberating or Session voting on matters which, if made public, might adversely affect the public security, the financial interests of the Town, or the repu- tation of any person After discussion of matters of financial interest to the Town, it was voted to go out of Executive Session and resume the open meeting Parks and The Board discussed the Regulations for Parks and Playgrounds. playgrounds Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to amend the Regulations regulations for Parks and Playgrounds by adding paragraph la 1 269 la It is forbidden to be in or on Sutherland Playground, Willards Woods or Kineen' s Pond, except when skating is permitted, between the hours of one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise, without permission from the Board of Selectmen or the Town Manager. Mr. Greeley abstained from voting Upon motion dulymade and seconded, it was voted to adjourn at PJ 10. 15 p.m. A true record, Attest .4)1 &/„.„,.., ;37 Executive Clerk, Selectme L