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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1950-12-18 Board of Selectmen Minutesit2 DECEMBER 18, 1950: BOND- MORP~S STREET: The board voted unanimously to return the bond of $50.00 to David Ritchie who had previously posted this bond with the Selectmen and Morris ~Strast is now in condition for adjudication by the Board of Selectmen. DEPARtmENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS CENTER SCHOOL. A letter ivas received from the School Committee informing the Selectmen.that on .. December 14, 1950 they voted,, that the School Committee abandon the Center School and return the building to the Board of Selectmen for disposition.,- No action wss taken at this meeting. JURy SERVICE QUESTIONNAIRE: Copies of approved forms, one for prospective male and one for prospective female Jurors and may be printed locally for use by local boards. Chapter3~7 of the Acts of 1949 provides for-the drawing of women to serve uponJuries in the Common;;ealth. Extracts from Chapter'234 are listed also. Noaction taken at this meeting. ·ARRANT OPENED.: Board voted to open the warrant on December 18, 1950 and close it an January 16, 195~ at 8:00 P.M. MEETING OF.DEPARTMENT HEADS P~ATIVE TO INCREASES IN stLARIEs: Mr. Thomson started the'meeting off by informing those present that the Selec~me~ wished to have this conference to arrive at some uniform type of action.~He stated thatthe Police and Firemen have presented a request for anincrease overwh~ch'the Selectmen~ have the Jurisdiction but that the various department heads h~ve the authority to sa~what the raise will be for tbeirraspective~department, ~e have progressed to some extent withthe Police and Fire departments and have agreed that if any action is taken, it would be dependent on the appropriation~at, theAnnual Town.meeting, and would be:retroactive to January 1, 1951." .... . John Willis informed' thos~ present that these negotiations 'startedseveral. weeks 'ago · and decided that the men should have a raise. '?he groups arrived at A' 12%.~crease insalaries and all felt that this raise was justified. Mr..Willis did not 'feel ,:that a' cost of living bonus w~s in accord with the trend although'Mr~"ihomson felt that a cost of living bonus would be in order, lhe group determined, that a-permanent raise be given and if a cut is necessary it would notbe.'too~di~ficult to, take it. Mr; Willis mentioned various places in townwh0' haY& given'increAses.'. Mr..Thomson then mentioned that it was the. divided opion '~n".the part'of/the '. Selectmen that thereqere ~wo eluestions'to be answered, first, hoald-there.be a 'raise.and should it be temporary or permnent. He said 'the boardwould certainly / , ~beSgUmded by the decisions of the other demartment heads. · F~ank Wallw6rk asked about increase on me~t ' ~ ' ' or inequality as ~they are 'to-day. .Mr. Thomson mentioned that in the police and fire department:they have:,6onsid6~ed makings wage differential as there is quite a.c~i~ference.in the 'v~'0~sfw~ge-- '.. :scales"of.other.~towns. :,,:,,. :: . the prese~ wages are and,~the.hourly~ra~j ~ a~r~.y pays,.,~.O0 per hour, police and firemen get $56.~0; ~cr~tYiho~r~.'?~ · ' ~the pomice:and2§ hours for the~fireman hut they. do not wo~kon a~ h~rlylbasis. :Mr. D~ffy stated that the base pa~ in his department is $1J12 per hour and [~Connors pays$1.16 per hour. . '_. .. .Wild ~ention~dUthatthe lar~er industries have given,,a, $.12per"hour,raise and he ~believes that the town employes should have a'raise-~ and he p~esumedth~t this'will-be presented ~o the town m~eting. Mr. Thomson stated that a suggestion could be made to mncrease' '~budgets,' "accordingly~ ' ' andtha~ employees would not contradict budgets at the town meetingJ~Hesaid he ~ould like to get action of all as to whether this is to be temporary.or permanent Mr. Edwin M~rphy ofthe Advisory Board stated that if the increase is'not uniform- then the Advisory Board cannot help but be chaotic. ~,, . -. ' It was brought out that the Highway, Water and Tree departments 'would not take any increase from January 1, 19~1 until after action by the town meeting. John WiLlis then inquired what Mr. ~allwork meant by merit increase. 'He ~wanted to know how he would'base merit increases, on intelligence,, responsibility 6r educational qualifications. Mr. Wallwork felt that it.xas up to the department heads to determine merit. There was discussion about the school department not being present and Mr.~Duffy felt thatthey should let them knowthat there are other departments working for the town. · Mr. Coffin felt that there should be a survey made to determzne msri~ increases but that at t~is time it should be decided what the increase should be. He felt that the Advisory Board will want to sit in with th~ Selectmen or the Department heads before making their decision. Mr. Murphy stated that the Advisory Bo~rdwill act as usual and discuss with the departments their budgets. He said that if no standard increase is given, it will be putting the advisory board in a precarious position and he felt thatthe increase should be uniform. He further s~ated that he would go on. record as being an advocate for an increase provided it was uniform but that he could not answer for the other members of the board. DECEMBER 18, 1950- continued. Mr. Maker stated that he felt that he should have a salary adjustment and he felt there were individual cases. Mr. Thomson informed him that the town meeting fixes the department head salaries w~ ile employees salaries are made by the department heads. Mr. Kittredge said he was no% sure that he ~anted to among those who want a uniform raise across the board. He said he might feel that one department needs a 5% increase whil another might need 15%. He said he had nothing~ specific in mind but he did not like the idea of going on record for a 12% increase. He did however, go on record for a raise ~nd no~ a cost of living bonus. Chief McKee, Mr. Caron, Bd. of Health, Mr. %~allwork, Mr. Wilds went on record as feeling that a 12% increase should be given. There was further discussion among the group and Mr. Thomson concluded the meeting, thanking the departments for ~neir kind assistance and informing them that Budgets are due on December 20, 1950 and that the Selectmsnwill accept them with a 12% increase(permanent for all employees. TRANSFER FRoM RESERVE FUND APPROVED. Approval was received for the amount of $500.00 to be transferred, from the Reserve Fund to the A. D. C. appropriation to take c are of the' expenses for recipients for the balance of the year. DECEMBER 22, 1950: The Board of Selectmen met at 1:30 P.M. to-day due ~o Monday being a holiday. Bills and payrolls were approved. POLICE: Sgt. Hi!ton~and Chief McKee came before the Board to inform them that Philip J. McGowan, 20 years old was in Lawrence District Court and he stated that he had bought liquor a~ the Richlyn Social Club and while in court he stated that he paid $.25 per bottle. A hearing was se~ for 12/29/1950 at 1:30 P.M. and Mr. ~Coffin suggested that Mr. McGowan be summoned to appear a~ this hearing. Details are in license book. INCREASES: SALARIES: The board discussed the 12% increase for employees and after some lengthy dis- cussion, the board vo~ed to grant the 12% increase to all employees whether full or part time. On Police salaries the board discussed the differential which they felt should be .grea~er between the patrolmen and the sergeant and b~'tween the sergeant and the chief. Mr. Coffin felt that if the chief and sergeant were going to devote ,all their time ~o the department he would go along with the differential. He said that was a very definite reason why the differential was mentioned. Mr.- Thomson said he felt that we have ~ot ~o recognize the difference in rank although the Advisory Board may well reconstruct our ideas. In comparison with wages in other communities , they are practically the same On motion of Mr. Thomson the board voted to allow the budget figures for the police to go through as they are, ~o the Advisory Board. CENTER SCHOOL: ~he board discussed the Center School and the possibility of disposing of it.~ After some discussion, the board voted to ~hold this in abeyance for the present and the board would look at the school' and see if everything was in order and make arrangements ~o board up the windows and doors .and the costa of this work would be taken from the Contingent Fund. ~he Board felt that Mr. Ernest Miller might do this work, since he had already done similar work for the school dc,~artment. POLICE DEPART~NT: Mr. Coffin brought up the ma~er of the holdup at the Vermont store in ~own and he had heard a report that the ~wo men responsible had appeared in Court in Lawrence on Lawrence charges and that the North Andover Police had done no~hing to bring them into court on tlueir charges. He would like a full report with facts and circumstances why this case didnot, appear at the District.Court. He said he h~d heard uncomplimentary remarks made .by the Lawrence police against North Andovar officers. ~he Chief will be asked ~o submit the above report. COTUIT STREET: A letter was received from Ira D. Carty, Highway Surveyor, informing the .board that sewer and warner hod been installed on Cotuit Street for a distance of one hundred sixty feet. Since i~s completion the road is now in condition and mee~s with the approval of the Highway Surveyor. The Board voted mo return the bond to Stevens Nichols and Mr. Maker, treasurer was informed of this matter and required to return the bond.