The record-union., 1897-08-10
NOT PROPERLY ITEMIzED.
WHY THE DEMAND WAS NOT
PAID.
Mayor Hubbard Says the Amount
Was Correct, and Should
be Paid.

| Concerning the recent refusal of City
Auditor Young to audit the demand of
/ the Sacramento Electric Gas and Rail-
way Company for power furnished the
/ city to run the sewage pump, Mayor
/ Hubbard has this to say in a MESA ge
! sent to the City Trustees last night:
To the Honorable Board of Trustees:
| The Auditor has returned to your Hon
| orable Board the demand of the Sacra
mento Electric, Gas and Railway Com
pany for S400 for power furnished to
the sewer pumping plant. The demand
was not properly itemized, as it does
not state the quantity of power sup
piled. nor the price. If the demand
We're properly made out, there would be
no objection made to the payment of
| the same.
In the contract for the motor, it was
specified that this company should fur
niSh power to test the motor for thirty
days, and the city agreed to pay for it,
/ The company has completed the test.
and should be paid for the power at a
reasonable price.
Considerable speculation has been in
| dulged in with regard to the
amount of power required to operate
/ lliiS I'hiiiP- IIC pump - IdlSd etS ioiN
( ing capacity to discharge 5000 gallons
/ per minute with thirty y-five horse pow
! er. The company claims that it re-
/ quires lightweight electric horse pow
/ er to operate it, and that is what its
meter records as having been supplied,
| but the meter is fixed so that no one
can read it unless he knows the combi
nation l contend that a Watt meter
| should be placed in connection with
the motor, SO that any one can read it,
and in order that the city should know
exactly what power is being used.
We have tested the large steam
pumps, and each pump is rated to dis
charge $4,000 gallons per minute. We
! find, by actual test, that it required
seventy-five horse power to drive each
pump to its full capacity. Why the
small pump, with about one-half the
capacity, should require more power to
drive it, is hard to understand.
! The Sacramento Electric, Gas and
| Railway Company offers to place
| Watt meter in the plant, or permit the
city to put one in, and will supply
power at as low a price as it does to
any of their customers. Nothing can
/ be gained by advertising for bids for
this power. for the reason that no 9TH
er company is prepared to bid.
| 1 recommend that an agreemnt be
entered into with this company where
by it will furnish the power at the
price it names per 1000 Watts, the city
to have the privilege of putting in its
own meter in connection with the mo-
tor, and that the city be permitted to
use the power as it may require 1t, but
not be bound to use any particular
quantity per day. AT times, when work
| is being done on the sewers, it is
greatly advantageous to use one of the
steam pumps, and as often as once in
ten or twelve days each pump should
be operated an hour or more, so that
We may be sure that they are in good
working condition at all times. 1t is
| expected that both of the steam pumps
will have to be operated for three or
four months each year to remove the
storm water.
We have now demonstrated pretty
clearly what this plant can do and
what it will cost to operate it, The
| working of the plant from December
! to April was not satisfactory, because
the plant was new, the sewer was not
completed and we could not handle the
! pumps Systematically or economically
but we shall be able to do so this win
! ter. The plant is running and doing
the work at much less expense than
we had anticipated. At this time of
| the year, and from now until the
rains begin, We can operate it at an
! expense of not over $3.50 per month
with steam power, including cost of
fuel, salary of engineers, oil, etc. If
| the city use the electric power at the
price named, it will cost some more
than to use steam; but, by using elec-
| tric power, we will save the wear of
| the large steam pumps, which would
| probably be an offset more than COW
| ering the difference
| Not having a large reservoir the
pumps are required to commence run
/ ming every three or four hours to re-
! lieve the sewers. We find that we can
| do the pumping with one of the large
! steam pumps, by running about from
| five to six hours each day, and. with
the smaller pump, run by electric pow
| er, it is required to run from eight to
/ ten hours to do the same work. Re-
! spectfully submitted
! c. H. HUBBARD, Mayor.
| On motion of Devine the communica-
| ton was received and placed ON file.