Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1896-05-08
NO PROP POSITION
the Council Meeting to Ar
& range for Water and Light q
III s85 N Farce.

Satnrda az evening a special meet
4 ing, III city cnnncil was held 'or
1.-the suliIi s,st,,i pari,,'sc az arranging
M til ii Hprkey. president 81 the
n electric & Water company, for q
sipplv If water for fire protection
Il and street lighting. The counciii
/. q ppapntiy hid no reason Tor meet meet
10 as Alderman Martin stated u
was the advice Of the.attOrne.y' ~ 90 90
J. nothing. During the afternoon rho I'''
t1iore the meeting Mr.. Rfrkey talked req
with several Of the members 81 the
II council. to learn what questions the
council desired to discnas when ne
should meet them, end nr. .f'l g - y
mat The council wDs giving com
4 sldera biz weight to the report 81 the
citizens' committee. and desired \ TO
make some nrra cement to- continue
the water and lleht service pending
any lit,gatiOn over the contract.
Al the meeting Alderman Martin ap-
\ nea rcd to represent the councils
nropraln. and stated that the at
forney had advised them to 40
no chiug looking TO the continuance
al the service unless he old CON
tracts were abandoned. sff Il. ID r..
4 i4i.It was intimated In an unomc'al
way that the council might make
yearly contracts for the present
h h service ut the rate Of $4,000 a year
based on the report Of the citizens
i committee. That brought up the
rstiun OF the citizens report, and
II was discussed at some length. AZ
the report. had drawn the erroneous
conclusion that Little Falls was
having more for the street lighting
e q service than some other towns, Mr..
Berkey discussed il, detail the figures
nbtained by the committee, and IT
was shown that not IA city In the
state came within 20 per cent OF
getting its service as cheap'y as
Little Falls, and that as a rule the
difference was much greater, These
facts were so plain that no EFFORT
was made to deny them. and the
effort OF the members of the council
10 decrease the payment made Tor
street lighting must be based on
so,ne other ground than that the
civ is paying more for the ser
,cA received than other places. The
opposite is the case.
b. committee had also reported
me nice for hydrants high. The
fncts nre that Little Falls ~ gettaiL &
IS MIGRANTS for $344o. or about
S62. 50 each. The committee had re-
norts from only two cities that were
supplied by corporations, ana IN
those the prices per hydraDt were
about the same. The additional
fact that both the corporations
whose prices were quoted had gone
#into bankruptcy indicated that the
charges were not too high. The
figures tor both stEeet lighting and
water were gone into considerably
Ia detail. as the council had been
apparently inclined to accept the
conclusions of the committee as
correct.
The discussion as to the policy OF
the council in refusing to attempt
any provisions for street light or
water service developed that 1t
was Mr.. Calhoun's advice to the
council that an offer for the service
would be an admission that 1T was
81 value, and might prejudice the
case OF the city. If on trial. With the
attorney of the council in the very
friendly city Of ST.. Cloud, It is eaey
TOR any member Of the council to
\ object to, any arrangement. on the
4 ground that the attorney advises 1T
nv ould iniure the ctty's interests.
when 1t Is impossible that the at at
torney can have any Information as
To the particular question under dis
cuesion. From the appearances
Saturday evening it Is evident that
{ some Of the aldermen do not wish 70
meet any fair statement, but are
determined to avoid any adjustment
I on business principles. The least
that the council could do with any
senblance Of fairness is to- have It's
attorney present and then discuss
4 the matters in any light they may
come up. The company does not
Il want to take any action In the mat
ter that the people Of the city can In
\ the futu blame them for. The best
interests of the city can easily be
I further injured. with advantage to
no one, but before that is done the
blame should lie clearly located. For
iaipstance. If the council should refuse
stt consider q proposition on the
h ground that St. Clouds attorney
advised that 1t would hurt the city g
case, and it should develop that the
attorney would not give such advice
the proposition had been submitted
ia hin, it would he at least unfortu-
nate IL any interests should suffer by