HomeMy WebLinkAbout1954-01-14-BOS-min 23®
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SELECTMEN'S MEETING ,
Ja .uary 14, 1954
A special meeting of the Board of Selectmen was
held in t TownEngineer's Engineer s Office on Thursday, Janu-
ary14, 1954
at 8:00 P. M. Chairman Reed, Messrs.
Nickerson, Gay, Driscoll and Bateman were present.
The Cleric was also present.
Mr. Robert Jeremiah, Wire Inspector, met with the
Board to discuss his 1954 budgets .
The Chairman mentioned that the Board has never
Wire Insp. arrived at any decision relative to the revision of
fees electrical fees submitted by Mr. Jeremiah.
Mr. Jeremiah stated that Lexington is low compared
to other towns, and two or three towns, within a radius
of four -or five miles, are raising present fees. He
stated that the only people who would be affected are
the new homes with the fee being increased from $2 to
$3, which in his opinion is a very small fee for the
contractors. He said that $3.00 is about average,
although some towns do not charge any fee.
Mr. Nickerson advised against multiplicity of
fees that may be confusing and suggested deferring my
major change until next year.
The Chairman -said that some electrical work in
connection with the Little League Field and the spot
lights for the police officers had permits stamped
"No Charge" by the contractor. He said that if the
work is done by a private contractor a charge should
be made and furthermore, he did not think any con-
tractor has the authority to determine whether or not
a fee is to be made.
Upon motion of Mr. Bateman, seconded by Mr. Gay,
it was voted to approve a fee of $3.00 -for new houses;
fifty cent fees to be increased to $1.00 and $1.00 fees
to be increased to $2.00, effective April 1, 1954.
Mr. Jeremiah referred to the Personal Services
budget and said that when Social Security and With-
holding Taxes have been deducted his pay is $39 plus
a week. He said that he agreed this is a part-time
job, but he does think it is worth more than $39 per
week. He said that occasionally he stays up until
@leven o'clock for 'phone calls, keeping permits and
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sending letters out to contractors. He said he is
not concerned about the time and $2,000 sounds good
but when it is broken down it is a small salary per Wire Insp.
week. He said he has had to make appointments with Personal
people on Sundays and there is a volume of paper Services
work, desk work and telephone work. He is in the
office Tuesdays and Thursdays and some of the time
is wasted because no one comes in to see him. He
has encouraged contractors to call him at hia home
and has requested the telephone company to change
his service from a two-party line to a private line,
which will be an expense to him.
He told the Board that he has to go back dozens
of times when .peQple are not home and can see an im-
provement in the work being done since he took over
the job. He said that even if his salary is not in-
creased, he would still like to continue as Inspector
and will do the work to the best of his ability.
Mr. Jeremiah said that he goes out on inspec-
tions Saturdays, some Sunday mornings, some evenings
between 8 :30 and 9 :00 and some weeks puts in between
forty and forty-five boars.
Mr. Nickerson asked if that was an average and
he replied in the affirmative.
Mr. Nickerson mentioned that this past year has
been unusually busy: If the paper work is becoming
• bothersome, he thought Mr. Jeremiah should ask Mr.
Burns for some assistance and furthermore, long-
distance telephone calls should be made from the
office and not from his home.
Mr. Jeremiah said that the girls in Mr. Burns'
department are quite busy. For the past eight
months they have been taking care of his card file,
but they have been so busy since before Christmas
that they ,have not had time to help him.
Mr. Bateman asked how much work is done by
flashlight and Mr. Jeremiah replied that he uses
a flashlight in some houses even during the day.
He mentioned doing work in a beauty shop at night,
and stated that none of the contractors are being
held up and there is no cause for complaint. He
said that he goes out mornings on roughing inspec-
tions before he goes to work.
Mr. Jeremiahts expense budget was considered
next.
The Chairman said he understood Mr. Jeremiah was
requesting an increase in automobile allowance because
he drive his car 9,000 miles.
Mr. Jeremiah said that he receives a check for
$41.66 a month and the third week he runs out of gas
money. He said that he works at the Bedford Airport
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so most of the 9,000 miles is on town work. The 111speedometer on his car registers 11,500, and he
purchased the car in April. He would like to buy
a car every three years if he can and had in mind
asking for $500 to purchase a jeep for town business.
Mr. Nickerson asked if he would average 11,000
miles a year on town business and Mr. Jeremiah re-
plied in the affirmative.
Mr. Nickerson said that he thought 7/ per mile
would be fair.
The Chairman asked if he made the same number of
calls as the Building Inspector and he replied that
he would make the same if not a few more.
Mr. Jeremiah retired at 8:30 P. M.
Budgets were acted upon as follows :
partment Requested Approved
Wire Department-Personal $ 2,500.00 $ 2,000.00
Wire Department-Expenses 750.00 700.00
Registration Dept.-Expenses 750.00 750.00
Drain Construction-Sundry Streets 34,000.00 34,000.00
(Includes $10,000 for Enclosed Field) II Veterans ! Agent-Personal 1,560.00 1,263.24
Veterans! Agent-Aid & Expenses 10,000.00 10,000.00
Park Dept.-Wages & Expenses 24,622.85 24,622.88
Patriots! Day-Expenses 2,303.54 2,000,00
Memorial Day-Expenses 622.50 422.50
Armistice Day-Expenses 125.00 125,00
Ambulance Maintenance-Expenses 500.00 450.00
The -Clerk retired at 9:50 P. M.
A true record, Attest :
Clerk, S admen
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