Fergus County Democrat. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-1919, 1911-01-24
Will BOND FOR
WAIERW0RKS
Improvement District Plan Is Aban-
doned by Council at Wednesday
Nights Meeting.
pEc0I IlTInN DECEcTIVC
RESOLUTION Defective
The Unanimity of Those Present
Was the Remarkable Feature
of the Evening.

That the property owners OF this
city were almost unanimous in their
opposition to the proposed improve
ment district plan for the rebuilding
Of the city's water system, was tor
chilly illustrated at the council meet
ing last Wednesday night. The meet
ing was called for the purpose OF
hearing protests.
About 8 o'clock, the time set for
the meeting, the crowd began to
gather, and they kept coming for the
next hour, until all the available space
in the lobby of the council chamber
was filled to its capacity.
Mayor Phillips called the meeting
to order, all the councilmen except
Stuart being present. The mayor
stated the object of the meeting and
invited expression from the crowd.
Resolution Attacked.
H. L. DeKalb started the ball roll
ing by attacking the legality OF the
resolution. Mr.. DeKalb represented
protestants who owned more than
100 lots and he claimed that the
boundaries Of the district as shown
on the plat included several additions
that were not plated. He stated that
no plats of the additions referred to
were on file as required by law, and
further cited a decision of the SUI
preme court, showing that property
thus illegally included in an improve
ment district could not be held for
assessm ents that were to be levied
for defraying the expenses of the
contemplated improvement
w. D. Symmes held that the prop
erty referred to by Mr.. DeKalb had
been taken in at the time of incor-
porating the original townsite.
Mr.. Russell Points Out Errors.
Attorney F.. c. Russell represented
number of protestants. He stated
| that he advanced the same objection
to going further with the proceedings
that he advanced at the meeting a
week before. Mr.. Russell then pro-
duced a copy of the resolution and
read the boundary description, point
ing out the fact that it failed to con-
meet up by about quarter Of mile.
Mr.. Russell stated that he did not
point this error out to embarrass the
council or the city attorney, but only
desired that they proceed right il
they decided to go through with the
Improvement district scheme. The
attorney said that there was another
fatal error in the resolution and
asked what the total amount of the
warrant issue was to be- Alderman
Baker said $75,OOO When asked why
it appeared as $80,175, Mr.. Baker in,
formed the attorney that the diff.
ference was for added territory. Mr.
Russell said that the law required the
resolution to inform the taxpayers O.
specified amount which the i'm.
provement was to cost and which
they were expected to pay. This
same point was the one he brought
up at a previous meeting and it wa:
to cover this point that the new reso
luton was drawn He pointed ou
that it would be impossible to tel
which one OF the amounts were right
He stated further that he wished tt
protest against the proposition on tht
ground that it was an unjust method
of taxation
.. City Attorney Coleman made few
/ remarks in explanation Of the frs
error pointed out by Mr.. Russell, say
ing that himself and Mr. Wasmans
dorff had gone over the matter anc
that Mr.. Wasmansdorff read proof or
the description
Mr.. Wasmansdorff took exception
Or misunderstood the city attorne,
and stated that the city attorney go
up the description himself and tina
it had become habit to blame tn.
city engineer for everything that wen
wrong with the city's affairs, and tina
he was getting tired of it. He sale
| that the proof was all right when h,
| read it.
| General Protest.
| The mayor stated that the lawyer
| had talked and that he would like tt
hear from others. The invitation wa
accepted by a number, who voices
their protest. The mayor then aske,
if there was anyone in the meetin!
who wished to talk in favor of TIL
question. No one came forward, NJ
was there a voice raised in favor o
the proposed improvement distric
scheme. This was the fatal blow t
the scheme and from this moment
passed into history as failure.
Alderman Sutter made neat littl
talk on behalf Of the council. in whic
he said that his personal views on til