The Marietta journal and courier. (Marietta, Ga.) 1909-1918, 1910-10-14
Water Board Replies To
Kennesaw Paper Co.
Continued from First Page

tnat II would neeu 0UUOOu TO bUU,U0U
gallons per day. The Board had only
$4,000 worth of bonds with which to
complete a system of water warks for
the whole City.
The Board then proposed that it
would take the water works proper
ties within the City at just what it
would cost to replace them new and
making no deduction for the fact that
the properties were old and depreciat-
ed and the pipes largely filled with
mud. The Board and a. of its mem
bers recognized that this proposition
was exceedingly unfair and unjust to
the City, but they wished to be so
liberal to the owners OF the present
water works system that the com
plant of unfairness now made never
could be urged against the City, its
people, or officials. The proposition
made by the Board meant to pay for
these properties just what it would
have cost the City TO replace them
with new pipe, new materials in the
ground, ready for operation, incud.
ing all equipment and all expense of
labor and engineering. Had the prop
osition been accepted, it would have
been necessary to take these pipes up,
clean them, and large per cent of
them would doubtless have proved
worthless This proposition was
turned down by the Trust Company,
and it in turn proposed that we agree
upon an expert to value the properties
and that it would sell at the value
named by such expert OF course the
expert would have had TO come from
Atlanta and from under the shadow
of the Trust Company building, and
the proposition was unthinkable. Why
not let Mr.. Woodruff fix the values in
the first instance?
After continuing negotiations with
the Trust Company for two or three
months relative to the purchase of
these properties, they were finally
broken off for the reason that there
was no hope of acquiring the proper
ties at anything like their actual value.
In January of this year. the Water
Board passed the following resolution:
Whereas, We have information and
reason to believe that the attitude
of this Board towards the Trust Com
pany of Georgia with reference to it's
water works properties in this City
has been and is being misrepresented;
and to remove all grounds for such
contention or misrepresentation and
at the same time make a bona fide
fn
a perfectly fair basis, it is therefore.
Resolved: That our attorney be
and is hereby authorized to agree with
the Trust Company of Georgia and the
kennesaw Paper Company upon con
domination proceedings to be brought
by this board against the said Trust
Company of Georgia and the Kenne-
saw Paper Company to condemn the
distribution system of their water
works situated in the City of Marietta
including the stand-pipe, hydrants,
meters, and all other properties incl
dent to or belonging to said system of
water warks in the City of Marietta,
except the main between the reser-
voirs and the stand-pipe and the g.
inch main connecting the stand-pipe
with the paper mill, which two last
mains to be disconnected from the
stand-pipe in the event of the con-
demnation of said properties as here
in proposed
On the 10Th of the same month"; the
Boards attorney submitted this prop
osition to counsel for the Trust Com
pany and the Paper Company. The
proposition meant that these proper
ties should be valued by three arbitra-
tors, and that if either side was dis
satisfied with the result an appeal
could be taken to the Superior Court
and the whole question settled by a
jury. This proposition like the others
made by the Water Board was re-
fused. The objection to it, SO they
said, was that If the case went to the
Superior Court, we would probably
have residents of Marietta on the jury,
and they would be unfair. The Boards
counsel promptly proposed to agree
that in such event, all residents of
the City of Marietta should be strick-
en- for cause, and that the case should
be tried by jurors who did not live in
the City. This suggestion was again
refused, and negotiations ended.
Of course, if the Board would have
paid for these properties two or three
times their value, it could have &C.
quired them: but if it had done so,
it would not have had the money to
extend the system over the City, nor
take up the little mains and substitute
larger ones for them; and it would
not have carried out the wishes and
expectations of the people of the City
when they voted bonds for water
works, nor discharged their duties as
public officials.
The Paper Compan's letter makes
the remarkable statement that the
water works plant has been serving
the people of Marietta, without pro-
fit, for the past fifteen years." The
City is, and has been, paying $4,000
per year for so-called fire protection.
The Paper Company says this was