Selectmen Welcome New Firefighters, OK Linden Square Noise Plan

Selectmen heard about Mars Monday before settling on more earthly concerns: new firefighters, noise control and sterling reviews for the Executive Director, Fire Chief and Police Chief.

The citizen's speak portion of the meeting was first, with a speech from Maria Channon of the LaRoche campaign, which aims to create support for financial regulations imposed by the Glass-Steagall Banking Act of 1933 that separated financial and commercial banking until its 1999 repeal.  She also encouraged the colonization of Mars.

Neither the evening's agenda nor the purview of the board encompassed interplanetary travel and national finance reform, so discussion quickly turned to terrestrial, local matters.

Executive Director Hans Larsen reported that the common victualer's license application of Dean Behrend for a proposed 178-seat restaurant at 978 Worcester St. had been withdrawn. At the previous meeting, selectmen asked Behrend  for more information about his parking plan for the site. Behrend's attorney Larry Shind had said he expected to return Monday with the answers, but neither he nor Behrend attended the meeting.

Deputy Chief Jeffrey Peterson introduced Selectmen to two new prospective firefighters he hoped they would appoint to the fire department: Ian McMakin, a Mass Maritime graduate, and Gerard Sullivan, Peterson's nephew. A large helping of the unusually large audience were the men's families, there for the occasion. Selectmen approved the appointments, contingent on their completion of training with the state firefighter's academy and EMT training.

Next up was was Federal Realty Investment Trust's Michael Kelleher, director of asset management, who presented a plan to mitigate noise from Roche Brothers in Linden Square. The plan included a plastic sheet to muffle machinery rolling across the loading docks at the grocery store, and a sound-muffling curtain for the store's loading bays. 

Speaking with Kelleher was Kathleen C. Kondylas, President of NEVA Associates noise control systems. Kondylas said the curtain would be made of a composite noise barrier and noise absorbing material. The curtain, which she said will be installed within two weeks, will be in between the store and residents at all times, except when there is a truck parked in one of the bays.

The curtain should reduce noise from the Roche Brothers building by 50 percent, Kondylas said.

Jack Cotter of Highland Road said the noise from the building is only part of the noise problem. The backup alarms on the trucks are very loud, he said, and the trucks make a lot of noise when they're put in gear, too. "They wind them up pretty good. I can hear it," Cotter said.

Selectman Barbara Searle asked if this was only happening during the set hours for truck operation on the site.

"Unfortunately, that is not the case," said Kelleher. He said due to miscommunication of the rules, sometimes trucks were at the site later than they should be. Kelleher said he was working with both the management of Roche Brothers and with a security guard at the site to ensure better observance of the rules.

Larsen noted that truck operation at the site is supposed to be restricted to between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m., and trash operations are supposed to be restricted to between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

"There is definitely an education process that needs to be going on at Roche Brothers," said Searle.

Peter Quinn of Pine Tree Road asked if there were some punitive measure for violations of the operating hours, to which Kelleher responded that the truck operators and their employers are motivated to avoid conflicts with Roche Brothers and could be managed through the store.

"At some point, a sort of preventive measure needs to be put in place to prevent it from happening in the first place," Quinn said. 

"Hopefully, this is good enough, and if not, we'll come back and try to do something better," Searle said.

John Smitka of Highland Road suggested an outdoor microphone for the Roche Brothers manager to use so he could hear what was happening outside the store.  He also suggested weekend hours for truck and trash operation at the site. At the moment, the hours of operation are the same throughout the week.

After the meeting, Smitka was optimistic about the town's response to the neighbors' concerns, but said selectmen would still need to follow through and focus consistent attention to the matter. Still, "We're further along than I thought we'd be," Smitka said.

The meeting ended with glowing reviews from the board for Larsen, Police Chief Terrence Cunningham and Fire Chief Richard DeLorie. Searle said the three men's hard work and leadership help make Wellesley a great place to live.

Searle praised DeLorie's work to create standard operating procedures for the fire department and his work to control overtime costs. She highlighted Larsen's work to control  municipal costs, which have allowed the town to avoid overrides for the past three years. She also complimented Cunningham's work to switch the police department out of the civil service.  

"The town of Wellesley is very fortunate to have three very competent and professional managers," Searle said.  Selectmen approved one percent raises for each of the men.