Arizona republican., 1911-03-22
PAY SEWER RENTALS
 AT THE CITY HALL DAY WHEN COLLECTOR WILL CALL IS NOW PAST Water Department is Prepared to Take Over Sewer System on
 First of April

Sewer rentals must hereafter be paid at the office of the water de- partment in the city hall, the same as water bills. No collector would call, as has been the custom under private ownership of the system.
 This change in the manner of mak- ing collections will be the first out ward sign that the Phoenix sewer system has changed hands that any one will be able to observe. Every thing will move right along after the first of April, when the city actually takes charge, as it has moved for the last dozen years
 All preparations to assume control of the sewer on April 1 have been made by Water Superintendent " A. Thompson and his assistants. Ever since the night that the council clos ed the deal he has been devoting ev- cry moment he could spare to study ing the system. F. A. Lack. presi- dent of the Phoenix Sewer and Drainage company, and the employees of that concern, have done all in their power to giving the city's ser wants an accurate idea Of the opera tiOn and maintenance of the sys- tenn.
 A few days ago the sewer com panys books were moved to the city hall. Chief Clerk J. F. Powell Of the water department and the other attaches of the office have the April 1 bills already made out and are now making out a list of names of persons having sewer connections in their homes and buildings. As soon as the list is complete it will be sent away and the names will be set up in type for the "addressograph." "' Making out the sewer bills will then be as easy as making water bills.
 An ordinance for the government of the sewer system under munich pal ownership has been drawn by City Attorney T. J. Prescott and it will be passed at the next meeting of the council. It provides that all rentals must be paid in the same manner as water bills. This means no collector.
 Everyone is asking if the council will pass an ordinance forcing ev- eryone within the district to connect with the sewer. now that it is own ed by the city. It is not the in tention of the council to do so at once Probably there will be no move in that direction until the ex- tensions. covering the entire city, have been constructed. Even then no ordinance compelling hOuseholders to connect their property with the sewer can be enforced, according to the best legal authority. There are more ways than one to kill a cat, though, and the council will have no difficulty in making it advisable for everyone to patroniZe the sewer. One way would be to pass an ordinance prohibiting anyone living in a house that has no sewer connections unless it has a cesspool d hundred feet wide and a hundred feet deep. The law is peculiar and such an ordi- nance could be enforced as a sani- tary regulation. while a mere provi- sion that everyone must connect with a sewer could not because con nections and rentals run into money
 It is understood that there is one man in Phoenix who owns a big business block and declares that he will not pay sewer rentals, now that it is owned by the city. The mu- nicipal officials are not a big wor- ried. They say that all they will do will be to cut off his connections and let him dig a cessDOOl in his base ment or take any means he pleases to drain his building.