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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1946-04-29The regular weekly meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held at 2:15 P.M. with all members present. Weekly bills and payrolls were approved. TREE REMOVALHEARING: A hearing was held at 7:15 P.M. on the petition of William R. Corem of 22 Buckingham Road for the removal of a ~ree in front of his home. No opposition was received and Mr. Connors appeared at the meeting and he felt that the ~ree should be removed.~ The board voted unanimously to have ~he tree removed by the Tree Warden. STATE AID-MILI2ARy AID: St~ta aid was approved for Ruth Carey, $10.00; Sophia Eane, $10.00; M~garet Twomey, $!0.00 and Military aid fgr Cornelius Donovan fo'ri$60.00.f~,., ~REQUEST FOR R~2~OVAL OF TREE: ' A reques, t was received from Hugh Stewart of 62 Elm Street for the removal ~ of a tree on Cross Street which obstructs t~e driveway ~nd is dead., The matter was referred to the Tree Warden and a hearing was set for May 13~ !94~ at 7:30 P.M. in the Selectmen's Office. DOG C0:~PLAINT: Herbert Pickard of 131 Dsgood Street appeared'before the Board and '60mplain~d about a boxer dog Owned by Mrs. Eleanor McLellan of. 43 '0sgood Street 'a~d in' formed the board that the dog,comes tothe mhouse and frightens the children and.that recently t~e dog came after hi~ and ~he feels that the dog is dangerous and something should be do~ne before ~the.dog hit~s some persoh. Mr. Pickard ' stated that the barking of this dog does not bother him at all but'he ~is afraid that the dog will bite someone. They'have a state ward 'in their home and tbs Social Worker has also stated that something should he done. Mr. Salisbury inquired as to-how often the dog is around and if Mr. Pickard' 'knows that the dog has bee'n allowed at large. Mr.,Pickard said that .he doesn, l~, , see the dog during the day as he works hut he does know that it has been around. . ,Mr.~ Sa~lis?~ry made a motion that the ow~e~r of the '~0m,' Mrs. Mcr,~11~- requesmeu ~o come into the meeting on May 6, 1946 an~'also Mr~-~'d'~ with respect to this complaint. Motion'was seconded and.vote was unanimous. Mr. James Murphy asked the board if it would be possible to Use some of:' ~the post war rehabilitation fund for the reconstruction ~f ~ain-and W~t~er iStreets by the highway department. Mr. Th6mson informed.him that this money can only be .appropriated by a vote of the town and informed him ~t~at a special town ,meeting c$uld be held.for 'this ~urposei He als0 ;;~ .,, stated that the board of Selectmen are worming in conJunctmon with th~'i ' ~ ~. '.Highway Surveyor, in an attempt to secure state funds for .this pu~plo~se. POL~CE DEPARTMENT: ~.~ .~ John Willis of Saunders ~treet requested that the Board'of Selectmen' have, . ~Ohief of Police Alfred McKee come into ,one of their meetings a~nd explaim·. to~ those present if, another police officei- is necessary at this time. ,~' M~. Willis.feels that if there is .enough work for ~ne ~ore man th~n every$~dy should have ,a chance to take an examination for the position. " .Leo Murphywas present and he said he did~not think it was'necessary ~o~. invite the ~hief to .come in am this mattarcame~under the Board of Selectmen and they could act in th~s matter. Mr. Salisbury inquired if Mr. Willis wished'to have Chief McEee brought.: to an open meeting or if it would be satisfactory ~f the information was obtained by the selectmen at their convenience., Mr. Willis' agreed that this would be satisfactory and the board voted unanimously to take thismatter Under advisement. · ,~... FRANKLIN SCHOOL: Mr. Thomson stated that Mr. Mahoney had 'talked wi~h him about the Franklin . School i~ regard to whether or not the Veterans Organization was a corporation or not. Mr. Willis then informed the board that they intend to make a corporation after organizing and straighten this matter out.' APPL~CATION FOR A STREET LZGHT: A request signed by fifteen residents of Railroad Avenue petitioning the Board.to have a street light installed at a point opposite the Thompson :School on post 470. This matter was taken under advisement pending~a repo.rt from Arthur Thomsoz who agreed to check on this location and report to the board. PERMANENT WAR MEMORIAL COMMITTEE: A letter was read from'Fred E. Pitkin, chairman of this committee stating, April 29,1946- continued that s meeting had been held ondMonday evening April 22, wi~h all members present. No action was taken on memorial triangles at this time because of another proJec~ under consideration which may be more satisfactory and pleasing to all. The board accepted the report. SALEM STREET-MR. CARTY Mr. Salisbury informed the board that he had had several calls regarding the work to be done by the Highway Department on Salem Street near,the Rid~ood cemetery. It was voted to request Mr. Carty ~o come in to the meeting on May 6, 1946 at 7:30 P.M. to discuss this matter. SUFFOLK STREET: ,. ~ Mr. Carry will also be invited to discuss the situationexisting on Suffolk ,Street near the property of Alcide Gravel. He hsd previously requested :hat' the Highway Department fill in a ~ole opposite his driveway and is :dangerous, due to the narrow street. There is no fence there and the land belongs to the B & M Railway Company. Mr. Carty has already dumped several loads of. filling there but the officials of the B & M Co. requested that nc.sore be dumped there. This will be discussed.on May 6, 1946. SMOKEFROM DUMP: Darrell Britton of Seconded told the board that the smoke, from the Marston street dump in Lawrence is e nuisance to the residents of Sutton Street and, is not very healthy. He would like, to know if anything can be done about this. He stated, that he had talkedwith Fire Chief Retells but.it does not come unde~ him. Mr...Thomson informed ~t~. Britton that the board wo,,'ld'take this matter, up.~i,i with Alderman Donohue and a motion was made and seconded that this action" be taken. Unanimous vote. ,.,:. CHIEF ENGINEER-BETERLY ~. A letter will be sent to Mr. Frite at' Beverly requesting that Mr. Carty be allowed to do his .own,work under Chapter 90, on Main and water Street ._ so thatveteransmay receive more work. ~ BOARD OF FIRE ENG~NEERS: ,~ :~,~'::~ Mr. Salisbury stated that we should appoint Fire Engineers before MaD 1 .and stated that we should know what we are talking about and asked that . ~ Mr. Thomson make an explanation of this situation for ,the record. . Mr.'Thomson stated that he had no hesitancy in stating his!opinion as to -',,: what now exists. Mr. Thomson stated that as, a matter of repetition and- history, .the board ,of selectmen are guidedand controlled ~by~ particular statutes and that the selectmen annually appoint .a suitabl. ,.: Engineers not exceeding twelve men,':which shall i~ ''" They shall hold office for one year Or until their successor~are a~pointed~- Thenthe engineers meet and appoint one of their members a Chief Enginaer; !~As, a matter~of',commonknowledge there was a matter ofspecial legislation~ ~ .... which was apprmvedby majority of the Foters of the town. This special :~ ?-~.ilegislation applied~,to. Fire Chief which is non-existent'in the town,' therei! :..'o being ,an officeof chief,enginaer., A special amendment was filed and the -,. · '~:.matter was submitted tc the House and ~y information 'is that theHouse' ~,~' ,,':,':passed it favorably but was rejected by the Senate. To-day it came up, ',.~ for, reconsideration and ~was. approved by the, House and Senate. There remainsf two procedures to be consu~ated., The bill must be engrossed and then, s by ~he Governor as approved after which it becomes law, and we are bound by it. My opinion is that Under. ~he mandatory statute we shall appoint the . . but it does abrogate in'substance that the engineers shall appoint a Chief Engineer. Mr."Salisbury,stated .that. we now have a Chief Engineer who is under Civil - Service and it nO longer lies with the'Board Of'Engineersto appoint a ChioS'Engineer. As Junior member ofthe Boardof Selectmen he stated that it has no~ been his practice atthe few meetings.he has attended, to upset precendents established in previousuears until some good reason.appearsJ · · ~ With this thought in mind, Mr. Salisbury made.a motion that we re-appoint · the pregent board, of fire engineers, James Hargreaves, Leo Eana and Edwin Eoenig. Mr. Finneran seconded.the motion and vote was.unanimous.. ~There is no need to instruct the engineers to meet and appoint arChief. Appointment forms were signed by theBoard and will be sent to the 'above enginaers at once. DEPARTMENT ~0F CORPORATION AND T~XATIONS: A copy of fm (9~B) to be used by those who are or have been in the service 'to apply un~er Chapter 406 of the Acts of 1943 was received. MEETING ADJOURNED: 1'96 Mr. Hargreaves ceme to telk:.with the board and Mr. Finneran and.Mr. Thomson as a majority voted to irequest the Board of Engineers not to make any . appointments of anykind for two weeks as this board were planning to have a conference. Mrs, Desrden, who was not present when this action was taken, was instructed by letter to inform the engineers of this request of the board of Selectmen(majority vote). COMMUNITY CENTER CELERRATION: A delegation .from the Community Center appeared before the board and told the board about the plans they are making for a celebration on July 3,1946. Mr. Leo Hicksy said that they had a similar celebration last year but that they hoped to make it even better this year and that the whole town would.benefit by it. They were planning to have a band concert, block dancing, parade and other features. Mr. Salisbury pointed out that a suggestion had been made some time ago to plan for a celebration for the returned veterans, and asked why these two celebrations could not be combined. Mr. Edward Garvey stated that it had been brought out at that time that there were only 400 veterans in the two organizations and that perhnps the townspeople should have some say in the matter. Mr. Thomson then stated that he couldn't see why the board couldn't the supervision of this afl to =~u yule= unanlmousmy %0 delegate y ~o au%normze ~ne expenditure of $65.00 from the Drummond Memorial appropriation for the expense of the band. A hearing was held a% 7:15 P.M. on the petition of William Glennie of 20 Belmont Street for the removal of a tree which clogs up the sewer pipe and causes a very unhea!thy condition in the cellar. No opposition was received and the board voted unanimously to have this tree removed and to so notify the ~ree warden. Mr. Glennie appeared at the hearing. DOG COMPLAINT: Mr. Thomson addressed those present and stated that this'was a matter, of a complaint in reference to the dog Owned by Mrs. Eleanor McLellan which was made at the last meeting by Herbert Pickard, and asked if either party wished to say something. Mr. Pi~kard stated that he felt that Mrs. McLellan should be made to a~ide by the order which was made by the Selectmen' some time ago that it'be restrained to the owners property unless on a leash. He stated that the dog comes ~nters his yard and frightens the children and in one instance came after him and he felt sure that hemeantbusiness. Mr. Pickard was uncertain about the dates. · Mr. Thomson said tha~ this was, in substance, the complsint madeby Mr. Pickard. Mrs. McL~l!an stated that since the order was issued she had done everything to follow that older but on two occasions, her small child had let the dog out and she was in dire fear of the dog being shot because of this order. She said that the dog had only been out three time and each time for a very short time. She addressed Mr. Pickard and said that if the dog had attempted to bits him he would have snarled and barked and she asked if he meant that the dog chased him into the Osgood house, and why the dog should have any special hatred for him. Mrs. McLellan said she had a list of all .persons in the immediate neighborhood who were willing to stats.that the dog was not vicious and annoyed.none of them so that it would seem that the dog bothers onlyMr. Pickard and his family. A general discussion was held between Mr. Pickard and Mrs. McLellan at whichtime Mrs. McLellan mentioned that Mr. Pickard's little girl.' had been very friendly with the dog, walking with h~m and feeding hi~ and that all of a sudden the dog had taken a sudden aversion to his family. Mrs. McLellan mentioned the names of Frank Welch, Mr. Dushame Mrs. Bryant,Mrs. Simpson, Mrs. Schmidt, Mrs. Hoopers, Mrs. ~annan and Mrs. Perkins as the persons signing their names as unopposed to the dog. The previous complaint was si~ned by Many ¢. Chase, Olga Kent, Francis Kent, Katherine 0sgood and Herbert Pickard. Mr. Salisbury inquired if Mrs. McLellan had found it difficult to restrain the dog. She replied that they had no difficulty and.would do this as they preferred to keep the dog on their property continue to but if some other person carelessly let the dog out she wanted the assurance of this board that the dog would not be shot on sight. Mr. Thomson inquired if Mr. Pickard had any objection to the dog running at night and he stated that he had no objection as the dog only bothered them durin~ the day.