Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury [Connecticut]) 1900-1903, 1902-11-18

from the committee on Attachments,
but other matters came up and We're
treated without gloves. so that the SEES
sion was of more than ordinary inter-
est During the discussion the board
of public works got few hard knocks.
II. r. Durant's name was mentioned in
q somewhat unusual transaction, the
system of handling the city's money
by former collectors was noWneu
upon. and the clerk raised an alarm
relative to the condition OF the vault.
1t was stated that some parties have
been using the aldermanic chamber Iof
some time past, and to make Things
worse, many members had missed
articles out of their desks, such as
charters and documents of one kind and
another. Chairman GosS wanted to
know if the members of the board OF
public works knew anything about 1t.
Mr. BIakeslee said he didn't. Mr.
Beach moved that the janitor be in
structed to keep the chamber locked,
but this was changed by request of Mr.
Blakeslee and the matter referred to
the board of public works. The Water
bury Land Guarantee Title Search Co
has been doing business there, but
judging by what took place last night
the company will have to yacate I'M
less they get permission from the
board of public works, and even then
it is not likely that the aldermen would
give in. The vault is used jointly be-
tween the city officers and the city
court and is not always locked. The
board of public works was requested
to look after this matter, too. ~ ts. g..
1t was also voted that hereafter the
board of public works have
IA map accompany each recon-
mendation to the aldermen for the lay
out of new street. This is an inn
portant order and one which should
have been promulgated long ago. The
planning of streets by one or two men
is liable to lead to gross abuses, and
the putting of the aldermen in a posi-
ton to see what is proposed before
anything Of much account is done is a
move in the right direction.
The report of the bureau of assess
ment relative to the award of benefits
and damages arising from the layout
of the Brewery brook was read and
adopted and the work ordered done
The report of the bureau Of assessment
on the matter of benefits and damages
II
street from Washington to Luke street
was read and approved. -+
The committee on attachments re-
ported upon long list of applications
for abatement of city taxes, all of
which, with one or two exceptions,
were approved. There were a few
very peculiar cases among them. One
was that of Mrs NORTH Grelle, who
represented that her property on East
Main street is listed at 81 800 and
mortgaged for $780, Mr. Blakeslee
said that Mrs Grelle's daughter repre-
scented to the committee that the
bakery is leased to II. r. Durant for
81 per year with five years yet to run;
that Mr. Durant had agreed to pay $40
or $12 a week besides that. but failed
to do. SO. Anyway, Mr. Blakeslee con-
sidered Mrs Grelle In bad box and
felt real sorry for her. He would like
to help her out, but didn't see what
benefit the abatement could be to her.
The taxes We're for $161.47, $73.63 for
1900 and $87.84 for 1901. The petit
.ioner was given leave to withdraw
Another queer case was Maurice and
Eliza Bowen's. They had back ac-
count with ex-Collector Griggs which
showed that they had paid more taxes
than their bills called for, and yet they
could not get the liens removed Mr.
BlakeSlee said it was possible that
there might be a mistake somewhere.
He said he had a receipt for sewer
assessment, but it was not credited to
his account with the city. In the
Bowen case the collector claims that
his books were destroyed in the Platt
block fire and that he cannot give an
itemized statement of the account. It
was voted to request the collector to
appear at the next meeting and ex-
Ulain.
Another had reference to the firm of
Milton, Thompson & Byrnes, formerly
a well known shoe house. Mr. Milton
represented that he lost $1,000 in the
business, but was trying to settle all
claims to the satisfaction of all parties
interested. He had agreed to assume
the firms liabilities and collect all bills
due the same. 1t appeared that Mr.
Milton experienced no trouble in get
ting a chance to pay creditors of the
company. but he was not quite so sue
cessful in collecting the outstanding
claims. The committee would like to
help him out of the dilemma. but could
not see how to do it. They recon-
mended that the petitioner be given
leave to withdraw. The report was
adopted.
But perhaps the funniest one of all
was received from @. Barilari. Some
Irishman, Mr. Blakeslee said, who was
said to be taxed for woman. He de-
clared that Collector Thoms had SO in
formed the committee and that a favor
able recommendation had been sub
mitted mainly upon the representations
of the collector. who claimed to have
booked it up.
The recommendations of the board
of public works relative to electric
lights and the layout of East Main
street, from Mad river to the bend in
the street just beyond the entrance to
Calvary cemetery, were approved.
A communication was received from
Selectman Horn asking that the salary
Of selectmen be fixed at $40 day in
stead of $50 per year. The communi-
cation was received and placed on file.
The board adjourned until the regu-
lar meeting In December
o.
h r. Durant, whose name was mem
fioned last night at the meeting Of the
hoqrd hf aldermen in connection with