HomeMy WebLinkAbout1979-01-02-BOS-min J./13
SELECTMEN'S MEETING
January 2, 1979
A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Select-
men's Meeting Room, Town Office Building, on Tuesday, January 2, 1979 at
7 30 P M. Chairman Battin, Mr Buse, Mrs Miley, Mr. Kent and Mr Crain,
Mr Hutchinson, Town Manager; Mrs Banks, Assistant to the Town Manager,
Miss Casey, Principal Clerk, Selectmen, were present
Chairman Battin opened the meeting by reading a request from Stephen MBTA
L Delaney, Administrative Assistant to DPW Director of the Town of Dan- Chairman
vers to write to Governor Elect King supporting the retention of Robert R. Kiley
Kiley as Chairman of the MBTA
After discussion, the Board agreed that it would not be appropriate
to write such a letter as a Board, but each member, as an individual,
could, if he chose to, write to express his wishes
A request For Approval of Location of Chapter 180 Non-Profit Cor- Certifi-
poration for Cooperative Elder Services, Inc , c/o Minuteman Home Care cate of
Corporation, 365 Waltham Street was read by the Chairman Inc
Information given to Miss Casey by Susan Rothbaum of Minuteman Home Coopera-
Care Corporation was not specific regarding the function of Cooperative tive
Elder Services, Inc at the location There was also some concern ex- Elder
pressed by the Selectmen that there might be some duplication of services Services
with other agencies
Mrs Banks is to check into the matter and report back to the Board
The Chairman referred the Board to their copies of a status report Minuteman
from Ron Fitzgerald, Superintendent/Director of the Minuteman Regional VOTEC
Vocational School regarding an invitation to the Selectmen to have a rep- Meeting
resentative at the Minuteman School Committee meeting on January 9 rela-
tive to a forthcoming hearing on proposed changes in State aid Regulations
Mrs Battin is to write to Mr Robert C Jackson to request him to
attend the hearing and testify as necessary on behalf of the town Mr
Hutchinson is to prepare written testimony on behalf of the Selectmen, a
copy of which will be sent to Mr Jackson
The Chairman referred the Board to its copies of a letter from Dean Request
H Curtin requesting "No Parking" signs at the intersection of Lincoln For
and School Streets where he is constructing an office building "No Park-
A report from the Traffic Safety Committee indicated that there was ing" Signs
no need for such signs at the present time The Committee indicated in Dean
its report that, upon completion of the building, the location will again Curtin
be observed and should there be a problem or a potential problem, a
course of corrective action will be recommended Mr Curtin is to be
so informed
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Selectmen's Meeting January 2, 1979
Merriam Hill The Chairman read the Traffic Safety Committee's report regarding a
Assoc request from the Merriam Hill Association for regular snow removal to the
Meriam St / curbs on both sides of Meriam St from Mass Ave to Oakland St and
Mass Aven Patriots Drive, stop signs in Oakland Street and Patriots Drive at Meriam
Traffic Street, construction of a bulge in the curbing on Mass Avenue or place-
ment of a green crosswalk across Mass Avenue or a combination of the buige
and crosswalk
After a lengthy discussion of the problem, it was agreed that the re-
port of the Committee would be accepted as presented which stated that
the request for "Stop" signs was being referred to the Engineering Divi-
sion for further study; request for bulge in curbing be denied; unguarded
crosswalks be denied
The question of snow removal and parking conditions in the area was
discussed again in detail and it was brought out that snow removal in
that particular area is often impeded by parked cars The matter will be
referred again to the Traffic Safety Committee to consider the feasi-
bility of extending the "No Parking" up to Patriots Drive on the north
side of Meriam Street Mr Page will be informed as to the Traffic
Safety Committee's recommendations when the report has been received
The whole problem of snow removal in the center was discussed at
length and the Manager brought out that the Chamber of Commerce has fully
supported the enforcement of the By-Law relative to snow removal He
suggested, subject to the approval of the Selectmen, a new By-Law cover-
ing the whole town There was some question as to how far out on the
sidewalk the merchants are responsible for and what the town is respon-
sible for The whole question is to be reviewed including other areas
besides the center area
Minutes Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the
minutes of the Selectmen's meetings of December 6 and December 13, 1978
Licenses Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign the renewal
licenses for the following
Lexington Chalet, Inc (Inndeeper)
Pierce Transit Co (Common Carrier)
Bedford Local Transit (Common Carrier)
The Chairman referred the Board to the copies of a letter from Weiant
Wathen-Dunn regarding a bicycle by-law The Traffic Safety Committee
felt that no change was warranted, but they are responding and it will be
submitted to Town Meeting
Reports The Chairman informed the Board that four very thoughtful reports had
been received from sub-committees and Whitman & Howard that should be
discussed at a later date and acknowledged They were reports from the
Senior Center Site Committee, Human Services, Housing report and the Solid
Waste report from Whitman & Howard regarding the landfill
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Selectmen's Meeting - 3 - January 2, 1979
Mrs Miley informed the Board that the School Sites Conversion Parker
Committee has scheduled a meeting on January 11 to interview the School
prospective buyers of the Parker School She posed the question of
eliminating one interview by combining the interview by the Selectmen
and the Committee As of this date the Committee had interviewed
twelve and the final interviews would be with four
It was agreed that the Board would not interview all of the de-
velopers, but would leave it up to the Committee to weed it down to
the finalists The Board of Selectmen would then make the final se-
lection of developer There will be a joint meeting on January 17th
with the Selectmen and the Committee and the developers on January 24
The Board and the Manager discussed the Town Warrant and Mr Hutchin- Warrant
son informed the Board that the warrant should be ready for the Selectmen
by the end of January
It was agreed that the general revenue sharing hearing would be
held on January 22
The Manager requested and received approval of the Board for the Appoint-
following appointments ments
James Dhimos to the Recreation Committee to April 30, 1980
Mrs Bebe Fallick to the Historical Commission to April 30, 1980
Mr Hutchinson informed the Board that we have had additional re- Sewers
quests concerning the sewer program some of which were recommended by
the Board of Health He is to update all of the information for the
Board by the loth
The Manager informed the Board that bids had been received for the Audit
audit and recommended that Arthur Anderson be designated for $9200 for
1979 and $9900 for 1980
Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to award the bid
for the audit to Arthur Anderson in the amount of $9200 for 1979 and
$9900 for 1980
Mr Hutchinson informed the Board that the Data Processing Advisory Data
Task Force would like to meet with the Board sometime in February to Process-
review their report ing
The Manager reported that Gene Molloy is retiring from the town Gene
after 42 years of service and he would like to bring Mr Molloy before Molloy
the Board to acknowledge his long years of service Dick Spiers, Retire-
Superintendent of the Cemetery, will be replacing Mr Molloy effective ment
January 15
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Selectmen's Meeting - 4 - January 2, 1979
Fire Dis- The Manager referred the Board to its report from the Personnel
patchers Advisory Board relative to the request to review the Fire Dispatcher
Salary In- salary increase The Personnel Advisory Board approved the increase
crease Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to grant four
fire dispatchers an increase of $500 00 each to be effective January 2
A transfer from Article 5 is authorized to implement this increase
Jere Frick The Manager informed the Board that, subject to its approval, he
Appt to plans to reappoint Jere Frick to the MAPC as she is willing to serve
MAPC again for three years The Board gave its approval
Reports Other items that the Manager reported to the Board were that the
From B C interns had filed their human service report and it will be dis-
Manager tributed to interested Boards on Tuesday
Joan Tuttle of D E P informed Mr Hutchinson that Mrs Murphy is ex-
pected to sign the authorizations for our grants this week.
He expects the final report of the Sewer Advisory Committee next
week
Administrative Public Hearing regarding Chapter 90, Adams Street
will be held on January 10 and the Selectmen's hearing will be held on
January 22
Capital During a discussion of the capital budget, it was brought out that
Budget several pieces of road machinery will need to be replaced at an approxi-
mate cost of $165,700 Included in this figure was $80,000 for a new
compactor at the landfill It was felt that it would be more cost
effective to replace the old one rather than repair it The new machine
could be utilized until the closing of the landfill about 1981
Cemetery equipment replacement was a major consideration as it was
felt that better equipment would help to continue the expansion program
and produce better maintenance Mr Busa asked the Manager to look
into the possibility of drilling a 100 foot well to provide water for
cemetery uses Mr Hutchinson said that he would look into it and come
back with a report
An additional $10,000 is needed for a sewer line for the center pool
There was some discussion as to whether or not this amount should be in-
cluded in the sewer program or the pool project
The Manager recommended an additional $140,000 for revaluation and
$200,000 for the reserve fund
Conservation expenditures are covered by available money
The Chairman thanked the Manager for these preliminary figures and
the meeting adjourned
Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn at 10 00 P.M
A true record, Attest
Principal Clerk, Selectmen