Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1906-12-07

'H' Ilshl OF appeal IN eases r.
= .itlhg 10 the necessity of taking land
:, MI hatehelder admitted that such nj
: amendment would have 10 be made nm,
= said that the water board were willin,
y II should, Mr.. Barber believed ina
= question of 80 great importance a.
: tue purchase or construction of a wate
: system should be settled only by n yot,
OF the majority Of the voters of IN,
. village instead of by vote OF ma
: lorliy of those present at meeting
lie also believed that consent in writing
= from persons representing majority
OF the grand list should be required
lie then suggested that section 10 OF
Mr., Gibson 5 bill be stricken out and
the following inserted in place thereof
The village OF Brattleboro shall have ma
/ right 10 construct q new water system until
u shall have offered to purchase the water
systems OF the Sunset Lake Water company
and the Chestnut Hin Reservoir company un.
: der the following terms:
|, The said village may at any time be.
fore February !, 1907, offer to purchase the
said water systems az the price named and
under the conditions named in the PROPOSE.
ton therefor submitted TO and voted upon
by said village At meeting thereof held on
November 10, 1906. II such offer is re.
fused by the parties owning or controlling
said water systems, then the village shall
have fun right TO proceed and to construct
a new system.
2. At any time after February /, 1907.
the village may offer TO purchase and may
purchase, II accepted the said water sys.
tens, the price therefor to be axed as pro.
vided in the agreement therefor, ratified by
informal vote Of said village at the meeting
| held in June 90 1906. II the parties own,
ing or controlling said water systems shall
refuse TO accept such offer, then the village
shall have the right to proceed to construct
a new system.
! No Indebtedness shall be incurred by the
| village of Brattleboro under the provision Of
this act until the vote authorizing the same
shall have been approved In writing by
majority Of the grand list.
The last speaker before the noon
adjournment was &. j. Ferguson, rep
resenting the Vermont Baptist state
convention which holds $4,000 worth
of the second mortgage bonds of the
Chestnut Hill company. Mr.. Ferguson
protested against any legislation that
would make these bonds valueless, say.
ing that they were bought by the con
vention on the superstition that the viii
lage would take no action to damage |
Mr.. Crowell' s equitable rights.
The Legislature adjourned for the af. |
ternoon shortly after four o'clock and
the municipal corporations committee |
were soon in readiness to continue the |
hearing. There was considerable delay, /
however, on account of an attempt On
the part of the water board TO come TO
a tentative agreement with Mr.. Crow
ell in regard to the purchase of his
systems All the members of the board
who were present met Mr.. Crowell and
his counsel in a committee room, but
the results of the conference amounted
to nothing, Mr.. Crowell standing out
for the price which he submitted to the
village in November and the board
asking for a reduction from these fig
ures. W. II. Vinton was the first speak
er when the hearing finally began. He
took occasion to explain that the chart
er of 1876 was rejected by the village
because the people foolishly supposed
that it would compel the village to
a system, whereas 1t was (
nothing more than an enabling act. In ;
regard to the present controversy |
Mr.. Vinton said he believed that every {
village should be allowed the privilege {
to build a system without such restrict &
ions as were proposed in the case OF
He said he was not in Z
favor of two systems if such a state Of /
things could possibly be avoided and J
he would favor giving Mr.. Crowell a I
generous price for his property. tie G
believed, however, that the Legislature 1
ought to treat Brattleboro the same as 7
il did other villages, and was not IN }
favor of requiring the consent in writ 4
ng of persons representing a majority a
If the grand list on any public question. b
w. II. Bracket said he believed the o
,illage wanted very much to buy Mr. V
1rowell's systems and was willing to o
,av $25O.00O If the village could be c
made to see that Mr. Crowell s price t
f $3.50. 900 was not exorbitant he be t.
ieved a vote to purchase it at this h
ipure could be secured. Mr.. Bracket a
aid he thought personally that $25O,OO0 a
ras a good round sum- but at the last h
-illage meeting he had voted to pay
$780, 900 in order to clear ii
n the situation. He was in favor of a.
he amendments proposed by Mr., Bar W
or with the exception of that relating st
, the consent of the majority of the el
rand list He did not, however, feel very ca
,uch disposed TO compulsory arbitra- Al
ion. Mr.. Van Patten then asked Mr., NJ
racket if he thought the village W
-as afraid to leave the choice OF ar fiji
TRAITORS to Judge James Tyler and Mr. te
racket replied very emphatleally that ~
0 better man could be found. In an la
yer to questions from Mr.. Stickney
regard to the vote of the village mt
( last special meeting, Mr. Bracket
AIDE the statement that in his opinion dc
10 water board had made strenuous an
forts to secure the passage OF the di
.ntative agreement made between 1t of
nd Mr., Crowell in regard to purchas- at
@ his system. tie
The next speaker was James +. Hook
Mr. Hooker wanted to talk about Lie
e quality of water in Stickney brook be
COMPARED to that of the Halliday &c
.ook. but the committee was of the tie
Union that such a discussion would las
we no bearing on the question before SCI
Mr.. Hooker said that the Stickney we
.ook source was inadequate for the ly
es of the village, but Mr.. FINN eX-
essed the opinion that it must nave PR
en considered worth something by the ly
1ter board or it would not have re- 70;
its purchase at all. MT sti
ooker then told of what the water str
ard had tried to do since it was elect, I'M
last January, saying that it found COZ
r. Crowell s Chestnut Hill system lin
uld be duplicated for $4,000 Mr. Cr'
poker said he did not want an lnde- pic
ndent system. but he believed that Q in