Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-05-24
POSTPONED FOR FIVE YEARS.

POSTPONED FOR FIVE YEARS. That Was the Action Taken Upon the
 Court House Project by Last Nights
 Town Meeting.
 About 800 people gathered in City hall last night to determine the question whether the town would unite with the city in purchasing site and erecting a suitable building for court purposes, for town an city offices, etc. l.. I. Munson was elected moderator and after the call had been read the following vote was presented by John O'Neill: .g
 s'VOted, that a committee of three be appointed who are hereby empowered to act with a like committee of the court of common council of the city of Water bury in purchasing a suitable site and erecting thereon a suitable building for the accommodation of the superior court and the district court of Water bury, the probate court for the district of Waterbury; for the city engineers belonging to that department of the city government; for the accommodation of the board of road commissioners and the sewer commissioners; for the board of compensation; for the accommodation of the water commissioners; for the board of assessors and the board of re- lief of the town and city of Waterbury.
 "Voted, that we hereby appropriate $3O, ,OOO for the above named purpose the city of Waterbury to appropriate or ex- pend an equal amount
 "'This vote calls for an accommoda- tion you know is sadly needed" con- tinued MT O'Neill. sMuch time and money is spent by people attending su- perior court in New Haven. It costs Waterbury $100 day while the court sits there. I have made up my mind that the people are unwilling to sacri- flee this hall or remodel it; it is needed too much: In the city engineers office are stored stored hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of valuable maps, which could never be replaced, stored in little wooden receptacle. If these maps were destroyed the damage would be incalculable. The boards of com pensation, road and sewer commis- sioners are cooped up in a small room, and single small apartment answers for mayor and city clerks offices" The cost of the proposed building was then dealt with. The Second Congregational church property, it was thought, could be purchased for $35, ,000 and re-modeled for $10, ,000 or $12,0 ,000 more. Mir O'Neill said that the expenditure would be wise one, and that the county representatives | would not only pay rent for the court accommodations, but would see after the running of the building. The county already pays $500 for the present court accommodations, and there is $1 ,O00 to Waterbury's credit in the county treasury.
 Lawrence Cronan of Brooklynl was first to oppose the measure. He said | 'tMr O'Neill wants us to have building for the lawyers. think we give them enough as it is. They want us to shovel out more money, and I think it is about time we put stop to it. We appropri- ated $30, ,000 for an aims house and then were done out of $30, ,O00 more. It will be the same way with this. We are Vote right and you'll never go wrong. Use sense and reason; and don't be led by the ear."
 William B. Brooks of Central ave- nue derided the idea Uf build ing court house; called it skin game, and wanted halt called until present indebtedness is paid. He called attention to the splendid public buildings of Minneapolis and St Paul, which cities are not allowed to go in debt more than twenty mills on the dol lar, on the total valuation. He made an amendment that action be postponed for three years.
 Dr Mum raised the point of order that the amendment was substitute to destroy the original motion. The mod orator decided the point not well taken. Another amendment was offered that the time be made five years, which MT Brooks accepted.
 Judge Webster spoke about the amendment as follows: "I want to know if any sensible man can imagine that such an amendment as this can bind the town for five years? Do you suppose that any court would recognize such ridiculous action as this. Let us lay aside this court matter. Part of the motion provides for the keeping of valu. able records. Can we afford to risk for a day the loss of these records which we could never replace? You want to put off taking care of the city's valuable maps for five years. You can't bind lanyone by that. Let us not make fools of ourselves. If you think we don't Eneed court house, block it of; but don't imagine you can put off indef. nitely some measure for the preserva. tion of those records. don't expect to be here long, am an old man. But this is matter of vital importance"
 The amendment to postpone was then Iput and was carried by a good majority, The original motion as amended wal then called up, explained and put as Iamended. The house was divided and the motion carried by large majority.
 The meeting then adjourned.