Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-03-21
BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS.
Not Much Hope for Betternent al
 Bank Street Bridge.

The board of public works met last night, Mayor Thoms presiding and all the members being present. The engineers office was closed and mo- body could get in to turn on the electric current in the municipal lighting plant, consequently the meeting was held in the city court room instead of at the annex.
 It was voted to recommend to the aldermen that the board be author ized to proceed with the work of ex- tending the high service from Dub- lin street to Town Plot. A commun- ication was received from the city engineer estimating the cost of T pumping station for the high ser- vice to be erected off North Willow street, at $47,000. It was tabled.
 While these matters were being talked over Mayor Thoms and Con- missioner Walker talked of the wis., dom of bringing in the thickly set tied sections of the outside district into the full taxation district, the mayor remarking that he thought some of them ought to be in the full district now, and MT Walker stating that if they want all the improve ments there is no reason that he can see why they shouldn't be willing to pay for them.
 The engineer submitted another communication relative to the Bank street bridge question in which he stated that after conference with J. s. Elton and the railroad com pany's engineer, MT Elton said that such a course would now entail very large expense, inasmuch as the grade would have to be changed a long distance below the bridge and this would seriously interfere with conditions in the freight yards as we'll as upsetting plans on the tracks, most of which have been worked out. "Is this the end of that?" inquired MT Finn. The mayor said he couldn't see what more could be done in that direction. ''Too late," murmured MT Walker, "the thing was not look ed after in time. It's pity" At the suggestion of the mayor the en- giheer was requested to submit re- port regarding the advisability of raising the sidewalks under the bridge few feet so that walking conditions would be improved there.
 Hearings were set for sidewalks on the west side of the green and for sewers and changing street names, the former on April and the two
 last mentioned on April 10. There was good deal of discussion regard- ing the construction of a sewer on Crescent street Commissioners Hart
 nett and Finn, the committee on sewers, recommended that the work be done, but the engineer doesn't
 want it taken hold of until the street
 is graded ana as result it was held
 up and didn't go to the aldermen with the batch that was passed by that board Monday night. lne mat ter was again referred to the com. mittee with word of advice that they give the people a hint to clean out their cesspools. Commissioners Finn and Hartnett made sort of scene because the thing didn't go through, the iormer stating that the people cannot get their cesspOols to work and that he considered tuell entitled to relief so long as .ney are willing to pay for it. Commissioner Walker wanted to know if the cess
 pools couldn't be cleaned out, to
 which MT Finn replied that he sup
 posed they could,, but that the prop
 erty owners could not be expected to
 keep this up right along. The en- gineer submitted estimates for work
 on Colley street at $950, and for grading portion of Highland ave-
 nue, $4,S20. James Coughlan was
 heard regarding the working of a
 street about 150 feet in length from | Tracy avenue westerly to connect
 with a street on the Coughlan tract,
 which would then make continuous
 highway from Baldwin street to
 Tracy avenue. The matter was re- ferred to the committee on streets.
 Several petitions for new work were
 referred to the different committees. Proposals for laying water mains | in several streets were opened and read. The bidders were Michael
 Testa and John Zeoli, Pasquale Con- taldi, Edward McManus and Heating & Egan. The bids were referred to the engineer to be figured up. It
 looked as if Mike Testa and John
 Zeoli had the lowest figures, although
 this was the first time they appeared
 as bidders for city contracts.
 Engineer Russell, representing the
 railroad company, appeared before the board and asked permission to
 close the lower Waterville road dur ing the progress of the work of mak- | ing railroad changes in that part Of | the town. The request was granted. A communication was read from the engineer relative to request
 made upon him by Charles E. Nc Donald for an increase in wages from s3 to s4 per day. The commits sioners appeared to think quite Ia.
 vorably of it. but as the engineer
 had made no recommendation it was decided on motion of Mir Walker to
 leave it on the table for a week. Con-
 missioner Nell said he understood
 that Mir McDonald is a very valua-
 ble man and that he didn't see why
 his wages should be so low at bus mess where men command good sal aries. Mir Finn looked at 1t this
 way, too, and Mayor Thoms and Mr Dennison said something along that line, too. Mir Finn inquired If any
 report had been received regarding ! the wages of the janitors and the clerks in the water department. The mayor said not that he had heard Of and Mir Walker remarked with . laugh that probably everybody was satisfied with what he is getting and wanted the thing drODDed