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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1948-04-12~ontinued REMOVAL OF STUMP: John F. Keaney of 105 Railroad Ave. came before the board with Tree Warden John J. Connote to discuss the ma~er of r~moving a tree stump which was left in the ground when the tree warden removed a tree two years ago. Mr. Connote stated that when the tree was removed ~wo years ago there was no mention of removing the tree stump.~ Mr. Oonnors stated that when they remove a tree they cut below the ground and then cover up the stump and it is presumed that the roots die and there is no further growth. Mr. Coffin inquired if the stump affects the sidewalk and also inquired if it is a standard procedure to remove stumps if they interf~reowith sidewalks. Mr. Connors explained that if a stump happens to be in the middle of a sidewalk or if it proved hazardous, then they would remove it but they do not make a practice of this. Mr. Keaney to~d the board that the ~ree roots was interfering with the sewer pipe and it backs into the cellar and he wants it out of there. He said the sidewalk will collapse soon. Mr. Eeaney stated that Mr. Carry is willing to cart the stump away if it is taken out. Mr. Thomson inquired if Mr. Duffy had talked with Mr. Duffy abou~ this condition and he stated that he had. Mr. Thomson then asked the members what they wished to do. Mr. Coffin said that the indication is that the sewer is nbt affected and if a sewer is to be installed at a later date the most Judicious thing to d6..wou!d be to wait until the sewer is installed and then the stump could be removed~ easily. Since it is not the standard procedure of the Tree Department to remove stumps it would be well not to start this precedent. If it is done for one, then everybody will want it done. Mr. Thomson said he felt that we have no Jurisdiction over t~e Tree department and he doestn't feel that this board can go against the better Judgment of the Tree Warden. The other members agreed that this was a matter to be straightened out by the Tree Warden. Mr. Keaney informed the board ~ha~ if this board would do nothing, the~ he would have to take other steps to have action taken. There was no further discussion. .JUROR'D~AWN{ Joseph Finneran drew the name of Dennis D. McDuffie of 42 Union Street (Operative to serve as a Juror at Superior Court on May 3, 1948 at Salem, Mass. BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS: A letter was received from the Board of Public Works informing this bo~rd that Joseph Rivet had requested the Eoard of Public Works to permit him to collect ground-keeper's £e~ from athletic teams that charge admission or make collection for games at Grogan's Field. The Board of Public works referred this matter to the ~electmen for their attention.. Mr. Finneran suggested thatthe matter:ha held over until April 26, and have Mr. Rivet and a representative of the North Andover A~hletic Associatirn~ome in to discuss this matter. NEW ENGLANDT & T CO: FIRE ALAPJ~ SYSTEM: A letter was receivedfrom the New'England T &.2CO. with reference to moving the fire alarm circuit so that work can be done on Winter Street and South Bradford Street by the N. E.'T & T CO. and the~Lawrence Gas & Electric Co. to clear up a source of trouble. This condition has been called to the attention of the Chief Engineer but for some reason the work has not been done. The Company asked for cooperation so that this work can be completed. " Chief Hargreaves will be asked to come into the meeting on 2riday at 1:30 P.M. to discus~ this matter. NEW ENGLAND FIRE ASSOCIATION: An application was received from this company to be filled out and returned sothat a complete survey may be made in order to determine whether or not North Andover can be rated in Class B in the Insurance st~rvey. Mr. Coffin willtake care of this matter and return the application mo the company. RECREATIONAL C0~ITTEE: The Board appointed two more members to the Recreational Committee to complete the number of memberw which is seven.:~r. Coffin suggested the name of George R. Lee of 93 Elm Street and the board bated unanimously to appoint him. Mr. Finneran suggested the name of William Bower of 43~ Harold Steeet as a member and the board voted unanimously on this name. The other members are Joseph Lumenello, Myra Stillwell, Nathaniel Archer, Mrs. Edmund Elliot, William Smith. No Chairman has been appointed to date. APRIL 12 I~Z~: conninued:: POLICE DEPARTMENT R]~PORT: A repor~ was received from Chief McKee relative ~o the complaints made about the noise at First and Main Streets. The chief reported that complaints had been received from Mr. Fieldhouse on several occasions and on April 4, at 1:00 A.M. a complaint was received from him and Officer Farnham chocked on this matter and found no persons loitering and no noise in the vicinity of the restaurant. The officers have been instructed to check on this matter regularly each night and to make any repor~ on any disturbance which they find. REPORT ON OPEN CELLAR: BeaconhilL Boulevard. Chief McKee reported that he'hsd talked with the owner of the open cellar and Mrs. Robinson informed him that the property is for sale 'at this time. The cellar has been boarded over but the boys removed the planks and took them away. Mr..Catty has agreed to put up a snow fence temporarily and this Will help to k~sppthe smaller ehildren out of.this vicinity. Mr. Coffin voted to accep~ these reports and to instruct the chief to keep in touch with this situation until the matter is remedied. STREET LIOHTREQUEST: Mr. Nazaire Giard of Bacon Ave. requested s s~reet light about two years ago and at that time there was no money available for one. He would like to have one installed at th~s time as it is vorydark in that section and when his wife works he feels that she would be safer if there were,a light installed in this section as it is werydark. Mr. Coffin WUggssted that the matter be tabled for one week and the members of the board will look over the location and see if a light is necessarl~-. BUS SITUATION: Mr. Chase of the Eastern Mass. Company stated that,they had put an'ex~ra bus on for the Osgood Mill help and they f~und that the prople wsre~taking the Railroad Ave. and~High Bus at 4:ZO O.M. Mr. Chase said tha~ this bus had been running late during the bad weather but that everybody seemed satisfied at this time. He said he didn't see any reason for extro buses as the workers were coming into Lawrence on that Railroad Ave~ & High bus. No further action taken. GLENWOOD Mr. Gaetano Midolo of Glenwood Street came before the board .last week and °' asked to have work done on this stree~ by Mr. Carry. The board~referred the matter to Mr. Carty and he reports that the street is not accepted and he will not and cannot do any work down ~here until it is accepted. An article in the 1946 warrant for acceptance of this street was recommended by the Advisory Board for n~*avorable acti6n.- Mr, Carry was asked to go down and talk to this family and explain what is required before the street can be accepted by the town. Mr. Carty agreed to do this. OPINION FROM C.J.MAHONEy: : Replf-!ng to a rsques~ by this board for instructions as to restrictions upon officers, boards of selectmen and committees of the town with reference · to loans, contracts and employmene ~of sny kind with the town,~ He reported 1-that there is no provision under the statutes of the Commonwealt~ which are applicable~o officers of the town and provision as to cities therefore have no bearing. ~2) Restrictions upon officers,, boards and committees of the town are limited to the Town By*laws and since there is no unifs~mi~y in either substance or form in which the different town by-laws are passed, each town provision must be construed independently and the particular form of our by-laws has never been construed by ou.r State Supreme Judicial Court. ~ ~ticle 4. Section 9 of the Town By-Eaws reads: "No officer, board or committee, of the ~own shall have any pecuniary interest, either direct, or indirect personally or through another person, in any loan, contract or employment of any so~t made by, with or for the department to which hi~;~r its duties apertainl ~11 contracts or employments made in violatio~f,, this by-law shall be void as to the town, and no bills therefor shall be approved, audited or paid." (A) It is clear that an office, board er committee or any employee thereofmay not nave any contract direct or indirect from which he would derive any financial benefit from the department under which his duties appertain. Applied to the present time this would prohibit any member of the school ~ommittee from having any contract of any nature with the school department of the town with the ~ception of the school physicain by an article passed at .the town meeting annually. No such member of the committee would be prohibited from sales and contracts with other departments of the town~ (B) The same would be true with reference to contracts made by th~.Selectmen. 37"3. APRIL 12, 19~8: continued: Confusion exists ir the public mind because many towns have by-laws wht:h prohibit any officer, board or committee or even employees of a department from having any pecuniary interest direct or indirect with any department of the town~ a restriction which is generally true with cities in the commonwealth. If any narrower construction were to he msde of Section 9 article 4 as adopted by the town of North Andover there would he no meaning to the limitation: "with or for that department to which his or its duties appertain. Though it is true that the Selectmen sign ~he warrant for all monies paid from the Town Treasury except for county taxes and bank discount all contracts are made by the different departments and the approval of the warrant is ministerial and would not appear to be a bar where the contract is made with the department on a matter omar which the selectmen have no control. I have taken this matter up with the Director of Accounts for the Commonwealth and he makes the same interpretation. Respectfully submitted ~ J. Mahoney. Sr. Coffin stated that this cleared the air on a question which has been dis~ssed more ord!ess and the board voted to accept the report and place on file. LAWRENCE DUMP-MARSDEN STREET: Mr. Coffin reported that he had several complaints about the Marsden Street dump in Lawrence and wondered if anything could be done about. Mr. Thomson stated that we hadmany complaints previously and aothing'much could be done about it. peter Ritchie was present and asked if he would be allowed to talk to Mr. Carney about this. matter as he knows him quite well and h~ would make a report to this board. The board agreed that this would be a good idea. PE~MISSION GIVEN TO HANG MAP: Mr. Ritchie asked the selectmen for permission to hang the new master plan of'the Planning Board in the Selectmen's Office. Mr. Coffin made a momion to grant this permission and the board was unanimous in ~oting for this request. Mr Brasseur will be notified to hang the map at his leisure. PJ~W~0R~ COMMITTEE: The Board discussed briefly the article in the warrant (#46) relative to a permanen~ war memorial for Veterans of World War 2 and the board voted to refer this matter mo the permanent war memorial committee. Mr. Cronin was contacted and he stated that th~committee would plan a meeting in the near future and discuss this article. A~TICLE FOR SPECIAL TOWN MEETING: Mr. Coffin presented an article 'petitioned by Santo A. DiMauro and others which requested the Selectmen to call a special mown meeting for the purpose of consider- ing two articles with reference to raise and appropriate money or transfer bybond issue or transfer from available funds, a sufficient sum of money to install a water system on Putnam Road z'annlng from'Greene Street to the.residence of Dr. H. Frank McCarthy and to install a sewer system on Putnam Road running from Greene Street to the residence of Dr. H. Frank McCarthy. A,letter accompanying the petition states that the developer M, A. Cristaldi wishes to waive'the projects authorized dnder article 52 and 53 of the ~own warrant on March 13, 1948 and in place of them perform the same work on'PutnamRoad the cost being estimated as identical to that estimated Under the above articles. Mr..'Oristaldi further ggreed that if the articles submitted are voted favorably, he will install at his own express a surface drain in under~round, pipes on Putnam Road from Greene Stree~ to the residence of Dr. H. Frank MCCarthy, and a like ~r~ on Pembrook Road from Greene Street to the residence of J. Lee Mylott and to put the surface of these streets for the distances indicated in condition so that will be approved by the highway surveyor for certification to the Board of Selectmen and acceptance by the town. This matter will be held on file until a special town meeting is called by the Board'0f Selectmen. MEETING ADJOURNED: The regular weekly meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held at 1:30 P.M. due to Monday, April 19, being a legal holiday. Weekly bills and payrolls were approved. VETERANS H0~SING COMMITTEE: Louis H. McAloon, Jr. Chairman of this committee and TSmethy J. McCarthy, a member, appeared before the board and informed them that their committee was in favor of having the Board of Selectmen get authorization to ask for e portion of the funds ~ppropriated by the ~tate for veterans housing. ~r. McAloon stated that North Andover would receive three percent of its real estate valuation or about $250,000 which would be used to provide rental housing for local veterans.