The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-01-20
WILL GO SLOWLY.
Mayor Talks About Management
Of Water Plant.
Would Not Molest Rates at the
the Start.
MIR. SHAW MAY STAY.
Old Superintendent viii Prob
ably Be Retained.
Politics Must Be Kept Out of
Management.
r.. SHAW MAY STAY.

ut is my idea said Mayor Bergund-
thai today in discussing the problem of
city ownership of Waterworks, that
for year, at least, the city should
make no change in the water rates,
but should continue to run the plant
just as near like it is being run now
as we can. That will give us an OPP
portunity to know something about the
methods in use, and profits which the
plant has been paying. We are new at
this business and we should go Slow"
Mayor Bergundthal and Councilman
Samuel T.Howe have for several weeks
been busy collecting from various
cities all over the United States, which
have city ownership of waterworks,
copies of the ordinances and laws gov
erning the business. Mayor Bergund-
thai secured a list of 20 city owner
ship towns, and wrote to them. He has
a big stack of literature on the subject.
and it is still coming in. Within a few
weeks, the mayor and a few of his ad-
visors will begin the evolution of some
sort of scheme for the management
of the Topeka plant, which will be re-
ported to the council.
J. It seems to be the general sentiment
of the members of the council that
Jesse Shaw, the present superintendent
of the Waterworks, should be retained.
Mr.. Shaw not only knows the mechani-
cal part of the Topeka water system
thoroughly, but he also understands the
office end of the business. 1t Is also
the sentiment, apparently, that all of
the present employees of the water COM
pany, should be retained This will
start the plant off on a business basis,
and will avoid all criticism which
might result if the politicians should
get a chance to figure on the first dis
tribution of Jobs.
Whatever method we may choose
for managing the waterworks," says
the mayor, Il believe that the elimina-
ton of politics from it's management
will depend to great extent on the
same thing which has kept politics out
of the fire department. 1t depends on
getting a man at the head of the thing
whom people will trust to do the right
thing regardless of politics. If the peo-
pie have confidence in the superintend-
ent they will not stand it to have him
displaced for some incompetent poll
tician. If we start the thing right, it
will go a long ways.
THE existing laws may be weak, but
I think that we have the right to go
ahead and organize our watsrworks
system by ordinance as we see fit. 1t
seems to me that we ought to take the
management out of the hands of the
council as far as possible, and give it to
a board of some sort. / am opposed to
combining the finances of the water
works system with those of the city.
They should be kept separate"
of the city council and water company
officials went to the pumping station
west of the asylum fer the purpose of
inspecting it's condition. The fact that
there were exactly thirteen in the party
did not seem to trouble anybody,
though there was considerable Specula-
ton as to who would be the one to OBJ
serve the tradition and die within a
year. The people in the party were as
follows: Councilmen Kutz, Snyder,
Neil, Wolf, Nellis, Weber, Howe,
President Street, Manager ONein and
Superintendent Shaw.
NJ. ]. Zollinger, chief engineer at the
pumping station, received the guests
and showed them around the place.
The council looked at the boilers,
watched the big engines run, went down
to the river and saw the system of
driven wells and the reconstructed
open well, and then walked toward
town On the Rock Island tracks to the
place which was washed out by the
flood. There the water company has
laid it's pipe main on a trestle, and
there seemed to be some doubt in the
minds of the council as to the safety
of this construction.
While the councilmen were looking at
the trestle, the engines at the plant
were shifted, so that the councilmen
had a chance to watch both the old
GasEill engine and the new Holley en-
CINE run. Nobody found any fault with
either of them.
This evening the council will meet
and probably pass a resolution agree
ing to take charge of the waterworks
on April 1, as proposed by the water
company.