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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1984-05-14 Board of Selectmen Minutes530 MAY 1 o4 The Board of Selectmen held their regular meeting on this date with all members present except Selectman Salisbury who was out of Town on business· The minutes and warrant were approved as submitted. JOHN WILLIS-TOWN COUNSEL RETIREMENT: Discussion with Attorney Willis re his retirement was deferred until Tuesday, May 15th, CONTRACT SIGNING: The Public Works Union and Fire Department Union members appeared before the Board to sign their Contracts for FY 85-86. Fire Dept, members invited the Selectmen to their Memorial Mass and breakfast scheduled for June 10th. PUBLIC WORKS-PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT: The Board of Selectmen; vOted .3-0'to -" i. · approve the purchase of new basketball standards for the Drummond Playground by the Public Works Dept, The equipment will be paid for by $l,000 donation to the Town by Designer Homes Inc. Selectman Smith abstained, MEMORIAL DAY OBSERVANCES: The Board received an invitation to participate in the annual Memorial Day Observances to be held on May 28, 1984. RECREATION. COU NC IL-SOCCER,', MEMBERS: Letter received from Brian Finn, President of the NASA, requesting that two members, of the North Andover Soccer Association be appointed to the Recreation Council. A letter will be sent to Mr. Finn advising him that the requested appointments will be made in June when all appointments are made. RETIREMENT - ALICE M. LETARTE: , The Secretary to the Board of Selectmen advised the Board that, after twenty-three years of service to the Town, she intended to retire as of August 31, 1984. John Bohenko, Executive Secretary to the Board, proferred some very nice words of praise regarding her I~erformance as Secretary to the Board. He concluded ~aying she not only would be missed by, her fellow workers but by other citizen~ of the Town. The Board accepted her resignation with regret. TOWN COUNSEL APPOINTMENT SCHEDULE: The Board of Selectmen unanimously approved (4-0) the Town Counsel appointment schedule as submitted by Executive Secretary, John Bohenko. It was also voted to appoint Town.Counsel on June 14, 1984. They also unanimously approved the proposed classified ad for the position opening for Town Counsel and the Memorandum of Agreement for the position of Town Counsel also prepared by John Bohenko. SPECIAL TOWN COUNSEL: The Board unanimously voted to appoint Josellh E. Boulanger, Special Town Counsel, to'reipresent the Town on the case of John~Carter vs~--Wal.ter .. Souk~ Frank Serlo, Jr. and the Board of'Appeals, ' CIVIL SERVICE LIST REQUEST: John Bohenko advised the Board that he had submitted a requisition to Civil Service' for a list to fill three, full-time police officer vacancies. --Civil Service indicated that because North Andover has a minority population greater than 1%, the Town would be required to wait for a list that would include minority candidates. This requirement is the result of a court ,: casev "Castro vs. Beecher" in which the plaintiff sued Beecher, Civil Service Commissioner, for discriminating practices and hiring procedures of Civil Service. Court ruled in favor of the plaintiff and required any municipality with more than I%'minority must choose its police officers from a:- Civil Service list that includes minority candidates. Civil Service Legal Counsel advised John that the .Town had an option to work out an agreement with the attorneys for the plaintiff. The plaintiff's .. attorney advised John that if the Town agreed to hire one qualified minority candidate-' from the next available list,with minorities on it, she would allow Civil Service to release a, list to fill the 3 police officer vacancies. (The next time the Town requested a list, they would bet'required to hire one qualified minority candidate provided the candidate wanted to work in North Andover. The Board unanimously approved John Bohenko~s recommendation that the Selectmen authorize the Executive Secretary to negotiate an agreement with the plaintiff in the Castro vs. Beecher case to allow theTown of North Andover to receive.a\ ,Civil Service list to fill the thre~' . vacancies in the Police.'Depa~men't. ~ Further, that the Board understand that the Town through this agreement wo.uld be committed to hiring at least one minority candidate in the next position vacancy. VETERANS SERVICES BUDGET REQUEST: The Board approved the Veterans Budget request as submitted for FY 85 in the amount of $15,007.80, North Andover will fund 74,2% of this amount ($11,135,79) and the Town of Boxford will fund 25.8% ($3,872.01) MAY 14, 1984 (cantinued) 53~1 SPECIAL LEGAL ACCOUNT: The Board voted unanimously to authorize the Executive Secretary to request the amount of $2,500 from the ~Advisory Board to pay outstanding bills. COMPLAINT: Letter recei,'ed from Eleanor Cahill protesting a statement made publicly at the annual Town meeting by Officer Tom McEvoy that he had gone to her home as a result of a call from her. She denies he has ever been at her home and l~as suffered much embarrassement as a result of his public statement. Mrs. Cah~l requested a public apology from Officer McEvoy in retribution for the unnecessary embarrassment he has caused her. The Selectmen voted to refer the letter to Chief Sullivan to take the necessary steps to :~ ........... " . RT.r' 12157-HOLT RD. UPGRADE: At the re.quest of the Town, and state officials, the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission ¢.o_,~.ct. uctea: a traffic study of Route 125 addressing the issue of how new development, including the N.E.Resource Recovery plant.w~ql impact .Rt. 125. Six problems were identified. To address these problems they proposed t~e following. I. Lane striping at Rt. 125 connector intersection. 'O 2. ~lnstallation. of warning s~ns in reduction of speeds near Western Electric. 3. Installation of warning and regulatory signs at Gr. Pond Rd. intersection. , 4. Reconstruction of Holt Rd. intersection; On Holt Rd., entrance should be made wider and the road, itself, repaired and constructed to sustain the many trucks that have and will be using it. The DPW will grant town funding and have the.Town do the necessary Work for the upgrading. The DPW will also submit the design for the above-referenced improvements which will take up to two years to construc at a cost of $500,000. The Board voted unanimously to have a letter sent to the DPW to be signed by the Selectmen Chairman, Planning Bd. Chairman and the Highway Surveyor. They will asked to give this project top priority. Copies of the letter will be sent to NESWC Chairman, Ed Scanlon, Senator Nicholas Costello and Rep. Joe Hermann. PERSONNEL BOARD. VAC'ANCIES: It was voted unanimously to f~ill the vacancies on the Personnel Board in June with all the other'·appointments. They also voted to meet with Chairman lanazzo and members of."the Per- sonnel~·Board on May 22nd, at 7:30 p.m. to discuss the future policies of the Board. · COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT. OFFICE: Rick D0n~as discussed the bids for construction of the DOwntown Plan and advise~l the Board that of~ the two bids received (12 construction companies reviewed the plans and specs.) the Iowest'.~iid was $83,000 over. the budget. This was because of the water lining project that was added to the original plan. After discussion, the Board voted to discuss the matter with Supt.' of Public works on. May 22nd. The Board approved purchase of chairs ordered for the Council On Aging Senior Center. The Board vote unanimously to havea structural engineer make the fire escape safe in the rear 0.f the Town Building and to have it used as an emergency exit exclusively. The Board voted 4-0 to grant Mr. Domas his merit increase of 5% retroactive from Feb. Ist. and to increase his travel expense $28/month The BOard voted to have a letter written to Sherman Eidleman, District Highway Engineer, for recommendations to have Stop signs installed at First, School, Second, Cleveland and .a.~d!Water. Streets at their intersection with Main Street. RESIGNATION - RICK DOMAS: The Community Development Director announced his resignation from h'is position effective June 6,~1984. He stated that he had accepted a position with the city of Quincy wh!ch he described as a career move. He will be principal planner, second in command, in the Quincy Planning and Community Development Office. He said he enjoyed the nine months working with the Board. Chairman Graham stated he hated to see him go. DOG COMPLAINT: . ' Virginia Knowlton appeared before the Board once more with a written complaint concerning the constant barking of a dog owned by John Fitzgimmons on Furber Ave. She advised the Board that he had restrained the dog for about a month after she submitted her first but since the month elapsed the ddg ~.as been ~-~.rking incessantly and was a terrible noise nuisance. Kno~ltons stated that the police haa been up several times and the Dog Officer, also. But she particularly objected to Fitzgibbons threatening her. The Board voted to have John Bohenko investigate the legal issues involved in the matter and will send letters to both.~, Fitzgibbons, the Dog Officer and Ms. Knowlton. LICENSING COMMISSIONERS: A hearing was held on the transfer of the Retail Package Goods Store, All Alcoholic license entitled 64 Main Street Liquors, Inc., 64 Main St., John J. Bonelli, Manager, to store of same name, S. Dee Munroe, Manager. The transfer was unanimo~uly approved.