The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-12-11
EX- WARDEN PECK EXPLAINS
HIS STA TEMENT AT THE BOROUGH
 MEETING LAST NIGHT.

HIS STA TEMENT AT THE BOROUGH
 MEETING LAST NIGHT.
 He Said That the Charges Made to tn,
 Effect That His Administration Lef
 the Borough Deeper in Debt Were Un.
 true and He Quoted from the Annun
 Report to Prove This -Five Mil Ia,
 Levied.
 The annual borough meeting in West Haven was held last night in the court room of the town hall and it was one e of the most largely attended in years. There was fair in the hall proper so the meeting was held up stairs. It was called to order by the recently elected warden, Dennis Kimberly, who an- nounced that the report of the borough for the fiscal year was at hand and ready to be acted upon. There was a Hull in the proceedings for a few mo- ments and then some one moved that the meeting be postponed for one week so that all who desired to be there could do so. It was suggested that the quarters were cramped but the motion was voted down.
 Ex-W Warden James Peck then took the floor and held it for an hour, during which time he gave a statement as to the condition of the borough treasury as he left it year ago and contradict ing statements that have been made to hn hot 1,se I I,,,tr,s se,t, tto,, lart the borough over $4,000 deeper in debt and that there were no funds on hand when he turned over the affairs to Warden Thompson. He said there were $3,000 in the treasury when he gave up office. Copies of the borough report were on hand and MT. Peck requested all to take one.
 MT. Peck opened his remarks by say ing that he had heard that the above statements had been made by people in the borough and that they reflected on him. He said he wished to have these statements publicly denied and asked if there were any present who knew that those conditions existed just after he resigned his office to Warden Thompson. As there were no answers
 
 that the people considered the state ments untrue and that he left the treas ury in good condition. Then MT. Peck referred to the reports and by de- ciphering the statements of the clerks, treasurer and finance committee and quoting many figures endeavored to show that there was plenty of cash on hand to pay outstanding debts after his administration closed, which was not shown in the annual report. He also criticising the late board for doing things which he thought were not busi- nesslike, one of which was the alleged issuing of orders for road improve ments, etc., when there was not enough money on hand to carry the work on. He said that MT. Thompson and his board had made attempts to cover up things in the report which should not have been covered up. He explained this by saying that certain statements in the annual report were not suffi- cfently itemized and that in neglecting to do so a shadow was cast on the work of his administration. MT. Peck argued long and loud and when he. closed it was seen that good deal of an irn- pression was made by his statements as he was applauded
 MT. Thompson then took the floor and explained more fully the things that were said about him and the board of warden and burgesses. He said that there was no attempt made to cover up anything in the report and went into detail on some of the matters that MT. Peck spoke about. s. F. Butterfield also took hand in 1 explaining statements made during the | evening and when he finished the exact l state of affairs was apparently clear to | all present After all these remarks on l the annual report had been made, on | motion by MT. Clark it was accepted | and ordered placed on file. It was then voted to levy a five mill l tax and then the question of the ex- pense in securing crushed stone was | brought up by James Gardiner Clark. He said that in each borough report the crushed stone item was large and he | moved that the cost of buying a rock | lot and stone crusher be ascertained. The motion was lost.
 After some minor business the meet ing adjourned.