The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1908-01-08
new METHODS
IN PUBLIC BUILDINGS C0UN-
Gil COMMITTEE.
Act on City Hall Boilers Repair-Whole
Committee to Order Coal-Fire
Station Site Decision.

The initial meeting of the 1908 COM
mittee on public buildings of Common
Council last night, after hearing re-
ports from the chief engineer of the
City Hall plant and the result of the in
spection of Chairman MCGOWAN, came
to the conclusion that it would be nec-
! essary to conduct the work of the COM
mittee along different lines from the
building committee of 1907.
Chairman MCGOWAN stated that the
piston rod in the pumps were in bad
condition, due to new packing being
put on top of old; that one of the pumps
was out of commission for weeks, and
since he took charge of the City Hall as
chairman of the committee a week ago
he had to order one of the boilers over
hauled as a hot water feed box had
burst, rendering the boiler useless. He
added that 1t would be necessary to re-
pair the other two boilers. Chief IN
gineer Gottfried Dries. who succeeded
Engineer Louis Ward, ousted recently
by Common Council, was at the meet
ing and verified the statements Of the
chairman, Reilly and Seth b. Smith,
who understand the practical end of
boilers.
1t. was then pointed out that the city
was paying more money to the Board
of Works for water than was neces-
sary, due to the fact that the tank on
the roof of the hall had no valve and
water flowed through the pipes when
the tan was full and was lost.
Alderman Congleton wanted to know
if these omissions were not the fault
of the men who built the hall, and that
if they were in the specifications 1t was
up to the new City Hall Commission to
order the contractors to make good;
but he was told the commission held
the contractors under bond for one year
only and that the year was up.
A motion was carried to ask the
City Hall Commission to stand the
cost of repairing the other boilers, and
if the commission disclaimed respon-
sibility to get estimates for the work.
The question as to the amount of
supplies to be ordered or repairs made
by order of the chairman of the COM
mittee between committee meetings was
taken up, and it was decided to allow
him to use his own discretion and order
emergency repairs if the repairs did
not exceed the $500 limit until the COM
mittee meets again.
C~oal-buying was next on the pro-
gram, and it was said that last years
committee had allowed the then chair
man, Adolph Holzner, to place the
orders, but it was decided that coal
would be ordered by the committee as
a whole this year, except in emergency
cases between meeting times, when the
chairman might order enough to tide
over the difficulty.
On motion of Alderman Joseph A..
Wright it was decided to order that
the property in Plane street. bought
by the buildings committee of 1906, for
a site for a central fire station for
$50, 500, again be advertised for sale
whenNthe committee meets January 30.
Il was pointed out that the committee
had no official notification of the num-
Der or location of buildings in the
course OF erection which are under the
jurisdiction of the committee and the
architects and builders of the new
First Precinct Police Station. the
Twelfth Ward firehouse and other fire.
houses were requested to appear before
the committee at 1 O'Clock on January
80 to tell of the condition of the work,
after which an inspection win be made.
The committee will meet on Thurs
day night of the week preceding the
Common Council meeting.