The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-10-27
Mayor Also Believes Abutting Prop
erty Should Not BE Assessed Oft
ener than Every Ten Years.
ELUCIDATION OF THE CHARTER
SEVERAL OTHER AMENDMENTS MAY
ALSO BE SUGGESTED.
Each City Department to He the
Judge of It's Own Buildings
Repairs to Streets.

Mayor Bookwalter and his boards will
soon take up the question of remedial legis-
lation resulting from the experiences of the
city in the last year. The remedies will all
be sought through amendments to the city
charter except one, concerning bridges,
which will perhaps be an amendment to the
general law All the Legislation to be asked
will be In the nature of facilitating city
business and specifying clearly authority
along certain lines.
One of the first and most important
amendments to the charter will be the one
giving specific authority TO the Board of
Public Works to make contracts for public
utilities for period of not longer than ten
years. The need of this was never more
greatly shown than in the attempts last
summer to let a contract for electric light
ing for this period The contract between
the city and the indianapolis Light and
Power Company expires July /, 1903, and
the city expected to let it's new contract
one year in advance so that the successful
bidder, should he not be the present COM
pany, would have ample time to install it's
plant But the Indianapoli company
threatened to enjoin the action of the city
and thus transfer the question to the courts
where the contention of the city as to it's
right to make such contract was not
likely to meet appreciation. Had the light
contract been the only one to be considered
this would not have been so serious, but
there are the water. gas, garbage,
desiccating and sweeping contracts all run
ming from periods of from three to ten
years which would have been affected. So
the city abandoned its attempt to secure
new contract and decided to ask the inter-
vention of the Legislature to provide ample
authority for making a ten-year contract
The right of the city to make such con-
tracts had not been doubted until the Su-
preme Court decided in the sun vapor
light case that the contract for five years
with that company was unauthorized by
law and intimated that the charter meant
what it said when it provided that the
board could make no contract for a period
not covered by an appropriation. AS the
Councils authority to make appropriations
covers only one year contract for a longer
period was regarded probably invalid.
BRIDGE BUILDING.
The legislation to be asked in regard to
bridges is equally important. BY a pc
culiar system of concession the city has
always built and maintained bridges within
its limits. 1t is probably the only city in
the State that has relieved the county of
this expense. Mayor Bookwalter says he
wants Marion county placed on the same
basis the other ninety-one counties of
the State all the others building and
maintaining bridges that cost to exceed
$500. The true situation was disclosed when
the Washington-street bridge fell down be-
cause of years of neglect and the County
Commissioners denied their obligation to
rebuild it. The city had no means and the
commissioners agreed to build ii without
admitting the legal necessity of their so
doing. Thus the Washington-street bridge
h1rf cd
Bookwalters amendment will provide that
the county, which receives three fourths of
its taxes from the city, be required to con-
struct and maintain all bridges costing in
excess of $500
The resurfacng of Massachusetts, avenue.
under a contract let by the board, brought
out the question as to whether the resur-
facing was not repair and consequently
chargeable only to the city and not to the
abutting property. Threatened litigation
impressed the mayor that there is now
nothing TO protect abutting property from
onerous assessments of this character il
the courts should hold that resurfacing is
an Improvement and not a repair. In view
of that fact he cOntemplates asking char
ter amendment which will define specifi-
cally what an Improvement is and which
will also limit the power of the city to
order improvements. The mayors idea is
that the law should be made so that no inn
provement, chargeable against abutting
property, may be made ofrener than once
every ten years. Such a provision would
force the city to keep In repair the streets
also feels that this is the simple duty of the
city and one that should be performed with
absolute fidelity. He believes a force of
workmen should be organized by the city
their duty to be to go over the improved
streets often and make repairs when they
are first needed. "A stitch in time saves
| nine appeals to the mayor with homely
truth. Il would have the surface of every
street" said the mayor. under close in
spection. When a break of any kind is
: discovered IL would be Immediately re-
ported and this force of men would imme-
! diately repair it. That is a simple system
and viii produce economy in the long run.
! The system OF waiting for holes TO become
! big enough and numerous enough to ius-
! tify repairing contract is to my mind alb
! surd. II has been practiced long enough by
| the preceding administration-so long in
/ fact that it would be folly to now attempt
/ to repair many of the streets that are i'm
| bad condition.
GUARANTEE PERIOD.
All improvements now made under
a specified guarantee period ranging from
| seven to nine years. The guarantee period
| of great length has been held to be a
direct means of bringing public paving to
a high standard because the responsibility
of the contractor does not end until the
guarantee expires Courts have intimated
variously that the guarantee conditions
were. practically. a charge for repairs as
/ the contractor in building would undoubt-
/ edly make the original price sufficient to
| cover the cost OF estimated repairs
The preceding administration considered
| the suggested establishment of a local re-
! pair plant for asphalt and other paving
/ but after City Engineer Jeup had visited
Eastern cities the attempt was abandoned
| and the city continued its policy of bunch
ing" repairs and having them all made at
one time.
Other amendments may be asked to
| elucidate other provisions of the charter or
| TO rearrange duties In a more expeditions
| way. but the ones above mentioned are like
Ia IN he rreS SQd ha fharS ta
abandoned One other amendment that