Perth Amboy evening news., 1907-01-11

Of the Board of Aldermen, City
Of Perth AmbOy, n. j.,
JANUARY 7 IQn7

Regular meeting of the Council of
the City of Perth Amboy, N. j., held
January 7th, 1907.
Present: Aldermen Van Pelt, Gar
land, Warter, Dalton, Schultz, and
Alderman-at-Large Pfeiffer. Also
Mayor B~ollschweiler.
This being the first regular meet
ing of the year, the mayors message
to the council was presented and read
by the clerk, as follows:
ITO the Honorable Board of Alder
men of the City of Perth Amboy:
Observation-Disclosures the Gus
tom of my predecessors in office, |
for changes and improvements in
municipal affairs, and l trust that
you will give them careful considera-
ton, for l feel that the different mat
tiers of which l will make mention will
be of great benefit to the city and its
citizens.
"Let us be ever-mindful that we
this community, and that, in our eff
forts to serve them, we should always
keep their welfare at heart, rather
than to glorify the political parties
which we represent, and to this end
1--WE should work together hand in
hand, SO that the greatest good can
be accomplished toward the advance
ment of our rapidly growing city.
Il desire to call your attention to
the need of a modern city hall, and,
as part of it, new and better quarters
for the police department and the
police court. The city Offices are to-
tally inadequate; there being no ia
cilities for privacy in the small and
incommodious spaces which are al
lotted to the respective officers. There
is little or no provision for the proper
filing and storing of valuable city
documents, making it extremely diff
cult for the city officers to carry on
the municipal business in an orderly
and convenient manner Good, roomy
Offices should be provided for each
chief official and department of the
city as speedily as possible. These
offices are necessary, so that each
official could be found in his particu"
lar place at a particular time of the
day. Further, provision should be
made for Office and desk room for the
y as he now has no place at
all which he might term his head
quarters or where he may keep his
city records and papers. / do not
think hat such a building would
mean the outlay of any large amount
of money, and l feel very certain that
the returns in the way of increased
efficiency of the city departments
would more than offset the cost. 1t
has been represented to me that the
present city hall property could be
so remodelled as to carry out, with
very modest expense, the suggestions
above made.
"The question of the police depart
ment is, to my mind, a very serious
one both from the view of quarters
and of personnel. The present police
offices and police court room are not
at all what they should be for the
proper handling of police business.
The lookup, in it's present condition,
is a disgrace to any civilized commu-
nifty. 1t Is an unsafe, unsanitary,
filthy and barbarous place of deten-
ton which should not be tolerated:
it has frequently occurred hat the
magistrate was obliged to let petty
criminals go, rather than to confine
them in this place. No provision is
made to keep prisoners of the sexes
apart, nor to keep juvenile offenders
from confirmed criminals, or the sane
from the insane. Persons in a state
of delirium are obliged to be con
fined in ordinary rough, filthy, I'M
padded and unprotected cells. The
subjects which, either by misfortune
or circumstances, are compelled to be
detained in this place, are obliged TO
undergo a confinement bordering on
barbarism, and it is hoped that some
provision will be made by your hon-
orable bolJ in tlis regard, whereby
it will become possible to obtain de-
cent and humane treatment to those
persons which the police department
must place under arrest.
~ would recommend for your
consideration the increase of the
personnel of the police department,
which is now made up of a SUI
perintendent. three s%ergeants, one
roundsman and twelve patrolmen,
making a total of seventeen men.
Although this cosmopolitan COM
munity has in the past been free
from any disorder and much serious