ROXBURY — Selectmen discussed designs for new town signs at Tuesday night’s meeting, but agreed to have Timothy Derouche get prices before placing an order.
One of the all-metal signs will depict an image of Ellis Pond and state “Entering Ellis Pond Watershed” above the design and “Ours to Protect” below it.
The board determined another was needed for roads also along Ellis Pond/Roxbury Pond that states “Caution: Potential 0% Visibility Areas.”
Strong winds sweeping across the pond this winter have piled snow in mounds reaching phone lines on utility poles along roads around the pond and greatly reduced visibility.
Additional signs will delineate streets going from Roxbury to Byron and Andover such as Entering Roxbury; Main Street, Roxbury; Notch Road; Roxbury Road; and Birch Brook Road, Derouche said. Twenty-two signs in all are needed, with multiples of nearly every sign.
In other municipal business, selectmen agreed to notify Brenda Carvalho of Lowell, Mass., that she has three weeks, from April 10 to April 30, to remove any personal belongings in a dilapidated building on one of her two lots on which the town recently foreclosed for nonpayment of taxes. Selectmen previously deemed the building dangerous.
“Essentially, what we’re telling them is, ‘You need to remove your stuff or we’ll remove it for you,'” Board of Selectmen Chairman John Sutton said.
The board also approved reposting a notice in local newspapers seeking demolition bids for the building that include removing all material and leveling the site. The demolition work will be scheduled for May.
Former Selectman Michael Worthley advised the board to tell the winning bidder where the cesspool is so they don’t drive an excavator over it.
The board also talked about filling it in and checking it to see if it needs to be pumped out first and filled in, but Code Enforcement Officer Robert Folsom Sr. said he didn’t think there would be anything inside it because the building has been vacant for so long.
The board also regretfully accepted the resignation of Jean Shaw from the Cemetery Committee. “What if we don’t approve it?” Sutton asked Shaw.
“Too bad,” she said. “I’m proud of what I accomplished, but I think it’s time for someone else to get involved.”
Selectmen thanked Shaw for her work.
The board also voted 3-0 to appoint Mike Mills to a three-year term on the Planning Board.
Edited: Jean Shaw’s comment was clarified.
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