Omaha daily bee., 1908-04-08
CITY GOVERNMENT CHANGES
Retiring Mayor Discusses Work of
7 lministration.
MALONEY ON THE WATER WORKS
Advises the Council to Go slow in the
Matter and Secure Information
ON the Financial Phase
of the Question.
Both Phones 43.

| d. Donald Macrae, the retiring mayor,
and Thomas Maloncy the new chief ex-
ecutive. both delivered messages to the city
council last. night. the former TO the old
council and the latter to the new one.
on assuming the chair Mayor Maioney
read his message, which was as follows
Gentlemen: On assuming the office of
| mayor OF this city, / do so with the ex-
pectaton of making this administration OF
GERS.
| The old Injunction that one should live
| within his means applies as we'll to a city
| as to the Individual, and IL we are to give
| this city an economical administration for
| the two years to come. we should first of
| all acquaint ourselves with the amount and
! sources of revenue that we shall annually
| receive, counting only upon that which Is
| reasonably certain, the fixed and necessary
! items of expenditures, and what powers
the city may exercise. The latter should
in a general way be known by all of US
without continual recourse to the city So
| licitor.
At this time | desire to call your atten-
] tion to the following matters:
Many public improvements. such as side
walks and sewers, have been ordered where
] the abutting property is not of sufficient
value to bear the expense of the same, and
/ the Improvement is more OF a private con-
Venience than public necessity. The re-
| suit is that the Improvement fund is de-
| pleted and improvements Of real necessity
are hindereu or prevented
The paving of Vest Broadway is OF such
| public Importance that II should be prose-
| cuted as speedily as possible. This Is an
| for by the assessment against the abutting
property, but its necessity is so generally
recognized that the council should do what
it can TO complete that work at an early
| date.
| The most important question with which
| this council will have to deal is the build
! ing of water plant by the city. AS you
know, a plan has been prepared oy the
! city engineer and bids have been adver-
Ftised for to be filed by May s next After
| bids have been received il will be for the
council to make a contract for the same
and provide for the payment OF the con-
This is the largest enterprise ever un-
uertaken by this city and involves the
expenditure of more than 100000.
Therefore the utmost care must mark
every step taken by the council in that
matter to avoid mistakes that may bring
public condemnation upon 1t. In order
| that you may deal with this matter In
| telligently and that the public may be ad-
vised before voting upon the contract,
of the clty's indebtedness and the actual
and assessed values of taxable property In
the city in order that we may know
how much Indebtedness the city can incur
for that purpose. And l shall request that
the city treasurer furnish to the counciN
at its next meeting a written statement
of the same together with a statement Of
the sum realized annually by the 2-mil
levy for sinking fund for the owner;
be required for the payment Of the an,
/ shall also ask that the city solicitor
| furnish the council a written opinion upon
| the following matters: Is the law per-
hitting the extent of the .city's Indebted
| ness to be fixed by the actual rather than
the assessed value Of taxable property in
| tuition OF the state? Does the county tax
| list show the actual or assessed values
| of taxable property? viii last years tax
list or some future one determine the limit
! to which the city can incur Indebtedness?
What time. If any, is fixed by law within
which bonds issued for the purpose of
| building a water plant by the city must
be paid? If the contract price of the plant
is greater than the sum for which bonds
can be Issued, in what way can the city
/ obtain additional funds sufficient to build
the plant? What limit OF tax can the
/ city levy to provide a sinking fund for
the payment of those bonds? What iiInu
| of tax can it levy TO pay interest on the
bonds?
There viii. of course be a revenue de-
rived from the operation of the plant, the
amount of which will depend upon the
number of consumers, the rates to be
! charged and the expense of operating It.
What the revenue VIII be should not be
| left to speculation, for If no other method
is available that can be fairly ascertained
without much expense by a canvass of the
patrons Of the old company. The expense
| of operating the plant and the sum neces-
sary TO keep il In repair and up to date
can be ascertained from persons skilled
| In that work. And the rates to be charged
should be made known to the public In
considering the contract and cost of the
plant you should not overlook the fact
that during the period for the construc-
| tion of the plant and before there can be
any revenue from it's operation, II bonds
are TO be issued, some means Will have TO
be found for the payment OF the annual
interest upon them.
w while BIC. l nave the utmost eonudence IN
him to say that inlmy Judgment the plans
prepared by him Should be reviewed by
an engineer having years of practical ex-
perience IN that particular line of en-
Macrae's Farewell.
In his farewell message Mayor Macrae,
after prslsing the work of Major c. H.
Richmond chief of police, and D. j.
Whitaker, the poll tax collector whom
he said had through his untiring efforts
Transformed this office from an insignifl-
cant political Job to one of great Inn
portance" said in part;
In connection with the paving question
wish 10 reiterate my former recommended
tions 10 the effect that all sewage water
and other pipes along the line of proposed
! paVements be constructed one year previous
10 the actual laying Of the pavement
Ihe reasons are quite obvious and re-
quire no further comment Again. all
pavements should have a stone and ce-
ment concrete base. Brick base Is out
of date and has been relegated to the an
oient past by all progressive cities.
our first reinforced concrete bridge is
now open to the public AT Frank street
lhla STRUCTURE should. stand for all time.
I The expense Of repairs and reconstruct
ton of this bridge will be nothing
would again recommend to the council that
at least one similar structure be con-
structcd each year
In dealing with the water works ques-
tiOn ] Will have little 10 say Very little
advance II any has been made during the
past two years A franchise with a pro-
vision 10 buy same al any time was sub
mitted TO vote OF the people and was
rejected by them. The question is now
before the council for continued ection
Mayor McCrae's last official act as chief
executive of the city Of Council Bluffs was
to appoint Hon. William Groneweg member
OF the Fire and Police commission TO sue
Hubert Tinley, who declined reappointment.
Mr. Groneweg's appointment Is for six
years. Under the law, Louis zurmuehlen.
who was appointed in April, 1907, for a
term Of two years, becomes president OF
the board.
A. W. Casady chairman OF the democratic
county central committee. was elected city