St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1894-04-05
SPECIAL VILLAGE MEETING.
The Trustees Instructed as TO Several
Phases of our Many Sided Water OueS
fiOu,

special village meeting Monday
afternoon, and after the clerk had
read the call the three recommended
tions OF the special committee were
read at the request of Alexander
Dunnett.
liens could choose a water COM
mission under the present village
charter. Harry Blodgett Informed
him that they could not, as the char
ter specified that the whole manage
ment of the water was in the hands
Of the trustees.
Mr.. Dunnett then moved that the
second recommendation of the COM
mittee's report be adopted, and of
fered the following resolution as
part OF the same motion:
Resolved, that the board OF trus-
tees enforce the law now existing
with reference to polluting village
water.
The introduction of this motion
resulted liz quite legal tilt between
Mr.. Dunnett and Chief Justice Ross.
Mr.. Dunnett thought no one had
a right to pollute stream that was
used below him for drinking pur-
poses. He did not think the village
ought to be compelled to drink the
filth of the neighboring towns
above US.
Judge Ross asked what water rights
the village mad
Mr.. Dunnett thought the village
had the riparian rights of the stream
and had right to stop the pollu
ton of the water.
Judge Ross said if that was true
the neighboring towns below us
could stop this village from empty
ing their sewers into the Passump-
sic river He doubted If that was
the law. The village had a charter
to supply water simply for fire pur-
poses. They can construct reser-
voirs or aqueducts, but their charter
gave them no right to supply water
for domestic purposes. He favored
legislative authority for taking
water for domestic purposes.
Mr.. Dunnett believed his resolu-
tion was perfectly legal as it made
it a duty of the trustees to stop the
pollution as far as possible.
Judge Ross said the village were
going beyond their charter and he
did not want to see it end in any
litigation. He heartily favored a
more equitable scale of rates and
moved that a vote be taken first on
the first half of Mr.. Dunnett's mo-
ton. A vote was then taken on the
first half of Mr.. Dunnett's motion,
which was that the second recon-
mendation of the committees report
be adopted. This motion was car
ried by large majority.
The recommendation which was
adopted was as follows:
Your committee recommend that
the specially ruinously low rates be
discontinued, and more equitable
schedule be adopted"
0. w. Orcutt asked who was to
fix these water rates? He said they
were originally fixed by the voters
Judge Ross said he supposed this
was part of the duty of the trustees
He thought they ought to revise the
rates and then report to the voters
Continuing, he said that he believed
the village ought to have appro
priations for specified objects. He
did not see why the village should
not run it's finances on the same
plan as the great United States gov.
ernment or the state of Vermont. In
both these cases all the money was
spent by appropriations and when
the money was spent that ended it
In St. Johnsbury the village officers
could run up all the bills they want
ed to and then make the taxpayers
foot the bills.
Mr.. Orcutt wanted to see the
last recommendation of the com
mittee adopted, which provided for
the election OF water board. He
thought the trustees had not made a
success of the management of the
waterworks in the past and wanted
to see a commission take hold of it
that would not only raise the water
rates, but reduce the running ex-
penses. He then moved the adop.
ton of the last recommendation OF
the special committee.
The chair ruled that this was out
of order because it transcended the
village charter. He was sustained
in his ruling by Mr.. Dunnett and
Judge Ross Of the legal fraternity.
Mr.. Orcutt appealed from the decis-
| ion of the chair but the house
sustained the chair.
Matthew Caldbeck asked Judge
Ross just before the motion to
sustain the chair was put if this
meeting could not instruct the
trustees to appoint a water com
missioner and then name the man to