Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-09-06

An Overworked Official.
! 1t has lorg been apparent that the City
Surveyor has more to do than he can at
tend TO satisfactorily. lie does all thatit
/ is possible for HIM to do, but no man, how
ever great mis- capacity for work, could
/ discharge all the duties which are im-
! posed upon the Surveyor of this city.
The Surveyor responds willingly to
every call upon him, and endeaVors to
meet every demand to the best of his
ability, but his duties are so numerous
and varied that be cannot attend to them
all and give to each the time and atten-
tiOn that is desirable. He is at the call OF
about every other city official and, appar-
emily, of every other citizen, and these
calls are remarkably frequent.
The office of City Surveyor is organized
on the plan OF that or a small town In
stead OF that Of good sized, growing city.
The Surveyor ought to have one or two
good engineers for assistants. so that the
public works Of the city could have the
care and attention they deserve. He
probably knows that be is not equal to all
! the burdens placed upon him, but being a
very modest, as well as meritorious
official, it is probable that he has never
| asked the Council for help.
The interests of the city demand a well
organized engineers department. Such
a department, while 1t would cost consid
erabiy more than the present Surveyors
Office, would save the city annually, in
actual cash money, thousands of dollars
more than it would cost to give the Sur
veyor the assistance he needs. For i'm
proving the drainage, building sewers,
laying out streets and roads, it IS neces-
sary that an engineer OF the city should
be constantly on hand to see that the
city's rights are protected, and that the
Improvements which the CITY makes are
worth all they cost. A sewer may be con-
structed which, owing to some de-
feet that an engineer might easily have
detected and remedied when the work
was being done, Will fail to accomplish
the object intended. 1t must be recon-
structed at heavy expense. What is
true with respect to a sewer is true with
respect to other public works.
No time is more opportune than the
present for reorganizing and providing
for additional force for the Surveyors
Office. The city is about to lay off
an addition This in itself
will impose about as much work on one
man as he can well attend to. Sewers
viii have to be built, streets laid out,
drainage provided for, lots surveyed,
etc. The work to be done on the addition
by the Surveyor ought to be first-class
work. 1t will be subjected to the test of
time. 1t will be required to be good work,
not only because such work will give bet
ter satisfaction, but because it will be eX-
pected to last for generations.
1t has been suggested that the city and
county might act in harmony in this mat
ter, and by dividing the expense MAINTAIN
at very reasonable cost department of
engineers. who would be at the command
of either the city or the county. The
county needs the services Of good engi-
neers very frequently, and it would
doubtless be willing to help bear the ex-
penses of such services.
This is very important matter to the
city, and the Council would act wisely by
considering il at once. 1t is possible that
a plan for securing additional service in
the Surveyors office, different from that
herein outlined, will suggest itself to
Council when the subject is discussed.
What is wanted is good streets, good
roads and good drainage. and there will
he no objection made to any plan or the
expense of it, provided these things are
obtained.