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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1981-01-05 Board of Selectmen MinutesJANAUARY 5 19~1 23~ The Board of SeLectmen held their re;ular meetin~ on th~s date with all members present; Selectmen Charles A. Salisbury, Thomas J. McEvoy, Ralph R. Joyce, R. Louis DiFruscio with Chairman John W. Graham presidin~. The minutes and warrant were approved as submitted. CARD PLAN APPROVAL: A hearin~ was held on the Card plan application. Town Planner, Susan St. Pierre, stated that the Card plan would provide incentive to commercial businesses to improve their ima]e and the purpose was to revitalize downtown The plan must be predominately commercial. After further dJscuss~ion, it was an unanimous vote to adopt the resolution approvin~ the Card Plan. HUD NOTICE: Notice received from the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development that the Town's preapplication for a ~rant under the Fiscal Year 1981 Small Cities Pro,ram had received a hi]h rating in relation to competin% proposals. The Town thereby is invited to submit an application for a comprehensive Small Cities grant which must be submitted no later than Monday, June 15, 1981. The total amount of the pro,ram is $2,398,000. On January 6, 1981, a work- shop will be conducted to explain the full application ~equirements and to provide additional application forms and other information. Gayton Os~ood will attend this workshop. TRAFF~ LIGHTS-RT. Chairman Graham stated that he had this item placed on the Agenda because of the traffic jam that occurs daily at Wilson's corner. Cars, waiting in a double line, try to turn left in front of vehicles coming from Andover. Selectman DiFruscio suggested that better timing devices should be installed on the lights. The Board was advised that Sherman Eidleman had been contact. ed and he, in turn, requested the Selectmen send him a letter on the situa- tion and his department would study the matter as soon as the letter was It was unanimously voted to send the letter to Eidleman to study the p RT. 125 & PETERS ST.: Selectman DiFruscio made a motion, seconded by Selectman Salisbury, that $600 be appropriated to get extra timing device for ~he Rt. 125-Peters Stree lights so it would be on hand when the present timing device goes off. Brian Sullivan advised that this amount should be taken out of the Street Lighting budget. It was an unanimous vote to do this. TAX RELIEF ACTION COMMITTEE: Membership on the TRAC was discussed along with the charter for the Committe~ It was agreed that a representative from the Board of Selectmen and the Advisory Committee should serve as non-voting members. It was voted to have .Selectman Salisbury represent the Selectmen and Michael Stella represent the Advisory Committee. The Committee, to date, will consist of ' Fritz Ostherr, Joseph Winning,..Richard Harrington, Michael Leafy, Francia Lindon and Patricia Cavanaugh. It was generally agreed that the Committee would serve the Selectmen and Advisory Committee in an advisory capacity only, and that they would analyze and make recommendations on additional sources of revenue as well as where budget cuts could be made. TOWN'FARM COMMITTEE: Chairman Graham stated that, in view of the fact that he has assume the Chairmanship duties along with several other committees he serves, he would respectfully request that Selectman McEvoy ~eplace him on the Town Farm Committee. Selectman McEvoy agreed and it was unanimously voted. COMMUNITY CENTER REPAIRS: Brian S. informed the Board that $1100 was needed to repair a corner post going up the side of the Community Center house...it was completely rotten plus the elctrical outlet containi§g wires going into the house. It was voted to have Brian contact the Trustees re the money for the repairs. 2~0 JANUARY 5, 1981 (continued) STREET LIGHT REQUEST: Relative to the light request from Frank Pappa of Sharpener's Pond Rd., b Brian rpported that if Mr. Pappa installed a private light, the rate is approximately three times as high as the cost of a municipal light. Select- man DiFruscio urged the Board to help Mr. Pappa out, possibly by the Town paying for the light and billing Mr. Pappa. Brian suggested that before the Board adopts such a policy, they should consider the administrative.'~ burdens they might be placing on the Accountant and Treasurer, and the problems associated when the individual sells his house. Selectman Salis- bury suggested that the cost of the light could possibly be treated as a betterment and added to the property tax bills. It was unanimously voted to have Brian pursue this suggestion with the Accountant, Treasurer and Town Counsel. MERRIMACK VALLEY HEALTH COUNCIL: Letter received from the MVHC re an A-95 review. it to the Board of Health. It was voted to refer MVRTA: · Bri'an~' advised the Board ~that'~th'e MVRTA Advis0ry~ Board would be voting on issuing a Request For Proposals for a single management company to run its bus operation in the Lawrence and Haverhill area. Selectman McEvoy stated that Frank Trombly, a local businessman, has run this service for years and certainly hopes that Mr. Trombly is gzven a fair chance to be the company selected. Board was advised that a meeting would be held on Tuesday, January 6, 1981, at 11:00 a.m. It was voted to have Trombly represented by the Board. Selectman DiFruscio and Brian Sullivan will attend meeting. TOWN BUILDING: Closing the Town Building every night but Monday and Wednesday was dis- cussed ...purpose to conserve electricity and heat. It was voted to institute this policy effective January 12, 1981 to continue until further notice. ~ STREET NAMING: John Turtle appeared before the Board and stated he would have some name suggestions in a few days for the street located in the vicinity of Prescott Street. He advised the Board that, because of illness, he had not been in before this date. TAX CLASSIFICATION: Assessor~ Ted Phelan, was asked to come into the meeting to discuss tax ,~lassification. Selectman Salisbury expressed a concern that, as a result of revaluation, there was a substantial shift in the tax burden from commercial, industrial and personal property onto the residential property. He added that he would like to see the burde~returned to the way they. w. ere befor?, through", classification as quickly as possible. Mr. Phelan respo.nded that t~~ reason for the shift was because the properties were overvalued to begin with. In addition, if we set higher tax rates for ind,..~try, we may drive them out of Town. Selectman Salisbury stated tha~ industries"tax bills should not be going down when everyone else's is going up. Mr. 'Phelan stated that he would be meeting with the Dept. of Revenue on Friday .to discuss the revaluation program. Selectman Salisbury and Brian Sullivan will also attend. LICENSING COMMISSIONERS: Approved: Co~non Victualer license - Francis Smith Class II licenses: North Andover Tulsa Station, Giard's Auto Sales, Cashman Used Cars. Three 1-day beer & wine licenses for the New England Gulls, January 8-11-22, subject to the receipt of_approv.al from Rev. Gilla.n and police attendance required d/u~ sene of beer ' and w zne. //////____/~////~/ . Alice M. Letarte, Secretary ~*'~'"-*~'~-;~'"--~e,'//~-~/~//__'/~..'~ ~a~ua~ 6, ]98]..Afte~ co~tact~9 Rev. S~]an, ]-da3 bee~ ~ w~ne ~cense was ~anted to the New 5ng~and 8u]]s fo~ ~anua~3 8 and ]]th, on]~.