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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1953-12-14 Board of Selectmen MinutesDECEMBER 1~, 1953 -continued HEARING ON TREE RE)~0VAL: A hearingvas held at 7:30 P.);~. on the request of Howard Smyth, 160 Waverley Road for removal of a maple t~ee which is directly in the 'middle his driveway. Mr. Connors was present and he felt that the tree should be removed. The board voted to request the Tree %Varden to remove this tree. REQUEST FOR REMOVAL OF T~EE: & request for removal of a ~ree at 118 High Street was received from Leonard l?indle. Before taking action Mr. ~lillis inquired of Mr. Connors the reason for recommending the removal of. this tree. Mr. Conners said tha~ Mr. Windle has a bad situation here and also that this is an undesireable tree and is also a public shade tree even 'though it is on his property. Mr. Willis checked the law and fc~nd that the tree warden is the one to decide if a ~ree is a public shade tree. If there is one person opposed ~o taking a tree down, the tree warden can decide that ~it should not be removed. Mr. Conncrs mentioned the oth~tree, on Sutton Street and said that Miss Taylor was definitely .opposed to the removal of this tree and it was more than half on her proper~y than on Kurgin,s. ~he Board voted unanimously to refer this matter to the tree warden for posting. A hearing will be held on December 21, 1953 at 7:35 P.M. ACCIDENT REPORT: A copy of an accident report on Ida K. Farrell was~ceived by the board. Miss Farrell dropped s ledger on her foot. No action was taken. TRANSFERS F~DM RESERVE FUND APPROVED: Advisory Board approval was received .on the request of the Board of Appeals in. the amount of $150 ~o cover cost of legal expenses for the remainder of the Approval was also received for a transfer of $250 from~e Reserve Fund to the Fire Department expenses ~o take care of repairing, damage to~ the Fire Alarm System caused by the ice storm last spring. The Engineers had asked for $500 but the approval was for $250 .... REQUEST ~OR TRANSFERS FROM RESERVE FUND: The Board of Selectmen requested a transfer o'f~,$50.00 to cover clerical and~ other expenses for the balance of the year. The Board of Fire Engineers requested a transfer of $300 to take care of ex?enses for the remainder of the year. ~hey had originally requested $500 and only $250 was~ approved. The~chief explained that they had received.bills from venders and it will require $300 more to cover them. ~he Selec~en accepted the requests amd referred them to the Advisory Board for action. DEPARtmeNT OF CORPORATIONS AND TAXATIONS: In compliance with the provisions of Section 35 of Chapter. 41 of the Genersl Laws the Commissioner of Corpora%ions and Taxation has established the sum of $45,900 as the amount not less than which the 1954 bqnd for the treasurer to~n shall be written and the amount of $47,900 for the Tax Collector. The board approved the amounts and returned the forms to the Commissioner. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS: The board received a~!etter from Commissioner John A.. Volpe informing .them that a meeting is to be Held at ~he Department of Public ~orks Building, 100 Nashua Street, Boston on December 30, 1953 at 11:00 A.~. This board or a representative and other officials of towns ~ransversed by the route (Route 28) have been in- vited and they hope ~o get an exchange of ideas and suggestions toward the im- provement of this~route. Mr. WLllis and Mr. Kirk have made tentative plans to attend this meeting. Mr. ~homson was not present but he may decide to go. L~WRENCE GAS COMPANY: A petition was received for permission to excavate for installing gas service on two locations and the board took no action. The request of the Selectmen ~o have the proper notation recorded on the petition relative ~o putting the roads back in condition after excavation and to hold the %o~n harmless from all damages costs and expenses whatsoever, was not noted and the petition ~s requesting that this information be recorded. ~SEX COUNTY. RETIREMENT BOARD-RE:JAMES HARGREAVF~: The notice relative to the retirement of James Hargreaves, Chief Engineer, had been tabled until this meeting, %o determine Just what the conditions were. Mr. Willis stated that Mr. Hargreaves had been desirous of having six months extension in order to increase his retiremen% benefirm. Mr. Willis states that through a nswpaper he had learned that Mr. Hargreaves does no~ care for this ex~nsion, $92 DECEMBER 14, 1953: continued ESSEX COUN'IT RETIREmeNT BOARD re, JAMES HARGREAVES: Mr. Willis said he had received no official communication from Mr. Hargreaves. He checked with Mr, Puffy at Salem who informed him that there was no legislation pending and stated further that regardless of legislatlcn the chief would not be entitled to any more compensation unless by an Act of Legislation. He said the chief.s benefits are fixed as to the date of his retirement. Mr. Willis said that Mr. Har=Teaves has apparently been the victim of a mis. understanding and has been ac~ing under a misapprehension. He said he could see no particular objective in allowing him to work another six months. Mr. Kirk said that the only basis for this request was to give the chief a chance to increase his benefits but that he(Mr. Kirk) understood that the chief was no longer interested. Frank Murphy mentioned at this time that Arthur T~omson had to'ld hi~ that the Chief did not want his request,reconsidered and that Chief Hargreaves had expected Mr. Thomson to be present at this meeting and that he would ~have explained this to the board. At this point, Mr. Willis said,~Oh,he has counsel on the board? Mr. K~rk then contacted Mr. Hargreaves by telephone and was informed that he had withdrawn his request. Mr. Kirk stated that he wanted it understood that he had been perfectly willing to go along with .this ~request of the chief on condition that there was a possibility of passing legislation to take care of this and that there would be no additional cost to the town. ~: · Mr. Willis said he had received a letter from the Retirement Board~but unfortunately' had left it.in his office. -. Mr. Kirk then made a motion that the application for an.extension of employmen~ for Chief Hargreaves be denied on-~he basis of his own statement :andl;1Mre ~illis declared the vo~e to be unanimous. The members of the ~board then discussed the condition ~xisting in~ ~h~,~:f~re departs. merit and Mr. Willis . felt that it was unfair for one engineer to ge~ ,$4,00~ wh~ile ~ the other: two get ,$700 and' they have the same responsibility although.','the chief is' ? the ~oss" at a fire. Mr. ~?illiS talked of a plan to abolish the engineers ~nd create, the position of Chief or go.back to the old policy.and have~ ~board of engineers with no Chief.- He said it was too late for lmgislatt0n now, and that a letter should be sent to Civil Service ko determine the'proper procedure of appoint- ing a chief ..... CERTIFICATE OF CORPORATION: Notice received that an application has been filed in the office of the for, a Certificate of ~ncorporation by Bennie, Gioco. cf. North Andover ,and,. others not'from town, to.be known as Bennie,s Spor~smans 'Club and to be located in Lawrence. The board referred this to Chief MCKee for ~he usus!.,proce~ure of investigation. Vote was unanimous. SUTTON HIlL COMPANY: No r~eply had been received from Mr. Carty as to his determination-of the condition of Sut~n Hi~ Road and ~e bo~d suggested that a letter be sent to ~. C~ty ~quest~ that he i~orm this %card as soon be ~ released. DEP~2NT OF P~LiC WO~S: A copy~ of~the report made to Governor Eer~r on December 3, 1953 was~'recetved ~byJ. the b~. ~e letter sta~d that the ~epartment wo~d be ve~ appreciative of a~ suggestions ~is board ~ght make ~ be appreciated. ~ne oo~ received a complaint from ~ber~ C~fcksh~, 299 }~d~ese~ Street ~tive to a hole ~'the ~adway at the en~r~ce to ~e garages ~t~, the foot of H~old Street~and Ho'stated that in t~ng to dodge one ~hule~he r~ into ~other one which broke a S~ng in his c~. ~e cost of ~pairing this da~ge i~ $23~70 a~ the b~d decided to check this wi~ ~. C~ty before ~ing ~y ac~on on the cla~. Mr. Kirk mentioned ~at there ~as a ve~ l~ge hole in the road J.~t past Crockett S~it~ium and on this side of the Bo~ord line w~ch is very d~gerous ~d the board vo~ed the b~rd. DECEMBER 14, 1953: DRAINAGE PROBLEM: William B. Duffy, sup~.. of Board of Public i?orks sent a letter %o the board calling their attention to the existence of the 18 inch East Bide Sanitary Trunk Sewer running from East t~ater Street over Wayne Street (so-called) ~o Osgood Street. He stated that this trunk sewer tatces care of the entire easterly portion of the sanitary sewer system in town. Any work done in connection with ~he drainage system from Pleasant Street ,might wash out this T~unk sewer and cause great exp~n~'e to the :own as well as being a menace ~o public health. }~. Willis said he had talked with Mr. Dully about', this matter and had informed him that so~ time ago it had cost $1500 ~o repair this trunk sewer. He suggested that the problem be checked with the s~a~e and see if a new drain could be pu~ in Chickering Road. ~alph Brasseur had prese,~ed plans and an explanatory letter. The plan shows the ~:~;~ existing drainage conditions and mentioned that both the town and State drainage discharges into the open brook running generelly northerly from Pleasant Street. ~his brrok is a natural waterway which has existed many years. Mr. Brasseur also suggested that the proper procedure ~o correct this condition would be ~o contact H. Gordon Gray, Chief Engineer and see if some arrungemen~ could be worked out for the enclosing of this brook in pipe, the, cost ~o be borne by the State and Town proportionately. Mr. '4~illis felt that action should be taken in the immediate future so that an article can be inserted in the warrant to see if they will make a survey' and also contribute.towards the cos% of repairing this condition. A letter wi~l'be, senz to the Chief Engineer, H. Gordon Gray.- BUDGETS- S~C~EN: The board members discussed the budgets which come under thc Board of Selectmen and in view of some changes suggested they voted to hold a meeting on'next Friday at l:00 P.M. when the full board will be presen~ and they will agsin discuss the budgets. DECEMBER 18, 1953: T~e Dears ne£c's special meeting at 1:00 P.M. to discuss the budgets which come under the Beard of Selectmen. ~ey voted to discontinue the appropriation of $400 for the Perry Street Dump and will pay the last payment for 1953 of SLOG, covering the last quarter. Mr. Carry is putting this land back in condition and the check for $1OO will be h~ld up until a release' of-some .kind is received, from Mr. Perry so tha~ there will be no further rentals. A~ increase of $100 for expenses for the building inspector w~11 .'be a~d~d to the appropriation for Building Inspector. ~ The Contingent fund will be $2,000'instead of $2035. SELEC~V~EN'S BUDGET: The board.voted to increase the expenses of Selectmen to $1500. After some dis- cussion the board voted to increase the compensation of the Secretary to~$20.OO weekly for services rendered. Mr. Thomson stated that he did not feel that they could hire a clerk or secretary to perform the duties now performed~ by Mrs. Dearden for $20.O0'and he made a motion that this ,amount-be set as her compensation. ~ Willis agreed that it would no~ be possible ~o have someone come ih for this amount and he said he realized Just how much work there w~s and,he agreed that $20.00 should be given. Mr. Kirk seconded the mo~ion and the vo~e was unanimous. .The expenses,for Selectmen's due~, stationery, postage and telephone has increased and they felt that $1500 would cover the total expenditures. OPENING OF WARRANT: The boa.rd discussed the opening and closing of the Warrant for 1954 and decided that it should be opened on December 28, 1953 and closed on January 25, 1954. Mr. Thomson said he felt that the people should have ample time to submit articles. ~ey discussed the articles to be given to the Advisory Board and Mr. Willis felt that they could work on the articles as they came in, rather than wait for the warrant to ~:e myped. The other members agreed and Mrs. Dearden mill take this up with Mr. Coughlin, chairman of the Advisory Boar. d. CHIEF ~GINEER: Mr. Hargreaves came before the board and discussed the item in the newspaper about him and he felt that Mr. Willis had given the wrong ~.mpression. He had a copy of a letter which was sent to'~Mr. Willis from Mr. Dully at Essex County Retirement Board. He said there was a bill House Bill #2737 in the Legislature last year and that it had been continued through ~o this year. He said it pro~ably wouldn't do him any good and ~en he found this ou~, he dropped his request. Mr. ~illis sai~ he was supposed ~o come before theboard with information about this legislature and he didn't come back and it wasn'~ until Mr. Kirk talked with him on the telephone that the board vo~ed to deny his request on the basis of his own statement. Mr. Kirk said he was disturbed about the conversation ~he had with Mr. ~Har&~eaves on the telephone but tha~ he hadn't said anything to anyone about it. There was further discussion and Mr. Hargreaves left the meeting.