Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1897-03-21
THE CITY ENGINEER.
An Ordinance Blocked Out By the
Committee, Last Evening,
Fixing the Duties ofThis Important
Official, and Putting the Engi-
neering Department Of the City
Upon Something Like a Business
Basis-Enquiries Made OF Many
American Cities.

Last evening the subcommittee of
the Council Committee on Ordinances,
appointed some time ago to formulate
q law reorganizing the engineering de-
partment of the city government, pre-
scribing the duties of the Engineer, fix
ing his salary, and generally making
rules and regulations for the proper
conduct Of the work, assembled IN the
Office of the Engineer. at the CITY Han,
with Mr.. White and the City SollclIor'
The session was necessarily a Naty
prOtracted one, but it resulted IN the
formulation of what appears TO be
very complete and satisfactory ordl-
nance. which will put the engineering
department of the city upon very
pouch better basis than ever before.
Indeed. TO be frank as well as accurate,
the department has never been a de-
Dartment. and has never been upon any
basis of any sort, and this IS no reIec-
ton upon the very competent gentle
men who have held the Office OF city
Engineer for the past fifteen or twenty
years. They have been working under
a fee system, WI 'ch has been no sys-
tenn at all. and after the lapse of many
years and the expenditure Of very
many thousand dollars, the city has
absolutely no documentary evidences
that anything whatever has been done,
aside from a bale of bills. To be sure,
work cut out for the Engineer has been
carried out faithfully and well, but
there is no tangible evidence of the
fact. There is no official map OF the
city in existence, no record o. grad
tents of streets and alleys, no map of
the sewerage system no plat Of the
water or gas mains-"no nOthin',' as
the small boy would say.
It is proposed, by the new ordinance.
to remedy all this, and TO have the
business hencefOrth done upon a bust
ness basis. the Engineer to give his
whole time and attention to the bust
ness Of the city, and to receive a rea-
sOnable and fair compensation there
fore.
As preliminary. letters Of enquiry
We're sent ont to- large number of
American cities, Of the approximate
size Of Wheeling, among them being:
Duluth, Wis, PaWtucket, r. l.. Salt
Lake City, Utah. Elmira, n Y, TT.
Wayne. Ind. Burlington. Ia. Erie, Pa,
Rutland, w.. Waterbury, Conn, Nal
den, Mass, Hinghampt0n. ~ Y, New
port r. l., New Bedford Mass, Nor
folk. Va. Portland. Ne, Houston,
Texas. Jackson. Mich. H0ly0ke, Mass,
MeriGen. Conn. Macon Ga, NOntgOm-
cry. Ala. Newton. Mass, Lawrence,
Mass. New Albany. Ind. Newport, Ky,
Kansas City. Eas., Quincy. Ills, Tren-
ton. n. J.. Waterbury. Conn, and 9TH
ers. The result of these enquiries was
an immense amount of important data
relating to duties. compensatio0s, etc.
and the tabulated statements were oil
immense importance to the Committee
i'm formulating the new ordinance, es-
peciallv as numbers of the letters were
accOmpaniod by extracts from city or
diparccs. an0rdiug q sure guide io lay
ING down the lines of the proposed
law.
Briefly summarized the proposed
ordinances embraces the following
points: The City Engineer is to he
under the general supervision Of the
Board of Public Works and Council,
but is subject to orders of the Water
and Gas Boards. as we'll: he is TO do all
city work. of whatever description: he
is TO have charge Of all city improve
ments Of whatever nature, within his
line Of work. and must make all sur
vevs. plans and specifications. and have
charge of all new work Of construction.
I'm the nature of public improvements,
so far as an engineer may properly
have control of the same: he must de-
vote his entire time to the business Of
the city. falling within his department:
as soon as practicable, without inter-
fcring with other CITY work, he is TO
make an accurate survey OF the entire
city. including all streets and alleys.
recommend grades for al streets and
alleys not heretofore graded, make
exact street and alley lines set up
monuments at the intersection of all
streets and alleys. and draw from this
survey an accurate and permanent map
of the entire city; he is to inspect all
bridges and other public works of the
city. recommend measures for their
care. preservation and Improvement.
provide for their continued safety. and
generally to have entire supervision
and control Of the works of improve
ment undertaken or to be undertaken
by or for the city. so far as an engineer
may properly have such control He
is not permitted TO DO any private work
for other parties but must devote his