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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1978-10-02 Board of Public Works Minutes October 2, 1978 ® Meeting of the Board of Public Works convened in Room 16, Municipal Building at 7: 30 P. M. Present were Chairman Dustin, Secretary Price, Board Mem- bers Russell , Cowell and Testa and Superintendent Louanis. The Finance Committee was represented by Jose Canto and Gail Wood. It was moved, seconded an voted to accept the minutes of the previous meeting as written. Meeting adjourned temporarily and reconvened at 7:40 P. M. following a meeting as the Board of Survey. The Board met with Bernard Murphy and John Brownlee of the First National (Old Colony) Bank. Mr. Dustin introduced the members of the Board and requested that the Superintendent out- line the status of the Bank' s project. The Superintendent stated the engineering plans are complete, the foundation in and the building underway. Mr. Brownlee indicated on a plan the available parking spaces, the proposed driveway onto Ash Street, the loca- tion of the drive-up-windows and driveway at the southerly side of the building with exit onto Main Street and proposed 10' wide driveway off Main Street at the northerly side of the building and entrance to the bank at the northeast corner of the building. The building sets back approximately 12' from the street line. The Board discussed the anticipated increase in traffic at an already busy area and expressed concern regarding the congestion that could be created by traffic entering and leaving the Bank' s site. The Board had no objection to the Ash Street entrance. Following a very lengthy discussion Mr. Price moved to grant the Old Colony Bank a curb cut to accommodate the drive-up-windows at the southerly side of the bank, the curb cut on Ash Street and deny the curb cut for the proposed north driveway on Main Street. It was seconded. Mr. Brownlee requested that the Board grant all curb cuts or deny the entire plana Mr. Cowell stated he was opposed to the motion as we have granted other businesses curb cuts and did not feel it proper to deny the bank as the proposed plan is better than some. A six month trial period was suggested. The discussion continued at length. The Chairman called for a vote: 3 in favor, Mr. Cowell and Mr. Dustin opposed. Meeting adjourned at 8:45 P. M. and the Board met as the Board of Survey reconvening at 9:40 P. M. As a full Board was present, and as agreed earlier, the matter of providing sewer house connections by Town forces to homeowners experiencing problems because of malfunctioning septic systems was brought up for discussion. Letters from John A. Rainone of 12 Landers Road, Raymond R. DeRosa of 8 Reading Terrace and Donn R. Howard of 84 Cross Street were reviewed. Each of the aforementioned homeowners indicate that the cost of a house connec- tion by a licensed drain layer exceeds their available resources at this time. Mr. Testa indicated that when he voted against the issue earlier he was not aware that these applicants were on the list. A general discussion ensued. Mr. Price moved, it was seconded, to instruct the Superintendent to add the names of Raymond DeRosa and Donn Howard to the list of property owners whose homes are to be connected to the main sewer this construction season: and, to verify the situation at the property on Landers Road owned by John A. Rainone and if the situation is as reported to have the connection to the main sewer made as soon as possible. Mr. Russell stated he felt that if the Board votes the motion it will be setting a dangerous precedent as for a long time appli- cations for sewer house connections by Town forces have been accepted and the work has been done in the order in which the applications have been received. The Chairman called for the vote which was 4 in favor and 1 opposed. The Board reviewed proposed letter from the Chairman to the Board of Selectmen together with the Final Report of Identified Reductions. The Board requested a few minor changes in the letter and requested the word "individual " be deleted from Item No. 3 of the proposed reductions in services. (copy of each attached) . The Superintendent advised the Board that the Agreement be- tween the Town and the Union is now in hand, and the new wage rates are in effect. It was accepted as a point of information. Mr. Dustin requested the Board give him some direction re- garding the Board' s position concerning Articles 5 and 6 for the Special Town Meeting to be held October 5, 1978. After consider- able discussion of the possible various actions that might be taken under the Article it was agreed Mr. Russell would speak against I the motion to rescind the action taken by the May Town Meeting under Article 5 since he had presented the original Park Con- struction Article at the May Town Meeting, being prepared to a- mend the Article if necessary to reduce the amount to be rescinded by $2,634.00 already contracted for the tennis court resurfacing. Mr. Dustin will make the motion under Article 6 in the event that Article 5 carry and Mr. Dustin will present Article 6 for $5,500 to provide additional park equipment at Sturges Park in the estimated amount of $2,500 and $3,000 for engineering assistance for the development of Pinevale Park. It was moved, seconded and voted to meet as follows: October 5, 10, 16, 23, 26 and 30 November 6, 13, 20 and 27 December 4, 11 and 18 Following a review of the Petition for Joint Pole Relocation of pole 54/58 it was moved, seconded and voted to grant permission to the N. E. Telephone and Telegraph Company and the Town of Read- ing Municipal Light Department to move the pole approximately twelve feet northerly on Main Street. The Chairman reported to the Board that he and the Superin- tendent met with the Finance Committee Capital Budget Subcommittee on September 28th and presented the Board' s Capital Outlay Program for Fiscal 1980-1984 as attached hereto. The Capital Plan follows the plan submitted in 1977 except for the fact that the sewer house connection account has been estimated higher than the previous submittal to complete the applications on hand and the equipment replacement was added to the program as requested by the Capital Budget Committee. Also, the Water Department ' s expansion program has been upgraded to reflect costs presented to the Board in the consultant' s study of the water system. This was accepted as a point of information. The Board signed Bill Rolls 13 and 13-A dated October 6th and the Pay Roll for the period ending September 29, 1978. Meeting adjourned at 10:30 P. M. IP ctf 1 fitted, CA ecretar � October 3, 1978 Frank A. Smith, Jr. , Chairman Board of Selectmen Torn Hall Reading, Massachusetts 01867 Dear Frank: At our meeting of October 2, 1978, the Board of Public Works voted to submit the attached list of potential service reductions to the Selectmen as we have been directed. In addition, the Board suggested that, as Chairman, I send these along to you with a letter outlining the concerns we have re- garding some of the specific items. It is easy to take a stance that all our services are essential and therefore should not be cut. This is perhaps true in some cases but in other areas where this is not the case, the Board of Public Works is providing a service that people have required. These latter services, should they be reduced, are likely to cause a hardship on the people involved, and for this reason the Board feels strongly that this point should be understood and emphasized. There is little in the Public Works area that can be eliminated; it can only be transferred back to the citizen or deferred into the future. Here then is a listing of the identified service reduc- tions. I have also given a short description of the direct effect that each one will have. 1 . Line item 127/128 - Highway Maintenance Will stretch the program out from 20 to 40 years. 2. Line item 139 — Park Maintenance Will reduce the park upkeep and as ' repairs become increas— ingly necessary it will limit any new facilities. 3. Line items 141/142 Forestry Would eliminate the planting of new trees and the resultant Town beautification. There may be an increased safety hazard due to weak trees not being removed. Frank A. Smith, Jr. , Chairman October 3, 1978 - 2 - 4. Line item 143 - Sewer Maintenance Discontinue town cleaning home sewer services and require the home owner to contract for this himself. As this is generally done on an emergency basis this could present a health hazard if commercial assistance were riot immediately available. S. Line items 145/146 - Sewer House Connection We are presently phasing this out as an identified cost saving. The effect here would be to cease immediately. The hardship here would be to those homeowners who have waited. 6. Line items 147/148 - Snow and Ice This would eliminate the clearing of sidewalks .in the Town both for school children as well as the downtown business area and create a definite unsafe condition. This is a difficult task to perform but the Board feels it should be improved rather than curtailed. We recognize however that proper enforcement of the sidewalk bylaw would require each citizen to clear his own sidewalks. 7. Line items 149/150 Water Department This would largely eliminate the laying of new water ser- vices, cleaning and maintenance of emkrgency household water services. The citizen would have to call in a com- petent service firm to do the work and without further contaminating the water system. 8. Line item 155 - Landfill operation This would reduce the number of hours that the dump is open. This should not be a hardship but rather an incon- venience. 9. Line item 157 - Equipment replacement This would defer the purchase of snow Plowing equipment and the effect would be to reduce the Board of Public Work' s ability to respond to a heavy snowfall . 10. Line item 158 - Park Construction This account is perhaps the most flexible service the Board of Public Works provides but if this is curtailed for too long the quality and number of our recreational facilities will be effected. I hope these comments have served to further explain what will be involved should such a service'reduction or similar proposition be directed by Town Meeting. It is clear that at least as far as Public Works is concerned there will be direct service curtailments. Very truly yours, Chairman PCD/be OCT 21979 - REPORT OF IDENTIFIED REDUCTIONS Town Agency: Board of Public Works Article 12 Appropriation Total : $ 2,355,745 10% Reduction Target: $ 235,574 1 . Function/Service to be reduced: Describe fully including any ea count re uction, changes from full time to part time help, etc. A. Dollar reduction this service: B. Source of reduction: Line item #127 $ 12,800 Line item #128 42,339 C. Risk assessment (Explain fully if medium or high) : This is the Highway Maintenance Program and has been iden- tified as a $12,800 cut in the salary and $42,339 cut in expense accounts. The area in the Highway Maintenance Account that would be cut is the Road Reconstruction Pro- gram and would have the effect of stretching out this program to over 40 years. The reason for choosing this area is that if it is not possible for the Town to fund a well thought out program then it would be better to use the dollars for the areatest number of miles of roads that could be maintained in some reasonable fashion. Although the Highway Reconstruction Program is an integral part of the miles per dollar of roads reconstructed, it is a small number compared to the miles of roads than can be temporarily maintained. The effect of this type of thing on this highway budget will , of course, result in a less efficient operation. l OCT 21978 REPORT OF IDENTIFIED REDUCTIONS Town Agency: Board of Public Works Article 12 Appropriation Total : $ 2,355,745 10% Reduction Target: $ 235,574 2. Function/Service to be reduced: Describe fully including any head count reduction, from full time to part time help, etc. A. Dollar reduction this service: B. Source of reduction: Line item #139 $ 3.700. C. Risk assessment (Explain fully if medium or high) : This is for the maintenance of the Parks and Playgrounds and has been identified as a $3,700 cut in salaries which would reduce the summer help completely. The effect of this would reduce the overall maintenance level of the parks and playgrounds which many people already feel is inadequate. However, it is not an absolute essential program and people using the facilities could help reduce expenditures by a more reasonable approach to their activities and policing of the area. REPORT OF IDENTIFIED REDUCTIONS Town Agency: Board of Public Works Article 12 Appropriation Total : $ 2,355,745 10% Reduction Target: $ 235,574 3. Function/Service to be reduced: Describe fully including any aa count re uction�ges from full time to part time help, etc. A. Dollar reduction this service: B. Source of reduction: Line item # 141 $ 4,000. Line item # 142 $ 2.000. C. Risk assessment (Explain fully if medium or high) : This is the Forestry Division and $4,000 has been identi- fied for a cut in salaries. This would reduce the summer help in this area. A $2,000 reduction in expenses would eliminate the purchase of trees and shrubs completely. The effect of this on the Forestry Division would be to reduce services provided homeowners and cease removing elm trees with dutch elm disease from private property and replace new trees on private property. REPORT OF IDENTIFIED REDUCTIONS OCT 21978 Town Agency: Board of Public Works Article 12 Appropriation Total : $ 2,355.745 10% Reduction Target: $ 235,574 4. Function/Service to be reduced: Describe fully including any head count reduction, changes from full time to part time help, etc. A. Dollar reduction this service: B. Source of reduction: line item #143 $ 6.783 C. Risk assessment (Explain fully if medium or high) : This would result in a reduction in the Sewer Mainten- ance Salary Account and in individual service to home owners for plugged sewer lines. The effect of this would mean a home owner would have to hire a private contractor to rod out his sewer line. OCT 21978 REPORT OF IDENTIFIED REDUCTIONS f Town Agency: Board of Public Works Article 12 Appropriation Total : S 2,355,745 10% Reduction Target: S 235,574 5. Function/Service to be reduced: Describe fully including any ea count reduction, changes from full time to part time help, etc. A. Dollar reduction this service: B. Source of reduction: Line item #145 $ 38,286 Line item #146 9,000 C. Risk assessment . (Explain fully if medium or high) This is the sewer house connection account and in keeping with the Board's policy of identifying this as a service that could easily be provided by a private contractor has been identified as a total reduction both for salary and expense. This would result in the reduction of two per- manent people on the staff and would require the home- owner to make arrangements with a private contractor to remedy his situation. l REPORT OF IDENTIFIED REDUCTIONS OCT 21478 Town Agency: Board of Public Works Article 12 Appropriation Total : $ 2,355,745 10% Reduction Target: $ 235,574 6. Function/Service to be reduced: Describe fully including any head count reduction, changes from full time to part time help, etc. A. Dollar reduction this service: B. Source of reduction: Line item # 147 $ 14.400 Line item # 148 $ 9.600 C. Risk Assessment (Explain fully if medium or high) : Snow and Ice Salaries and Expenses - It is difficult to estimate the cost saving to be realized by discontinuing of the sidewalk plowing particularly in a very severe winter with heavy snow and ice conditions. However, a normal storm would cost the Town approximately $3,000 per storm and assuming we have eight plowable storms in the year it would be a $24,000 cost saving to the Town. This would mean that the Town would not plow any sidewalks pith r in the business or school districts This, of course, would be very unsatisfactory to the citizens of the Town of Reading. OCT 21978 REPORT OF IDENTIFIED REDUCTIONS I Town Agency: Board of Public Works Article 12 Appropriation Total : $ 2,355.745 10% Reduction Target: 7. Function/Service to be reduced: Describe fully including any neao count reauction, cFanges from full time to part time help, etc. A. Dollar reduction this service: B. Source of reduction: Line item # 149 $ 44,000 C. Line item # 150 $ 20,690 C. Risk assessment: (Explain fully if medium or high) This is the Water Salary and Expense Account and a $44,000 reduction in Salaries and a $20,690 reduction �► in expenses. This, of course, would result in some curtailment of services to our customers. The area most likely to be the least destructive would be in the area of service pipe construction which is usually laying new water services from the main to new houses constructed in a subdivision. This could be done by a private con- tractor at the expense of the developer. The second area of reduced service is service pipe maintenance which would not completely reduce this activity but would reduce it to a strictly repair type of operation such as rodding clogged services and putting on repair clamps. When it became necessary for replacement of the service the home owner would be required to hire a private contractor to make replacement at his own expense. .v OCT 21978 REPORT OF IDENTIFIED REDUCTIONS Town Agency: Board of Public Works Article 12 Appropriation Total : $ 2,355,745 10% Reduction Target: $ 235,574 8 . Function/Service to be reduced: Describe fully including any meaaccountre uction� cianges from full time to part time help, etc. A. Dollar reduction this service: B. Source of reduction: Line item #155 $ 3, 100 C. Risk Assessment (Explain fully if medium or high) : It is possible to reduce this by three thousand one hundred dollars by several methods, one of which would be to curtail the dump hours on the weekend by 50%. We could still have the same number of days for the citizens to use the area for recycling, but instead of opening at 8:00 A.M. we could open at 1 :00 P.M. and close at 5:00 P.M. Another alternative would be to open the dump for a half day during the work week which would save approximatel the same amount of money but would curtail the hours of opening for the commercial people and rubbish haulers. Or, a combination of both of these could be worked out. OCT 21978 REPORT OF IDENTIFIED REDUCTIONS Town Agency: Board of Public Works Article 12 Appropriation Total: S 2,355.745 10% Reduction Target: $ 235,574 g. Function/Service to be 'reduced: _ Describe fully including any Flea count reon, from full time to part time help, etc. - A. Dollar reduction this service: B. Source of reduction: Cine item # 157 $ 5:078 C. ' Risk assessment (Explain fully if medium or high) : This is the Equipment Replacement Account and can be cut by $5,078 which would result in the curtailment of the purchase of snow plowing equipment. /. w -- r i OCT 21978 REPORT OF IDENTIFIED REDUCTIONS Town Agency: Board of Public Yorks Article 12 Appropriation Total : $ 2,355,745 10% Reduction Target: $ 235,574 10. Function/Service to be reduced: Describe fully including any ea count re uction�ges from full time to part time help, etc. A. Dollar reduction this service: B. Source of reduction: Line item # 158 $ 20.000 C. Risk assessment: (Explain fully if medium or high) : Park Construction has been identified as a $20,000 re- duction as the least essential construction program of the Department. opk TOWN POSSIBLE MTG. VOTE REDUCTION Salaries 1 , 170,105 127,069 = 10.86 % Expense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 1 , 185,640 108,707 = 9.16 % Total 2,355,745 235,776 = 10 % r t OCT 21g7R Proposed Capital Outlay Plan 3� 1980 to 1984 Estimated Appropriations, in Thousands of Dollars Projects Funded by Tax Levy FY80 FY81 FY82 FY83 FY84 Roadway Reconstruction 200 200 200 200 200 Storm Drain Construction 40 140 150 150 150 Street Betterments 20 20 20 20 20 Sewer House Connection 35 25 15 Sidewalk Construction 10 10 10 10 10 Park and Playgrounds 30 40 40 50 50 Equipment replacement 145 145 135 145 211 Proiects Funded by Public Enterprise Rates Water Upgrade 8 test existing sources of Supply 100* Groundwater investigation program 100 I Treatment Plant Redesign 100* 100* Treatment Plant Reconstruction, High Pressure System for Loth- rop Road and New Water Mains 3000+ * Increase water rate about 15% + To be Bonded and/or State and Federal Funding NOTE: Salt Storage Building funded by State except for floor and lighting r