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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1950-12-04 Board of Selectmen Minutes D .C mER 1950_: The regular weekly meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held am ?:00 P.M. with all 'members present. Weekly bills and payrolls were approved. DEPT. OF CORPO~ATIONS & TAXATION--Reserve Fund: Letter received from Henry F. Long recommending makimum for the 1951 reserve fund. Mr. Thomson {hought this was a very impor~an~ letter and Mr. Maker said it would do away with the necessity for town meetings. Mr. Coffin also agreed with the letter that we should have a larger reserve fund. By a unanimous vote of the board, it was vo~ed to refer this letter to the Advisory Board. Z%EE REMOVAL HEARING: A hearing was held at ?:15 on the petition of Albert J. Boucher, 105 Second Street,' for the removal of one tre~; ' Mr. Connors s~a~ed it had been posted and the ~ree is in the middle of the driveway. The' Selectmen voted unanimously to grant this petition. REQUEST FOR ~EE REMOVAL: ~ -.- A request for the removal o~ two trees was received 'by Frederick Coffin, 30 Sargent Street. Mr. Co~ors stated that half of one of the trees had come down and they were going to t~ke the other half down anyway. It was unanimously Voted to refer this matter to the tree warden. LAWRENCE GAS& ELECTRIC COMPANY: Letter received from the Law. Gas & ~Elecuric expressing appreciation to Selectmen, Police, Fire and other departments for their cooperation during the ~ecent storm emergency. The Boar~voted unar~tmously to request street lights on pole 1179, Andover Street; pole 3106, BeechhAvenue; midway on Cross Street; and a larger light in frond, of Thomson School. HZGH~AY DEPARTMENT - Morris S~reet: Letter received from Mr~ Carry stating tha~ sewer and wa~er have be~n installed on Morris Street, for a distafice of 180 feet. Since its completion, the road has .been put back into condition, and meets with the approval of the Highway Surveyor. The board voSed unanimously ~o set a hearing for December 18, 1950 at.7:30 P.M. to act upon the adjudication of 180' of Morris Street, to be conditioned upon the filing of the plan of the petitioners, Mr. Ritchie and Mr. Summers. If they do no~ file a.plan, ~he~ hea~ing will.ncc be Held. EAST.ERN MASS. ST. RY. CO~: ~- Letter received from Eastern Mass. advising they will have both operations "Town Farm" and "Lowell" pin-pointed and will correct to provide such early service if present schedule is.inadequate. They will advise us at a later date of any~changes. STEVENS HALL: ' ' 7.F.W. requested the use of Stevens Hall on December 21, 1950 ~or ~hist Party~ Permission was granted by a unanimous vote of the-board. ' REQUEST FOR TRANSFER 'FROM RESERVE FUND: ., . .. The Sele6tmen ~voted unanimously to request the Advisory Board to' transfer $560 from the reserve fund to thewelfazeappropriatiou' (Aid .to Dependent' Children). DEPT. OF LABOR & INDUSTRIES: Retail price index of specific goods and services in large Mass~' cities was received for the period Yrom'mid-~ctober to mid-November, 1950. DEPT. OF CORPORATIONS AND T~YATION: Letter received frOm Henry F. Long addressed to each City and Town Cl~rk stating that he.was receiving many requests for the use of available funds but that the. vote taken as cerzified to ms by the city or town clerks is seldom, if ever, fully descriptive of what the situauion is and, therefore, it becomes necessary in many instances to disapprove the request which might not be the case if the vote were more descriptive of the circumstances that require an appropriation late in the year due to conditions arising subsequent to the annual town meeting or to the time the city budget was pu: in. DECEMBER 4, 19SO (continued) DAMAGE CLAIM: Selectmen agreed ~o offer Mrs. Agnes Costello, 17 Merrimack Costello, $32.45 to cover her claim'eubmttted in the amount of $32.45. DISCUSSION OF RAISES: Mr. Willis and ~r. Donald Thompson came before the meeting and Mr.'Willis spoke: "We had a meeting and discussed it with the boys and explained what you had told us at the last meeting and they felt this way...they were perfectly willing :o go along with you on your recommendation that we follow the usual procedure and they felt I should make this point extremely importan~..~they have been more than co- operative and their request has been lowered from $10.per week :o 12%-raise:and I understand that we are supposed to wor~ on a salary basis, there is no hourly rate. The unanimous'opinion of allmembers of the department is that we would like 12% increase based on our hourly salary. ~¥e feel this is not an unreasonable request. They would like very much to go along with you gentlemen on the procedure that has been outlined :o us...12% increasebased on.hourly salary. Oho'other point: oh the question of a'spread between the men andthe officers, they are highlyin favor of an adjustment being made but not at the expense of considering our pa~ raise. They do not wan: the spread to jeopardize our raise..They fe$1 that.they have cooperated rightalong and have laid.their cards on.the table. One other point I would'like to particularly stress...we would .like very very much to have the Seleb~men condone a request for a 12% increase...that is approximatelywhat the other departments have received, onthe basisof their pa~." . Mr. Thomeon asked 'if the 'other departments were granted 12%or 125 per hour, but Mr. Willis did not'know. Mr. ~Willis further s:ated that it is the unanimous opinion that there should~be no distinction'be~ween the :we departments (police.& fire),~, and~ stated that they want' to'stay together end they feel that 12% is~the bare minimum they can stand at'the presen~ime. .' Mr. Thomson asked if it were understood that this WOuld boa ~empcrary. increAse. Mr. Willis, "Oh, no, it would be a permanent increase. Mr..Thomson: "Suppose it'was voted to have the salaries increased 12%, beginning January 1 and endingDecember 31, 1~51. Unless we advise:Civil Service that"it iS: only a temporary increase~ that will,be the same tony ears from now. 'Mr.' ThOmson felt~thisshould he-considered asa temporary;cost'of'living bonus. He'feltthat- .. any recommendatiou,coming fromthe Boardof Selectmen should coverthe year 1951 ~nly so that when the budgets were to be drawn up for 1~52~ the situation would be so ~ifferent, they might want to come in and, ask for something different. Mr. · . .'~¥illis stated this would mean conStant haggling year after, year..Mr. Thomson said ·. that-it might':create~ epposition'if you asks, for'this as~a permanent thing. Mr. ThoMson~ further, s~a~ed ~ that there is a question in" the-'minds, cf. thel:Sale c~men whether ' it..would be 12% or:12$/hr., butsaid he.could see.~he12%,re~usst, if the fire'amd .police departments want'~o remain the same., Mr. Willis, stated/,~e don't have .too much support from anyone.~ ~e'actually have every taxpayer as an employer;., M~'. Coffin stated:that he feltthat .arr~ise' was in. order but before commenting 'on his own personal',opinionlas to what the raise should, be,~.he'.falt there should ~ Se A'meetingbetween. this board and, the advisory boardwith, the police and:fire sitting in if they desire and present~their~case if neededand if. any other'de partment heads who~wantto ~considerrates of~increase, they too could'sit in~ :'..- ' Just wondered, stated Mr; '.Coffin, iflit would helpro%~%~ decision ,if you would . ,~: presen~ the percentage.'ofi~crease.which has.been ~ranted:around this'section.' Mr. Co~finsaid ho'thought the Advisory Beard would'feel an increase was. in order. MrJ~illis asked Mr~ ~Coffin if he thought they were ~sking for too much but Mr. Coffin did not want to commit.~himself at this time but did say that he did~no~ . .- · think the request was unreasonable. ~cre was a. brief discussion comparing: salaries of Andover, Methusa~ 'Reading and Stoneham with'. North Andover and Mr. Thomson said , he .was in favor of the 12% 'raise, in view of the attitude o£cooperaticn.and par- ticularlyin view of the cooperation both departments have shown within the past year. Mr.'C6ffin'~felt a conference was necessary toiren out amicably what they ;~ were going to do So that~there WOuld be no confusion at the town meeting. Mr. Thomson said that if'the'Selectmen agree, they will go along with ~he police and' fire' depts~ regardless Of what the Advisory Board says.' ~Mr..~h6~en was in favor of' a' temporary raise. ~here was. another discussien-abou~ whether, this .should be permanen~ or temporary, and Mr. Williss%a%ed-they felt there request was Justified for a. 12% permanent increase. Mr. Thomson said that as Selectmen cf the town,~ they 'couldn't'tie in the town for too 19ng a period. He thought it would be best to see what the reacti~nwould be. The Selectmen expressed their views as follows: Mr. Thomson ~aid he would go along with the 12% as'a tsm~orary increase er if these d~pts, wanted to drop that and arrange for a permanent increase'in salary, he would go along~with that, but not at 12%. Mr. Coffin said he might go along on part permanent increase and part temporary. Mr. Finneran said he wouldthink about the 12%' and might even go along with it on a permanent basis. Mr. Thomson said if the town meeting voted for a permanent increase, the Selec~ment would probably go along with them. The board finally decided to hold a meeting on December 18, 1950 at 8:00 P.~. and invite the Advisory'Board and all department heads. ESSEX COUNTY SELECTMEN'SASSOC. Notice of meeting on Sat., Dec. 9, 1950 at Town Hali, Newhury (Fall mee%ing)