Daily globe., 1883-06-06

dttenIlon TO the queStlonS OF reports from
that department, and as to an investiga-
ton by your honorable body as to whether
quarterly reports covering the work done
therein, the work under construction, and
the projected Improvements during each
quarter would not be appropriate for your
Information. 1 desire to be understood
that the same argument is equally applica-
BILE to
ALL OF THE CITY DEPARTMENTS,
of whatever nature, but use the depart
ment of the Board of Public Works merely
as an illustration upon this subject. The
departments directly connected with the
receipt and disbursement of the funds of
the city, and with the accounts thereof, are
of course, equal in their importance to that
Of the board of public works, but it has
seemed to me that rule which might be
found serviceable in that department
would unquestionably be of like service for
all. predicate this view upon the fact
| that the supervision and control of all mu-
nicipal affairs originate and finally rest
with your honorable body; that, in addi-
tlon to those duties, you are required to
exercise your legislative Jurisdiction; that
for those ends, and to enable a body of
| the character of common council and the
members of such body to exercise, as they
are required to do, their highest Judgment
in all their enactments, involving, as the
exercise of that Judgment does, not only
knowledge of the present condition of af-
fairs, but also of the necessary steps, legis-
lative or otherwise, for the future, that you
should have laid before you at frequently
recurring periods exact and particular in
formation as to the precise con-
Of,
duct in all of the several divisions of the
municipal government. t. is not and can
not be reasonably expected that member
of the common council Should be as famil-
! lar with the diverse and complex affairs of
the city, as the particular persons who are
charged with their execution in the differ
ent departments which the transaction of
that business requires the municipal gov
ernment to be divided into, and it is from
those departments, if at all, that the neces-
sary information can be laid before you
upon which you predicate your actions and
control of the city government I think.
therefore, that l do not over estimate the
importance of frequent and systematic
reports in the manner in which I have
indicated, for not only will they advise
each member of the council in a concise
and Ineligible form of the exact condi-
tion of things, but they will enable your
body to take such further steps as NAV be
necessary, or to correct any abuses which
may creep in, and guard against future
errors.
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
Under the new system which has been
adopted, the fire department is, as you are
aware. in a most satisfactory condition.
The DrnSnnt ann1ipnopc ord foroo
| consist of five steamers with their atten-
dant companies, two hook and ladder com
panies with their appurtenances, twenty
six horses, and working force of sixty two
men and officers, including two men con-
nected with the telegraph lines of the de-
| partment. In the report of the gentlemen
| comprising the Board of Fire Commission
| ers will be found an exact and particular
| statement of the condition of the depart
| ment, together with their suggestion con-
corning the same for the future And in
| this behalf it is perhaps advisable to call
| your attention to certain matters alluded
to in that report. That is, the condition
of telegraph and telephone wires in the
city. 1t is complained by this department
that the multiplication of wires for the
| purposes named not only seriously embar-
| rass them in their workings at fire, in the
vicinity of where these wires happen to be,
but that the present arrangement of wires
| frequently interferes with the fire alarm
and result either in false alarms, or in an
Ineffective working of that system at diff
| erent times; and it has been suggested
that 1t be required of such companies that
the upper portions of their poles be by
them placed at the disposal Of the fire de-
partment for the stringing of the wires in
| use IN that department upon them, which
situation it is claimed will prevent many
of the present Inconvenience and hind
RANGES to which the fire department are
exposed. That you have the power to i'm
pose that duty as a condition of permitting
those companies to occupy the streets
with their poles and wires is unquestioned.
Whether you shall exercise that power. or
not, is a matter for your Judgment with
out any suggestions from myself. I have,
however, to suggest that so far as the
TELEPHONE COMPANIES
are concerned, inasmuch as their right to
erect and maintain poles upon the streets
of the city was granted them under ordi-
nance No. PA, which expressly reserves the
right to your honorable body to pass such
further ordinances upon the subject as you
desire, and inasmuch as the provisions of
that ordinance, requiring them to plane
and paint their poles, have not been COM
piled with by them to great extent, and
the privilege which is accorded to them is
an exceedingly valuable one, it might be
proper, in your discretion, not only to re-
quire compliance upon their part with
the suggestions of the Fire Department.,
and with the provisions of the ordinance
in question, bat il addition thereto, require
them to place the telephone service at
proper points at the disposal of the police
and fire department for their use, without
additional cost TO the city. At present
each city department using the telephone
is, as 1 am advised, required to pay for it,
and inasmuch as that service is rendered
without any appreciable cost to the tele-
phone company, it might be we'll that in
return for the privileges extended to them
by the city they should contribute the nee
cessary telephone service for the use of
the city, without charging therefor at the
rates at present charged to private sub
scribers. The condition of the
THE POLICE DEPARTMENT.,
and its services during the past year will
fully appearin the report of the Chief of
Police which will be before you.