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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1946-11-18NOV~,IBER 18,1946:- continued Mr. Salisbury made s motion that the board refer this matter to Mr. Mahoney to determine the legality of such a payment. Motion was seconded by Mr. Finneran and voted unanimously. Mr. Thomson suggested that Mr. Mahoney find out about this matter at once and report to this board by November 25,1946. ,,;,CHAPTER 90- Mr. Carty: ''Mri Carty came before the board and reported that White's Construction was the only bidder and they were to be awarded the contract to-day. Mr. Carry and others felt that it was too late to tear the road up now but that they might put drainage in and let the other work hold over until Spring. Mr. Carry asked how the board felt about this and Mr. Salisbury informed him that he should run his own department and if he felt that this was the best thing t6 do, he should do it that way. SPECIAL 00NSTABLE: An application for appointment to the office of special constable was approved for Walter W. Mazurenko of 773 Bradford Street by unanimous vote. .~TREET.SIGNS; A letter was received from Roscoe Gibson of 87 Cedar Street, Wollaston -- suggesting that a street sign be placed on the end of Prescott Street near the building marked "MachineShop". The lboard voted to refer this matter to [;the Highway Surveyor with the suggestion that a sign be placed at this point. VENIRES- POLICE DEPARTM~: ~:,.The board voted to have the venires for future Jurors sent to the Police .i'Departmen{ in care of Chief McKee and have themtaken care cf from that "Department. Thisaction was taken when Harold Wood, who had previously -~'- served the summons, died suddenly. - A notice will be sent to the Clerk ',.~-of Courts, Archie Frost. ~ ,~:INSURANCE: A~, communication was received from Andrew F. Coffin, chairman of the North ,:,," Andover Xnsurance Agents Association relative to the Workmen's Compensation insurance on which had developed' an additional premium of $582.39. The · balance in the insurance appropriation is now $412.81 and Mr. Coffin asked )thatltbe board approve a transfer of $225 from the Reserve Fund to the Insurance Appropriation to carry on for the remainder/of the year. The board voted ~..}~ send this request to the Advisory Board for their approval. LLAY-0UT OF L~IAN ROAD: .,;i'M[-.:Thomson informed those present' that the situation of Lyman Road was again ~befors tbs..Selectmen for adjudication. Ail abutters~had been notified and. .r~,s me were present. Ralph Brasseur was.;present and ex?laine~ to those'present ,what had been done. He said .he had;~ug out. all b~unds andr~ade correctidns ' !~i.the'bounds were b~oken. He .producedi'plans~which,sh0wed all corrections. Mr. ' Chad-les Cyr, was ~.S~/~o,,present' and agreed ,that the~ plans were correct as shown. ~ll!,:those present ~were in agreement with the plan and·~when the 'street is ~pt~d bY, the town one section,,w~] ]-be 48 feet wide at the point where '~,[.~,two feet of land had been'.taken on Eymah~k ltoad but had been p~cked up on' lierrick Road. -This matter will be brought before the people at the annual ;tOwn.meeting for acceptance by the town. The board signed.the plans as pre~ented and .one'.copy was presented, to Joseph DUncan to be filed in his office "7(.,;.SEALER OF WEIGNTS Al~ 5~AStJRF~: ,An inquiry w~s.received from the Sealer of Weights and Measles in ~udson~ ~,~Ma'ss.;aSk[~,forthe amo~t of sala~ paid to the same officer in this town. ]~his fnformationwas Sent ~oHudson. ~T~Y D~T~,E~ INQU~: '~nco~ection with an official investigation, we were requested ~'send ~nfo~ation on invoices or pa~ents made to George ~. ~resth d/b/a George ~. -~resth of 225 Howard. Street, Lowell, Mass.. This was checked with the accoun~ /~ant and no p~chases had been made by any.department since 1937. Reply sent to~ Treasu~Depar~ment. POEICE CH~'- ' ... ~Mr. Thomson opene~ the meeting with Chief McKee by e~lai~ng that he was here , because of complaints which had come to this boar~ about speeding and also the 'recent accident. An ~on~ous letter sent to the board was read by Mr. Thomson. .]M~. Thomson told tha Chief that he had'had complaints about speeding but assumed that. this would be taken care of. He had heard of s~eding on Sutton ~treet without apparent regard for pedestrians. Ne asked Chief McKee what he -co~d tell the board. ~hief McEee presented a report to each member giving the n~ber of accidents 25O NOV~IBER 18,1946- continued: which have occurred during this past year. He explained that the police have 75 miles of town roads and 15 miles of state highways to cover but explained that he received assistance from the state police on the state highways. He mentioned that Andover has 31 sq. miles a~d?~is covered by 12 officers, one reserve and that the Academy have two 'officers the~e who are paid by the Academy. Methuen has 23 square miles covered by 24 6fficers while North Andover has 28 square miles and have only 6 officers. The populations of the three ~owna are Andover , 12,000, Methuen 23,000 and North Andover 8,000. Mr. Thomson inquired if the Chief expected the State Police to take care of accidents on the State Highways and the Chief explained that he did not expect that but did expect assistance when necessary. Mr. Ea!isbury inquired how many men were in the station days and the chief stated that there were two men on days and two men on from 12 ~!to 2 A.M. and one man in the station from 2 A.M. until $ A.M. He said it is not infrequent to have the station without any officers during the day and when this happens, the firemen answer any telephone calls. The Chief reported on the violations as received when the men sen~ from the Registry at the chief's request, came to North Andover to check on various !ocations. The chief then stated that he did no~ believe that North Andover had any' more accidents than any other town and that there was no more speeding here than other towns. Mr. Thomson asked what he thought the solution would be and the chief stated that the department definitely needed more men as there were not' sufficient to cover the town adequately. Supt. ~f~Sc~ools, Francis J. 0'Brian was present and said he ~ad ~been ~sked to come before the board, by the ~chocl committee to discuss three locations where there were hazards and which might be considered if and.when a survey of traffic problems is made. The three locations were at the Davis & Fur~er Plant at three o'clock when the shifts change and the schools are dismissed at this time; Johason High School.at 2:00 P.M. when there is dangerous congestion along Main Street between the school and Chickering Road; and at the Center School where the pupils walk along Salem andJohnson Streets. The school committee suggested police supervision at the first two mentioned locations and requested that road markings and warnings.signs be set'up at the Center School area. - Mr..0'Brian and Chief McEee viewed Main Street and Chickering Road toaday and they saw nothing alarming. He said some of the children were careless and some of the cars were going too fast . The Chief said this location would be checked by the officers as well as the Center'Schoollocationl,, Mr. Thomson asked the Chief if he felt that he was doing the best he could under the circumstances and he explained that he was. He asked the chief if he didn't think the number of accidents we have had were any worse*th~n other communities and the chief reolied that he did not. Mr. Thomson then said thatif we can strengthen the'possibility of saving one person from being injured then it is worth while trying. Mr. Sa!isburyasked if the~police could check one area if they hsd it-~. called' to their attention ~hat there was speeding and he mentioned that: he had heard that the boys speed from the High School down.~mst Chickering Road. The chief said this would be checked. He ~mentioned that the'officers could not be there at all times as the~high school pupils~do not all come out at the same time but he suggested that perhaps Mr. Callahan who is'a special officers could probably be there and would probably have some ~ influence over the children. Mr. 0'Brian thought this a very good idea. The question of who had the resnonsibility of signs (warning) was brought~ up and Mr. Salisbury suggested tha~ an appropriation be made at the next annual to~ meeting ~o cover the expense of additional warning signs. Chief NeEco mentioned that the Fire Department members do not always notify the Police Department when there has.been an accidants and mentioned five instances when we had accidents and the police did not know until some time later. Heexplained that this matter had been taken up with Chief Hargreaves and that he had posted signs in the fire station asking that thepo!ice~ be notified. Mr. Salisbury asked about the-Carve! accident but Mr. Thomson felt that the board should not ask for this information in view of the fact that an inquest is to be held in the near fut6re. Mr. Thomson asked if the' board might have a report of the Cax~vel accident after the inquest, and the chief agreed to send one to the board. V.F.W. Commander Edward F. G~rvey of Post 2104 appeared before the board to find out if they could use their appropriation to pay for the new oilburner or if this appropriation was only for maintenance. The cost of the boiler' ia $365. The board informed Mr. Garvey that they would approve al2 bills for upkeep and maintenance of the building if they were properly presented. Article 43, of the last town meeting was : Voted to raise and appropriate $350 .~cepartially defray expenses and rent. NOVEMBER 18,1946- continued: Mr. Oarvey explained that they felt that an nil burner was more practical since they could ~urn it off when the building was not being used. Mr. Garvey then invited the board to attend their penny social on 11/22/46. SCIENTIFIC REVALUATION: Mr. Salisbury informed the board that for a long time he had been worried about the high tax rate and Just recently Mr. Long had prophecied in general an increase in the town tax. Re said it had been suggested to him that a scientific re-assessment would be a good thing for the town. He had talked with Roy Hardy of Andover about re-assessment and they had found it to be very ~valuable to their town. He felt that this board could not carry the burden alone and that the assessors should be asked ~o sit in at a discussion and also the Advisory Eoard,Mr.. Brasseur, Mr. Goodwin and Mr. Hardy of Andover. ~Many q6estions could be asked and answered and we could all ge~ a picture of this project. Mr. Thomson stated thatMr. Selisbury's expressions are consistent with his feeling~ and it was agreeable with him to hs!~ such a meeting. Mr. Salisbury then made a motion that we invite the Board of Assessors, Advisory Board members, Mr. Goodwin, Mr. Brasseur and Mr. Hardy to meet at 8 o'c!cck ~lon November 25, 19Z6 in the Se!ectmen's Office. ~{EETING ADJOURNED: NOV~BER 25, 1946: The regular weekly meeting of the~Board of Selectmen was held at 7.00 P.M. with all members present. Weeklybil!s and payrolls were approved2 DAMAGE CLAIM: Fred DtPrima of 27 Brooks Street, Lawrence appeared before %he board in regard to a claim he had made for damage to his automobile when it was struck by the North Andover Fire Track. Mr. Thomson informed Mr. DiPrima that he understood' that Chief Retells of the Lawrence Fire ~ Department~had stated that he would tak~ care of 'this bill in as much '~ '~ · .. "'as the North Andover Fire Department was helping out Lawrence a~ a '~ ~ ~, fire there. Mr. Thomson informed him that if he did not receive this "~ "~!' · i.'.money, to return to this board and they would see what could be .done. ~ .~ .NEW ENGL~ TELEPHONE ~ TELEGRAPH COMPANY: A petition was received from this company for permission to place and maintain buried cables, manholes, handholes, ·with the wires and ~ab!es ' ' thereink markers and other fixtures in or under the surface of the "' .': ': '~if~ollowi~ng ,P,u,b,_li.c way. or ways:- Appleton Street, buried ground wire ' - :rom po~e ~/~ ~o wa~er mainS 8 feet. Salem Street, buried, grouSd wire ' "~from pole #3/38 to water main, 4 feet. Salem Street abando ~ ou . , n bu. ied · : gr nd wire from pole #3/36 to water main, 12 feet. No hearing is ~,..::.~:.irequired. and the board voted Unanimously to grant this request. TRANSFERS FROM RESERVE FUND: APPROVED: . :~ .' iThe Advisory voted to approve the trans~e~' ~f~ $225: from the Reserve Fund . 6!'.'.'i: i :~ ?o the I~surance Appropriation as requested by Andrew F. Coffin, Chairman. "':The Advisory board approved the transfer of $75.00 from the Reserve Fund "'itc the Superintendent and Matrons salaries appropriation as requested ~%...by the Board of Selectmen. BUDGETS TO BE SUBMITTED: The board of Selectmen set December 16:1946 as the closing date for submitting budgets for the coming. The law states that budgetsr, must ~ .... be submitted at least ten days before the close of the fiscal year. · ' RECESS COMMISSION ON SAFETY OF PERSONS IN BUILDZNGS: A communication was received to the effect that a public hearing will be held in the State house on December 4, 19Z6 at 11: A.M. in Room436 "at the State House and all persons interested ere to be notified. The Board voted to refer· this matter to the Boerd of Engi'n~rs,, STREET LIGHT- 880 TURNPIKE STREET: The Board voted unanimously to request the Lawrence Gas & Electric Company to have a street light installed at ~80 Turnpike Street a~ a cost of $25/ to the town, which will be refunded a~ a later date, if and when the circuit ~is extended from Wi!son's Corner. This light will be billed on Rate O. '·~'This is a little more expensive but the board feels that a light is ;necessary at this location.