HomeMy WebLinkAbout1952-10-20 Board of Selectmen Minutes OCTOBER 20, 1953:
NE~ ENGLAND T~ & T~CO:-A~ERICAN TEL. & TEL. CO:
A petition and ~wo copies of plan #76 covering the transfer of 60 poles f~om
Joint with the American Tel. & Tel Co. ~o Jus~ New 'England Telephone. No hearing
is required ~nd the board voted unanimously ~o gran~ this petition.
NEW ENGL~'~D TEL. & TEL. CO:- LA¥~ENCE GAS & ELECZ~IC CO:
PETITION FOR JOINT POLE LOCATIONS on the was~erly side of Johnson Street, at
points approximately 134 feet, 284 feet, and 585 feet northerly from Mdll Road
3 poles.(abandon 5 existing telephone poles)
On the westerly side of Johnson Street, at points approximately 434 feet and
735 feet northerly from Mill Road, 2 poles. A hearing will be held .on this
petition on No~ember 3, 1952 at 7:30 P.M. Tnis was a unanimous vo~e of the board.
DIVISION OF CIVIL SERVICE:
Approval of the provisional appointments of the following named patrolmen inas
much as there is no suitable eligible list was receiwed from Civil Service and
will continue un~il March 22~ 1953~ Ralph J. Bolderson, Augustine ~alsh, Alex-
ander Ness and Frank Howard.
NORTH ANDOVER BOARD OF TRADE:
A letter was received by the Board of Selectmen thsnking t~em for their a~sist-
anco in having the gat~ arms at the North Andov~er depot repainted. ~he letter
sta~es that the Board of '~ade does not feel saitisfied that there is any,
improvement in the visibility of the ga~e arms sufficien~ ~o co~e ~ith the
amoan~ of ~raffic at t~ts point. They asked for ~he opinion of' the board as to
whether visibility has been improved sufficiently in their estimation. No action
was taken a~ this time but_ Mr. ~homson zuggested that the members check on the
gate arms a% night and see what they think about this matter.
DEPARB~INTOF PUBLIC WORKS:
A letter was received rolativ, e ~o information this board requested on October 10.
Mr. Mc?~illia~ informed the hoard that the drainage' (item #2) in front of the
Beck proper~y has been take~ care of and item #3, n~mely, the guard rail to
protect the wa~er .supply will be done provided sufficient money is available in
the present allotment. The letter states that Mr. McW~-lliams will call on the
Board within a few days and go over. these mac,ers in the field.
EXECU~TVE DEPARtmENT-STATE HOUSE:
A letter was received from Pa~l A~ Dever, Governor, reminding the board that
Unit6d Nations Day falls on October 24. Literature and posters will be mailed
to the. board and should be displayed in this area.
The Board vo~ed to send some of the literature to the V.F.%?., American Legion
and to the Town Clerk for display
COMPLAINTLDA~aGE CLAIM: '
The Board received aletter from Paul F. Smith, 27 Lincoln St. informing th~m
that~ on October 10, j~st beyond Crockett Sanitcrium on Route 133 toward 'the
Boxford line, his car s~ruck a. hole in the road and he los: a hub cap and ble~
out a tire. The cos~ of the damage is $23.97 and he feels that he should be re-
imbursed. The Board vo~ed to re for this to Mr. Carry for investigation before
taking any action.
TOWN-CLERK-REGISTRARS- VO,~NG~HOURS FOR NOV, 4,1952,
John J. Lyons, ~o~n clerk and the board of registrars came before the board to
inform them that they as well as the wardens are in favor of keeping the polls
open from 7:00 A.M.~ to 7:00 P.M., due to the large vote expected. He said that
the law reads that the polls may open fifteen minutes before 6:00 ~A.M. but he
~hought that was too early.
Mr. Finneran felt that no change should be made ~t this time when there is such
an important election coming'up but he did say that it 'could be changed later
and give the people time to realize the change.
Mr. Coffin went along with Mr. Finneran and he felt that by changing the hours
for such an important election, man~ of the people would be left ou~.
Mr. Lyons mentioned the large number of absentee ballots which.will be late in
coming in and they will have a ~remendeus amoun~ of work.He thought a change
should be made now while we have~ a bigelection.
Mr. Coffin said he was very- much in sympathy with 'the amount ~f work that has to
be done after 85~ P.M. but he was personally in favor of opening the .polls from
? to 8. He said the vo~ing list has lots of errors and the more errors there are
the longer it will take to correct them. He said the Republican committee will
make a house ~o house check on the p~rons living thereand will submit s list
to th~ Registrars to do with as they sec fit.
Mr. Zyons said it is impossiblo tokeec this list accurate. '~he people won~ notify
the clerk and people leave ~own, ge~ m4rried, e~c. and no notice is sent to this
office. He said it was a difficult Job to keep it s~raight.
OCTOBER 20,19520 continned
~r. Coffin agreed that this was true and he Knew that .Er. Lyons and the Registrars
had worked hard to make the list accurate but he felt that the oeople would have
~o cooperate. '
Mr. ~homson then said that he was in favor of keeping the polls open from ? ~o
8 P.M. as they expec~ a tremendous vote this year. He informed tar. Lyons that
it was a very hard thing ~o do ~o keep this list accurate but he wondered if it
would help if a notice of fairly good size was posted Kt the various precinct
locations informing the vo~ers of any change and informing ~nem that they mus~
notify the ~own clerk ~hen a change is made. In time t~e people wou3,dbecome
educated to the new changes.
I~r..Lyons said he thought this was an excellent suggestion and he wouldfollow i~
through.
Mr. Fimneran then said he thought the polls should cemain open untiI '~:00 P.M.
but he didn,t know about the morning opening, whether it should be ~ or 8.
Mr. Coffin then made a motion that the hours of vo~ing on November 4, 1952
should be from 7:00 A.M. ~o 8:00 P.M. and the motion was seconded by Mr. Finneran
and voted unanimously.
Mr..Thomson then informed the clerk and .registrars that he realized the long
hours they would have ~o put in and said he ~uld be glad to consider paying
extra for the extra hours to be pu~ in and the other two members also agreed with
this suggestion.
CHAPTER gO- GREAT PO~] ROAD:
Attorney Elwyn King, Board of Assessors-Henry,Lund, Marguerite Soucy~and.E4ward
Phelan me~ with the Selectmento discuss the land taking on Great.Pond Road. Mr.
Thomson explained that if some sort of an adjustment is not made, the ,board anticipates
that ~he matter will go :o court and the vslue of the land will he valued by a Jury.
They discussed various prices for the land per foot and Mr. Finneran said he thought
tham $.03 per .foot would be a fair price for the land. Mr. Lund agreed with this~
Mr. Thomson said that due to the improvement to the land he felt that $.02 would be
'sufficient. He asked the assessors if they had the exac: amount of the land taken,
would they be able to give a figure per foot. Mr.. Lund said they could do this and
they wtll work on it and report ~o this board.
Allmembers felt tha~.$,02 per ft. was sufficien{. Mr. Phelan will get the necessary
figures for the board.
Mr. Thomson said that when the figures are broken down an offer shouldbe~made to the
various owners and then'refer the matrmr to. Mr. King ~o %a~e charge of the mat~er and
all agreed that thisshould be.done. Mr. ThomSon said that sll offers are conditional
upon the ac~ion at the to~n meeting.
meeting, of the Board of Selectmen was held at ~:00 P.M. with all
members present. 'Neeklybills and payrolls were approved.
PRECINCT OFFiCERS'~ALARY:
Mr. Thomson brought up the matter of pay for these officers.on November 4, 1952 and
due to the long hohrs and the tremendous amount of wor~. which is expected the hoard
voted to give ~n increase to each worker for this election only. After some discussion
Mr. Coffin made a motion that the %'~a~dens be given $16.00, clerks, $15.00'and the other
workers $10.00, for this election only. ~r. Ffnneran seconded this motion and the vote
was unanimous. Town Cterkwill be notified.
LA~RENCE GAS & ~ECZ~IC COMPANY:
The Board voted unanimously to grant permission to the above company to excavate
to repair gas min on ~ater Street, cor~er of Main Street. 3~r. Carty has been
notified of this permission.
NEw, ENGLAND .TE~. & TEL. CO.-LAWRENCE GAS & ELECz%IC CO:
A hearing ~as held at ?:30 P.M. on the application (joint) heretofore granted locations
for ahd erected in said locations poles, '~ith wires,~ cables m~d fixtures, along and
across the following public ways: On the westerl~ sideof Johnson Street, at .points
approximately'434 feet and 735 feet northerly from ]~ll Road, 2 poles, And on the
westerly side of Johnson Street, at poimts approximately 134 feet, 284 feet, and 585
fee~ northerly from Mill ~oa~, 3 poles. (abandon 5 existing telephone poles).
Petitipn requests permission to have Joint or identical locations for andnermission
to erect and maintain poles, wires and cables, in accordance with plan No.' 5798,
dated 9/26/52 and plan #5799, dated 9/26/52.
Ail abutters were notified and no opposition was presented. The Board voted unanimousl~
to gran: this permission to {be abo~e companies.
A SECOND HEARING was held at this time on the petitions of the above companies
for permission to locate poles, wires, fixtures, e~c. on the southerly side of Main
Street, a~ a point approximately 101 feet ~esterly from ~xssell Street, 1 pole.
(2We existing J.O. pole locations to be abandoned). The Board~voted unanimously
to grant this permission. Ail abutters had been notified and there was no opposition.
Mr. Barry, representative of the Lawrence G & E Co. attended both hearings.