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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1954-09-20 Board of Selectmen MinutesACCIDENT REPORT: A copy of an accident report on ~alter Marshall,18 Second St. was received. No action required. Mr. Marshall sprained his ankle when he turned it while working under the hurricane emergency. LAWRENCE GAS COMPANY: The board voted unanimously to grant permission to this company to excavate to install gas service for Hay Scales Exchange, Andover St. corner 'of Osgood Street.(30 feet in street). To excavate ~o install gas service for Walter Cushing, 23 Dana St. (2? feet in street) and for Joseph Trembly, 11 Minute Ave. (30 feet instreet). Mr. Carty will-be notified of the action of the board. REQUEST FOR REMOVAL OF BR~U~CHES: Mrs. Lenna Prescott, 20 Middlesex St. requests the removal of top branches on a tall Maple tree in front of her property. She feels that these branches should be removed to avoid the danger of the branches falling on her roof at some~future date. The Board'referred this to thetree warden for investigation. CHAPTER 90 work- Great Pond Road. Duplicate copies of an agreement for the improvement of a section of road in this to~n under Chapter 90 were submitted to this board for their consideration. If approved they are to be returned for approval by the commissioners. ~he board approved the copies after reading the contractthrooughly. DAMAGE CLAIM: Tae Board received a report from the Police Department relative to the claim made by Herbert ~ittemore of Brook Road, Boxford ~ the board voted 'to inform Mr..Whittemore that they would allow him $15.00 for the~ damage to his car. A general' release will be-mailed to the claimant for his approval and thena check wi1,] ~be sen~ tohim after the release is received. - DEPART~NT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: .... & letter was r~ceived from the Department of Public Safety relative mo a license to carry pistol or revolver which was issued on 8/16/19~4 to ~illiam G. Juley, 17 P Cypress Ave. Methuen for "target practi~e,, and one issued on 8/25/54 :o Wm. G. Juley, 61 Water St. for' "protection.,, ~he Commissioner stated that only one license may be issued unless a business by whom th& licensee is employed pays for it for a specific purpose. In view of this, Mr. Juley returned his permit and the board 'voted unanimously to void the license and Mr;a~uley will have !!p~otection!' added ~o his license in Methuen. REPORT ON'AUDIT OF TAX COLLECTOR'S ACCOUNTS: A copy of the report on the audit of the r~x collector's account was re~e~ved by the board and 'the'board- felt that .everything was in order. Report will be. filed in Selectmen,s vault, DEC MURPHY: Leo Murphy came before the board to discuss a culvert at'the end of Belmont Street which is blocked up. He said that when Patriot Street was accepted at the town meeting, it'wasn't connected with this culvert and people have thrown everything ~hto it. He said'this culvert'was there'when th~ railroad was built and then the t6~n rebuilt the culvert from the railroad to the river. He said this culvert should b~ cleaned out' and if there is any damage the town will b~ responsible. ~he culvert' was originally built by Davis & Furber Co. lhe board voted to talk to Ira Carty about cleaning out this culvert. COMPLAINT: Mr. Steve Helbrick came in to discuss the damage done to his property on account of the hurricane. He said there ~as a big ditch there now and it would Zake about 100 loads of fill and .about $200 worth of loam ~o fix up this location, at the corner of Pleasant and ~.hickering Road. Hr. Willis explained that the only answer to this problemwas .to pipe the ditch - and that'he had talked at length with the State about this matter. He suggested ~hat Mr. Belbick ge~ a petition and have an article inserted in the ~rant for the next annual town 9eeting to have this work done. He also suggested that this matter be explained to Subatch and Slipkowsky, who are also interested in this project. Mr. Helbick said he would haVe an article dr~w~ up for the next annual %own meeting. SEPTEMBER 20, 195h- continued BOARD OF FIRE ENGINEERS: The Board of Fire Engineers came before the board and informed them that there 'had been 12-.breaks in the fire system and .all have been repaired temporarily. Tae line man will have to go over this and take all the small cteces out. There were 23 miles in one circui~ to be repaired. Chief Daw explain~d that the Mack pump was taken to the Osgood ~tll and that one se~ of batteries was dead and the other barely worked and this had to be repaired. Some of the men worked all day and night until five o,clock in the morning. ~o or ~three of these men are not firemen and Chief Daw wanted to know if they could be paid under the Hurricane expenditures. He said he didn't want to put them on the payroll unless itwas the right .thing ~to do. He said that all portable pumps had: been used and that the LaFrance ladder ~ruck had been sent up to Stevens Ilfll. Mr. Willis inquired if there was any provision for emergencies such as this, in the budget and ~hief Daw said there were no~ so Mr. Willis said he felt that the Fire Department could come under the emer&~ncy program and he would see if it could be worked out .... Chief Daw then talked abo~t the urinal in the fire s~ation which defintely has ~o be replaced, lhey had a price of $200 for a new one and it.was Suggested that they make a request for a trm~sfer from Reserve Fund for the amoum~ required. Vti~h re'spec~ to paying the men under, the emergency Program, Mr. Willis informed them that they should sit in with John Connore and James Maker to get all the details. He also suggested that they'should discuss the mat~er of repairing the old LaFramce tarock with the Advisory Board and perhaps have an article in the annua~ ~owll warrant. CULVERT-S TE~ POND': Mr. Fred Kent came before the board to discuss the culvert, at Stevens Pond and said it was his impression that this belonged ~o the town and he felt that this is the~ time ~o find out who it does belong, to. Mr. Kirk said that Mr. Carry was mo have reported to the board on this matter and he was to have had a diver who would go down and see if it was clogged up or if it had collapsed. Mr. Willis said he went up there to-day ~o see the culvert and in ex~m~r~ing the cause no$iced that ne~ cement work had been done by Ira Car~y. The culvert i.s an old stone culvert and may need ~o be cleaned out. Mr. carry believes that the heavy trucks are the cause of the culvert collapsing, if it has collapsed. Mr. Willis further sma~ed that this thing can't be taken care of overnight and that there will' be considerable money involved if it has to be rebuilt. M~. Kent then said that something should be done now and that they would coopera~e and work it out with the town. If it has only to be cleaned, there, is no problem. 'He said he thought there should be some understanding as to the handling of the water and he is open to suggestions and will do everything they can~ to please sve~one, M~. Willis %hen -~aid that apparently, the Board of Public ;?orks has done some re- search on this matter and they have engaged legal counsel but the Selectmen know nothing about what.they have learned and unless the board checks the vouchers they wouldn't know anything. He said he didn't think it seemed~ fair.that the Board Of Public Works, whose interest im m~nlywater, should have ~a~en this problem as their own but felt that the Selectmen should have been considered. Mr. Kent said they felt that they should come before the Selectmen if tha~ is the right g~partment. He said they would work with Mr. Carty and do all they could but if we should have heavy rains, we would be in~erious trouble and also felt that they should ge~ a diver as soon as possible and find out Just what the trouble is. CENTENNIAL C~.g~aATION: Abbot Stevens met with the board and Mr. Willis informed him that they ha~ seriously considered asking him ~o be the chairman for the Centennial celebration. He said some people wm~ a hairy scary affair and other Just a historical event. ~here was considerableadiscnssion and Mr. Stevens s~ated that he felt that they should have a younger person to act as chairman but he would be happy to help out and e. sl~eciaLl¥ with the historical end of it. He informed the board that he appreciated thinking of him but would prefer that some younger person be appointed. The board later discussed the appointment of a chairman and William. McAloon was mentioned as a very good person for this appointment and Mr. Finneran will contact him to get his re-ac~ion. RESERVE FUND TRAI~FER: The. board accepted a request for a transfer of $260 from the Reserve Fund to the Fire Department appropriation for a new urinal and referred it to the Advisory Board for action.