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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1967-07-10-BOS-min le SELECTMEN'S MEETING July 10, 1967 A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Selectmen' s Room, Town Office Building, on Monday, July 10, 1967, at 7:30 P.M Chairman Cole, Messrs. Burnell, Cataldo and Kenney were present. Mr. Legro, Town Counsel, Mr. Gray, Executive Assistant, Mr. Carroll, Superintendent of Public Works, and Miss Murray, Executive Clerk, were also present Mr. Legro said he had a contract between the Town and Essex Bituminous Concrete Corp. for street work in Street work the Town, the Board having previously voted to award contract the contract. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign the contract, as prepared and submitted by Mr. Legro, between the Town and Essex Bituminous Concrete Corp. Mr Legro said he had an Order of Taking of the Order of Pihl property. Taking Upon motion duly made and seconddd, it was voted to sign the Order of Taking as prepared and submitted by Mr. Legro. Mr. Gray said he had a letter from Mrs. Royston T. Daley accepting the Town' s offer of $50.00 in settlement of damages for a taking on Lake Street. He said this Claim just came in today. Mr. Legro said Mr. Carroll would give him what in- formation he has on thetitle and he would then follow it up qa quickly as he could and obtain a check from the Twin. Mr. Gray mentioned the fact several claims have been received for cellar damage, etc. , and were referred Insurance to Brewer & Lord. He said he asked Mr. Stolz for a quotation for proper insurance coverage, and he also read a letter on the subject received from Mr. Legro. Upon motion dily made and seconded, it was voted to place increased insurance coverage on property damage and Mr. Gray was instructed to make whatever arrange- ments are necessary with the insurance company. Mr. Gray reported receipt of a letter from Guyton A. Heritage Nicolai, Jr. , 92 Brook Street, Wellesley, regarding the Acres' subdivision, Heritage Acres. subdivision Mr. Carroll said he has talked to Mr. Nicolai and he is concerned about the timing of his subdivision off 99 11 Volunteer Way. He said the Town is in the process of y building the trunk sewer, to which the trunk sewer to which Mr.Nicolai refers, will connect. Mr. Carroll suggested to him theBoard might write something to him stating what the tentative schedule of construction is . He said he would compose the letter for the Chairmants signature. Mr Gray said in May he had a meeting with Tropeano and Nylander in regard to construction in Hartwell Avenue They were to let him know the first of June what the Hartwell schedule is . He said he talked today to Mr Newhouser, Avenue Pr®sident of the Association. They will be going out to construe- bid for the first module in two months . They hope to tion start first construction in October, shooting for June or August in 1968 when they expect to be in. Mr. Carroll said nothing has been done with that sewer, as it was decided before, until the Town gets some information from them He asked if the Board had suffic- ient information to start a survey on the line . Mr. Gray said they would be glad to discuss this with the Board. They have the financing all arranged and will be out to bid in a month and start breaking ground in Sept- ember or October. Mr. Cataldo asked Mr. Gray to follow this up and come back to the Board witha letter. Mr. Gray reported receipt of a letter from the Lexington Motor Inn, received this morning, requesting permission to give room service to registered guests of the motel to serve liquor in the glass only; permission to Motel serve liquor in theout-door terrace area to public guests liquor and on occasion to private parties, and permission to serve service liquor to private parties after the dining room is closed but not later than 1:00 A.M. Mr. Cataldo said he was opposed to the 1 00 A.M. time and he would not want to go much beyond 11:00 P.M. As far as he was concerned, the 1 00 A.M. is definitely out . Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to permit room service to registered guests of the motel; outdoor terrace, providing dining is involved, and service up until twelve midnight for special functions . Mr. Gray read a letter, dated June 23, 1967, from Richard M. Perry, Comptroller, with reference to the data processing center for theTown. Mr. Cataldo said he thought this should be established, and also he thought it would be a tremendous help to the building committee • 1000 c The Chairman suggested that Mr. Gray report to the Board. Mr. Cataldo said the Board should give some con- sideration relative to discussing this with the School Data Department, as the Board had been discussing a Town-wide processing system integrating the school system. center The Chairman suggested a representative from the School Department serve on theadvisory board suggested by Mr. Perry. Mr Gray was requested to check the Town Meeting Members for a representative and also the Appropriation Committee. The Chairman asked the Board to be prepared to make the appointments to an advisory board at the next Select- men' s Meeting. Messrs. Arthur O'Brien, Ralph Overlander and Cleo Beauchamp, of the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company, met with the Board. The Chairman explained that his letter to Mr. Faye Underground is not valid now. wiring Mr. Carroll reported he had gone over the list of streets in that letter with these gentlemen this evening. Mr. Beauchamp said they considered it a privilege to be here this evening to be in a position to explain to the Board the policy regarding underground wiring He said lat February, they received a letter from the Board requesting cost for moving the aerial plant and placing it underground. He said they understood action of the last Town Meeting deleted three streets listed in the letter. He said a great deal of time could be saved by running through, for the Board, what the policy is. First of all, in any new development, the policy sistes ten homes or over. They have, on request, picked this up with four or five homes . Their first choice in placing the plant is underground. Several years ago this was not the case because the company did not have the type of cable that would stand the elements. It does have this cable available to it now. On any extension of new plant, and definitely in any house development, the first choice is to place the plant underground. The company is now ready, on a wholesale basis, in all new developments to place its plant underground. There are many places where they now have existing aerial plants . These are bought and paid for. The company does not like to take the exist- ing plant and place it underground becauseit is, in essence, doubling its investment. He said, in running over the list of streets they found, in most instances, this is the type of thing they run into. ioi He said, discounting new developments, he would take this supposition. They are going into a street the Town is re- constructing. They place buried cable down the street. They now get into the area they do not have the right to tell the property owners to provide the company with a trench for a buried service wire. They end up, many times, where 40% of the home owners say they will provide the company with a trench. This is the problem replacing plant already aerial and putting it underground. He said they can place the buried plant but they have toget permission from the people along the street to build the trench. The Chairman asked if this could be done by State machinery. Mr. Beauchamp replied he did not know if this could be legi1lated as such. They are anxious to put all the plants underground and would be willing to go underground on Philip Road. On Laconia Street, Emerson Road, Lake Street, Valleyfield Street and Kendall Road, they would be happy to place underground if they can get permission from the owners . The Chairman asked if there we more of a problem with electric wires than there is with telephone wires . Mr. Beauchamp replied he was not in a position to speak for the Edison Company. They have technical problems. He IIsaid if the Board' s prime objective is to plant the wires in Lexington, this would have to be a joint Venture. He said there have been several cases recently within the Town of Lexington where they approached the developers to go underground. There is no cost whatever to the developers. In many instances they are finding developer resistance to going underground. Mr. Carroll said he thought this was taken care of in the new subdivision by-law. He said he would favor Philip Road. It is the only one on the list that could be done unless the people in the area on the other streets arewilling to go along. He said unless the Edison Company does the same thing, there will still be poles. He suggested he could talk with Mr.Jones of the Edison Company and Mr. Beauchamp before the next meeting. Mr. Cataldo asked what would happen if the Board did this now and two years from now the Boston Edison Company came along to go underground Mr. Beauchamp said the telephone company would have to give them a set of its plans to avoid the telephone cable being hit. The Chairman said the best approach was for representa- tives of the telephone company to meet with Mr. Carroll and representatives from the BostonEdison Company. Messrs. O'Brien, Beauchamp and Overlander retired at 8:25 P.M. 102 Mr. Carroll reported on sewer bids taken on the Burnham, Emerson, Brown Road area. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to award the contract to R. A. Bucella, Inc. , the low bidder, at $14.9,697. 00, subject to legal review by Town Counsel. Mr. Carroll reported on bids taken for a gang mower tractor. Gang mower Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to accept the low bid of $7,389.20 submitted by Sawtelle Bros . Mr. Carroll reported on bids taken for a hydraulic Hydraulic sewer cleaner. sewer Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted cleaner to accept the low bid of $9,902.00 submitted by Casey & Dupuis Equipment Corp. of Watertown. At 8 30 P.M. , hearing was declared open pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 220 of the Acts of 1965, on petition of the Belmont Country Club to fill lowlands in the Town of Lexington between Concord Avenue and Route Belmont 2 west of Watertown Street. Country Club The Chairman stated notices had been sent to the hearing petitioner, Department of Public Works and also the Natural Resources Department. Mr. S. Horwitz, representing the Belmont Country Club, stated the club had been requested by J. F. White Contracting Company to fill in the swamp which is enclosed by Route 2, Watertown Street and Concord Avenue. It is an eletation of 170. Their proposal would bring that elevation up to 180. He said no one is quite sure whether this applies under the Hatch Act but the club was proceeding as if it is controlled by the Hatch Act. He explainedd the White Company would fill the entire swamp with some of the fill coining off Route 2 and level it off and would maintain all ditches there at the present time. He said the Club has no ob- jection. There is no remuneration between the White Com- pany and Belmont Country Club. He explained this is a pro- cedure that will fill the entire swamp area and the Club has no objection. The Chairman asked if the Club was following the same procedure with the Town of Belmont. Mr. Horwitz replied in the affirmative and said there has been no objection from anyone. Mr. Cataldo asked if Beaver Brook was in this area. Mr. Carroll said he thought it was. Mr. Horwitz said they would keep that open andthe flow of the brook would not be interrupted at all. 103 Mr. Carroll said he thought the Board should impose some restrictions regarding the shaping of the channel of the brook going through there to make sure there is the capacity for any high runoff. Mr. Tryon said this has included a number of rather propaganda statements . Everything that has been said detrimental about this swamp land is true of the Great Meadows . He said he thought the Board should consider in these terms the Great Meadows, and this thirty acres of marshy land; Lexington is paying a considerable amount of money to purchase these spongy surfaces. Mr.John Blackwell asked if there was a representa- tive of the White Company present, and the Chairman replied in the negative. Mr. Horwitz said he was in no way making propaganda. The John F. White Company made this request to the Club as a means of running the job. It is not a necessary step as far as the Club is concerned. He said the spongy area that wiil be left will certainly be better when they finish with it than it is at the present time. Mr. Cataldo inquired about the area of both towns. Mr. Horwitz said he thought the acreage purchased from WCOP was somewhere in the thirty-acre category. All of that is not going to be filled. In talking from memory, the low land in Belmont that is being filled is about 15.2 acres He said they are also filling some of the high land at the present time which does nct come within the jurisdiction of anyone. Mr. Cataldo said there would be about fifteen acres in Lexington and about fifteen acres in Belmont. Mr. Horwitz said the limit of all the land would be thirty acres in Lexington. Mr.Cataldo said the Boa&d should know what Belmont is going to do. Mr. Howwitz said he would ask Belmont to get in touch with Lexington. The, hearing was declared closed and Mr. Horwitz re- tired at 8:50 P.M. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted that the Board had no objection to the proposed filling, subject to the Town of Belmont voging in favor, and also subject to the Suprintendent of Public Workst recommendation regarding the brooks being kept open and the grades being maintained as recommended by him. Mr. Carroll referred to the traffic survey for Hartwell Avenue, approved by Town Meeting. He recommended Traffic awarding it to the company that gave the original estimate, O4 Wilbur Smith and Associates. He said he had no objection to any way the Board wants to handle the problem. Mr Cataldo said other consultants have been con- tacted and in view of the circumstances of a new Super- intendent, the Board shouldinvite them in on the basis they will have to do the job. He said Mr.Legro, these people and Lincoln Laboratory representatives should get together, discuss this, and come back to the Board. The Chairman said the Board might find out what volunteer help they are looking for. Mr. Carroll read a letter from Mr.Herzog on Whipple Hill. He is interested in the damage to the trees and wanted to know if theTown could go in and remove the dead wood and trees. He suggested that maybe the Boy Scouts might want to do something on these lines and Mr. Mazerall told him the Boy Scouts have gone into Willard Woods and he thought they did a good job. Mr. Carroll said the Town Whipple Hill is acquiring these large areas and does not have the people trees to take care of them. Mr. Cataldo said he thought this was a subject on which the Board would have to arrive at a policy. Mr. Carroll said the Town would end up with men just taking care of these areas. The Chairman said the Board is formulating a policy and would let him know; that it is cognizant of the con- ditions. Mrs . Mott-Smith, Messrs . Tryon and Storer met with the Board. Mrs. Mott-Smith stated she was present again to urge the Board of Selectmen to make a firm decision to make Com- missioner Ribbs express the State's intention regarding the intersection of Route 2 and Worthen Road. She said the time has come for the Selectmen to relieve the people of the anxieties. She said it is evident there is very little interest in this project . The Chairman reviewed what the Board had done and again reported on the conference he and Mr. Cataldo had Route 2 - with Commissioner Ribbs. He said since her meeting with Worthen Road the Board, he has tried to contact Commissioner Ribbs, and Mr. Cataldo talked toone of his assistants. The Com- missioner does not want the people of Lexington to have the idea this plan originated with the Public Works Department. He said he was waiting to hear from the Commissioner with further information. Mrs. Mott-Smith asked about the letter she received and the Chairman said this was picked up by one of the 105 PIO men and someone in the Department felt someone should write to her. Mr. Tryon said in this letter Commissioner Hibbs stated there is no further information forthcoming from his department to the Board of Selectmen. Mr. Cataldo said he thought this had been discussed sufficiently and stated the Board was quite specific in its approach, and there was no question in anyone ' s mind that he was to come back with further information on the connection of Route 2. The Chairman said if he could get the information from the Commissioner then the Board could schedule a hearing, and based on the projected counts, the Board would determine whether or not it is going ahead. Mr. John Blackwell met with the Board and said fifteen high school Juniors and Seniors are doing a special movie film project this summer under supervision. Involved in this isla request of the Selectmen and Police Chief for Movie file a permit for public assembly. He said he appeared only project to answer questions if the Selectmen have any He said Mr. Ferguson is interested in having the interior of the bank filmed if it was going to be done in a quiet manner and in no way would the bank name show. The Chairman said he received a letter Friday morn- ning and checked with the Chief of Police and immediately wrote a letter to Rowland Williams and informed him before the Board gave approval of anything of this type, that they have a talk with the Chief of Police and the Board would only approve what he recommended. This afternoon, without taking this advice, they proceeded with the bank holdup. Mr. Blackwell said they assembled at the bank and briefly talked to the bank. The Chairman said they were meeting with the Chief of Police tomorrow at two o'clock, and the Boardwould reach a decision depending on theChief' s recommendations. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to go into Executive Session for the purpose of discussing, deliberating or voting on matters which, if made public, might adversely affect the public security, the financial Executive interest of the Town, or the reputation of any person. Session Following interview with an applicant for a position, awarding of damages with Mr. Carroll, and departmental items brought up by Mr. Carroll, it was voted to resume the open meeting. 1l)6 Uesonlmtnesicc$aewupedto grant permission mystic valley uasomany , Gas Main to locate a 2-inch high pressure welded steel gas main in Phinney Road, subject to Mr. Carroll's approval. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted Cert. of to certify the character of Katharine M. Davis, 18 Inc. Boulder Road, who has applied to the Secretary of the Commonwealth for a Certificate of Incorporation. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it waavoted to grant the following licenses: I & J Contracting Co. Inc. , d.b.a James H. McManus, Lic enses Richard Bazarian, d.b.a. Wardrobe' s Phan acy, - Common Victuallers . James Martin, Auctioneer; Elaine S. Myers, Auctioneer. Upon motion duly made and seconded,it was voted to authorize the Selectmen to sign Liquor Purchase I, D. I.D. Cards cards for Barbara J. White, 81 Woburn Street, and Maria Therese Diosy, I Oakland Street, satisfactory evidence of birth date having been received. Sidewalk Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign an order for the construction of bituminous con- crete sidewalk on the westerly side of Vine Brook Road 111 at No. 9. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted Street Order to sign an order for the construction of Laconia Street. The Chairman asked if the Board wanted to reconsider Mr. Wenham' s application for the position of Assistant Superintendent of Public Works; Mr. Wenham having origi- nally refused the position. , ASS ' t.Sup't Mr. Cataldo said Mr. Wenham told him he did not Public Works realize the opportunities that are here, that the challenge was here, that a better Public Works operation is here. The Chairman said an application has been received from Mr. Coscia. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to offer Mr. Thomas B. Wenham the position of Assistant Superintendent of Public Works, underthe same conditions as outlined to him previously. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted Appointment to appoint Mrs. Marguerite McCausland, Executive Clerk to the Board of Selectmen effective Monday, July 17, 1967. 1 101" Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to appoint Mrs. Dorothy Ryder Senior Clerk in the Appointmex Selectmen' s office, effective Monday, July 17, 1967. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the minutes of the Selectmen' s Meeting held Minutes on June 26, 1967 . Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn at 11:55 P.M. A true record, Attest: Executive Clerk, Selectmen t.A / . II