The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-21
PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENTS.
COMMISSIONER wILLINK's REPORT
FOR THE YEAR JUST ENDED.

The Total Expenditures for Work
hnder the Direction of the Com
missioner s2I3,434.31-MOre Street
Paving Completed Than in Any
Previous Year of the City's History.
Asphalt a Costly Pavement to
Clean and Repair-Over $500 Ex-
pended by the Street and Lane De-
parfment in Caring for the Parks
and Trees, Including the Cost of
the New GreenhOuse-AnOth Gre
matOry Needed.
The report of Commissioner of Public
Works Harry willink upon the operations
of the several departments under his care
was received at the Mayors Office yester-
day. The report is voluminous and goes
fully into the details of the several depart
ments and reasons for all expenditures.
In the opening of his report, Commission
er Willink says: During the year the
business of the city entrusted to this Of
fee has been administered with the view of
securing the best results for the money
paid out All supplies. as in the previous
year have been bought I'M
der competition, bids being secured
from responsible dealers and contracts
awarded to the lowest bidders, due re-
gard being had to the quality Of supplies
| offered. Faithful and efficient service has
been insisted upon from all employees.
Without exception they have labored in
harmony and given full value for their
wages. The several foremen have intel
| ligently and conscientiously performed
ara n
| credit for their valuable assistance in con-
| Quoting the affairs of the different depart
ments successfully"
The commissioner expresses his thanks
| TO the chairman of committees having SUI
| pervislon of departments under his con.
! troll for their cooperation and his appre~
| citation of courtes!es shown him by them
| and by his honor, the Mayor
The total amount of appropriations to
| departments under control of the COM
missioner for the year was $179 go
| and the total expenditures. $213, 494 81 In
| every department, with the exception of
that of street paving, the expenditures
were within the appropriation, the total
| OF balances unexpended being nearly $500.
! In street paving the appropriation was
| only $4,000, and the expenditures were
| $40, $50. 80.
sioner. 1.-THE excess is, of course, only ap-
parent, the city receiving back from the
| property owners and railroad companies
| about 60 per cent. of all monies expended
by 1t in such improvements"
The balance for The other departments,
| the report states would have been con-
siderably larger, but for the fact that
| December bills, heretofore always paid in
| January out of the succeeding years APP
/ preparation, were this year largely paid in
! the month the bills were contracted This
| practically amounted. to paying for thir-
/ mo he Of =,
atoms for 1897.
! The commissioner goes into details on
| the subject of street paving. During the
! year, 1880 lineal feet, or ZAP miles, were
added to the paved streets of the
| city, as follows: Barnard street 200
! Bryan street $500, Farm street
25O' Jefferson street 45O, Louisville
road, $500; President street. S75; Meldrim
| avenue, i,5O0; Oglethorpe avenue, 1850;
| York street 175
| There are now within the city limits
| 96 ole lineal miles of streets and lanes
Of which 2.42 miles are paved. The in-
crease in the superficial area of paved
| streets during the year 1897 was 55.391
1 square yards, making a total paved area
| at present of 5l6,912 square yards. A lab
| ulated statement of the number of square
| yards and kind of material on each paved
street is given. The totals are: Asphalt.
| 1921 square yards; brick $40; ebert
1878; cobble, 200, 1853; granite, IS, 9O2; shell,
1890; gravel. 553.
The cost of cleaning improved streets
was as follows: Asphalt A33S9l, per
| square yard, S00366 cobbe and granite
| $3235.50, per square yard $0.0124; she'll
s791.41. per square yard S0.O06S; brick ISL. Sc,
! per square yard. $0.0117.
| Attention is called to the careless and
| unnecessary littering of the streets by the
| public, and enforcement of the ordinance
on this subject urged.
mir 10 To
at cost of $6545.65, divided as follows:
Asphalt, &,556.55; cobble, $542.75; shell,
| 81, 1865. The average cost per square
yard was: Asphalt, $0.05; cobble sO.0O27;
shell, S0.Ol25. There We're no repairs to
| brick and granite block pavements
1.-The criticisms on the use of vitriied
brick as paving material" says the
| commissioner, have been satisfactorily
answered by the results so far in Savan-
nah and other cities. No repairs have
been found necessary to either Habersham
or Abercorn streets The pavements show
no signs of wear and are in as good condi-
ton as when first laid. Opposition to this
| class of pavements must disappear now
that citizens have an opportunity to OBJ
serve for themselves their superior quail
ties and comparative cheapness."
| The commissioner says that the asphalt
| company failed to comply with the terms
of its contract for the maintenance of the
asphalt pavements at the rate of cents
per square yard per annum, and at the
close of the year 1t was found necessary
to stop payment of the bill on this account.
THE company's representative" saws
the report, was notified frequently as to
the disgraceful condition of certain por-
tons of these streets. But slight atten>
ton was given to these notices, and at
the end of December the streets were in
need of considerable repairs
New sewers were constructed during the
year OF. a length of 6,2l5 feet, making a
total of 17.SS miles of sewers now in the
city. The improvement effected by the
connection OF the Sixth street sewer with
the East Broad street sewer is mentions
ed this sewer having heretofore emptiad
into an open ditch. The new sewers on
Abercorn, Bull and Jefferson streets an
empty into the Sixth street sewer. and
also provide surface drainage for the
| southern section.
Among other Improvements made at the
| city lot on Cemetery street were the cree.
ton of a blacksmith shop and a carpen
ter and paint shop, each well suppieA
| with necessary tools. All shoeine
of city stock. repairs to wagons, carts
and other vehicles as well as the building