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(ANNUAL REPORT TOWN GTON 1Q64 ACTON BUILDS... TABLE OF CONTENTS In Memoriam 3 SECTION A Acton Builds 6 Selectmen's Report 8 SECTION B Town Clerk's Report -- Births, Dog Licenses, Town Election 12 Abstract of the Proceedings of the Special Town Meeting -- January 20, 1964 22 Annual Town Meeting -- March 9, 1964 22 Special Town Meeting -- June 8, 1964 42 Special Town Meeting -- October 19, 1964 46 SECTION C Acton School Department Report and Acton -Boxborough Regional School District Report 52 SECTION D Archives Committee 80 Board of Appeals 80 Building Committee 80 Building Inspector 81 Cemetery Commissioners 82 Conservation Commission 83 Civil Defense Agency 84 Dog Officer 84 Elizabeth White Fund * 85 Engineering Department 85 Fire Department 87 Goodnow Fund 89 Board of Health 89 Industrial Development Commission 92 Inspector of Animals. 93 Inspector of Wires 93 Insurance Committee . 94 Library and Citizens Library Association of West Acton 95 Moth Superintendent 98 Personnel Board 99 Planning Board . 99 Police Department 100 Public Ceremonies and Celebrations Committee 103 Recreation Commission 108 Sealer of Weights and Measures 109 Sewerage Study Committee 110 Sidewalk Committee 110 Street Light Committee 109 Superintendent of Streets 112 Town Administration Committee 116 Town Employees Insurance Advisory Committee 124 Town Forest Committee 124 Tree Warden 124 Welfare Board 125 Workmen's Compensation Agent 126 SECTION E Accountant 128 Assessors 144 Collector 145 State Auditor's Report 149 Treasurer 156 SECTION F Town Officers and Appointments 170 Jury List 177 Federal and State Officials Inside back cover ANNUAL REPORTS TOWN OF ACTON MASSACHUSETTS FOR ITS TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINTH MUNICIPAL YEAR FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER THIRTY-FIRST 1964 Cover and Sketches by Joanne Noyes OFFSET PRINTED BY SPAULDING-MOSS COMPANY BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A - DEDICATION Arthur W. Lee served the Town of Acton for twenty-nine years- four of them as a member of the Finance Committee and sixteen of them as a Selectman. His record of devoted and unselfish service to his fellow townspeople stands as a tribute to this fine gentleman and as an inspira- tion to Acton's public officials of the present and the future. Arthur Lee was not one to seek the limelight and bask in the glory of his office. He was a man who said no ill of anyone and always acted in the best interests of the community as a whole. If he were for something, he would fight for it in his own unassuming way and, if he opposed some- thing, he would oppose it in the manner of a gentleman, firmly and forth- rightly. To the memory of The Honorable Selectman, Arthur W. Lee, this Town Report is dedicated. IN MEMORIAM Charles Judd Farley devoted a lifetime to public service. He was a member of the American Field Service for 48 years, served with it in France during World War I, and helped es- tablish its Foreign Student program in Acton. He served the Common- wealth of Massachusetts for 19 years and at the time of his retirement in 1961 was Assistant Executive Director of the Division of Development, De- partment of Commerce. He was chair- man of Acton's first zoning committee and served on the Planning Board from 1956 until the time of his passing. Charles Judd Farley was a gentle quiet man. The contribution he made to his country, his state and his town will live on- -as will his memory in Charles Judd Farley the hearts of all who knew him. Alfred W. Davis was born in Acton and lived here during the eighty-eight years of his life, serving the town in many capacities. He was a Selectman from 1921 to 1924 and was a member of the Finance Committee for fifteen years. He also served as Superintend- ent of Streets, Police Officer, Fire Engineer and Overseer of the Poor. The Acton of today is quite differ- ent from what it was during Alfred Davis' years of service --but it pays humble tribute to the memory of a public -spirited man whose dedicated efforts helped make the Acton of today possible. Alfred W. Davis THE TOWN OF ACTON SECTION asicO 'j eti^ 6 229th ANNUAL REPORT OF ACTON BUILDS . Pictured on the cover of this report are three buildings -- the new police station, the addition to the Acton Memorial Library, and the new elementary school. The police station is now almost completed. Con- struction of the library addition and the school will begin this spring. Each of these buildings began as the dream of the committees and departments whose job it is to plan for the needs of our growing commun- ity. As these dreams become realities, new facilities will be added to the Town of Acton which will benefit all who live here. The school children will enjoy smaller classes when the new elemen- tary school is completed and twenty more classrooms are available to relieve the present crowded conditions. The new school will also have a library, cafetorium and an administrative wing with a principal's office, teachers' room and health room. The building is being designed by The Architects Collaborative of Cambridge. Acton's bookworms of all ages will delight in the two-story addition to the library which will soon be built. Architect Joseph Schiffer of Concord has designed a building which is expected to meet the library needs of the town for the next twenty years. The lower level will have a children's room opening onto a patio, also an archives room and a work area. On the main floor will be a reading room with a reference area, a workroom, librarian's office and a combination stack and study area- -an innovation suggested by the library consultant. The study tables will be located throughout the open stack area, rather than being grouped together in one place. The addition will connect with the older building through the present children's room. This room will become a wide corridor where the periodicals will be displayed. A new entrance to both buildings will open from the Town Hall side of the corridor between them. With the completion of the new police station, Acton will have ade- quate and spacious quarters for the law enforcement branch of its government. A general office and file room, chief's office, ward room, darkroom, storage areas, a cell area (with three cells), a women's detention area, and a juvenile detention room will be located on the main floor. The partial basement under the police station will house a rifle range and boiler room. An attached garage will hold four cruisers. The build- ing was designed by the Boston firm of Shannon and Underwood. The school, the police station, and the library addition are the latest in a series of town buildings whose design and construction have been under the supervision of a permanent Building Committee, appointed by the Selectmen. The town voted to establish the Committee in 1956. Since that time whenever a new town building is needed, the group involved spells out to the Building Committee what it will need in the way of facilities in the new building. Once the land has been purchased and money appro- priated for preliminary plans, the Building Committee hires an arch- itect and supervises work on the plans. Then the townspeople are asked to appropriate the money to construct - THE TOWN OF ACTON 7 the building. If the money is appropriated, the architect goes on to make working drawings. These are checked and approved by the Building Committee and by the group that is going to make use of the structure. Then the Building Committee advertises for sub-contractor and general contractor bids. If an acceptable low bid comes within the amount appropriated by the town, construction may begin. If not, the Building Committee and the architect must get together to make cost-cutting changes in the plans, then put them out for bid a second time in the hope that the new low bid will be low enough. If this bid is not low enough or if contingencies come up during construction which make the structure more costly, the Building Committee must go back to the town for more money. When construction begins, the architect supervises the day by day progress of the project. The Building Committee augments this, mak- ing frequent inspections of its own. If the job is a large one, the Com- mittee hires a full-time Inspector, sometimes known as a Clerk-of-the- Works. After the building has been completed and has been accepted by the town organization involved, the Building Committee's work is finished- at least on that particular structure. The Building Committee has four regular members who meet at least once a month (and usually a good deal more often) at the South Acton Fire Station. At present Arnold Mercier is Chairman, and the other members are Lloyd Priest, Joseph S. Cobb and Frank Arms. Whenever the Committee is carrying out a project, its membership is increased by a representative from the town department or com- mittee for whom the building is being built. This representative serves only in connection with the building which concerns him. The three men presently serving with the Building Committee in this capacity are Edwin Richter, representing the School Committee; Chief Edward Collins representing the Police Department; and Marvin Tolf, representing the Library Trustees. Since 1956 when the permanent Building Committee was established, the West and South Acton fire stations, the Florence Merriam School and the addition to the Julia McCarthy School have been completed. Also the regional high school and a fifteen- room addition to it have been built (under the supervision of the Acton-Boxborough Regional School Com- mittee, rather than the Building Committee).