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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1981-03-09 Board of Selectmen Minutes262 MA~CH 9, 1981 The Board of Selectmen held their regular meeting on this date with all members present except Selectman DiFruscio who was away on business. Present were Selectmen Salisbury, McEvoy, Joyce with Chairman Graham pre- siding. The minutes and warrant were approved as submitted. TAX RELIEF COMMITTEE: Francia Ltndon, spokesman for the Tax Relief Commmittee, discussed their report with the Selectmen. She stated that the Committee had been chartered by the Selectmen to give some citizen imput on cutting expenses. She went on to say that North Andover has been good about budgets, not over spending, and they had to look elsewhere for economy cuts. All suggestions in the report are only to help North Andover out for a year. The Report centers around two items; 1) Various charges or fees that can be raised to State levels or sustain departments. 2) Procedural changes.which would have to '_.be worked out with departments. Chairman Graham asked if there were particular items the committee felt strongly about. Lindon replied there were two: Hiring freeze..only necessary positions should be filled and ambulance fees should be charged. Ambulance service fees paid by Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Medicaid. Selectman Salisbury stated that the Public Works operated on a self-sustaining basis. Other changes should be discussed, at a work x~$essi°m"'thatwouio there is jo way the hiring f~eeze can be lmplemented and/requxre Town Meeting actlon. He stated that the Selectmen owe a debt of thanks to the Committee for an excellent report. Fritz Ostherr said that a uniform policy was needed in the hiring and firing of employees and that the rubbish collection could be user paid. Bud Cyr commented that he could not understand how the committee could do a report without consulting the department heads. He would have liked to discuss rubbish problem with the committee. Selectman Joyce said it was an excellent report and it would serve as a guideline. Chairman Graham thanked the committee for a fine report. It was voted to copies 6f the report to all Department heads for their review to determ/ne whether it would be feasible.for them to establish new or increase existing fees. Results of their observations will be sent to the Board by April 1st when the report will be further discussed. RESIGNATION: A letter of resignation received, with regret, from George Stern as a member of the Conservation Commission. The Board voted to send him a letter of appreciation and thanks for his service and requested that the vacancy be advertised. MOTORCYCLE-POLICE DEPT.: The Board voted to approve the purchase of a Trailblazer Kaw~aki, 49 Main Street, No.Reading, Mass. for the price of $6,326 as recommended by Chief Donnelly. He will be so advised. COUNCIL ON AGING APPOINTMENTS: The Selectmen appointed Maria V. Rosati and Wa~.ter S. Green as members of the Council ON Aging. They recommended that Chairman Cantor~consider appointing Dorothy Sinsheimer a member, also. HUD MONITORING: Letter received from Deptj of Housing and Urban Development concerning the results of their moni6oring of the Town's Community Development Block Grant Program. They stated that the Program is being carried out on schedule and that performance in the areas of progress, benefit, grant management and citizen participation was satisfactory. They requested the Town to execute an agreement with the State Historic Preservation Officer as set forth a P$70.307 (u). Letter accepted for the files. GLCAC FUNDING: Letter received from GLCAC requesting support from the Town for funding of their activities. Board voted to request Town representatives, Joe Morkeski and Bill McEvoy to attend meeting, March 23rd, to discuss the letter and request. MARCH 9, 1981 (continued) 26~ LAND USE DEPTS.: The Selectmen discussed the report received last week from the Committee Studying the Land Use Departments. Selectman Joyce stated that the report does not recognize the overwhelming lack of engineering services at this time and there wasn't any funding to correct this situation. Selectman Salisbury recommended that they meet and discuss the matter with the Public Works and Board of Health. Chairman Graham stated that this year is not the year. to have coordinatm~of fusion of departments, that no Article should be considered this year. Report accepted for reference and future study. AMBULANCE: T~e Selectmen voted unanimously to authorized the Board of Fire Engineers to accept the bid submitted by Henry B. Judge, III for the 1976 Class I Ambulance in the amount of $2,053 and to dispose of said vehicle. HILLSIDE RD.-RT. 11~: Letter ~from the State Dept. of Public Works advising the Board that their Traffic Engineer was in the process of preparing a report to be submitted to the State Chief Engineer in Boston re the future installation of Traffic Control Signals at the intersection of.Hillside Rd.. and. R~. 114. Brian . ..ann ceczslon on ~ne llggts advised the Board that the report/was promzsea wltS~n ~u~ays. ALL NIGHT PARKING BAN: It was unanimously voted to lift the winter all night parking ban as of midnight, this date. Chief Donnelly will be so notified. The exception; in the event of a snowstorm, ban would automatically be in effect. STREET NAMING: Chairman Graham reported.that he had discussed this matter with the Chairman of"the Planning Board. Result: Chairman of the Planning Board w~14 take it up with' his Board. WARRANT RE-OPENED: The BOard voted to reopen the warrant at ~:30 P.M. this date for inclusion .of~.9'more articles: 1) Authorize Selectmen to purchase or take by eminent domain the land {or r~ improvements to the Main & Sutton Streets intersection. 2)'~ Rezone land on Chickering Ed. to B-1. (D.Rennie) 3)~'Rezone land on corner of Chickerin§ RD and Walker Ed. from R-5 to G.B. 4) Amend zonin§ by-law to limit materials going into a landfill. 5) Amend lanquage in PersonnelBy-Law to clarify vacation provisions. (P.B.~ ..6) Authorize Selectmen to establish a charge for the ambulance service.(T.C) 7) Increase amount to go out for bids to $4000. 8),~Tocappropriate the sum of $6,000 for the purpose of. hiring a Program ' Coordinator and to amend Sec. 7,Sch. E of the Personnel By-Law to include ,~said position in Schdule E.(Council On Aging) 9) Accept Granville Lane as a Public Way. The above-named articlas were unanimously accepted for inclusio~ in the Other articles...hiring freeze, removing Police and Fire Chiefs from Civil Service, having gown retirement system ~ere discussed and tabled. Warraht was closed at 8:35 P.M. RESIGNATION: Board officially accepted the resi§nation of Louis Minicucci from the Community Development Department. }~is~posi~ion as Director of the N.A. Housing Authority mandated his full time. The Chairman called for an executive session~to discuss negotiations. 264MARCH 9, 1981 (continued) LICENSING COMMISSIONERS: In the absence of Chairman DiFruscio, chaired the Licensing Board. Applications for licenses approved: Clerk of the Selectmen, Ralph Joyce Harry Melltan - Space Invader game.- Merrimack Valley Motor Inn. David Theall - Space Invader game.- Merrimack College Kmart - coin operated amusement device. - N.A. Mall Daniel McRobbie - Bazaar permit, March 13, K.of C. - Troop 81 benefit. Asst. to the Dean - 1-hour liquor license - Merrimack, College, March 21. ST. PA/~ICK'S DAY HOURS: A~ was voted last year, the Board unanimously voted to allow all e~tabliSh~ monte serving liquor to remain open until 2:00 A.M., March 18th, in observance of St. Patrick's Day, March 17th. Police Department wil~l__l~l be~ested t° post notice on their bulletin board, y/~~ Alice M. LetarMARCH 16 1981to, Secretary ~~er~ The Board of Selectmen held their regular meeting on this date with all ~-~, members present except Chairman Graham who'was out of Town on business.. Present were Selectmen Thomas J. McEvoy, Charles A. Salisbury,~R~ Louis DtFruscio with Selectman Ralph R. Joyce, Acting Chairman. The minutes'and warrant were approved as submitted. . . SENATOR POLLARD: Letter received from Senator Pollard regarding penalties for drunken driving. This was in response to the Selectmen's. letter requesting she introduce Bill that would zasult in a loss of drzver's license when/~r~ ~ drunken driving. This request was on motion of Selectman McEvoy. She ex plained that after the first offense, the driver is sent to a Community · Action Safety Program (CASP) which is an educational program that includes alcohol awa~eness, self evaluation and counseling. It had.been determined, that losing a driver's license after the first offense would be too harsh~ a punishment and would not solve the problem of helping potential alcoholics.. On the second offense, the driver automatically loses their license for five years.' It has been proven that CASP survey shows that 83% of those who attended did'not get re-arrested for drunken driving and it is Credited~ with decreasing the number of occurences of drunken driving in Massachusetts. MEMO-_MASSACHUSETTS MlPNICIPAL ASSOCIATION: Memo's'; received on Proposition 2 1/2, appropriation process, cherry shaet~ and dates of Town Meetings. Information given also on rescission of' Police Career Incentive Law and mutual aid obligations of f~r.efighters. They advised that the Dept. of Revenue reported that prel~mxnary cherry Sheets~ Would be issued in April and would probably be based-on the Governor's proposed budget. The To~ Meeting Extension Bill had been passed by the Legislature and was on the Governor's desk to be signed. MAIN & SUTTON ST. (LAND-TAKiNG) Letter received from Atty. Trombly advised the Board that he 'represented the owners of the land proposed for land taking at the corner of Main and Sutton Streets, approximately 660 square feet, for the purpose of installing lights and improving the safety of the corner. The following would be acceptable to the Tromblys: · 1) The .Town shall pay the three.owners the sum of $6,500.00 in considerae ,"~:? tion for the land acquired. 2) The plan be revised so that the ingress and egress from this lot may be clearly shown on the plan to Main Street. ,they This offer is made without prejudice and .;;e wo61d reserve the right that, if the matter is not settled amicably and the property is taken by eminent domain, they would pursue Choir claim for damages which probably would be far in excess of the offer made herein. When asked, Brian S. stated a survey should be made; present company stated that it would cost about $1500 which could be taken from the Chapter 90 fund, which would not please the Highway Surveyor or from the Sp,~cial Legal Fund. It was voted to authorize Brian to hire surveyor to survey land and work up plot plan and to have estimate for next meeting. Voted also to have 5' side- walk instead of 7' sidewalk.