The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1891-04-24
The Mayors inaugural and Alder
man Lamfrom's Remarks.
The following is the inaugural mess age OF
Mayor Smith:

Mayor Smith:
Gentlemen of the Common Council:
Upon reflection, have concluded that in duty
to the citizens of this city and to you ought at
this time TO say something relative to our munich
The electors of our city have by their ballots
put you i'm charge of the municipal business OF the
| city for the ensuing year and to them and your
consciences are you accountable for your steward
ship. Ii is duty you owe to the people and your
selves to give sufficient of your time and thought
to the business entrusted to you TO enable you To
fully and fairly understand it, to the end that your
action in relation thereto may be considerate and
wise While by reason Of the rapid and 9nprece,
will be called upon to consider, act upon ana dis
| pose of many new, novel, and more or less diff
cult questions of municipal affairs yet will not
| now spend any time in speculation, but will only
briefly call your attention to a few matters that
are surely now with us, and which deem of vital
This city has in the vicinity of one hundred
m Q. 10 re o at the
see to il that they are in and kept in, reasonably
safe and fit condition for travel for It is much less
| expensive to keep our streets and sidewalks in
| condition than to pay damages
| do not mean to say that the city is liable for
damages for every injury for such is not the case
| il is liable only in cases where the municipal au
thorities having saich matters in charge neglect
their duty and fail to exercise proper and reason
careful inspection of our streets and sidewalks at
| stated periods and reports thereof made to this
| Council, to the end that by such reasonable care
| the city may avoid liability for damages
| And, furthermore, If defects are found in side
walks upon such inspection, the business should be
so arranged that the property owner I'm front OF
| whose premises the defective sidewalk is found,
| shall be at once notified thereof and required to
repairthe same, so that in case injury occurs, and
damages accrue by reason of such defect and fail
| ure to repair the same, the liability thereof will
fall upon the lot owner, instead of upon the city.
The question of how much money shall be raised
and expended upon our streets by way of improve
| thereon.
always will be- one upon which there VIII be great
diversity of opinion, and you will be obliged to
determine that question as best you can.
| In relation to the matter of building new side
walks understand that it always has been the
practice in such matters that whenever the Colnn-
ell has passed an ordinance requiring the CON
struction of a new sidewalk, and the property
owners in front of whose land the same Is to be
constructed fail to build the same in front of their
respective lots parts of lots within the time
specified in the ordinance providing for the CON
struction of such sidewalk then the city has built
that part of such sidewalk which the prospective
owners of the lots have failed to build and the
expense of such building is in the first instance,
paid out of the contingent fund OF the city and
to- is assessed upon the lots in front of which
owners have failed to build their sidewalk, and
placed on the tax roll, and collected at the time
! and in the manner other taxes collected.
see no particular objection to this except that
unless great care and vigilance is exercised on the
part of the city authorities the money so paid out
of the contingent fund in the first instance, and
| which should be assessed upon the lots holding to
pay the same, is not SO assessed and thereby the
general tax payers of the city are wrongfully made
| to pay the taxes that should have been paid by
the lot owners, and the lot owner thereby escapes
payment for the construction of the sidewalk in
| front of his lot.
call your attention to this matter, that you
may take such action and exercise such care in re-
lation thereto as will insure the payment of these
| frontage taxes by the proper parties
In this connection l also call your attention to
the matter of street railroad crossings of which
| there are many within our city:
| The laws of this State provide that whenever a
| railroad company builds its road across public
highway or street it shall restore such highway or
street to its former condition, as near as may be,
and shall construct suitable crossings for the pas
sage of teams, by fitting down panks between and
on each side of the rails of such road, etc
The statute seems clear that the expense of such
work should not be made charge upon the gen
eral tax payers OF the city.
| OF the police department, the duties OF the re-
spective officials having charge of the police affairs
of the city, quite fully and specifically defined
by our city charter, and but little is left to be de
fined regulated controlled by ordinance. Yet
it is your duty to to 1t that such officials are
vigilant and active in the discharge of their duties
the end that vice and immortality may be sup
pressed And it is likewise the duty of all good
law abiding citizens to ''hold up your hands" in
this and render the officials such aid and assistance
| as they can, to the same end.
| OF sewerage Year by year the question of
| sewerage is growing in Importance and pressing
! itself more strongly upon our municipal authori-
| ties That some action as to this matter must be
taken at an early date is Obvious. 1t has long been
desirable and is fast becoming necessity that we
among citizens in favor of It, In fact believe
the construction of public sewers would have been
begun this it not for the difficulty of find
ing an outlet where the sewerage could be dis
posed of in a proper way Apparently the only
disposition that be made of it is to turn it into
the river. But perhaps upon investigation some
| better way may be found. 1t Is evident that to
turn it into the river and leave it there to take
of itself would not be satisfactory, for the remedy
might be worse than the disease. 1t has been sug-
| gested that solution of this problem would be
| the construction of sewer for distance along
down the bed of the river, in such manner that
during the summer months and time of low water
| the sewerage could be held therein, and at high
water be properly disposed of by flushing the
| sewer so built in the river.
| Under the provisions of our charter any work of
this kind would be at the expense of the city. But
the cost of constructing sewers along the streets
| would be a frontage tax, to be assessed upon pro-
perty fronting on the streets along which sewers
are built.
1t seems to me that some action ought to be
| taken, at least by way of investigation looking
| towards the determination and adoption of some
plan and general system of sewerage for our city;
and that whatever you do in that direction should
be so done that your successors may have the
| benefit of it.
Our Fire Department That an efficient fire de
partment should be maintained all will concede,
otherwise the large expense incurred for water
works would be practically lost for the purpose of
fire protection. To make fire department effici-
| ent it should be systematically and thoroughly Or
gained, and occasional drills should be had. The
members should feel an interest in it and that
| membership unefem Is honorable. In case OF nre
| alarm sufficient of the members of the department
| to properly attach and lay hose should be at or
| near the engine house, and go out with the hose
| truck, for in such case time is all-important
| How, or in what way, such members can. at
| least expense, be kept near to or at the engine
| house, is an important question. l find that to
| this end, in many cities the municipal authorities
| maintain q suitable reading room for members of
| their fire departments with very satisfactory re-
| suits.
| Water Works-From the best information
have been able to obtain find that our city up to
this date, has expended between 75 900 and $50 900
| in the construction of water works. Whether this
| large sum has been wisely and judicousy expend-
ed or otherwise is not question for consideration
| by this Council, further than as a matter of ex-
| perience by which it may profit. The province of
| this Council is the dealing with municipal affairs
| as it finds them.
| These works are apparently in at least fairly
| efficient working condition. and of sufficient ca
pacity to furnish all requisite supply of water for
a city of 10000 inhabitants There are about ID
miles of mains now laid, and il is not likely that
more than few minor extensions of these will be
needed for some years yet But, as presume you
are already advised the income from water rates
is not what it ought to be, in view of the facilities
| of the city for supplying consumers and the appa-
! rent demand The income of this city from this
source ought TO reach the sum of s., 900 or more