Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-05-06

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to our appropriations this year, and that
We will make d record, in this regard,
that will rebound to our credit, and which
VIII be appreciated by the citizens of this
city.
i wish to call your attention to the
necessity of a contingent fund. Last
year there was no such fund, and the
City has suffered greatly from the mis-
take that was made. DO not repeat the
mistake this year. There should always
be contingent fund to be drawn upon
in case of arising emergencies. AS some
of YOU are aware, the city has been COM
pelied TO defend different cases in the
courts and judgments have been rem
dcred against the city in some cases
These judgments bear interest which the
City will have to pay, and the parties
who won the cases need their money and
should have had it but for the fact that
the City was without a contingent fund
from which to draw it. Even the assis-
tant attorneys employed by the city got
no pay. Cases of smallpox developed in
our midst, and the proper protection of
the public demanded that the patients
be isolated and quarantincd, and no mon
ey was available for the purpose, and /
might mention many such Instances show
ing the need of contingent fund.
Parks aud improvements.
] would recommend a liberal approp-
ration and a commencement to open and
improve Long View Park. as / think we
have enough public spirited citizens who
will help Us to beautify the Park; and L
would recommend also a Park Commits
sionor to he appointed and landscape
gardener be employed to lay out these
beautiful grounds so as to have
good and proper plan to start said inn
provement.
The Reservoir System
For this j have very little to say. 1t
i very expensive and perpleXing adj
dit on to our waterworks system. We
have expended a great deal of money
upon il. and yet we have a patched
up, leaky Job, which L do
not believe will ever prove a success,
unless it is enlarged and covered, and
this will be very expensive and L have
my doubts if the walls are strong enough
to to, hold 9hL;u the ,. roofing =, With tn
more: and our present method of re-
moving the muddy sand and piling it up
outside the basins, where it looks I'M
slightly, is very expensive. The sewer be-
tween the filter basins and the clear wa
ter basin. which we tried to finish last
year, proved a failure, so we abandoned
it. and | think we did wise thing, for
we might have expended thousands of
dollars. and then | doubt if we could
have used the sewer on account of the
sinking and displacement of the pipes,
caused by the very bad soil and quick
sand through which it was extended. As
it Is now, this sewer is useless unless 1T
is rebuilt on some other plan to prevent
the pipes sinking.
Paving.
Il 81
pleted last year and it was done in a
first class manner, concrete being used on
the entire length of the hill, but the
sub-soil under the paving Is in a very
bad condition, caused by the seepage
from the reservoir. which makes a per-
feet qudgmire of the underlying soil.
and the paving and some of the curbing
is sinking considerably, and will have to
be repaired 1t will be considerable of
a problem to hold the curbing and paving
to place unless we can stop the leakage
of water at the reservoir basins.
The re-paving Of some of our streets
is a matter which presents. some dit.
ficult questions but surely something
must be done several of our streets
In some places both courses of brick are
worn through. The question now is, how
shall this be paid for. | have heard of
some places in other cities where, at a
moderate expense, asphalt has been
placed over partially worn out brick
paving. re would be well for the mem
beers Of the City Council to investigate
and make a report upon the practica
bility of thus repairing some of our
paving.
Public Properties.
All of the property of our municipal
ity should re kept in a good state of re-
pair. Our Central hose-house has bad
roof which constantly leaks in wet wea
ther-this should be repaired. The 9Th
Ward hcse-house or voting precinct
needs repairs and / would recommend
that it be put in shape and used as
store-hOuse for the various things which
belong to the city. As you are all aware,
our Milan bridges need constant care and
repairs This last year we have been
compelled to put new steel eyebeams on
one of these bridges and raise the bridge
two feet anil re-paint. We advertised Tor
bids for this work, and the bridge con-
tractors put in three bids for $3.50,
81 .s7G and 81 800 Respectively. We re-
iected all Of these bids. hired man to
superintend the work. purchased the ma
terial ard completed the work for
about 300. and thus saved
nearly $500. and have a bridge whicn
is now almost as good a. new. Our wa
fireworks building ought to be painted
outside. and some repairs are needed in
side, and the lower hose-house will Heed
some repairs this year.
In purchasing supplies for the city,
think we could save a great deal OF mon
ed by requiring competitive bids for the
furnishing of supplies. and refer thes.
bids to purchasing committee. j would
the appointment Of pur-
chasing committee, and believe, il this
course is adopted, we will have no com
plants about dealers not getting their
share of the patronage would have
an equal chance to furnish supplies.
Fire Department.
.The Rock Island Fire department Is
the hest or at least as good, as any de-
paItment in any city of our size in the
state and il needs but few words of
commentator from me. The people of
our city have perfect confidence in them.