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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1983-03-14 Board of Public Works Minutes� Board of Public Works Meeting of March i4, i963 Page i A meeting of the Board of Public Works convened in Room i6, Municipal Building at 7;30 P.M. Present were Chairman Wood, Secretary Fallon, Board Members Barker, rolychrones and Griffin and Superintendent E. Roger Louanis. it was moved, seconded and voted S;0 to approve the minutes of the Board of Public Works meeting of March 7, 1983 as corrected. The Board reviewed the letter from Motorola Communications and Electronics inc. formally requesting permission on behalf of their customer to place a base station, cable and antenna on either the Bear Hill Standpipe or the Auburn Street Standpipe. The actual installation of this equipment will be done by the local Motorola service facility in this area. They will not need to take up any of the time of our personnel except for assistance in gaining access to the site. If servicing is a concern, the failure rate of this solid-state equipment is minimal and usually does not require service but once or twice a year. Their customer will pay the Town a monthly rental for the equipment on the site. Present from Motorola was Mr. Dennis M. Boyko as well as a representative from 16h. Superintendent Louanis stated from a Departments point of view, he would recommend Motorola look elsewhere. The reason being we now have an antenna on our elevated tank on Auburn Street which is in cooperation with the Police Department. It was not always in that location because of the proximity of the elevated tank to the standpipe gave them patterns that didn't work out well. The painting of the standpipe poses problems. Access and security is another problem the Superintendent is concerned about. I would think there is some private location on Bear Hill that might be considered or even a request to the Selectmen to deal with the Board of Public Works Meeting of March i4, i963 Page 2 location Cable T.V. has their antenna. It is our feeling that whatever financial considerations we might get from this activity would not outweigh the problems. Chairman Wood stated when the Police Department was turned down for using the Bear Hill Site it was for the same reasons. Mr. Fallon stated I assume the pictures accompanying this are basically what this antenna is going to look like . Mr. - ko stated the small antenna is 44`, and the larger one is nine feet. This is somewhat smaller than some of the antennas you are using on your towers now. We have looked around here and our requirements are not fantastic as far as range. We are looking to cover the Reading and lower portion of Wilmington area. There are only two hills in this area where we can put antennas. Both hills have water towers. Both are occupied by either the Police or Fire Department. we realize the security angle and we are looking for the same type of security the Police Department is looking for. If we do not have security we could not utilize the site. Security is one of the number one factors, the other is gaining access to the site should there be an equipment failure. If there is an equipment failure, there is a very short time before we can qet it going again. Another angle we are exploring is interference to other radio systems. Before we determine whether we can use the site, we do tests to determine if we are going to have problems. We are trying to be above-board. As far as painting the tower, hopefully' it will have been painted before we get up there. We are looking toward installing this equipment one to one and a half years down the road. The Cable TV does not have a high enough tower for our purposes. The leaves on trees do cause problems and we do have to get well above the tree line. Mr. Fallon asked exactly what this is going to be used for. hr. Boyko replied for dispatching service technicians that � Board of Public Works Meeting of March i4, i583 Page 3 maintain copy machines, typewriters, computers, etc. We are trying to improve on this service. hr. Barker stated we could have a potential interference between frequencies. Until the computer tests are run, the Department does have legitimate problems with this system. There is only one location in the whole Town that it can be mounted. I think some investigation into the feasibility of doing this would be in order. Superintendent Louanis asked if there is any possibility that the existing antenna could be Jointly used. hr. - ko replied no, because of the difference in the rate of megahertz being used. Mr. - ko stated he has explored the possibility of the Summit Towers Condominiums and was turned down. hr. Fallon asked about the money aspect. Mr. Boyko replied he could not give a definite answer, that would have to be negotiated with I&M, but he estimated it to be somewhere around *150 per month. it was moved, seconded and voted 5;0 to take this letter under advisement as a point of information and after Motorola confers with the Police Department and the Board of Selectmen, review it again with the it was moved, seconded and voted S;0 to accept the memo from john W. Agnew, Jr., Executive Secretary, regarding the Special Town Meeting to be held on April 14, l983 as a point of information . The Board reviewed the Memorandum from William R. Bergeron regarding the Grove Street Subcommittee recommendations. The sub-committee consisted of the three abuttors on the curve section' the Police Department represented by Sargeant Keefe and Patrolman Veno and E. Roger Louanis and William R. Bergeron of the Department of rublic works. Board of Public Works Meeting of March i4, i963 Page 4 Chairman Wood suggested the Board consider the Superintendent's recommendation to invite these people to a regular Board meeting. She also felt we should petition the County Commissioners before the 28th of March. We could also invite them to a Hearinq on April 4th which would give us time to post the legal hearing. hr. Barker moved to hold a Hearing on April 4 regarding the Grove Street problem and that residents be informed of the sidewalk and curbing assessments. The motion was seconded and voted 5;0. Mr. Griffin stated he would like to see some prices on grassed sidewalks as opposed to concrete. It was moved, seconded and voted S;0 to petition the County Commissioners immediately. The Board reviewed the Memorandum from the Superintendent regarding the final roadway hearings. It was moved, seconded and voted 5;0 to hold the Hearings in the Auditorium of the Community [enter on March 24 as follows; 7;00 P.M. - Federal Street 7;45 P.M. - Wakefield Street 6;30 P.M. - Pearl Street 9;30 P.M. - Bay State Road The Board reviewed the memo from Mr. Bergeron regarding Drain Construction and Channel Reconstruction Contract 83-i. It was moved, seconded and voted S;0 to award Contract 63-i - Drain Construction and Channel Reconstruction to [.J. Mabardy, Inc. of Cambridge, Ma. in accordance with their bid of March iO, 1963 in the amount of i67,i6I.48 subject to their procurement of the necessary performance and payment bonds. Superintendent Louanis stated a portion of this project will be Board of Public Works Meeting of March i4, i963 Page 5 bone by Town forces. Some of the work is of a sensitive nature to be done on private property. There are other factors connected with the project that will need additional work. The Superintendent has come up with the cost for this additional work. The Superintendent anticipates this work being finished before July. The Board reviewed the memo from the Town Accountant regarding the *8,000 from Horizon Homes as per their commitment to the Town to help defray the cost of installing the sidewalk on Bay State Koab. The Accountant has set this up in a special account earmarked '-Kecelpts Kes. for approp. Horizon Homes - Sidewalk Construction::. It was moved, seconded and voted S;0 to accept the memo as a point of information. It was moved, seconded and voted S;Cj to accept the information from the Engineering Department regarding the Summary of Engineering Costs for the Water Treatment Plant modifications. The Board reviewed the memorandum from the Superintendent in response to hr. Barkers list of concerns regarding the Departments snow plowing and removal operation. Mr. Barker thanked the Superintendent for an excellent response to his questions. He stated with regard to the potential of a TV show, he was concerned with trying in improve the image problem that is associated with Town employees. He also had in mind the Assistant Superintendents annual report to the Board regarding the snow operation and felt it would make a good foundation for a show. His comments on the acquisition of [lass II or hydraulic licenses pertained to the fact that if we were a private industry, we would probably require that person to have these licenses before we would hire. He suggested that possibly this is something that could be put in the next , Board of Public Works Meeting of March i4, i983 Page 6 set of negotiation items to be discussed. In regard to overtime, Mr. Barker felt this should be discussed in negotiations, perhaps we could get a waiver of the three hour minimum in some situations. He also urged the Department to review the lengths of routes and percentages and give the Board a recommendation at some future time. He felt we could particularly explore the area of trying the pre-salting which seems to be effective. There may be a small cost increase, however, may cut down on complaints. Mr. Barker again stated he is very concerned with the Departments image with regard to snow plowing and removal. hr. Polychrones stated he also thought hr. Barker did a good job as well as the Superintendent. He has one other concern and that is, he would like to see the Contractor's vehicles identified while they are working. He suggested they have magnetized signs attached to their doorsr or a plate put on the front of the windshield so that we could identify these trucks. hr. Fallon stated he is concerned with the cost of this, but is not opposed to it. He feels one solution to this is the supervision we have. One of the problems we seem to be having is a decline in the number of contractors willing to bid on snow plowing. They can get more money elsewhere. Chairman Wood stated the Board will take this all under advisement. The Board signed the Final Payment estimate from Weston & Sampson Engineers, Inc. on the Willow 5treet Interceptor project. The Board reviewed and discussed the letter from hr. Kaufman of Boston Stove Company regarding Boston Stove acquiring the 20 foot strip of land adjacent to the Dept's �ighway Garage on John Street. Board of Public works Meeting of March i4, 083 rage 7 Mr. Fallon stated the Department has to prove to him they need this 20 toot strip in order for him to vote against it. anything that would further the development of industrial area and bring in Tax revenue for this Town, he is in favor of. Superintendent Louanis stated the location of then foot strip of land is the closest to our present facilities, our sewer depot, our main garage, our truck storage garage and our nursery. It will affect our sewer connection. it would be in a location which would require some substantial grade adjustment between the Towns property and Boston Stove running from u: to 4 lit or 5: different grade. if they are going to utilize their parking, there would have to be a retaining wall and appropriate fences. Easy access would then be difficult and probably put us in a situation where we would have to come in all one way and out one way. Our iota! area is approximately iS acres. The area where the incinerator was, is 4 or 5 acres, leaving us A acres. The An acres will be more and more curtailed if the landfill site is sold off, we will have to find a place to dump our snow and store different material that is siored at the landfill now. i donA see any great expansion of the buildings at that time, but if the Town Department all goes to the central facility, i think this may be very detrimental to the Department in the long run. Mr. Fallon asked if we could maintain an easement for the sewer connection. Superintendent Louanis replied yes, however, we might have a very difficult situation if there is a blockage and there are vehicles parked on the easement. hr. Fallon questioned the future use of the incinerator site. Superintendent Louanis replied the use of the Transfer station is a possibility. Board of Public Works Meeting of March A. 083 Page B Mr. Fallon stated he knows part of the incinerator site area is used for storage of loam, etc. I do see a potential problem with snow bumping. I do know there is some room behind the garage that could possibly be utilized for this purpose. One bumping site meniiooed was the Nike site off Haverhill Street. hr. Barker stated he woub be concerned with potential water supply contaminaiion at the Nike Site. There is also some area in the Town Forest. hr. Griffin asked if there would be a detrimental effect on the sewer line because of the cars parked there. the pipe. Superintendent Louaois replied it would depend on the strength of Mr. Griffin asked if the industrial Development [ommitiee has been contacted regarding this. The Superintendent replied ihis was discussed with hr. Kaufman and he felt he should get some kind of determination from ihis Board before he speaks with the ID[. The Superiniendent has not as yet contacted the S[. hr. Barker stated he is against this at this time. he felt the items regarding Department operations are very important. hr. Griffin stated he is leaning toward rejecting the proposal and would like to hold all options open. Mr. Fnlychrones felt Se distance between ihe new lot line and the fuel depot is a safety hazard. Mrs. Wood concurred with the safety hazard of the fuel depot a well as the infringement on our nursery. It was moved, seconded and voted Vi (Mr. Fallon opposed) that the Board write a letter to hr. Kaufmao suggesiing this is not in the best interests of the Town. Board of Public Works heetixg of March i4, 1983 - rage Y Mrs. Wood read the letter to ihe Board that she wrote io hr. -- Fiore of the Finance Committee regarbiog ihe 5PW's Special Article aod the 53rd payweek. hrs. Wood will deliver this letter to hr. Fiore. Hr. Folychrones stated he would have a report for the Board at a later time regarding the emission control tesiinq program for the Department. The Board signed the Payroll axb ihe Billroll for ihe period ending March ii' 15�83. The meeiing adjourned at i;32 F.H. Respecifully submitiedr f Becrezary ��