The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1909-04-29
Voted by Citizens at Special
Meeting Last Night
CAPACITY 100000 GAL.
City Also Appropriates for SrhooIlbuse
Site and Playground in Vicinity
Of Camp Officials Get
Same Salary.

Three important stepS we're taken by
the citizens Of Barre at their special
meeting in the opera house last night /;
(frst) to authorize the construction Of
a large storage reservoir for city water
on the Orange brook supply, tsecond)
to authorize the purchase Of a school
i playground near Camp street, and
| lthird) to authorize the purchase OF a
site for new schoolhouse In the same
district.
In addition, the citizens voted the
same salaries for city officials as last
year, and ordered some bills contracted
by the city with H. +. Cutler and A. b.
Lane, when they we're alderman and
auditor respectively, to be paid, although
the bills were contracted in violation Of
the city charter. The correctness Of
the bills was not questioned.
This business was transacted by about
hundred citizens, presided over by
James f. Higgins as moderator and
James Maclxay as clerk, in about two
hours time, during which there was
more general discussion than usual, a
great many participating There were
dozen articles in the warning, covering
wide range.
Salaries were first fixed. The mayor
viii be paid $3.50 per annum, the city
clerk and city treasurer $3.50 and fees,
while the aldermen and auditors win
receive thirty cents an hour and the
assessors $3.50 per diem for actual time
spent.
The contract bin Of H. r. Cutler was
for team hire while he was alderman,
and A. B. Lanes was for carpenter work
on the No fire station, when he was
auditor. II was explained last night
that the bills had been approved as cor
rect by the finance committee and the
city council but that Mayor Robins
wanted the sanction Of the citizens be-
| fore signing the warrants to pay them.
inasmuch as the bin were contracted be-
| fore his term of Office Guitars Yves for
$50 and Lanes for Sl7o. This sanction
the citizens gave after the matter had
been explained BY several, among whom
was City Attorney Carver. who stated
that the bills were undoubtedly illegally
contracted The citizens took the posi-
tion that they did not wish to repudiste
their honest debts The charter gays
that no bills contracted with city officials
are legal.
The Water Discussion.
When it came to the water discussion
there was full and free discussion, Al
derman Alexander, chairman OF the wa
ter committee, starting of the debate
with a statement Of the needs of the
city and being followed by William
D. rt.. Iral xha+ snko he -
needs is less waste.
Ex-Mayor Melchsr declared the time
had come for building 8 storage reservoir
and he pronounced the Orange brook an
ideal location.
City Engineer Reed, en- being called on,
expressed a similar view about the Or
ange brook being the ideal place and
added some figures Of the probable stor-
age dam as follows: 300 feet long, 30
feet high at the maximum. food DIS
acres, capacity 100000 gallons, cost
approximately $4,000; sides steep, wa
ter deep, thus diHcouraging vegetable
growth in bottom.
Alderman Thurston doubted If the use
of meters as William Brown had sug-
gested would stop the waste enough for
dry times. What we need Is d storage
reservoir or else our industries will have
to shut down during drouth.
Ex.Alderman Fl. G. Ladd endorsed Al
derman Thurston's remarks about the
danger of being forced to shut down
the Industries and said that he knew Of
no better supply than Orange brook and
with the reservoir proposed the city
could get along under a sixty days
drouth.
A. 6. Fay referred to the danger in
case of a big fire and asked where would
the city have found itself In the midst
OF last summers drouth in case of a
confagration He then moved that tho
article FIVE, "to see ii the city will vote
to issue it's water bonds for the purpose
of securing the funds that would BE-
required to build new reservoir on the
Orange brook" be carried 1t was car
ried By an emphatic vote.
The next article, relating to the kind
OF bonds, was quickly concluded. reso-
luton being adopted to issue coupon
bonds not to exceed $4,000. interest not
than Sept. |, 1909, and payable on July
] and January l.
Site for Schoolhouse.
The schoolhouse sibe question was in
troduced by Commissioner H. G. Wood
ruff, who explained the urgent demand
for new building to replace the wooden
structure at Camp street. He and Com
missioners Alexander Gordon and L. k.
hutchinson were busy from that time
for an hour answering queries.
1t was explained that the commits
sioners hoped to build on the Bolster
near The present site, verbal
offer having been made two years ago
by Mr. Bolster and recently reiterated
by Mrs. Bolstr.
Then James p Mari wanted to know
if the commissioners had planned for q
school playground in that vicinity, and
also If they intended TO erect a building
which could be enlarged. In reply to
the first query, the commissioners stated
that they had verbal offers on property
ad Joining sA,Iicient for "a good base
bali field, the other two owners being
Warren Richardson and Averili Brothers.
The Ralefer lot coverr an acre and fhe