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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1946-10-07-STM-min 170 eA. WARRANT FOR SPECIAL TOWN MEETING - October 7, 1946 (See Warrant Book - Page SPECIAL TOWN MRPTING October 7, 1946 There were 156 Town Meeting Members present . Meeting called to order by the Moderator, Robert H. Holt at 8:05 P. M. Town Clerk, James J. Carroll, read the warrant until upon motion duly seconded further reading was waived. The Constable' s Return of the Warrant was read by the Town Clerk, James J. Carroll. 8:06 P. M. All articles presented by Errol H. Locke, Selectman, unless otherwise noted. Article 1. a. J. Milton Brown presented Appropriation Committee Report which was voted to be accepted and placed on file. Carried Unanimously 8:08 P. M. Article 1. b, VOTED: That the report of the Board of Selectmen rel- ative to an estimate of the cost for the construction of a new Locker Building for the Center Playground be held over until the next Annual Town Meeting. Carried Unanimously 8:08 P. M. Article 2. VOTED: That the sum of $7,500.00 be appropriated for Old Age Assistance - Aid and i,xpenses, for the balance of the year 1946; this money to be provided by a transfer from the Excess and Deficiency Account. Carried Unanimously 8:09 P. M. Article 3. VOTED: That the Selectmen be, and they hereby are, auth- orized to purchase for municipal purposes the so-called Leary property at 1519 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington, upon such terms and conditions as they may approve, and for that purpose the sum of $15,000.00 is appropriated; to be provided by a transfer from the Excess and Deficiency Account. Article declared lost by voice vote 8:10 P. M. Article 4.. VOTED ` That the following amounts' be transferred from the Excess'°and Deficiency Account for unpaid bills of the following accounts: Unclassified Town of Burlington $21.56 Insuraxce . Foster & Lamont 17.59 (These., are 1945 bills which were , not presented for payment until this year) Carried Unanimously 8:12 P. M. Article 5, VOTED: That the -Town accept Section 85-E' of Chapter 32 of the General Laws of Massachusetts relating to the retire c,< nt of certain members of the Police and Fire Departments, and to provide for payment of same by transferring the sum of $250.00 from the Excess and Deficiency Account. Carried Unanimously 8:12 P. M. 171 Article 6, Presented by H. Webster Thomas. VOTED: That the sum of $6,000 be appropriated in addition to the amount previously appropriated to defray the expense of obtaining preliminary plans and an estimate of the cost of construction of the proposed new high school, which said sum shall be provided by a transfer from the Excess and Deficiency Account. Carried Unanimously 8:16 P. M, Article 7. Presented by H. Webster Thomas. VOTED: That the sum of $9,400.00 be appropriated to provide salary adjustments for employees of the School Department, this amount to be transferred from the Excess and Deficiency Account. Carried Unanimously 8:19 P. M. , Article 8. Moved for Indefinite Postponement . Carried Unanimously 8:20 P. M. Article 9. VOTED: That the Selectmen be authorized to sell and convey a 10' strip of land on Bedford Street, being a part of the Public Works property, running to a depth of approximately 168' upon such terms and conditions as they may approve. Carried Unanimously 8:21 P. M. Article 10. VOTED: That the Board of Selectmen be and they hereby are authorized -to purchase, or enter -into an agreement to pur- chase, a strip of land containing an area of 440 square feet beginning at a point on Massachusetts Avenue at the intersection of the Pollen Church property and the entrance to the Adams School, extending back a distance of 161.30 feet with a width of 52 feet at the farthest point, for the purpose of enlarging the entrance to the Adams School, and to provide for payment therefor by transferring the sum of $172.00 from the Excess and Deficiency Account. Carried Unanimously 8:23 P. M. Article 11. VOTED:: To appropriate the sum of $7,315.69 to provide a salary adjustment of 120, with a maximum not to exceed $25.00 per month for the period from September 6,- 1946 through December 31, 1946 for all regular full and part- time salaried employees , excluding the School Department, and to provide for the payment of Eau by a transfer from the Excess and Deficiency Account; and to appropriate the sum of $790.00 to provide for the adjustment of salaries of the hourly employees in the Public Works and Cemetery Departments, and to provide for payment of same by a trans- fer from the Excess and DeficiencyAccount. Carried Unanimously 8:24 P. M, Article 12. Presented by H. Webster Thomas. VOTED: That the vote on Article 65, passed at the Ad- journed Town Meeting held on April 1, 1946, be rescinded. Carried Unanimously 8:25 P. M. Article 13. VOTED: To authorize the trustees • of the Cary Memorial Lib- rary to complete plans and specifications for an enlarged and improved Cary Memorial Library building according to preliminary plans submitted to and approved by the said trustees and to authorize the Selectmen to proceed with the erection of said enlarged and improved Library Building substantially in accordance with said plans by letting contracts and to raise and appropriate therefor the sum of $125,000.00 of which amount 19,000.00 shall be for improve- l .nts or alterations and $106,000.00 for an addition in- creasing the floor space of said building and to meet said 172 ".o Article 13, appropriation, $25,000.00 is hereby appropriated by a (Cont,) transfer from the Excess and Deficiency Account, and the a Treasurer, with-the-approval of the Selectmen, is hereby C authorized to borrow . $100,000.00 and issue bonds or notes of the Town therefor payable in not more than ten years in accordance with the provisions of General Laws, Chapter 44. Yes No 9 Aiden L. Ripley 25 10 George Ripley 66 5 George W, Butters 17 24 107 Lost 8:40 P. M. Article 13. 2nd Part. , 'Presented by H. Webster Thomas. VOTED: To authorize the Trustees -of`-the Cary Memorial Library to complete plans and specifications for an en- larged anc improved Cary Memorial Library building according to plans submitted to and approved by the said Trustees, and to appropriate therefor the sum of .$6,000.00 and to provide for the payment of same by a transfer of $6,000.00 from the Excess and Deficiency Account. John H. Devine moved for Indefinite Postponement. Postponement Carried Unanimously 8:45 P. M. Article 14. Presented by H. Webster Thomas. VOtr y: That the trustees of the Cary Memorial Library be authorized to expend an additional sum of 05,000,00 for repairs and improvements to the East Lexington Branch Library, and to provide for pa a , ,;nt of same by a transfer from the Excess and Deficiency Account . Carried Unanimously &:46 P. M. Article 15. Moved by H, Webster Thomas for Indefinite Postponement. Carried Unanimously 8:47 P. M. Article 16. VOTED: That the following amounts be appropriated for Town Expenses for the period of October 7, 1946 through December 31, 1946; said amounts to be provided by trans- fers from the Excess and Deficiency Account. Insurance Premiums $3,000 Care of Dumps & Removal of Ashes Wages & Expenses 400 Snow Removal Wages & Expenses 4,300 Traffic Re4u1ation & Control Wages & Expenses 400 hway Department Road Machine• ry Expenses 1,500 Public Works Building Wages & Expenses 600 All the above Carried Unanimously 8:50 P.M. 173 Article 17. VOTED: That the sum of $5,300 be appropriated for Wages and Expenses under Water Services and that said amount be provided by a transfer from the Excess and Deficiency Account ; and that the further amount of $50,200 be app- ropriated for Water Construction on Sundry Streets and to provide for such amount by a transfer of $18,753043 from the Water Department Available Surplus Account, and an additional transfer of $31,446.57 from the Excess and Deficiency Account. Carried Unanimously 8:51 P. M. Article 18. Presented by Winfield S. Caouette. VOTED: To authorize the Board of Selectmen to sub- divide that portion of the so-called Poor Farm Tract now owned by the Town of Lexington, fronting on Cedar Street and Hill Street, into lots of approximately 12,500 feet each in area and to sell said lots -in their discretion and upon such terms and conditions as they shall determine, to veterans of World War II who were residents of Lexington at the time of their induction into the armed services, at a price of $p300 per lot. Carried by Voice Vote 9:18 P. M. Article 19 .& 20. -By Roland B. Greeley, who read a report of the Committee on School Sites as follows: REPORT OF THE COMMITT"='-E ON SCHOOL SITES TOWN MEETING, OCTOBER 7, 1946 The Board of Selectmen have requested of this Committee that Articles 19 and 20 be indefinitely postponed. Before action is taken we wish to report to the Tom Meeting why the Articles were inserted. The Committee is firmly convinced that the property described in Article 20, a portion of -what is commonly known as the Aldrich prop- erty, is the outstanding site for a new elementary school to replace the Hancock School, and to give more classrooms to take care of the increase in elementary school enrollment. The need for a new school on a new site is obvious from the Nichols Report submitted prior to the last Town Meeting. The Hancock School is overcrowded and in deplorable condition, and its site is quite inadequate. Mr. Nichols recommends, and others who have studied the problem agree, that the Hancock School District be replaced by two new ones, with Mass. Ave ., Bedford Street and the Railroad as the dividing line., That would avoid the danger of children crossing the main street, and would ultimately divide that portion of the Town not served by other schools into two well-shaped districts, each within fair walking distance of a central point, The northeasterly district centers about Grant St., a strong half-mile from the center, and this Committee expects to recommend a site in this area soon. The southeasterly district, the one for which a new school is most urgently needed, centers about Hastings Road, or almost exactly on the site proposed. The entire district has been studied carefully by this Committee, and no other site qualifies from the standpoint of central location, accessibility, topography, and size. Within half a mile of this central point there is virtually nothing but developed houselots, swamp, steep hillside, and improved park area, except for this site itself. The site recommended has the} -advantages of being public property, and of being immediately adjacent excellent recreation facilities. Any s te _n_ot contiguous to Parker Field would require expensive play- ground improvements. The experience at Adams School has demonstrated how successfully school and park recreation facilities can be operated conjunctively--with much advantage to both. /74 A further advantage of locating the new school on the Aldrich ` ' property would be to increase use of a large park area which has been in Town ownership for nearly eight years , and yet has had only slight improvement and occasional use as a picnic ground and as individually- operated victory gardens. This Committee cannot concede that the Town would lose _valuable or essential recreation land inasmuch as: 1) plans prepared by nationally known recreation experts for development of the entire tract call for no use of the site selected except for incidental landscape treatment; 2) the Town owns nearly seventy acres of land in the Parker Field development, or enough acreage for three playgrounds plus three athletic fields of the sizes recommended by the National Recreation Association. The site was donated to the Town in 1938 by J. Willard Hayden, with the provision that "with the written consent of the donor. , . portions of said playground may be devoted to structures to be used by the youth of Lexington for educational purposes apart from strictly playground usage if such structures and the necessary area about them will not, in the opinion, . ,of the donor. . . seriously encroach upon the area reasonably required for the realization of the purposes of this grant that it be devoted primarily to recreational playground activities" . There is no record in the Town Meeting's vote of accept- ance or elsewhere that we can discover, of why that clause was inserted intthe deed. But in the memory of some Town Officials and Town Meeting members, there was discussion at that tine of the possibility of locat- ing a school there, and the presumption is certainly very strong that the clause was inserted with that possibility in mind. Whether or not that be the case, Mr. Hayden indicated to rep- resentatives of this Committee some time ago that he does not intend to permit any school building to be erected on this site. Efforts to show him that a school would increase recreational use of the remainder of the tract were countered by his explanation that locating a school there would not be in accord with his plans. Since the only way of obtaining the site seemed to be through the taking of legal steps to remove the restriction, we were prepared to recommend to the Town that such steps be taken. However, we have been assured by the Board of Selectmen and the Town Counsel that such steps would not be to the best interests of the Town, even though we are lure it is the best site for school purposes. We can not agree with their point of view, but at the specific request of the Board of Sel- ectmen and Town Counsel, we reluctantly move that action under Articles 19 and 20 be indefinitely postponed. Respectfully submitted, Committee on School Sites Moved by Roland B. Greeley Indefinite Postponement. Carried Unanimously 9:23 P. M. All articles being dispensed with, the meeting was dissolved 9:24 P.M. I Tow- C erk