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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1947-04-07290 The regular weekly meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held at 7:00 ~.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 Trifon Michelchuck for: the removal of s tree on Pleasant Street, near Chickerimg Road. No oppoSitiOn was offered and Mr. Conners agreed that this tree should be removed. The'board voted unanimously to instruct Mr. Conners to remove this tree. NEW ENGLAND TELEPHONE&TELEGRAPH COMPANY~ A hearing on thepetition of this company covering two telephone 10eat[C~S~on Andover Street near Dufton Court and one near Turnpike Street was',granted[ unanimously by the board. Mr. Flanagan attended'the hearing. ~- INSURANCE HEARING: . The Selectmen held an insurance discussion on coverage in the Fire Department and those present were Andrew Coffin, chairman of!the association, Roger'D~hullu, John J.'Lillis, s'~cial agent of the Loyalty Group Company, Chief J. Hargreaves, representing the'call firemen. ' ~,'.. Mr. Lillis explained' the coverage as it now exists on the policy and sta~ that' the original policy ~overed ~nly members of the Fire Department and v0~U~.,i~ : men while on fire duty. Later the policy was'made to coverall.paid and volUnteer 'to cover them during the time they' repair t~e equipment', ~c~eaning ,: the fire ·station and other normal duties. Mr. Lillis stated'~hnt~th? r~a~./:. police officers, chief and sergeant are also covered by this:'pOli~y'~hipH ~idee $1,000 for a~cidental~death,: $20.00 a week for '104 weeks. of disability ~';ai..~'!% ~ maximum of.$500 for hospital, medical and surgical expenses as the resul~sk~[,i'~'.:, accidents ~nc~rr~d' in'the\line of duty. ',,'-?~', '. :.. A general discussionwas held on coverage'not included in'the poli6ya~d"chief.' :,...,, Hargreaves explained that the firemen are'called upon to"remove cats:f~0~rtrees, remove residents in time of floods, recover bodies in drowning acciden~s~,,pum?, out cellars and many 0~hers. Mr. Lillis made a list.of the various dutl~si'aud ]~ said he would' get a definite interpretation' from his company before givin~.a~y ~ ' ,decision, and then' an. endorsement w$uld be written to 'coverall separat~[:,.::~.~..., rulings.' Mr; Thomson felt that the endorsement should read that the' policy ~shalt cover , all men actually on duty~which should take ina]/ the items mentioned. /,.,~ ~,~·,~. · M~..Salisbux-y stated that if the company doesn't provide Coverage'for ~i~'!%hn "~: i~ems mentioned we should find out how much it Would cGs~ to c~ver th~m;'-/v, ' [ Mr. Thomson then mentioned that' the wording "any duty of a' public servi~e, which-' a'~irem~n is ordered to do by his superior.should~ be inserted in 'the pdlicy.. ., 'Mr; B~ssonlbrpught,~p the matter ofwaiting for 'checksafte~'a man',has~b~n~ T'~ ~., 'injured.' He said that' sometimes forced to pay his own'expenses whil th~"~' policy called:for pePiodic payments every fou~ weeks but that he 'would at~empt.~,~[: · ~o have it changed to every two weeks. :'~:'~',; Mr. Lillis statedthat he did no~ think it was a fireman's duty to climb:Church steeples to pu~,up seasonal adornments nor remove'cats',fromtreesand fair, that his company would not offer coverage for such risks. ,';',~'~ ,' ,~', The matter of contracting disease was also discussed and Mr. Lillis e~[nei't~' he was sure 'his cpmpany'wo~ld not permit ,coverage for 'suchrisks and he .did'not Believe that any~ther company would. ' "- Mr. Thomson then .asked about the polite'officers whoare covered'and Mr.'Lillis explained that six men were named on the policy and Mr. Thomson sugg~stgd~jthat~-_,, Frank Dushame's 'name .be listed as he is now a provisional appointee. The matter' of'substitute call'men who filled in for the regular iremenf%hile they were on vacation was discussedand Mr.~Lillis 'stated.that since they arc'.not-, members 'of the fire department and were not reserves Under civil servic~heyw~uld not come'under the terms of the policy. ,~' ' · ; ,, Mr. Lillis informed the board that he would getall theinformation together,and would come backin about 'two weeks; Mr. Dehnllu will also be present. STREET LiGHTiNG~~ Mr. George Frost and Mr. B~n M. Johnson, representing the Lawrence Gas & Electric Company met with the board to discuss the street lighting in North Ando~er. The~ matter of expense was discussed and Mr. ~ost'stated that itwould cos%an additional 'amount of $1S00'to permit the installation of all the lightssuggested in-thn list presented to the board. 'The matter of street lights on the Andover by-pass at Willow and Hillside Road was considered and Mr, Frost stated that time swithhes would' be required at,these points. The board then voted to request the Lawrence Gas & Electric Company to,install the lights aa suggested in their letter of 12/16/1946 and a list of pending lights to be 9. sent the 7ct. 29'1 CHAPTEN 90 - 1947 Mr."Carty came before the board and requested that the Selectme~ write a letter' to the Department of Public Works, at Ravsrly asking them to call for bids for ,the work to be done on Water Street under Chapter 90 for 1947. Mr. Carry · informed the board tha~ White & Company will do the work for the same price · they. are receiving for the present Job. The board agreed to write this request to~r. 'C. A. Fritz', Manager at Beverly. ~ DUMPING AT CEMETERY: Mr. CArry told the board that the dumping a~ the cemetery on Salem Street is n6t* much'improved and he informed the board that Mr. Wilcox has not paid the "'.$25':~00:' which he promised to pay. ~ames Maker, treasurer informed the board that h~l~ s~nt ou~ a demand to Mr. Wilcox but has been unable to collect this amount.. ADVISORY COMMITTEE- VETERANS' SERVICES: A communication was received from Harry L. Cole of Boxferd, informing them.that he heartily approved cf the appointment cf Mr. Joseph Finneran, Mr. Arnold H. ~.iSalisbury and ~ames ~' Maker, treasurer as members of the advisory committee and -als0 ~that he had appointed Franklin C. Roberts and Raymond Perley as the two otHer~members from' the town of Boxford. ; REPORT 'ON DUMPING AT MASS. AVE: Oh, fef. McKee reported that he had checked on the dumping on Mass. A~e. on the ,~o~p~ty. owned by George Watkins of 88 Mass. Ave. and that Mr. War'ins agreed '.' th-'~?l~e' Would put a "nc dumping" sig~ there but was not sure it would help. '~M~'~',.~ee will also check with the Middlesex Market to check any dumping which... may. :'~"done' by them. 'RECREATIONAL CO~ITTEE - UNION SCHOOL: .Re~iP~lph D. York sent a letter to the board from the Recreation Council relative ,~ to~ using the Union School building when it becomes ~hcan~. They, recommended that'- ,,!':'!~'.t~'i~h0ol lis located in an area that greatly needs ~ecreation faci!itie's, that~ · ~,:%~$t.';i~,f?..i',Adeally adaptable to use as a 'Community Youth Center and 'that the community '"~.wotuldTreceive great benefit of the facilities provided by the building. The letter7 ~hat all fire hazards could easily he eliminated fox; relatively small ,'expens~<J The ,board agreed mo file the letter for future refers=ce. TELEPHONE & TELEGRAPH COMPANY: to cover the abandonment of 7 Joint poles on Great Pond ~Rnad"~as ~hown On plan no. 1101 was approved unanimously by the board. No .hearing. DEPARTMENT OF PUBEIC ~2ILITIES: '~',p~titi0nI of the Boston and Main Reilroad, Centrea,Ve~mon% Railway, Inc. and the- 'Ne~ ~6rk Central Railroad Ccmpnny~ lessee of the B~ston and Albany Railroad for .au, hority to increase mpaSsenger ,fares on short notice received and upon this ::~t'it, ioa ,th~ Department of Public Utilities will hold a public hearing on 'April i~'~Y+?~t I66 State HouSe, Boston,' ' No acti0'n taken.' ' · EIRE;D, EPART~-NT-CHIEF ENGINEER- SALARY APPROVAL: .;Approval was received from Thomas J. Greehani. Director of Civil Service, an the ' :~!,:.i~a~l~ary:.increase for James Hargreaves from 506.50'to $3252.50 per annum. .... HOUSIN~ 'S~T~GE: 'A-'16~ received- from Governor Bradford requesting information on :the housing :SHoP~ge i~;North Andover and the hoard voted to:send in answers ~o the five qu~tio~s listed in the letter.' Governor Bradford was informed that we have .'no..p~oJects in the building stage but expect that some dutch'.flats may he .:e~d': i~.the .near future. Our difficulties are Just lack of vacant tenements 'for 'man~,_:although.not all are veterans. A copy of the House Survey made by a special'.' c6~mi't~1~ was sent to Governor Bradford. ' STEVENS HAEL: '71. Requdst for 'the use of Stevens Hall for April [8, 1947 was made by an organization fo?"~te[en ages at the Community Center and they plan to run a dance. The board ~ot~d Unanimously to grant this request. A re'~uest for the use of the hall Sn April 30, 1947 was received from tbs St. Paul's Women's Club for holding a play and also that they be allowed the use Of th~,hA~ll on April 29, for rehearsal. The board voted unanimously to grant ' %his' l;equest. :Mr. Hayes was contacted and the hall is available for the three nights~ men+ioned. GRAVE YARDS: - A copy of the law pertaining ~o neglected grave yards and to the maintenance of veterans' graves was received from the Massachusetts Society of the of the American RevolutiSn. No action was taken on this matter as the board feels that it has already been taken care of. LAND COURT: Two notices in regard to changes in ~roper%y lines were received from the Land Court and the board referred bo~h matters to C. J. Mahoney.' IPSWICH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: Notice received that a hearingis to be held on April 9, 1947 at 10:30A.~.~ in the Stats House. relative to having 6ne of the proposed marine fish~rf~ experiment stations' being located in Essex County. Nc action was. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND INDUSTIRES: Notice received showing prices in food and services had increasedl.5% more in Marchthan in the previous month. T~N FINANCE COMMITTEES Notice of the spring meeting was received which willbe held on April,17,.,.,'.. at the hotel Sheraton at 6:00 P.M. Miss Finn and Mrs. Dearden Will att%~d, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY: Notice of an application filed for e. certificate of incorporatlon'as~ro~i~ed.f; in chapter la0 under the name of the Augustinian College of 'the Merri~'~i~.: Valley was received and'thecorporation is tobeelocated in the'Town6f%N6~h Andover atlll Peters Street. The board approved the location'unani~0~s~.. LAW PERTAINING TO CUSTODIAN OF TAX TITLES: A letter, from the Department of Corporations and Taxations calling at~ti6n to'Chapter 224 of the Acts'of 1947 which was approved by the G6vernor. April 3, 1947. THeTEmsrgency Act expires'at this date. The letter inf0~2~, th6 board that they may desire.to make an appointment of the Custodian~um~l~ the per~mnent law even though there is one continuing under the Temporaryt..~-~ .lLaw, %ho,~incidentelly, ceases to have anyIaw under .which to Operate'$h~.. .the permanent lawbecomes effective.. The board will take care of this~ 9ppointmWnt ih May. The law 'shall take effect up6n May 27, 1947. CIVIL SERVICE-POLICEEXAMINATION:' A letter was received ~Eom Thomas J.'Greehan, Director informing this board that the 'state-wide 1947 and four applicants from NorthlAndover~were~notified for ~ame .( Woodhouse being one of the applicants notified.~ Blanks were.received~o , appoint police officers on a temporaryor permanent basis~ The board.ha~ ~.~ approved these forms before this meeting and they were sent to OivilServic~.~~ NATIONAL CITIZENSHIP DAY- (I AM AN AMERICANDAY) -'??<~ Aproclamation by Pr6sident Truman was received from Henry Nicoll~,'D~ict>~ Director of theUnited States Department of 'Justice reques{ing th~ recognition be mmde of this date. The board voted to send a letter to~'the~' Commanders cf the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign,Wars fo~ if th~ saw fit. ' ...... '~"~":' EXECUTIVE SESSION- ONIEF MCEEE & SERGEANT HILTON: Mr. Salisbury informed those presen~ that there was a petition to he,presented to this board which was being circulated at this time.~ He stated the% itwas apparently about officers working outside cf their reguIar duties aspa~$~e officers and that he had received at least t$o' anonymous lettersre~a~i~e this matter. ' ' ' Chief McEee said these'ru!esand'reguIations were made,up years agoand that this particular rule had been made'more or less as a.person~l rule'to, Hilton. Sgt. Hilton said he felt that he should be able to go out and work other person as long as it did not interfere with police duties. He'~elt~that the rule should be abolished in'the manual. 'He explained .thatthey had,worked many hours some years ago and nothing was said about that but with he high cost cfliving everybody can use extra money. Mr. Thomson asked, the chief if he were on call 24 hours and he explained that he was on call and was always'available if needed. He stated that as~far as the taxi was concerned, he had sold it last week. Mr. Salisbury stated that this rule is ~!l~wed in other towns butMrT' Hilton stated that this rule should be abolished here as it had been made with malice aforethought. Mr. Finneran asked if he thought all town have malice 'aforethcugh when they have this rule in force. EXECUTIVE SESSIONS- POLICE DEPARTMENT Mr. Salisbury stated that if the people in the town feel that the police should be on call at all times, he agreed with them. He stated that the rumors circulated around are in reference to the Chief and the Sergeant. He said he may be s little misunderstood. He thought this board need ha~p from the Chief and the Sergeant. He said if they wan~ to stand up on their own principle and throw all men out of a Job, it must be sound principle. If the petition is presented to this board, the hoard can then take action on this matter. Mr.'Thomson stated that he felt that no action should be taken at this time but if and when the petition is presented, the board could then ac~. Mr. Finneran agreed with this also. MEETING ADJOURNED: The regular weekly meeting of the board of Selectmen was held at 7~00 P.M. wil~h all members present. Weekly bills and payrolls were approved. REQUEST FOR CHAIRS: James J. Maker requested permission to take two chairs from the b,,~lding and take them to Mr. Bingham's Office in the Fire Station. The board granted · th~s request since Mr. Bingham is unable to work in the town building because of a physical handicap. VACANT CELLAR: Mr. Thomson informed the board that he had talked with Raymond Jensen about~ the cellar on the property owned by him on Fsulkner Road and he stated that there wes no water in the cellar at the present time and he did not ~eel that any hazardous condition existed. He did not think he should spend the money tq~fi!l the cellar in but if the town wished ~o send a dull-dozer up there and fill it in, that would be alright with him. No action was taken. LAWRENCE GAS & ELECTRIC COMPANY: HEARING: A hearing was held on the petition of the Lawrence Oas & Electric Company for permissi~nto locate poles, wires, e~c. on the northerly side of Sutton ~Street at a point approximately 29 feet easterly from Thorndike Road, 1 pole. One existing lifht company location to he abandoned. Abutters were no~ifi~d and~opposition was offered. The board voted unanimously to grant this request. FENCE FOR PROTECTION* SUTTONS POND. Eastman Wedge and James J. B. Peters came before the board to discuss the hazardous condition existing .at Suttons Pond especially where children are concerned. 'Mr. Wedge cited an instance where a child fell into the. pohd ~eryl.recently and if there had not been a grownup around something serious would have happened. Mr. Thomson explained to them that it .had been checked several times and the owners had promised to erect fences When materials'could be'purchased. Mr.. James Peters also talked about this condition and stated t~t now the good.weather was .coming there would be many children playing around the pond. Mr. Thomson told those present that this matter would be checked with the ...qwne~s at'once and see if'some action' would be taken An regard to erecting a fence BY~LAWSCOMMITTEE: Mrs' Salisbury suggested that a meeting be held next Mo~day, April 21, at 8:00 P.M~ to discuss'the revision of the b~-laws. Mr. C. J. Mahuney had recently appointed .the following as members of this committ~e: Arthur A. Thomson, Arnold H. Salisbury, John Alter, William B. Bartlett and John V. Dunovan. -.~REVAL~ATIONPROGRAM:- COMMITTEE: T~e,Board appointed the following as members of an Advisory Committee to work with the Assessors and Ralph Brasseur and Clinton Goodwin, engineers employed by the town under contract to conduct a Revaluation Survey; Peter Ritchie, 121 Mass. Ave. Sam. DiMauro, 36 'Richardson Ave. Arthur Sunderland, 27 Church St.-.Emil Boulanger, 62 Saunders St, Philip Sutcliffe, 74 Buckingham Rd. Henry Lund, 75 Prescott St. George Rea, 671 Chestnut St, James Dooley, 364 Main St. Irving.Howes, 164 Johnson St. Mrs. Robins Bullock, Bradstreet Road, and the three Selectmen. Members will be notifed of their appointment. CONTRACTS: REVALUATION: Two ~ontracts were signed by the board and will be sent to Haverhill to have the signatures of the engineers, Ralph Brasseur and Clinton Goodwin with request that one copy be returned to this office for the files. AMNULANCE BIDS: