USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Weymouth > Town annual report of Weymouth 1929 > Part 17
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During the past four years there have been no suits whatever against the Town or any official thereof growing out of alleged illegal acts on the part of the Town or any of its officials. In a town of our size with our extent of roadways, a certain number of suits for damages received on the highways is inevitable. The number of such suits, however, is hardly in excess of what it was when the Town had a far smaller population, and far less extent of roads, and when travel by motor was much less common. A horse, having intelligence, could be deper ed upon to avoid in many cases obvious defects in the highway, where an automobile cannot be so depended upon. That the number of highway cases has not increased reflects the highest credit upon the Street Department.
There are pending today three highway cases, two of them growing out of a single accident, the same number as were pend- ing in 1900, 30 years ago. The number of land damage cases against the Town is bound to increase, but here again public officials have shown a disposition to treat land owners fairly and the number of suits which come to trial is small, an average of only one such case a year having been tried since I have been Town Counsel.
Many of our citizens do not understand the procedure in reference to land damage cases. By a provision of the federal constitution, and all our state constitutions, property cannot be taken for public use except on payment of just compensation. In most jurisdictions a suit is filed to condemn the property and the price which is to be paid for the property is fixed before the property is taken, so that the town has the option. of either taking the property at the price fixed or deciding not to take it. In Massachusetts, this system has not existed until the current year when a new law has provided this procedure as an alternative method in future takings. In Massachusetts, heretofore the land has been taken without any judicial procedure whatever and then if the owner was not satisfied with the amount awarded, he could file a petition for an assessment of his damages by a jury. Until 1925, the statute forbade a town's purchasing real estate for a price more than 25 % in excess of its assessed value so in any case where the owner was not willing to accept this amount the case had to go to court. In a great majority of cases, the Town of
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"Weymouth has an agreement in advance of a taking as to the price the owner will take. Where it has no such agreement, the appropri- ation committee has adopted my recommendation that the assessed value of the land be appropriated and awarded by the Town board taking the land. The reason for this is obvious. Let us suppose a piece of land which is assessed for $1500 and whose fair market value is between $2000 and $3000; after consideration the Town decides upon $2800 as the extreme value of the property and accordingly appropriates this sum, feeling confident that the land can be purchased within that figure. The land owner immediately thinks that the $2800 is his anyway by the fact of the Town appro- priating that sum and proceeds to see how much more he can get, his starting point being from $2800 up. Obviously, this places the Town in a very unfair and disadvantageous position in reference to negotiations. Very likely the owner would have been glad to take $2500 but because the Town appropriated $2800 as the outside figure, ne immediately feels he is entitled to that anyway and as much more as he can get. Accordingly, in all takings where there is no advance agreement as to price, the Town has in recent years appropriated only the assessed value of the land, because there is probably no land in Weymouth which is not worth at least its assessed value. In this manner, negotiations start from the assessed value of the land and if an agreement is reached with the owner the Board taking the land can always revise their award and the matter be settled by the payment of the excess out of the general appropriation for the payment of damages. This policy has, I believe, saved the Town several thousand dol- lars on land it has acquired in the past two or three years and should be continued. Of course if the case' goes to a jury the verdict will very probably be in excess of the amount appropriated by the Town but this does not mean that the Town has paid too much for the property because had the owner been willing to name any figure which the Town thought reasonable, the Town would have settled with him, and as stated above in at least one case tried this year the Town would have been willing to pay by way of settlement more than the jury actually awarded.
Claims
In addition, twelve cases have been settled without any court proceedings, as follows:
Workmen's compensation cases, 3
Highway cases, 3
Cases growing out of the collection of insurance on property lost in the Ward 3 Fire Engine House fire, 2
Damage to uniform of a police officer under Gen- eral Laws, Chapter 41, Section 100,
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Land Damage 1
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ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS
As in previous years, I have endeavored to hold myself availa- ble to advise Town officials on any legal matters that arose in the performance of their duties, and on a designated evening before each Town Meeting I have been at the Town Hall to assist any Town Meeting members who might desire my help in drawing votes or other motions to present to the Town Meeting. While there has been nothing like a rush to take advantage of this service, yet a substantial number of people have come for assistance and if more would do so, it would expedite the transaction of business in the Town Meetings. I desire to remind our citizens that the service I render in this capacity is entirely impersonal and is done in the interest of dispatch of business by the Town Meeting. The fact that I or the Town officials may personally or officially not be in favor of the particular motion or resolution which a given Town Meeting member may desire to have drawn does not enter into the question at all, and assistance or advice will be given to any Town Meeting member on any matter that he has a legal right to present, whether or not it accords with the policies of other Town Boards or officials.
In conclusion, I desire to thank the members of your Board for the courtesy and co-operation extended to me during the past year.
Respectfully submitted, FREDERIC GILBERT BAUER Town Counsel
REPORT OF THE ELECTRIC LIGHTING COMMITTEE
Weymouth, December 31, 1929. To the Honorable Board of Selectmen:
Your committee renewed to April 1, 1930 the usual contract, as approved by the Town Counsel, with the Weymouth Light and Power Company, to furnish lighting for the public streets and ways of the Town.
During the year we have installed eleven 1000 C. P. bracket lights and also over one hundred other lights, nearly all of which were of 60 C. P. At the present time our eighty miles of accepted streets are illuminated by sixty 1000 C. P. lamps and by one thousand three hundred sixty four smaller lamps. This means, on the average, a light every three hundred feet, whereas we consider good lighting requires one at least every two hundred and fifty feet.
We have had many requests, which we do not feel we can consider, for liglits on private ways.
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Your board has recommended seventeen new streets with a total length of about two and five-tenths miles and if accepted by the Town will require lighting with about fifty-five new lamps.
We recommend the following budget for the coming year: Maintenance of present lights $35,075
115 new 60 C. P. lights, or their equivalent,
(6 months service) 1,200
$36,275
Respectfully submitted, JOSEPH KELLY, Chairman ALFRED S. TIRRELL WILLIAM B. NASH, JR. EDWIN MULREADY J. HERBERT LIBBEY, Clerk.
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON NEW TOWN HALL AND WAR MEMORIAL
To the Honorable Board of Selectmen:
The Committee on New Town Hall and War Memorial is fast approaching the completion of its labors. The New Town Hall is completed, the Open Air Theatre and Memorial Wall are completed, and some of the tablets installed thereon. Most of the landscaping of the knoll south of the Open Air Theatre has been completed, the foundation for the Memorial Cross installed and the contract for the cross let. By May, therefore, at the latest, our entire civic center should be completed and this Committee can submit its final report and go out of office.
During the past three years the Committee has put in long hours and probably a greater amount of time than has ever been expended in an equal time by any other Town Committee, with the possible exception of the Appropriation Committee. The re- sult of our labors has been praised by architects and town officials from all over the country, and many features have been or are being copied in other places. In this, therefore, as in some other things, Weymouth has set an example to all the municipalites of our country.
The general expression of approval on the part of our citizens now that they can see the group near completion so that they can visualize its appearance when. completed convinces the Com- mittee that their labors have not been in vain, and we believe that future generations will look back with pride upon the group of buildings which the foresight and patriotism of the present citi- zens of the Town have created.
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TOWN HALL
The Town Hall was formally dedicated on Washington's Birth- day, 1929. There are still a few minor things which experience has shown are needed in the line of equipment and those have been and are being gradually provided. By a vote of the Town Meeting last October, the work of suitably framing and hanging on the walls of the central corridor and rotunda documents pertaining to the history of the Town has been continued and so far as in- formation. can be obtained, there is no other town in the country which has so complete a set of copies of such documents. The re- search involved, however, revealed that the documents were even more numerous than had been originally anticipated. Instead of one company in the War of 1812 from Weymouth, there were four; the muster roll of the Town's men who served in suppressing Shay's Rebellion has been discovered and photographed; the rolls of the North Precinct company of militia in the War of the Revolution, hitherto unknown, have been also discovered through the efforts of Mr. Arthur R. Taylor, and the original enlistment papers of two df Weymouth's companies in the Civil War have been found at the State House. When completed, there will be on exhibition in the upper corridor of the Town Hall the following documents: Rolls of all companies raised in Weymouth during the Revolution, War of 1812 and Civil War; pay roll of Weymouth Militia in service during Shay's Rebellion (1787); rolls of local companies in which Weymouth men served during the French and Indian War; enlistment papers of Company HI, 12th Mass. Infantry, and Company A, 42nd Mass. Infantry Militia in the Civil War; record of the General Court of September 2, 1635, old style, naming Weymouth. .
The suggestion that the clocks and other, works of art on the Walls on the building be purchased from the John B. Rhines Fund and marked as memorials to him was a happy one made to the Committee and has worked out well in practice. We recommend that the income of this Fund be devoted, until otherwise ordered by the Town, to the purchase of works of art or objects of historic interest for display in the Town Hall.
A tablet commemorating the many benefactors of the Town is only due recognition of their memory, and the Committee hopes to have this tablet in place by the first of April.
Citizens of the Town may be interested in the cost of the building, the main items of which are as follows:
The building itself - amount of contract, James Miles and Son Co. $138,172.00
This amount is less than the original contract in spite of the fact the building was dropped three feet into the ground in order to avoid concealing the clock on the High School.
T. A. Ridder Co.
Extra items by others
17,620.60
979.70
$156,772.30
Total
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DEDICATION OF TABLETS, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1920
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Professional sevvices :
8,290.32
Architects Heating engineer Civil Engineer
520.35 380.26
Total $9,190.93
Cable and pipe connections, water, septic tank, etc.
2,367.79
Bond and insurance:
Contractor's bond
2,386.17
Fire Insurance
100.00
$2,486.17
Walks, grading, planting, and landscaping work, when completed, about 5,000.00
Furniture and equipment, when completed, about This does not include flags, pictures, framed docu- ments, tablets and other ornamentation.
Overhead, including expenses of laying corner- stone, expenses of the dedication exercises, police services, expressage, advertising, printing reports, postage, purchase of books which would be a valuable addition to the library,
$765.39
or 4-10 of 1 % of the cost of the building.
16,000.00
Some minor matters of detail are still pending with the con- tractor and a small balance is withheld in the hands of the Town Treasurer to cover these items. In order to bring matters to a close, we recommend the Town Meeting order us to liquidate our accounts by July 1, that all moneys remaining in our hands revert to the Treasury on that date, and that any sum which may be found on a final adjustment to be due under the building contract be paid out of the appropriation for the payment of damages.
MEMORIAL CROSS
The adoption of a cross similar to the one in Arlington National Cemetery, as a memorial to the men of Weymouth who have given their lives for their country in the time of war, was one which we think will more and more commend tself to the citizens of the Town as years go on. It is not expensive as such memorials go, is simple and dignified, has a high symbolic meaning and will be particularly impressive in the location provided for it. The contract for the cross has been let and calls for the cross being delivered not later than March 20 and installed within 10 days therefrom, weather permitting. The landscaping and plant- ing have already been done so far as possible, and all that re- mains now is to provide an approach from the driveway West of the knoll and to complete the landscaping on the South side after the cross is in position, since it will have to be moved on to the site from that directon.
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CIVIL WAR MEMORIAL TABLET
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OPEN AIR THEATRE AND MEMORIAL WALL
The open Air Theatre and Memorial Wall are complete with the exception of two groups of shrubbery to conceal the stage entrances and providing portable seats. These particular portions of the work, however, are being handled by the School Depart- ment.
The work of securing the names for the tablets has far exceed- ed in its proportions anything that was anticipated and the num- ber of names is far in excess of any we supposed could be iden- tified as Weymouth soldiers. In the place of 40 or 50 names which we thought could be verified as serving in the French and Indian War, we have 110. The most sanguine expectations as to the num- ber of names of identifiable men from Weymouth serving in the War of 1812 did not exceed 50 or 60. Present indications are that the list will be nearly 150. In addition, the rolls of Colonel (then Captain) Thomas Vinson's detachment of Wey- mouth men who served at Northampton in- suppressing Shay's Rebellion has been discovered and these names also should be placed on the wall.
The tablets for the Civil War, King Philip's War, and the Spanish War and Phillippine Insurrection, together with the ta- blets bearing the names of those who died in the World War were dedicated on Sunday, November 10, before an assembly of our citizens which was conservatively estimated at from 3000 to 4000 people. Such an outpouring of citizens has seldom been seen in our Town and shows the interest which was taken in the event and in our civic center. It is to be regretted that all the tablets could not have been dedicated together, but on account of the ad- vanced age and feeble health of some of our Grand Army, it was not felt wise to delay the dedication of the Civil War tablet any longer and the Town wisely voted that such other tablets as were ready should be dedicated at the same time. The exercises were well reported in the press and went off without the slightest hitch.
It is planned to dedicate the remaining tablets on the after- noon of Patriots' Day, Saturday, April 19, on which occasion the Massachusetts Society, Sons of American revolution has accepted the Town's invitation to hold their annual meeting in our Town Hall and to assist with its ritual in the dedication of the Revolu- tionary tablets. The Society of the War of 1812 in the Common- wealth of Massachusetts, several of whose members live in Wey- mouth, has likewise consented to take part in the dedication of the War of 1812 tablet. There will still be tablets for each of the veteran organizations in Town to dedicate, and in the dedication of the Memorial Cross, which represents the dead of all wars, it is planned to use the ritual of the Grand Army, which is considered the best for the purpose, and to have representatives of the various organizations participate in it. As this dedication marks the completion of our civic group, and will be one of the first to take place in the period officially designated for the celebration of the Massachusetts Bay Tercentenary, the occasion should be made an impressive one and worthy of the Town. For this reason, we have
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made. tentative plans, subject to. the approval of the Town, for exercises which will have as one feature the rendering of Handel's "Jubilate" originally composed for the celebration of the Peace of Utrecht in 1713. This work is not only appropriate to the occa- tion, but its performance will bring the Town into favorable prominence. A small appropriation will be asked to cover the expenses of this final dedication.
We are assured by persons who are in the business of con- structing memorials such as ours that nothing so complete as our tablets lias been attempted by any community and Weymouth may well be proud of the manner in which it is preserving for posterity the names and records of its soldier and sailor sons.
Although the Committee will render a final report at the close of the year, its labons will virtually be over at the time of the next Town Meeting. It has met with co-operation from the other Town Departments with which it has been brought in contact and from all upon whom it has had occasion to call for assistance.
Our local papers have given much publicity to the Commit- tee's work and to its requests for information and we desire to express our appreciation thereof.
Great care has been used to make the building, wall, and their surroundings not. only artistically beautiful, but correot reproductions of American Colonial architecture. All the advan- tage of this may be lost by careless or ill-considered action on the part of the Town or individuals. Strict measures, therefore, should be taken to prevent anything being placed or done in or about the Town Hall or War Memorial which would be out of keeping with what we already have. One suggestion was that an upright piano be placed in the Council Chamber. On whether the Town should place a piano in the Council Chamber, the Com- mittee expresses no opinion, but if one is placed there, it should be a grand whose case is a faithful reproduction of an old-fash- iond harpsichord of the period when the building was built. Such pianos are made by all the leading manufacturers. To place an upright piano there would be suggestive of a picture which former- ly hung in the Royal Gallery at Dusseldorf showing Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and in the background of the picture two German Students with their rifles hunting, or of a picture which formerly hung in Boston, of the "Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba," showing her baggage as consisting, of brass-bound Saratoga trunks, and we recommend that the Town take measures to safeguard the beauty and harmony and histori- cal correctness of the group.
In conclusion, we desire to thank citizens of the Town for the confidence which they have manifested in us by voting the money needed from time to time for the realization of this project and for supporting us in carrying out a plan for civic betterment of which we believe the Town will always have reason to be proud. We all have different opinions and if each member of the Com- mittee or each citizen of the Town had carried out his own individual ideas as to a Town Hall and War Memorial the results would certainly have been different from what we already have.
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The buildings and grounds, however, represent a compromise and adjustment of ideas which has been reached only after considera- ble study and in every case has finally commanded the unanimous approval of the Committee. That it has generally commended .it- self to the citizens at large is shown by the unanimity with which the several votes have been passed at the Town Meetings.
With conditions as they exist today in America when sub- tle influences are seeking to undermine the idealy for which the United States, our State and Town stand, every community must, do its part to hold aloft the torch of those ideals which have guided our country ever since its first settlement 300 years ago. The construction of this group with its appeal to patriotism through a commemoration of the noble deeds of the past, is more than a memorial to the soldiers and sailors whose names it bears, - it is a memorial to the civic pride and patriotism of the Town which has erected it in the most strategie position so that the rising gen- cration can see it and learn the lesson which it teaches, and the members of our Committee are proud to have assisted in this important work.
Respectively submitted,
FREDERIC GILBERT BAUER H. FRANKLIN PERRY FRANK A. PRAY STANLEY HEALD
ATHUR I. NEGUS
HOWARD M. DOWD FRED E. WAITE CLAYTON B. MERCHANT
EDWARD W. HUNT
RUSSELL H. WHITING
STANLEY T. TORREY
Committee
:
FIFTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE TUFTS LIBRARY WEYMOUTH, MASS. 929
GUSSET-
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ABOBAR
MASSACHUSETTS
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FIFTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE TUFTS LIBRARY
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TRUSTEES
Gertrude C. Andrews
Joseph Kelley
Wallace H: Drake
Kenneth L. Nash
Arthur E. Pratt
Franklin. N. Pratt
Clarence P. Whittle
SELECTMEN EX-OFFICIO
William A. Connell
H. Franklin Perry
Edwin R. Sampson Winslow M. Tirrell
Fred E. Waite
OFFICERS Clarance P. Whittle, President Gertrude C. Andrews, Secretary
LIBRARIAN Christine E. Evarts
ASSISTANTS
Rachael M. Bodine Alice M. Gowdy
Edith L. Payson Gertrude R. Simons
BRANCH LIBRARIANS
Mary M. Dingwall Martha J. Hawes
JANITOR Thomas E. Shea
William F. Hathaway
John B. Holland
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INFORMATION
Library Hours:
Main Library, Adult Department: 9 A. M. to 9 P. M. daily. Main Library, Children's Room: 2:30 to 6 P. M. daily; Saturday 9 A. M. to 6 P. M.
Summer Hours: July and August, 9 A. M. to 6 P. M .; Satur- day 9 A. M. to 9 P. M.
Branches: 2 to 5 P. M. and 7 to 8 P. M. daily, except Wed- nesday.
The library and the branches are not open Sundays, legal holidays, nor the 17th of June.
The library is for the use of all residents of Weymouth. Tem- porary residents are entitled to the same privileges as permanent residents.
Each card issued to an adult entitles the holder to one book of recent fiction (a book published within the last year), one current periodical, and any reasonable number of other books.
Children under Senior High School age are entitled to a card if the application is signed by a parent or guardian. Cards issued to children entitle the holders to two books, only one of which may be fiction.
All books from the circulating department, except the new fiction, may be kept for fourteen days. At the request of the borrower any book not in popular demand will be charged for one month, subject to recall after two weeks if requested by other borrowers. Fiction published within the last calendar year, and recent numbers of magazines are limited to seven days with no renewal privilege.
The vacation privilege allows a borrower to take books which are not recent publications for an extended time ..
A book cannot be transferred from one card to another, but any fourteen day book may be renewed at the library, by mail, or by *telephone, unless another borrower has asked to have the book reserved. The date due, the author and title of the book, and the borrower's name should be stated when the request for renewal is made.
Any fourteen day book will be reserved at the request of a borrower, who will be notified as soon as the book is available.
A fine of two cents a day will be incurred for each day's detention of a book after it is due. When a book is sent for by the librarian it will be at the expense of the borrower.
Cases of contagious diseases are reported to the library by the Board of Health, and all books which have been exposed to contagion are burned.
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