The Forrest City times., 1899-11-10
Gbe furrsst Gitp Gintss.
City Council.


 sion Tuesday niglt-full board present Mayor Tipton presiding. This beng the first monthly meeting, the volume of business was much greater than at other meetings.
 At the session Tuesday night thosen- ergies of the Auditing Committee were the most heavily taxed, as it is the dnty of that branch of the aldermanic body to supervise and 0. K. all claims from citizens. and corporations upon the city's exchequer. The fire companies came in for nice little lump of the city's money this time, and deprecatory inurmurs could be heard among the dads-some evidently thinking that the membership of the fire companies had been increased beyond their most san guine expectations. sf
 X board bill for city prisoners from Mir. I. w. Mallory was turned down" by the committee. It was a claim for forty days board, and amounted to S20. This was the only claim that was mt allowed. it being referred back to the. creditor for an itemized state. tnent. The discussion over the Nal lory board, bill brought out very wise suggestion from Mr. .Gatling, who thought that all billS against the city should be sworn to by the persons pre- senting them.
 Mayor Tipton said that the council at one time had "voted on an ordinanc which provided that all accounts held against the city by firms, individuals or corporations be sworn to before be- ing allowed by the board, but the mea- sure had heen promptly killed" and at this juncture Aid. Stone said, ''Yes, voted against it then and will do il again if get a chance" and the dis cussion ended. s..
 Claims amounting to SPA B were allowed, the electric light claims of 1.33 being the largest. O. F. Wolff, as sanitary officer was allowed $l5 The fire companies were allowed S56 for their services during the past two months. J. B. Beck was allowed $20 for work done for the city. The may or's costs for the month just ,ended were s10. and the marshal's; was s6.
 A motion by Aid. Baugh, seconded by Aid. Stone, prevailed. that all claims o. K.'d by the Auditing Committee be allowed. [
 Secretary Ewell of the Electric Light Co.,, was present, and in the course of discussion about the lights, he point ed out to the board the xdvisability Of having the cluster lights on Washing ton street on different circuits, saying that by having one cluster on the street circuit and one Oh the commercial cir cuit the square would always be light edup.
 Tie council saw the wisdom of this proposition at once, and motion was introduced! by Baugh, seconded by Stone. that the cluster lights on Wash. rngton street be placed on different circuita. Carried.
 Water Tax Collector o. F. Wolff sub mitted a report which showed net water revenus for the month of Octo- Der to be S75.10. The report was adopted, after which heated discus sion. led by German, was indulged in by the entire board relative to the loose and unbusiness like system upon which the city conducted the water works. It was shown in the arguments that the city pumped about S45G worth of water every month for which they collected SI5 or sS0. German said that this method of doing business was perfect. " outrageous and would soon bank rnpt ai institution which should have proved apaying investment to the city rom the start. It was shown that during the time when the Forrest City Ice Company was testing their new plant that 10000 gallons of water had been used daily in this experiment for Which the city had never received one cent of pay. The water was used by the St. Francis Electric Light Co. but the council did not know who to look th for the money. The water commit tee was appointed to investigate the matter and ascertain who was respons ible to the city for all thls water. that the council might proceed at once to collect for same.
 Alderman Gatling. who had been ap. pointed by the board to go to Memphis and investigate water rates. said that ne had visited that city and obtained all the data possible in reference Q water rates. He made his report to the council and showed conclnsivelv that something would have to be done immediately to relieve the Forrest Civ water Works of it's present emhar~ass- ment. As result Of MT. Gatling,s re- port motion by Mir. German, second ca bv Gatling, prevailed. providing that